- Which famous poem is shorter than intended thanks to a person from Porlock?
- What is the five letter name of the aquatic character created by Henry Williamson as in the title of his 1930's novel about wildlife in the countryside?
- Which instrument combines a clock and a speedometer and is used to monitor the time spent by a lorry driver on the road?
- Christopher Pinchbeck, the inventor of a pneumatic brake, a candlestick holder for keeping the candle upright, and a candle snuffer, died in London in which year during the 18th century?
- In which European language do all the days of the week except one end with the same three letters?
- Where was the first British atom bomb detonated 50 years ago this month (October)?
- And which "first" took place in January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster?
- What was the surname of the Scandinavian figure skater who gave his name to the jump whereby a person takes off from the forward inside edge of one skate and makes one and a half turns before landing on the backward outside edge of the other skate? (nb there are "double" and "triple" versions of the same jump!)
- * What is "Susanna"s "Secret" in the opera by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari?
- What was the surname of Pablo who was born in Spain in 1881 and has a museum named after him in Saragossa dedicated to exhibiting his works?
- Sounding like a divine humorist which British bird can be "Bar-tailed" or "Black-tailed"?
- Which word in Arabic that has minor spelling variations is equivalent to the English "God willing"? (I'm not expecting you to write it in Arabic by the way!)
- Who did Harriet Beecher Stowe claim was the real author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin"?
- * John Montagu, who died in 1792, gave his name to which popular snack?
- What is the longest word (in English!) that can be typed left-handed on a standard typewriter? (By a professional typist that is!)
- What do Mexicans call the river that is effectively the border between their country and the USA?
- Wade Morrison, who worked in a drugstore in Virginia in the early 1880's, moved on to Texas and set up his own store in Waco. His young English pharmacist was given to mixing various flavours in the hope of inventing a new drink and when, in 1885, he came up with a winner, Morrison was asked to name it and this he did, choosing that of his former employer in Virginia. What did he call this drink?
- Which American author and journalist once wrote "It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress"?
- * Which was the first film Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh appeared in together after they had married each other in real life?
- Who, in a fairly recent "Letter from America", did Alistair Cooke describe as the "best golfer in the world" after winning a ninth tournament of the 2002 season by six shots, at 22 under par, from an elite field of players from the American, European and Asian tours?
- According to Shakespeare in which ear was Julius Caesar deaf?
- Which of the following words is the "odd one out"? Please "justify" your answer if you wish as, if it does not coincide with mine, it will probably not be accepted! Commando Dribblet Heroine Moderator Pandemonium
- As the crow flies, how far is it, in miles, from Land's End to John o'Groats? (I will accept a range of 20 miles either way!)
- * Where is to be found the so called "Great Red Spot", a huge rotating gaseous mass some 20,000 miles long by 8,500 miles wide?
- One of Belgium's best known beers has a golden yellow colour; an alcohol content of 5.2 percent; and is ideally served chilled. What is its brand name as derived from the commune near Liege where it is brewed?
- Name the hymn tune to which "I Vow To Thee My Country" is sung?
- Which two cities are linked by a man's name, a month, another man's name, and a father?
- Which character made his debut in "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate"?
- * See page 1.
- According to a popular song of the WW1 period, who was the "Colonel of the Knuts"?
- A great American sportsman shared his forenames with the best known forename and surname of a US president after whom he was presumably named. In which film was he portrayed by a future US president?
- And, talking of US presidents, one was much in the news earlier this year (in the USA anyway!) after DNA tests appeared to prove that he had fathered children by his mulatto slave. What was her name?
- What linked George Best, Lillian Board, Tom Finney, Ray Illingworth, and 5 January 1970?
- Which same character played in films by John Wayne somewhat mysteriously gained an "e" after being promoted? (First name and surname required).
- Which town in the west of Scotland gave its name to a metallic element?
- Which fictional schoolboy, created by the man born Charles Hamilton in 1876, was a somewhat aristocratic character who wore a monocle? A constant source of merriment to his friends, he was given to utterances such as "Bai Jove you wottahs" and "You weptiles, you wuffians, I've a good mind to hand you all a feahful thwashing"? (Please note, these quotes are from my memory bank but I am entirely confident of their general "accuracy"!)
- Who became the father-in-law, in the mid 1930's, of a son of Baron von Samek who was born in Vienna in 1898?
- What was the maiden name of "Old Tin Knickers", as she was disrespectively known, who was the only woman member of Margaret Thatcher's cabinet and a former leader of the House of Lords.
- The lengths of a triangle's three sides and its height are consecutive whole numbers of inches. What is its area?
- Weighing in at 60 tons plus and to be found on a farm in Namibia, the "Hoba-West" is the world's largest known - what?
- Which character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle shared his first name with the person who has strong claims as the inventor of the metronome?
- Barry Nelson was the first person to play "James Bond", back in 1954, in a CBS television adaptation of "Casino Royale". Who was the second person to play "James Bond". (I am, of course, referring to the famous Ian Fleming character!).
- Which four word phrase is cryptically suggested by Epo h?
- Something a bit different now! By correctly tackling the following questions, which all require an answer with letters used as CAPITALS, you will utilise 25 letters of the alphabet ONCE EACH ONLY. Which letter remains unused?
Part of the title of an Agatha Christie novel featuring "Tommy Beresford" and his wife "Tuppence"; the state owned airline that was created in 1939 by the merging of British Airways and Imperial Airways; a type of bend, bolt or "boat"; the "line" applied to a network of radar stations situated in Arctic regions to alert North America to possible missile attacks; a speedy means of transport in France; a type of bomb; a film starring Kevin Costner; the diplomatic scandal or affair which arose in the late 1790's after three French negotiators requested bribes from the USA; the letters inscribed on standards and buildings etc in Ancient Rome; and part of the title of a 1960's novel by Lynne Reid Banks that described a lonely bedsit in Fulham.
Tantalising 30 gets under way with ten questions whose answers, or part of them, whole words, of course, are linked in a certain way. And you will need to "crack" the link as well!
- Name the American actor, a former child star, whose film career has colourful links with "Hair", "Midnight", "Velvet", and "Years"?
- How can Alcyone, Asterope, Calaeno, Electra, Maia, Merope and Taygeta collectively be alliteratively described?
- Which organization was granted a charter in 1600 by Elizabeth I and, having been a factor in Warren Hastings's impeachment, was dissolved in 1858?
- Who played four generations of the same family, one "John" and three "Peters", in a famous film that won its star a Best Actor Oscar?
- * A well known golfing "Point"; part of the title of an Agatha Christie novel; an Australian pine; and a crepelike material worn in mourning, are all the same word derived (according to some references at least!) from the name of which island?
- What is the full name (two forenames and a surname) of the 38 year-old golfer, one of seven brothers, who was the first Spaniard to win the Volvo Masters?
- In which 1980's action film did a 13 year-old Vietnamese boy making his screen debut play a character who was named after the screenwriter's dog?
- Which tea-clipper shared its name with (or may indeed have been named after) a garment worn by "Nannie" in a famous Scottish poem?
- Shearer, Hassler, Platt, Strunz, Pearce, Reuter, Gascoigne, Ziege, Sheringham, Kuntz, Moller. Which name is crucially missing from this not particularly dirty dozen?
- * Which Sunday night television arts programme replaced "Aquarius" in the late 1970's?
- And for an easy two further points, what links your answers to Q's 51-60?
- Which well known actress used to own Harry Dean Stanton?
- See page 1.
- Whose 1960's autobiography was somewhat immodestly called "Diary of a Genius"?
- * Regarded by many as the "Father of Ichthyology", the circumstances of his death were possibly fishy as he drowned in an Amsterdam canal! In which year was this?
- The chap in Q65 could perhaps have done with one but, anyway, which character in fiction owned a dog called "Pilot"?
- The film biopic "With A Song in My Heart" tells the story of a real life singer who bravely continued her career after being badly injured in a plane crash. In the film a young semi-crippled paratrooper requests this lady to sing "I'll Walk Alone" at a troop's concert. For one point each, who played the paratrooper; and whose voice is heard in the film singing "I'll Walk Alone"?
- Joseph Conrad, F Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Hardy, Henrik Ibsen, Henry James, Somerset Maugham, Marcel Proust, Leo Tolstoy, Mark Twain, H G Wells, and Virginia Woolf, apart from being great writers, all had something in common. What was this?
- Who paid tribute to Hubert Horatio Hornblower in one of America's best known political gaffes?
- * Name the British Prime Minister's wife who is probably best remembered these days for riding her horse up the stairs at 20 Cavendish Street in London and for a "harsh but true" remark she addressed to the actress Jean Harlow?
Now for Competitors Corner with the next five questions kindly provided by your fellow GBQuizzers.
- Whose highly successful career as a trainer began at Taunton in 1975 with Hit Parade?
- Which famous couple were assassinated last century on their wedding anniversary?
- Who is the only player in history to have scored the winning goal in the final of the FA Vase and the FA Trophy?
- Which television character lived at 52, Festive Road, in London?
- Which famous composer suffered the loss of his two young sons in the space of six weeks in the 1870's, the elder one having fallen from a fourth floor window?
Me again you'll be overjoyed to know!
- How did the constructors of the Formula One car in which Jackie Stewart won the 1970 Spanish Grand Prix come to choose their team name?
- Who or what most obviously doubly linked the comedian Milton Berle and the Broadway impresario Billy Rose?
- And, back in the 1920's, what linked "Briefs", "Chance", "Facts" and "Hours"?
- Who famously said, and where, "I would like to thank the press from the heart of my bottom"?
- * Which actress who has played the same well known character on film as did Judy Garland has a first name that means "turquoise" in Persian?
And a touch of torment to conclude the torture for 2002!
- An American jurist who died in 1961 so influenced his peers that he was known as the "tenth man" of the US Supreme Court. He features quite high on my list of "silly names" so, in full, what was it?
- Which "animal" is the name given to a non-interest paying bond on which accrued income is taxed annually rather than on redemption?
- When Clark Gable returned to the States after filming "Mutiny on the Bounty", he received an unsigned telegram which read: "Beautiful blue-eyed blonde baby born 8.15 this morning". He allegedly flushed this message down the toilet but did eventually see the child, named Judy, and gave the mother $400. Who was the mother, a very well-known actress of the day and a devout catholic who refused to have the child aborted, who later claimed that this $400 was the sole contribution Gable ever made to Judy's upkeep?
- Felix, a world class tennis player, shares his surname with which type of lace scarf or shawl that is traditionally worn by women in the country of his birth?
- Name the entertainer associated with Johnny Green who was billed in the 1930's, when an eleven year-old, as "The World's Youngest Ventriloquist".
- See page 1.
- In 1928 it was a 19th/20th century English painter; in 1933, the real Debbie; in 1934, a Joseph Conrad novel; in 1947, a singular expression allegedly heard north of the border; in 1949, Jennifer or Meg; in 1951, a drug addict; in 1972, an American sporting occasion; and in 1983, a chaperon. In the same cryptic context, which year most appropriately applies to Eric Liddell?
- Which of Ernest Hemingway's "First 49 Stories" was the first of those he wrote?
- In the 1920's a gangster nicknamed "The Gimp" married a promising singer and managed her career with introductions to record companies and film moguls etc. She soon became famous and inevitably got tired of "The Gimp" when his gangland ways became an embarrassment. She met a pianist and begged her mentor for a divorce. A jealous sort of chap. "The Gimp" not only refused but went so far as to shoot the pianist, fortunately not fatally, and scandal inevitably ensued. For a point each, the surnames, please, of "The Gimp", the singer, and the pianist. And if you think a film was made about their lives, it was!
- In each case you must alter and replace the LAST letter of the SURNAME of the first person to arrive at the SURNAME of the second person, eg Borg to Born; David to Davis etc.
- An English Archbishop; a Rugby Union international.
- A 19th/20th century French palaeontologist; a 19th/20th century English conductor.
- A 19th/20th century Indian journalist and freedom fighter; a 20th century American (mainly film) dance director.
- Born in Poland early in the 20th century, the son of a rabbi, he was blinded in the left eye as a three year-old before the family moved to Paris to escape persecution by the Russians. In time he learnt the piano works of Ravel in their entirety and received intense instruction from the composer himself. He spent much of WW11 dodging the Gestapo and subsequently contracted tuberculosis, all of which put a temporary stop to his brilliant career. By the 1950's, though, he was regarded as one of the great pianists of his day and gave his final concert in 1994 in Geneva. His name please.
- A chestnut colt by Eclipse out of Sportsmistress won 34 races between 1777 and 1783. Under which name did he run his first race?
- See page 1.
- Which ballet has the most obvious link with "Wesley Breitenspiegel", "Desmond Rinder-Sparrow", "Aime Frappot" and "Alexander Ikonenko"?
- Three cryptic crossword clues. One point for each!
- Rue arranging duel with bravo (9)
- Bridge scores in variety of pastel: it's there in writing again (10)
- Greeting Indonesian island can be painful on the feet! (7, 4)
- The illegitimate son of a wealthy French doctor, he turned to acting in the early 20th century after abandoning his career as a lawyer. In due course, he produced, directed, and wrote one of the most influential films in the history of cinema. In this film he played the part of a real life revolutionary and his wife played the part of a real life murderer. For one point each what was this man's surname, as on his credits; and what were the real life surnames of the revolutionary and murderer referred to above?
- Apart from being famous Indian cricketers in their time what links Azharuddin, Gavaskar, Mankad, and Vengsarkar?
- What was the six letter name of the principal US cipher machine that was used during WW11 and known by the Germans as the "American Big Machine"? Never compromised after entering service in 1938, it was used by the US Army, Army Air Forces, Navy and Marine Corps and various US and British Special Liaison Units.
- A "Prime Minister", a "detective", an "actor", a "nocturnal watcher", a "corpse", a "horsey novelist", a sound alike "store assistant", and a prickly sounding "impersonator" once combined to win a gold medal 2-0. Where and when? (Just the city and year will be fine!)
- It has long been the norm for lady golfers to wear shorts and trendy sweaters but few of them will know whom to thank. Back in the 1930's, in the English Ladies Amateur Championship, there appeared on the first tee an extremely shapely young woman wearing tight fitting blue trousers, a tight matching sweater, and a little blue turban. Her cheeks were so heavily powdered that she might almost have been wearing a white mask. She added to the members' apoplexy and media interest by playing with just one club, something like a 4-iron, which hardly helped her bunker play and putting. Her demise by 5 and 4 in Round One prompted a very witty headline, but the well-known journalist who penned it was happy to amend it accordingly when she progressed to the second round of the tournament a few years later. Anyway, what was the first name and surname of this trendsetting and somewhat bizarre lady who never made any attempt to cash in on her publicity?
