Great Brain Quiz 115

7. I trust this does not collectively describe GBQuizzers in the heat of summer! but what are the series of rowing races called between college crews at Oxford University which take place in spring?
8. Which letter occurs most frequently in the names of the Signs of the Zodiac?
9. Which Holy Roman Emperor drowned during the Third Crusade?
10. Which long muscle in the human body is sometimes referred to as the "tailor's muscle"?
11. What was the best known first name of the member of the Marx family who had seven children only three of whom, all daughters, survived until their teens?
12. "The boy is plainly innocent, I accept the brief" is a famous line in a well known play by Terence Rattigan. What was the name of the real life "boy" on whom this play was based?
13. What is the fewest number of continuous strokes in a straight line needed to pass through all nine dots once each only?
14. In which year did the cricketer William Gilbert Grace die following an operation for appendicitis?
15. * In the Bible who climbed a sycamore tree so as to get a better view of Jesus?
16. Which of the major planets would float assuming you could find a large enough expanse of water to prove the point?
17. Which half of a very famous screen partnership shared his real surname with a US President and was married to four different wives including the delightfully named Vera Ivanova Shuvalova?
18. What was the surname of Thomas who introduced the expression "far from the madding crowd", to the English language?
19. Which god whose name can be used to describe a carping critic was the personification of blame and mockery in Greek myth?
20. * Which famous historical person was played by Charlton Heston in three different films?
21. Who gave the world the "Ideal Amanuensis"?
22. Which actor has portrayed Chaucer in a fairly recent film and could do rather well in the All England Lawn Tennis Championships next year?
23. What is the full name of the organization whose initials are CPRE and which has adopted as its logo an ancient tree alongside a ploughed field?
24. If Cardiff are Devils; and Fife are Flyers; and Newcastle are Jesters; then, in the same context, what are Milton Keynes?
25. * What links the playwright Eugene O'Neill and William Stewart, the presenter of the television programme "Fifteen to One"?
26. Which was the first piece of music played at this year's Promenade Concerts?
27. Which ambitious 17th century French statesman was sentenced to life imprisonment for embezzlement and in July this year was being played on the London stage by a former "Citizen"?
28. And from which rather more famous play is KINI a cryptic quotation? (Please note that the quotation itself would be in normal upper and lower case writing but the "cryptic" bit works better as written in the question!)
29. Which single name links the Duke of Wellington and the film in which the Mae West character says "Beulah, peel me a grape" and "When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad, I'm better"?
30. * The historical word for an Irish or Scottish foot soldier is the surname of which great 19th/20th century composer of popular songs?
31. Jay certainly wasn't saved by the bell when knocked out just 20 seconds into a Middleweight World Title fight in the 1990's. Who was his opponent?
32. Which fictional detective starts to date "Emma Lavenham" in his creator's latest crime thriller, the title of which suggests a general location in "Cluedo"?
33. Sir Oswald Mosley resigned from the Labour government in 1930 after a row with colleagues on the issue of unemployment and set up a new party of his own the following year. What was it called?
34. "Gerhilde", "Grimgerde", "Helmwige", "Ortlinde", "Rossweisse", "Schwertleite", "Siegrune", "Waltraute". The most famous name from this somewhat noisy line-up of horsewomen is missing. What is it?
35. * Which is by far the heaviest type of animal in the world? (A two word answer is required!)
36. Who or what is blue; looks (to me anyway) like an elephant; and sadly or otherwise, depending on your point of view, does not dispose of his four companions in the same way as he does the rubbish?
37. If the answer many years ago was "P-E-A-R-S of course", what was the question?
38. In a film made in the past three years or so, when "Miss California" was 5th; "Miss Nebraska" 4th; "Miss Texas" 3rd; and "Miss Rhode Island" 1st; then which state came 2nd in the same context?
39. In a word what is the connection between public libraries and one of the discoverers of the molecular structure of DNA?
40. Which batsman holds the record for the most number of runs scored before lunch in a Test match? This is in one innings, of course!
41. Who links the films "Berlin Correspondent" (1942), "Die Hard" (1988), "Lady from Chungking" (1942) and "Our Man Flint" (1966)?
42. If Flour and Oats are natural foods; and Oranges and Lemons are Anglo-Norman seeds; then what are Tripe and Onions? Are they
    1. sustenance for breakfast
    2. pre luncheon appetisers
    3. tasty snacks with tea
    4. poison at dinner
43. Who, as he is currently known, changed his name from Michael and subsequently enjoyed a glorious past until overtaken by events?
44. An expression basicly implying a sense of impending disaster has its origins in Greek myth when a certain king suspended a sharp weapon by a hair above a dinner guest who, while desiring to partake of the banquet, was afraid to do so for fear of being impaled. What was the name of this king?
45. How many Gilbert and Sullivan characters are referred to by name in the actual title of their operettas?
46. She appeared in a Munich production of "Hair" in the late 1960's before moving to Vienna where she sang in versions of "Porgy and Bess" and "Showboat". She married an Austrian actor and kept his surname, albeit in an anglicized form, after their divorce. Her career thereafter lay in rock music which gave her dozens of major hits in the USA and the UK. What is the stage name of this singer?
47. Ben (----------) Strange. Which same name should be inserted into the brackets so as to complete and begin the names of two people who have openly triumphed in the same sport since WW2?
48. Where did the first motor race to carry the title "Grand Prix" take place?
49. I caught this very rarely shown silent film many years ago on TV. An influential film critic once wrote of the leading lady, whose only screen appearance this was, "It may be the finest performance ever recorded on film" and I remember thinking at the time that her acting was extraordinarily moving and compelling. Be that as it may, which real life person was being portrayed by this actress in the film referred to?
50. Walter was 33 and 36. Thomas was 25, 27, 40, 46, 54, 55, 57, 61, 74, 78, and 84. William was 29, 37, 41, 42, 43, 51, 82, 86, 87, 88 and 90. You may find these figures vary very slightly but I hope there is enough information there for you to say who is 96 (or 97) depending where you look.
And it's Tantalising 30 time now with the first ten answers, or part of them, whole words, of course, being linked in a certain way... which you will need to suss out for the two extra points!
51. What was the full name of the Act, far better known by an acronym, which was passed in August 1914 and gave the government sweeping powers to restrict the freedom of individuals during wartime, and to commandeer all necessary resources for the war effort?
52. She provided the voice of "Faline" in a well loved Disney film but had appeared in the flesh playing which character in a far more famous film some three years previously?
53. I may not have described the "plot" entirely accurately but what is the English title of the opera, premiered in 1812, in which "Giulia" successfully manages to palm off "Blansac" (her guardian's intended husband for her) onto her cousin "Lucilla", so she herself can remain happily married to her beloved "Dorvil"?
54. Which novel by a Ukraine-born author was the inspiration for a controversial 1979 film set during the Vietnam War which has a link of sorts with an earlier question in the quiz?
55. * What links Richmal Crompton's "Outlaws"; Red Rum; and "Biggles"?
56. What is the title of the famous music, all that remains of a long forgotten 1866 operetta, that was composed by the impressively named Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo Cavaliere Suppe Demelli?
57. Which film western brought together James Stewart and John Wayne for the first time on the cinema screen?
58. What was the three word name of the sporting institution of the day, inspired by the north London location where they played cricket, whose aristocratic members persuaded Thomas Lord to rent a more suitably central site for them?
59. In which novel is a guinea promised to the "Baker Street Irregular" who successfully locates the "Aurora"?
60. * Which headmaster of radio's "St Michael's School" after WW1 went on to make several highly regarded comedy films in the 1930's and 1940's and managed to find time along the way to discover a white spot on Saturn?
61. And the link that connects your last ten answers, please.
62. Which eight letter word is a noun meaning the permission that is granted a ship to enter a port after due compliance with the rules governing health regulations and quarantine?
63. And which English port's mean sea level is used as the basis for calculating elevations of all places in Britain on Ordnance Survey maps?
64. Which British ship was the first to sink a German submarine during WW1?
65. * What did Hannibal lose in 217BC between the Battles of Trebia and Lake Trasimene?
66. Which 18th/19th century Viscount and British army officer gave his name to a type of heavy overcoat and also to a variety of thick ribbon that can be used to stiffen belts?
67. "Pat Pemberton", one up with two holes to play in the final of the National Ladies Golf Championship at the Riviera Country Club, is put off, as usual, by the sudden appearance of her fiance. She loses the 17th after being bunkered from the tee, and misses a tiny putt at the last to surrender the match. Who was her opponent?
68. Which former nun married (and later divorced) a monk before becoming the first woman in Britain to be in charge of an Anglican cathedral when she was appointed Provost of St. Paul's?
69. Who was the first substitute to take a catch in a Test match?
70. * Who is the only US president to have been head of a trade union?
And time for Competitor's Corner with the next five posers considerately? provided by your friendly fellow GBQuizzers!
71. Which ten letter word, possibly familiar to South Africans, can mean a pedestrian or an infantryman and is also the term for a locust before its wings have fully developed?
72. Aside from being very famous actresses over the years, what links Greta Garbo, Judy Garland, Betty Grable, Olivia de Havilland, Angelina Jolie, Marilyn Monroe, Demi Moore, Kim Novak, and Ginger Rogers?
73. Which vowels complete the sequence E OAE EO EE UE IIO ?
74. Who was the first radio critic columnist for the Observer?
75. "Every member of our judiciary has to fight with personal unequivocal zeal to expose and work at beating insider dealing". What is the significance of this sentence which is not a "quote" or anything like that?
And onto the nice simple ones that I manage to come up with!
76. Which word technically describes a person with normal colour vision?
77. Which business owes its trade name to a combination of a pun on the surname of the family who founded it over 200 years ago in France, and the French word for its principal constituent?
78. According to an Alan Bennett article he once wrote, which writer was "so boring you fall asleep halfway through her name"?
79. What was the nickname of "Lieutenant, the Honourable Andrew Carpenter" in a much praised WW2 action novel of the 1950's?
80. * Which London University college was alone in the capital to remain open for lectures throughout the blitz?
And now it's Tormenting 20 time which always seems to "torment" me more than you!, the six pictures continuing the theme from page 1.

In NO PARTICULAR ORDER the people you need to identify are: a Napoleonic marshal who died in 1816; a former top class American golfer; a British pop singer mainly remembered for a major hit in the 1960's; a British actor of the 1930's and 1940's who specialised in melodrama and the macabre; an Irish-born novelist and playwright with various screen and TV successes to his credit; and an eloquent radio broadcaster revered for his intrepid reporting during WW2.

87. Which Nobel Prize winner for Literature repudiated his knighthood in protest against the massacre at Amritsar?
88. What is the derogatory term, based on what appears to be the staple diet at such functions, for the continuous rounds of fund-raising political dinners in the United States?
89. SHARKS IN SUET is an anagram of two commonly used Yiddish words which basically have direct opposites in meaning. What are the two words?
90. What links the sportsman Frank Hayes, back in the 1920's, and a film made several years later which co-starred Robert Taylor? (This is a touch cryptic and I will accept any answer that shows you know what I'm after!)
91. Where, in the same collection of fiction, can we meet "Paul Menzies", "Sefton Hamilton", "Mark Hapgood", "Walter Ramsbottom", "Margaret Roberts", the "Very Revd Richard Moore", "Amanda Curzon" and "Jeremy Howard" among others?
92. "Big Rachel" Hamilton stood 6ft 4in tall, weighed in at 17 stone, and smoked a clay pipe. She is not in the record books yet, as far as I know, but could be soon, for something she was the first woman to do in Britain, near Glasgow in 1875, as it happens. What was this?
93. Some "Cryptnumbs" next. You know the idea! 26 L in the A = 26 Letters in the Alphabet etc.
    1. 1 C in the B of O
    2. 1 F H N
    3. 1 S in Q
94. Apparently this 1927 jazz opera was a sensation when first performed though I am bound to say I had never heard of it, or the composer, until researching the question! The plot, which called for fantastic staging, including a real train, had scandalous overtones in its portrayal of the black "hero"s relationships with white women, and tells of a jazz band leader who steals a violin from his best friend. So successful does he become as a performer that when he plays at the North Pole the world is inspired to dance the Charleston. Enough said! but anyway what is this opera's title and, generous as ever, I will accept it in English or German?!
95. Which European football club won their country's championship in 1949 despite losing their entire first team in a disastrous air crash during the season?
96. After writing a letter to a famous 19th/20th century British entertainer to request employment an impoverished Budapest-born artiste received the following somewhat brusque reply "Dear Sir, I have no room for any addition to my company. I seldom change my artists. Yours very truly.... ". I can tell you that the recipient of the letter, in due course, became even more famous than the person he wrote to, so can you give the names of the two people concerned. You will get 3 points for both, of course, and 2 points for just one correct name.
97. The expression basically implying that a person is a bit wet or weedy can also be applied to cloyingly sentimental literature and was the nickname of which 17th/18th century poet?
98. Use all the digits 1 to 9 and also 0 so that this addition sum works. BECKER + EDBERG = MCENROE. Obviously you must retain the same digit for each individual letter throughout, so if the "R" in BECKER is 2, then so must be the "R"s in EDBERG and MCENROE.
99. Devil's Claw, a native plant of South Africa, is used to treat arthritis and rheumatism because of its anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and diuretic properties. What are the active ingredients in this plant called which give rise to its healing powers?
100. And to finish on a tasteful note! In the early 15th century a Scottish labourer quit work and went to live in a cave in the south-west of the country taking with him his lady friend. They produced 14 children and, in due course, through incest, around 30 more arrived on the scene. Sustenance was clearly a problem for some 45 out of work lunatics and for 30 years or so the clan robbed and murdered an estimated 1000 victims whom they cannibalised before disposing of the remains in the sea. Eventually the authorities caught on to what was happening and they were all rounded up and put to death by dismemberment or burning. All very jolly, but what was the name of the leader of these vile specimens of humanity whose surname, ironically, sounded pretty edible itself?

Answers