Great Brain Quiz 117

Main Page

( ) % of correct answers (including tie breakers) when section attempted

  1. Mahatma Gandhi (100) "Gandhi" (1982)
  2. George S Patton (99) "Patton" (1970)
  3. Emile Zola (95) "The Life of Emile Zola" (1937). Not Louis Pasteur
  4. T E Lawrence (99) "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962)
  5. Eric Liddell (90) "Chariots of Fire" (1981)
  6. William Wallace (80) "Braveheart" (1995)
  7. Huckleberry (100) "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain
  8. Pigeon (97)
  9. Marlene Dietrich (99)
  10. Manticore (98)
  11. Sabrina (99) real name of the buxom actress; Roman name for the river; played title role in "Sabrina" (1954)
  12. Hoon (90) Geoffrey, in trouble at the Hutton enquiry
  13. T (95) is the only one that can not be written with a continuous stroke of the pen
  14. Appomattox/ Dinwiddie/ Spotsylvania (99) are all acceptable
  15. Berkshire (99)
  16. 21-19 (85) from 1971 to 1978 tie breaks at Wimbledon began at 8-8. They have since been at 6-6 of course. Thus 6-3 (9) + 9-8 (17 x 3 = 51) leaves 40 games for the 5th set, ie 21-19
  17. Six (80) all but the peacock. It is the peahen that lays the eggs
  18. False (95) the film has nothing to do with the famous singer. Affleck stars as "Larry Gigli", a petty crook
  19. Man/Mankind (99) riddle basically was "which creature walks sometimes on two legs, sometimes on three, and sometimes on four": ie grown up; old age (with stick); baby (on all fours)
  20. Marks + Spencer (97)
  21. David Beckham (95) in a campaign for Castrol GTX. Rules relaxed because of his popularity with locals
  22. The Adventures of Robin Hood (70) ridden by Olivia de Havilland as "Maid Marian". Roy Rogers bought the horse, which he named Trigger, later that year
  23. Inaugurated the Boat Race (98) while at Oxford University in 1829, Charles Wordsworth and his counterpart friend at Cambridge came up with the idea for the contest. Also played in first varsity cricket match
  24. Earl's Court (100) a popular residential area for our friends from Oz!
  25. Robert Morley (90) back in 1965. Patrick Campbell was later
  26. St. Custard's (80) in "Down With Skool" (1953) by Geoffrey Willans, the book that introduced the character "Nigel Molesworth". Searle created the "St Trinian's" little horrors in the 1940's
  27. Achille-Claude Debussy (98) "Achille Poirot" appears only the once, in "The Big Four"
  28. Ricardo (97) in "I Love Lucy". Enormously popular 1950's sitcom starring the (then) married Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz
  29. Leo Sayer (90) "The Show Must Go On" (1973)
  30. 5/1 (70) two dice can produce 6 squared (ie 36) combinations, of which six (1,6; 6,1; 2,5; 5,2; 3,4; and 4,3;) total seven. 6 chances in 36 is odds of 5/1. I accepted "1 in 6" but not 6/1 which several of you put
  31. Stockwell(99)in1852
  32. Danny Glover (70) who appears uncredited, for some reason, as "Judge Tyrone Kipler" in "The Rainmaker"
  33. Bliss (98) Sir Arthur Edward Drummond
  34. The Return of the Black Gang (45) 1954. "Sapper" died in 1937 but his great friend Gerald Fairlie, who was the prototype for "Bulldog Drummond", continued the series for several years.
  35. Ibiza (98)
  36. The Miller (90) in Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales"
  37. 7 (55) by squaring each of the central two numbers and adding those totals together, you arrive at the outer two numbers. 2 squared + 4 squared = 20 etc, so 9 squared + 4 squared = 97
  38. Princess Stephanie of Monaco (99)
  39. Princess Ozma (80) "Oz" books of Frank L Baum. "Project Ozma" was undertaken in 1960 at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in W Virginia
  40. Denier (98) 1 D = 1 gram per 9000 metres of filament. "Tex" was accepted, rightly or wrongly
  41. Jean Cocteau (99) 11 October 1963
  42. Kip (90)
  43. Ragnarok (99) se Q24
  44. The Legend of the Tamworth Two (100) Butch and Sundance were the two Tamworth ginger pigs that escaped from a farm in Wiltshire, swam the Avon, and lay piggo! for a week in some woods. They are now in a zoo in Kent
  45. The Red and Green Life Machine (99)
  46. Brogdale, nr Faversham, Kent (70) made 38.5C (101.3F) on 10 August. Gravesend was a close second on same day.
  47. Carrara (98)
  48. Stars and Stripes Forever (99) John Philip Sousa
  49. Lake Superior (100) called Gitche Gumee in the famous poem
  50. Mendelssohn (98) on 23 September 1840 his Symphony no 2 better known as "Lobgesang" (Hymn of Praise) caused the audience at the Birmingham Festival to rise to their feet during the last of the choral pieces a la "Messiah"
  51. Antonio Salieri (98) "Amadeus" (1984)
  52. Oskar Schindler (94) "Schindler's List" (1993)
  53. Georg von Trapp (80) "The Sound of Music" (1965)
  54. Testud (100) Sandrine Testud; Testudo (tortoise)
  55. Unwashed (100)
  56. Rhenium (100) Rhine
  57. Norfolk Island (98)
  58. Badoglio (100) Pietro, who formed an anti Fascist government in 1943
  59. Emani (100) Verdi
  60. Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (100)
  61. Rottweil (100) hence the Rottweiler
  62. Yes! We Have No Bananas (100) popular song by Frank Silver and Irving Conn
  63. Turnberry; St Andrews (0! both OK) famous Scottish golf courses. Hint "links". First letters of answers read downwards; Third letter of answers read upwards!
  64. Scriabin (100) "Prometheus, the Poem of Fire" (1910)
  65. Aubrey Beardsley (100) English illustrator with an unusual style
  66. Marat (100) in Abel Gance's extraordinary film "Napoleon" (1927). He was the insane actor Antonin Artaud
  67. Jacqueline Susann (94) of "Valley of the Dolls" fame. "Every Night, Josephine" was about her poodle
  68. BP (96) the top 200 shares quoted on the LSE in order of their market capitalisation
  69. Liggett + Myers (94) cigarette manufacturers, best known for Chesterfields. Barbara Stanyck; Rosalind Russell
  70. Aubrey Crocker (98) winning skippers in the America's Cup with their yacht. He won with "Puritan" in 1885
  71. The Anvil (80)
  72. Captain (96) "Mrs Freeman"s cat ("Mrs Dale"s mother) in "Mrs Dale"s Diary; "Jack Woolley"s dog in "The Archers"
  73. Watership Down; Crichel Down (84 both OK) "Down Down" was a no 1 hit for Status Quo in 1974
  74. Murray River Flag (90) in Australia
  75. Middlesex (66) versus Essex at Lords on 6,7.8 May 1981. In alpha order Barlow, Brearley, Butcher, Daniel, Downton, Edmunds, Embury, Gatting, Radley, Selvey, Thomson
  76. The Hon Alfred Lyttelton (86) who cropped up a few GBQ's ago!
  77. Steen Tinning (66) of Denmark at the 3rd hole. Lee Westwood's albatross the same day on the same course received rather more publicity, but that was on the 558 yard 9th hole
  78. Dorothy Parker (100)
  79. GH (70) for Glenn Hoddle. Managers or caretaker managers at Tottenham Hotspur beginning with Peter Shreeves in July 1991. Doug Livermore, Ossie Ardiles, Steve Perryman, Gerry Francis, Christian Gross, David Pleat, Chris Hughton, George Graham, David Pleat
  80. Snape (86) Ann George (real surname was Snape) played that character in "Crossroads". Alan Rickman playes "Severus Snape" in the "Harry Potter" films. "George" was not accepted
  81. Alfred Dreyfus (100) The Life of Emile Zola1 (1937)
  82. Karen Blixen (90) "Out of Africa" (1985)
  83. Florenz Ziegfeld (95 ) The Great Ziegfeld1 (1936)
  84. John Nash (95) "A Beautiful Mind" (2002)
  85. Biliie Burke (95) "The Great Ziegfeld" (1936) she was Ziegfeld's wife and played "Glinda" in "The Wizard of Oz"
  86. Sam Mussabini (60) "Chariots of Fire" (1981) the controversial coach of Harold Abrahams. Extremely bad luck if you went for Bruce Ismay of "Titanic" fame who (thanks to moustache) is extraordinarily similar in looks. Unintentional!
  87. Swedish Feathers / Spanish Riders (100)
  88. Urim + Thummim (95) the special stones allegedly provided by the angel Moroni which Joseph Smith used as magic spectacles when translating the hieroglyphics
  89. Sic transit gloria mundi (80) Thomas a Kempis
  90. Chipping (86) "Katherine Bridges" marries Mr Chipping in "Goodbye Mr Chips"
  91. Porky Pig (95) "I Haven't Got a Hat"
  92. Dickson: Dickinson/ Kane: Kinane/ Smetana: Smetanina (97 all OK) Carter Dickson was pseudonym of John Dickson Carr: Michael Dickinson/ Elisha Kent Kane: Michael Kinane/ Czech composer: cross country skier
  93. To write like an angel (84) Angelo Vergecto/ Vergecio/ Vergezio was a fine calligrapher.
  94. 411379 + 209478 = 620857(80)
  95. Micromegas (95) Voltaire novel 1752
  96. Alabama (95) the 290th vessel built at the Lairds yard, she was commissioned by the Confederacy and became a very successful commerce raider. She left Liverpool as the "Enrica" and was occasionally known as "Barcelona". Renamed the "Alabama", she was sunk by USS Kearsarge off Cherbourg on 19 June 1864
  97. At the cinema (98) the name of Peter Moore's 1953 signature tune for the Pearl + Dean advertisements.
  98. Four Girls at Asgardstrand (90) Edvard Munch
  99. Scleromata/ Lilo/ Melisma (75 all OK) anagram; Last In Last Out; Hummel is making
  100. Litolff (98) the Litolff Scherzo from "Concerto Symphonique No 4, op 102" by Henry Charles Litolff

Questions