Great Brain Quiz 144

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

  1. Mike Hawthorn (98) d. 22 Jan 1959 driving his own car near Guildford. World Champion in 1958
  2. Margaret O'Brien (99) b.15 Jan 1937. Excellent child actress. "Meet Me in St Louis", "Little Women"
  3. Arturo Toscanini (99) d. 16 Jan 1957. Legendary conductor. "Tosca" is a Puccini opera
  4. Ray Bolger (90) b. 10 Jan 1904, d. 15 Jan 1987. Best remembered as the Scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz"
  5. Ann Miller (95) d. 22 Jan 2004. Great tap dancer. "Easter Parade", "On the Town", "Kiss Me Kate"
  6. Arthur Ransome (90) b, 18 Jan 1884. Wrote "Swallows, and Amazons" series
  7. Sir William Schwenk Gilbert + Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (100)
  8. Simon Sparrow (100) "Doctor books". "I" said the Sparrow, "With my bow and arrow, I killed Cock Robin"
  9. Deuteronomy (95) also found earlier in Ch. 20 of Exodus
  10. Bigglesworth (80) in 1932 ."Biggles" was his nickname. Capt W E Johns' popular series
  11. Sunflowers (95) 1888
  12. Aphrodite (99) Athena and Hera lost out
  13. King Cobra (99)
  14. Arthur English (85) "Mr Harman" in "Are You Being Served?"
  15. Kampala (98) in Uganda. Sao Tome also accepted
  16. Finkel's Cafe (60) 1955. Peter Sellers, Sid James, Kenneth Connor, and Avril Angers who died recently. An anglicised version by Muir and Norden of the famous American series "Duffy's Tavern" (1944 onwards)
  17. 16 x 32 = 8 (99) ie 8 cubed what was ! meant but others accepted for what was a very feeble question!
  18. One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich (85) 1962 by Ateksandr Solzhenitsyn which led to "Ditloid".
  19. 1890 (90) named after King Amadeo I of Spain by the explorer Ernest Giles, who discovered it in 1872. His sponsor Baron Ferdinand von Mueller asked him to name after the king. Nothing to do with Mozart
  20. London Bridge Is Falling Down (98) My Fair Lady
  21. Cal Ripken (90) who played 2632 consecutive games (having en route beaten the legendary Lou Gehrig's 2130) for Baltimore Orioles between May 1982 and September 1998
  22. Mutchkin + Munchkin (95) "The Wizard of Oz"
  23. Missa Solemnis (90) Beethoven
  24. Dynasty (95) in December 1983. Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger appeared as themselves at a Denver ball
  25. Sacred white geese (98) in 390 BC they raised the alarm when Rome was attacked by the Gauls
  26. Serdab (90)
  27. Gifford Hillary (98) "The Ka of Gifford Hillary" by Dennis Wheatley, best known for the "Duc de Richelieu" occult novels
  28. Genevieve (100) in the famous 1960's film and in several real London to Brighton rallies
  29. Sandra Dickinson (85) in "Triangle". Born in 1948, whereas Jan Francis who played another "Penny Warrender" in "Just Good Friends" was born in 1951
  30. Shergar (100) the Aga Khan's dual Derby winner was kidnapped by the IRA and probably killed within hours
  31. William Henry Harrison (98) 1841
  32. Kolynos (60)
  33. Paradise (65) "The Walk to the Paradise Garden" from the Deiius opera "A Village Romeo and Juliet"
  34. Linkman/ Linkboy (99)
  35. Sydney (100)
  36. Michael Caine (39) born Maurice Mlcklewhite. He certainly chose this name after having seen "The Caine Mutiny", although the story that he was on the phone to his agent from a phone box in Leicester Square, and when told he had to come up with a name asap, spotted it being shown a few yards away and thought "that's it", may be spurious
  37. Walt Whitman (99)
  38. The Little Prince (90) who travels to Earth from Asteroid B612, in the 1940's children's novel by the aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery, where he befriends a stranded pilot in the Sahara Desert. Name of the group headed by John Spittles is Asteroid B612
  39. Symphonie Espagnole (75) by Lalo, which he performed almost to perfection in front of an amazed Paris audience-Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto also accepted which Menuhin played a few days later. I'm afraid, though, that his hugely praised rendition of Beethoven's Violin Concerto at Carnegie Hall was some months later, in November
  40. Klaus Tafelmeier (90) who threw a javelin 78.62 m. The record of 104.8 m by Uwe Hohn was with a lighter javelin
  41. Seabiscuit (98) the once broken down colt who won a series of big races in California, along the way inspiring possibly millions affected by the Depression. Beat Triple Crown winner War Admiral in a match race at Pimlico. Contrary to how he was portrayed in the fairly recent film, War Admiral's owner was a sportsman and keen for the contest to take place. An estimated 40 million Americans listened to a broadcast of the epic race on radio
  42. Damon Runyon characters (90) Regret (Kentucky Derby) and Benny the Dip (Derby)
  43. Listen With Mother (95) September 1982
  44. Chocolate (99)
  45. Grand National (95) 1966, renamed Anglo after he was bought by Stuart Levy, a partner in Anglo-Amalgamated Films
  46. Hollimakittilukachichichi (95) Flanders and Swann song from "The Drop of a Hat". From memory it goes something like
    "Oh it's hard to say H.....but in Tonga that means no. If ever I have the money, 'tis to Tonga I shall go. For each lovely Tonga maiden there will gladly make a date, and by the time she's said H......, it is usually too late"!
  47. King Albert of Monaco (80) who was educated in Massachusetts and worked in Wall Street
  48. Marty Reisman (90) won the British Open and the US Open twice. Hates the pro game of today with the sponge bats
  49. Barney Martin (85) in "Chicago" in 1975. Song is "Mr Cellophane", which "Roxie Hart"s husband, "Amos", sings when people carry on as if he wasn't there (ie look through him). Jacques Brandenberger invented cellophane in 1908
  50. Wilcoxon Speech (90) the 1942 film "Mrs Miniver" which did a lot to unite American and British sentiment in WWII. Henry Wilcoxon played the vicar who made this speech, it is quite easy to find on the "net" if you are interested.
  51. AARON Copland (100) US composer. "Billy the Kid", "Appalachian Spring". Films "Of Mice and Men", "The Heiress"
  52. ALICE Faye(100) popular actress singer. "Alexander's Ragtime Band", "Hello, Frisco, Hello"
  53. Grover Cleveland ALEXANDER (95) (Grover Cleveland was US President in the 1880's and 1890's) Hugely successful pitcher 1911-1930 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and St Louis Cardinals
  54. Field Marshal Sir ARCHIBALD Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell (95 )
  55. AUDREY Hepburn (100) seen here in "Roman Holiday", imho her best film performance
  56. Adolphe ADAM (100 ) French composer best known for the ballet music for "Giselle"
  57. The List of ADRIAN Messenger (95) 1963 tongue in cheek thriller directed by John Huston. Kirk Douglas played four different characters. Messrs Curtis, Lancaster, Mitchum, and Sinatra had walk on parts in heavy disguise
  58. Howard ANGUS (95) Rackets 1973/4; Real Tennis, at which he was exceptional, 1976-1981
  59. ANGELO Secchi (100)
  60. ABRAHAM Lincoln (98) his assassin John Wilkes Booth in 1865
  61. Characters in Shakespeare plays (70) Could not accept "first names beginning with 'A'". Sorry
  62. Euphuism (95) from John Lyly's "Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit"
  63. Anna Pavlova (92) gymnastics
  64. Joan Rivers/ Boy George (98)
  65. Ellen Terry (100)
  66. Out of Africa (95)
  67. Marie Antoine Careme (98) known as "Le roi des chefs et le chef des rois"
  68. Orthanc + Barad-dur (95) in "Isengard" and "Mordor" respectively. The abode of "Saruman"; the Dark Tower of "Sauron" Alternatives to Barad-dur were accepted as there appears to be little unanimity on the subject, even from Toikien!
  69. Michael Dunn (80) a circa 3 ft 11 in dwarf actor, in "The Ship of Fools" (1965) in Best Supporting Actor category
  70. Canada (92) in Bolton, Ontario
  71. Brisbane (85) known as Meanjin in the Aborigine language
  72. Alfred, Lord Tennyson (98)
  73. We require 8 hours for work, 8 hours for our own instruction, and 8 hours for repose (25)
  74. 128 (80) with Muzjiks, sort of Russian peasants. Played with the Z on "double point" square. 3 + 1 + 20 (2 x 10) + 8 + 1 + 5 + 1 = 39 x 2 (for starting = 78 + 50 (using 7 letters) = 128
  75. Nick Ross (85) first names or surnames all "cancel out" in the other name pairings: Faldo = Adolf; Grade = Edgar etc
  76. A Wedding Bouquet (100) 1937. Lord Berners
  77. An effigy of his dog Caesar (88)
  78. JAR (70) Joseph Alois Ratzinger = Benedict XVI. Nicholas Boccasini = Benedict XI; Jacques Fournier = Benedict XII; Pietro Francesco Orsini = Benedict XIII; Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini = Benedict XIV; Giacomo della Chiesa - Benedict XV
  79. Ruth Roman (98) born Norma Roman. Ref. Babe Ruth. Film is Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train". She played a senator's daughter whom the Farley Granger character was intending to marry after his divorce
  80. Mantua (100) after Mantus
  81. Dashiell Hammett (95) d. 10 Jan 1981. US crime writer. "The Maltese Falcon", "The Thin Man"
  82. Richmal Crompton (100) d. 11 Jan 1969. A victim of polio in her 30's she gained fame with the "William Brown" books
  83. George Cukor (100) d. 24 Jan 1983. Great US director. "GWTW" (parts of), "The Philadelphia Story", "My Fair Lady"
  84. Wilhelm Furtwangler (100) b. 25 Jan 1886. Famed conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic
  85. Simone de Beauvoir (100) b. 9 Jan 1908. French feminist writer, the partner of Jean-Paul Sartre. "The Second Sex" etc
  86. Sergei Eisenstein (100) b. 23 Jan 1898. Hugely influential Russian director. "Ivan the Terrible" "The Battleship Potemkin"
  87. Richard Griffiths (100) in "Heroes" at the Wyndham's Theatre. "Uncle Vernon" in the "Harry Potter" films
  88. Ho Chi Minn (90) at what was then the Carlton Hotel, now New Zealand House
  89. Stuart Burrows + Norma Burrowes (92)
  90. In what year did the events take place which inspired Picasso's painting "Guernica" (90) First ever question asked in "Mastermind" on 11 September 1972. Specialist subject "The Visual Arts"
  91. Mark Butcher (75) England v New Zealand 1999 Number of times they captained England in a Test match Quite a few players who did this once but Butcher is the most recent of them. Trescothick has been captain twice in a test
  92. Lifeboat (98) Hitchcock (again!) to the actress Mary Anderson
  93. 3 Valves on a Trumpet /14 Points in Woodrow Wilson's Plan / 714 = Sgt Joe Friday's Badge Number (90 all OK) the last arising from the 1950's police drama TV series starring Jack Webb
  94. Sir Benjamin Backbite (88) "The School for Scandal" by Sheridan
  95. King Juan Carlos of Spain (100) Princess Victoria Eugenie (Ena) of Battenberg was born at Balmoral on 24 Oct. 1887. Her mother was Queen Victoria's daughter, Beatrice; her father Prince Henry of Battenberg. Ena caused quite a stir when changing religion and marrying King Alfonso XIII of Spain on 31 May 1906. An anarchist threw a bomb at the wedding coach resulting in around 12 deaths and 100 injuries. Ena was a haemophiliac and of her four sons only the Infante Don Juan of Barcelona was sound. He married Princess Maria-Mercedes of Bourbon-Sicily in 1935 and renounced the Spanish throne in 1975, after Franco's death, in favour of their son Juan Carlos 1
  96. 250 (85) drachma. "Nine Muses" greek stamps series. 1991 (three muses per stamp)
  97. Filioque (100) latin for "and from the son"
  98. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (85) 1962. (John) Wayne; (James) Stewart; (Vera) Miles; (Lee) Marvin; (Edmond) O'Brien. Pity there's no "d" as we could have had (Andy) Devine, (Woody) Strode + (Jeanette) Nolan also!
  99. Quiz (100) he was Alexander Stuart Boyd (1854-1930)
  100. Moorgate + Liverpool Street (15) others are the next two stations on a line from the ONLY six tube stations that have alliterative names. Bromley-by-Bow, Charing Cross, Clapham Common, Golders Green, Seven Sisters, Sloane Square Much harder than expected but I awarded 1 point to "Clapham North + Stockwell" only ones south of the river, etc

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