Great Brain Quiz 148

ALL the people you need to identify throughout the quiz have a "May" connection. In each case one of their first names/forenames OR their surname contain the consecutive letters MAY, although NOT NECESSARILY IN THAT ORDER. The first six, shown randomly, are a great Hollywood film mogul whose name lives on in a production company; a German inventor and car manufacturer; a great American golfer, in her prime, who shares her surname with a person whose picture could also have been included; an American character actress of the 1930's who was a bit of a "Nutter"; a Saudi Arabian politician once famously associated with OPEC; and a great baseball star of the 1950's and 1960's.
Pivtures for Q's 1-6

Which general word describes the small objects that are often placed in packets of food, pills etc to absorb possible moisture?
Which American detective agency and security service has the most obvious connection with "Madame Butterfly"?
Which 19th/20th century Conservative politician was punningly nicknamed "Holy Fox" by the Churchill family?
What was the name of the fat boy that Gerald Campion portrayed in his 30's in an early 1950's film?
When constructed in 1931 what was the original purpose of the metal plated tower on top of the Empire State Building?
What was the first name of the person who scored the first ever goal in an FA Cup Final?
Whose Symphony No 1, first performed in the late 1880's, is nicknamed "The Titan"?
Which film introduced the unsavoury character "Hannibal Lecter" to the cinema-going public?
* Who was the youngest US president at the time of assuming office?
In February this year who topped the UK Singles charts for the first time since the late 1970's?
James, who ran a city oyster bar in London during the mid 19th century, popularised a health tonic which is still going strong, albeit with different ingredients. What did he call this "tonic"?
What was the chief claim to fame in 1937 of a man surnamed Jardine who was based in Durham?
FOUNDED LIMA is an anagram of a king of England (excluding the regnal number) and the person who killed him. The two names, please.
* Which American short story writer, a considerable wit despite what seems to have been a pretty unhappy existence, left the bulk of their estate to Martin Luther King?
Which highly successful owner of racehorses in England and Ireland (and elsewhere) shares his surname with a type of small drum?
With longer and stronger arms than its rivals, and measuring well over 50 feet from snout to tail on the evidence of fossils discovered a few years before WW1, which was the largest dinosaur of all?
Which was the first (and I think only) motion picture to contain scenes that were filmed in the headquarters of the United Nations?
Which golf hole on the (British) Open golf circuit shares its nickname with that of a 12th century Scottish monarch?
* In a series of famous books of the early 1900's what is the name of the capital city in the exact centre of the country where the lands of the "Gillikins", "Munchkins", "Quadlings", and "Winkles" all meet?
What was the real surname of the Russian author whose pen name meant "bitter"?
Which three ingredients (and you need them all!) were what Charles Chaplin felt were the only essentials he needed to make a successful comedy film?
Which country's flag is the only one not to be square or rectangular in shape?
As of 20 April 2006 who has scored the most runs in test cricket without making a test match century?
* Which famous Scot appears on the front of all denominations of Bank of Scotland banknotes?
Back in 1981, ITV introduced a series which is generally regarded as having featured Britain's first black television detective, who happened to work in the East End of London. What was the full character name of this detective?
When Mr Smith died in the 20th century his age was one twenty-ninth of the year of his birth. So in which year was he born?
With which TV series' opening sequence does the Bronzino painting "Venus and Cupid" have the most obvious association?
In which year, on January 4, did the Financial Times appear on white paper, rather than pink?
* Which animals in the UK can be badly affected by SVK?
Whose wife caused a tremendous amount of trouble when she left for Paris?
Which flower is named after a Swedish botanist who died a few months before the outbreak of the French Revolution?
A lady who shared her surname with a world famous French-born operatic soprano played the television wife of the same man in two different American comedy shows of the 1950's and 1960's. What was her "husband"s stage name?
Following the recent budget, what is a single person's tax allowance for 2006/7 assuming he or she is under the age of 65?
Over 30 years ago, what "first" was the claim to fame of Dash, on TV?
Which same word can be the standard monetary unit in a certain currency, and also describe the area of ground where members of the grouse family congregate for mating displays?
Which is the only bone in the human body not to be connected to at least one other bone?
BRIGHT BEDROOM WARFARE is an anagram of which 1960's film title?
Aside from being famous names in the history of music what links Georges Bizet, Maria Callas, Fredric Chopin, Paul Dukas, Stephane Grappelli, Adelina Patti, and Francis Poulenc?
Who is the current holder of golf's Walter Hagen Cup?
Which six letter word described the governments that held sway in Japan from around the end of the 12th century until 1868?
In which well-known 19th century novel do a group of adventurers acquire great prestige with the locals as the result of a lunar eclipse on June 4?
Who were the first married couple to both win Olympic gold medals?
Who was born at 5 Gleneagles Close, on a Newcastle estate in March 1954, the only son of James Bradford and Laura Johnson?
The publishers of "The Da Vinci Code" were unsuccessfully sued in the High Court for author Dan Brown's alleged plagiarism. In fact Mr Brown effectively acknowledged his debt to the writers of "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail", from which he supposedly "borrowed" the plot, albeit in a covert manner. Explain how he did this. (Any answer which shows you know what I'm after will get the mark!)

Next the link round with the answers to Q's 57 to 66, or part of them, whole words, of course, all having the same common link or theme. And, as it happens, one of the answers contains the same link twice!

Which well-known journalist and publisher was assassinated in Enfield, Middlesex, in November 1975?
Who was the defendant, the beneficiary of a "not proven" verdict in a sensational murder trial of the day in Edinburgh in the 1850's, who, by all accounts, escaped scot free after poisoning her lover with arsenic?
Which fictional sleuth was also the pen name of the two cousins who created him in the late 1920's?
* Name the actress and former model who, in a series of adverts for a certain alcoholic beverage, would respond "Nah, Luton Airport!" when asked if she had been wafted to where she was from paradise?
Who was the headmistress of the school in the fictional village of "Fairacres", in a series of novels in the 1960's to 1990's, who shared her name with the author's nom de plume?
Which American golfer won PGA Tour events in four different decades and played in the Ryder Cup on eight different occasions?
And in the golfing short stories by P G Wodehouse who (first name and surname) wrote the novel "The Purple Fan"; got "purified"; had a "relapse"; and "failed to qualify"?
Who was the last bearded US president while in office?
* Which actor at the conclusion of a very famous film of its time played a character who, ironically in the context of the plot, stated "People come, people go. Nothing ever happens"!
Other, of course, than being works by Shakespeare, what links film or TV versions of "As You Like It", "Hamlet", "Henry V", "Julius Caesar", "Measure for Measure", "Richard III", "Romeo and Juliet", and "The Tempest"?
And, for two more points, what is the link in the answers to Q's 57 to 66?
Recordings of tapes made in the 1980's by a BBC sound engineer of a poet reading several of his favourite poems have recently surfaced after the engineer's widow decided to catalogue these and other recordings. Who was this poet?
Which Charles Dickens character shares his surname with a type of fence used by novice showjumpers?
* Which word meaning "arranged in alphabetical order", also describes a person who is learning the basics of any particular subject?
Which footballer has scored hat tricks for his club(s) in the Premiership, the Championship, League One, League Two, the FA Cup, and the League Cup, as well as for his country?
Work out what these letters stand for, all in the same continuous context, and say which letter very definitely terminates the series.
F S B C D G C ?
Who, or what, connects songs by the Beatles, Billy Joel, Underworld, Wham, Elton John, Reunion, and Richard Rodgers + Stephen Sondheim, with Marlon Brando?
Which English cricketer shared the place of his birth with the surname of an Australian test cricketer; scored 17 runs in the one test he played for his country; and remains the leading run scorer for his county in a career that spanned WW2?
Which number between 1 and 150 provides the circumstances in which 8 = 15 = 21 = 31?
Which lord who accompanied Bonnie Prince Charlie on his march south to Derby in 1745, and who was executed the following year, shared his titular name with a horse who was second in the "Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe"?
At the end of which famous film of the day did an orchestra play part of a concert comprising, as advertised on the billboard outside the theatre, Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody no 2"; an aria from Mozart's "Il Re Pastore"; Ravel's "Serenade of the Jester"; and the Brahms "Symphony no 2 in D Major", and conclude with an impromptu rendition of an aria from "La Traviata"?
What links Richard Baker, James Bond, Bob Hoskins, Bobby Jones, Mrs Merton, George Stubbs, and Christopher Wren?
WHITE NAVAL ARRANGEMENT is an anagram of three of the characters in which well-known 19th century opera?
* You'll certainly have heard of this person's name in a different context, so who wrote essays on Robert Louis Stevenson, Milton, Wordsworth, and Shakespeare, and died of typhoid in the Middle East while researching material for his second volume of "The War in the Air"?

Who was the first person to umpire in a test match having previously scored a century in a test match, and having retired hurt in a test match?
An actress who was born with the first name Lois in 1909 took a stage surname that, with one letter altered, was a locality that became famous for a certain reason during WW2. What was this stage surname?
Which US statesman, the brother of a well-known American Civil War general, gave his name to a late 19th century Act intended to regulate monopolies and cartels?
Nothing to do with their films roles, number of marriages etc, so what most obviously linked the distinguished American actor Fredric March and the popular English actress of her day Phyllis Calvert?
Who, or what, links "Tightrope Walker"(1923), "Oath of Ghosts"(1930), "Mask of Fear" (1932), "Sphinx at Rest" (1934), and "Three Exotic Youths" (1938)?
In 1884, alarmed by hostile first night critical reaction to "Princess Ida", W S Gilbert devised a code whereby the box office at the Savoy could telephone him with the takings each night without eavesdroppers or (apparently) phone tappers being any the wiser. He selected a ten letter word, with all the letters different, so that the clerk could merely read out three or four letters to indicate the amount in pounds, the first letter in his word standing for 1, the second for 2, and so on. Which word did the devious Mr Gilbert select?
Three "Cryptnumbs" now. 1 2, B M S = One Two, Buckle My Shoe etc
1. 20 L M in P
2. 130 S in the S A
3. 288 G in a F
Who shared his first name with a town in Worcestershire and his surname with one in Derbyshire, and was the animator of a series of war subject cartoons introduced in 1914 with the slogan "They're British, quite British, you know!"?
"Here's--------, She's not so slow" was the tag line that introduced a girl who first appeared in the comic "Beezer" in 1964. She wore a large red bow and matching dungarees. The missing name, indicated by the two blanks above, will certainly be a familiar one to aficionados of a certain sport. What was it?
Three cryptic crossword clues next. One point each.
1. Difficult to speak perhaps but showing pertinacity as well (7)
2. Kentish flower sounding like a jocular remark by the maths teacher (7)
3. Innocent nonetheless with Titanic chef all at sea (11)
Which ancient nomadic people who inhabited the southern slopes of the Atlas range first fought Rome as allies of Jugurtha around 110 BC but, after a succession of engagements over the years, eventually acknowledged Roman control after being defeated by Lentulus Cossus in 6 AD?
Which Nobel Prize winner died as the result of a car accident, an especially ironic twist of fate, as he hated travelling that way, and had in his possession the unused return portion of a railway ticket?
Which acclaimed 18th/19th century operatic soprano shared her maiden surname with the stage surname of a Polish-born silent film star who died in her 90's?
If 1925 was rather large; and 1931 was the era of W G; and 1936 was a sticky situation for a wind instrumentalist; and 1958 called for a funeral; and 1972 was a possible sleeping position; and 1978 required some appropriate space; and 1985 was suggestive of hanky-panky overseas; and 1992 was between one and two square miles; then, in the same cryptic context, which year had the most obvious association with "Humpty Dumpty"?

Answers