One Heck of a BH78
So the deadline for TMQ has passed and 129 brave souls have succumbed to my entreaties. I say thanks to them. The response has been encouraging for all sorts of reasons, the primary one being that people like answering hundreds of questions in some arbitrarily laid down parameters.
It's been a good experience so far. You have to be organised for a start, and it's something I need a lot of practice at. Even if my organising at the moment resembles me trying to make my Freeview box work: cables, tuning, it all came to ahead and we went back to analogue thus annoying Peter Snow and all those digital TV-pushing know it alls at the Beeb ... yes, we know it's far more fun watching BBC3 and mindless pop videos sometimes, but sometimes the situation is completely and irretrievably FUBAR. However, I am sure it will all work out in the end, says Mr Polyanna.
You also have to promote it and inject the right kind of self-deprecation so as not to portray yourself as this oafish idiot who thinks nothing of his own quiz project. Admittedly, promotion has wandered into the "look at me, LOOK AT ME, no, I mean, look at what I wrote" territory, you just have to. Otherwise, the project will wither and die of loneliness.
Errors. That's another thing. Reference books are rubbish I have found. They are full of mistakes and I am the one who pays by being the recipient of emails pointing out something that quite frankly never occurred to me. I trusted the encyclopedia on some occasions and I fell for the certainty of my memory on fewer occasions, admittedly. The silliness of trusting your own mind. It's silly.
I think it's a proven scientific fact that one in ten questions you set are complete baloney, sourced from an idiot who knew a lot less than you and relied on other rubbishy, fact-fragged books, purely because they thought they were meant to.
Yet that is what happens when you set the bulk of it over one night. You think you put something to bed but instead it waits, grinning in the future darkness ready to bite you on the ass. In future I will build the set methodically and gradually, whilst attaining a mastery of categorisation, to prevent such ass-mastication from occurring.
However, I really do like the marking (I have to, there are more than 65,000 answers winging my way). I am consequently checking my Gmail (oops Googlemail account) every five minutes just to see whether any answer sheets have dropped in, ready for the marking. The judgement part of it allows me to act like a God no less and since this is my project I answer to no one. No one! You hear me! Hey, I never said I was going to invest this exercise with the utmost decorum.
It has turned me a bit strange though (okay, strangerer), having reached a slump yesterday in which I thought there is no way I am doing this again (it was when I had my third email from somebody pointing out a question made about as much sense as Dave Cameron's face). I had to tell the MQers and had to type in everyone's name into a group and at about the midway point I felt like getting up and walking away. You know, I was going to be "some time".
But no, I got over that. Now I am more preoccupied by people sending in files in formats far too futuristic for the dirty, smoke-enveloped beige block of rubbishness that I am currently and furiously typing these words into. It doesn't do .wps. I would smack it if I thought it would do any good, but then corporal punishment is good for nothing, not even bashing computers.
So far I have received and marked 11 papers: each of them proffering answers that are very good and worthy of a chorus of enthusiastic clapping.
If you want a score hint and because I am an utter score-whore, even when I am handing them out, I can confirm that first and second place are separated by 71.5 points. But it is early days yet, though I am slightly disturbed by one thing. I thought 501 questions would separate everyone out by dint of revealing their different strengths in general knowledge (no one has the same strength, but you knew that. Of course). Only 501-q's is plainly not enough. Two people have the same tally already. This means that either the questions should have been further fine-tuned or that I am getting too picky and this is really turning into a saga now. Zippp.
I am encouraged by the remarks I've got so far and would like to do a World Knowledge version that doesn't have three separate questions on English soaps (for that I am truly sorry, all my non-UK TMQ brethren, but then I never thought so many of you would do it, if any at all). I am planning my next one once the majority of the work involving #1 has been done. This will have Persian poets and Indian stupas. Or maybe not since i have mentioned them. I will feature some non-Anglo Saxon film directors though. I couldn't believe it when I noticed that there was not one Polish film director question in there. Not one Iranian film star. And certainly, no dizzyingly outre Argentinian auteur. Not one. I can be such a blind little Englander sometimes.
A Triple Gah
At the moment I feel brain-smashed.
In the midst of all the organisation MQ brouhaha. I decided to write a 200-question BH quiz for this here blog, and I did. Took me hours, of course. And now my mind has gone, dispersed into a billion little pieces scattered through the universe, never to be put together again. Metaphorically speaking. The grey matter still resides in my head. It just needs its beauty sleep. Metaphorically, speaking. Again. Ask me who is the British Prime Minister? Go on. Wait, who am I talking to?
But even when I got to 200 I couldn't quite stop. It always happens. So I went to 208, which is the highest Test score of which England cricketer? Come one!??! Boyhood hero, told me to F off at Hove and walks for cancer.
So now I have brought you in one batch, literally hundreds of difficult and nasty questions based on a totally random selection of articles from Wikipedia. I was going to preface the word "batch" with "scintillating", but this would not be true. They will destroy something in you before you even get to question 76. Let's call it the "will to live". Well, I didn't do it for your benefit (when I say bring you, I actually mean, plonk here as if I was putting out the garbage, a bulging ton of intellectual flotsam and jetsam - what's the difference between the two again? Another for my burgeoning List of Confusions). I did it for mine. My quest to take over the world of general knowledge. Ha ha hahee ho ha heee. Ho... ha ... whatever.
Podcast Still Sounds Silly*
Otherwise, I have been amusing myself by listening to the NAQT podcasts from the 2006 Intercollegiate Championship Tournament Division II. Thirteen games of some aspiring Quiz Bowlers trying in vain to find the names "Bertolucci" and "Lucky Jim". Well, you can't blame them. They're not the top notch, just yet.
It takes some getting used to with the strange elongated American quizmaster getting his tongue round vowels with all the elegance of someone trying to shovel a Bigger Mac down their gullet in one go. But that's just the way they talk. We Brits sound pompous and stuttery toffs to everyone else, so they sound like WEIRDOS TOO. I have to tell myself that every few seconds. Being a spacker limey. This I did forget when I shouted out the trumphant answer to a Lolita toss-up shortly after the few words that explained she was dead from the beginning (hey, Tarantino had nothing on Nabokov). You see? Reading proper fictional books is good for your quiz health. If only someone was around to witness it. Awww, is what I want to be hearing from you right now.
Books like: I'm reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy at the moment. It is the most depraved retelling of the Old West I have ever come across. Rape, scalping, murder, slittings, slashings and on and on in wave after overwhelming wave of viscera and gore. You wonder when something, anything is going to be killed and two paragraphs later, the scoundrel protagonists be sodomising and stabbing and getting covered in all sorts of ugly muckiness. When a couple of puppies show up you just know they're going to get murderlised, and sure and soon enough, they get chucked in a river and used as target practice before you get the chance to turn the page.
Suffice to say, it is beautiful and brilliant and the best thing I've read in ages. And there should be more wanton puppy killing in film and literature. Just because.
Come to think of it, that would have made a great few scenes in Beethoven's 2nd and both live action 101 Dalmatian movies. Many, many small dogs "blossoming". That being the euphemism for being blown to bloody pieces of canine flesh. Like I said, McCarthy is a genius, though I do wonder, looking at his bookjacket photos whether he has ever smiled or breathed in the scent of a beautiful flower on a misty summer morning. He's probably the sort of guy who likes offal and black pudding washed down with his own home-made moonshine.
However, let's get away from pondering the execution of animal atrocities, the NAQT podcasts are a brilliant idea. Apart from inviting addictive tendencies from freaks like myself (it's junkie talk, just one more and then I'll be okay), people get to listen to questions, contests and the calibre of potential opponents, as well as find out exactly how good some quizzers, or "trivia buffs" (Trivia is one letter away from being Trivial). Most importantly, they spread the gospel AND entertain. It's like buzzer quiz on the radio. With Americans. And some baffling (to British ears) questions about NCAA basketball. And frustrated Americans shouting "Goddamnit!" and "Shit". Come to think of it there should be a warning about the language. It can be quite PG-13 at times.
Anyway.
Here have the words. Thousands of them. If you get to the end you can have my undying admiration. I'll send it over to you in a shiny, golden box embossed with my initials. You'll appreciate such a gesture. I know it as long as this heart beats in my body. Which won't be long owing to this constricted feeling I get after smoking 20 cigarettes in four hours. Just one more, I feel like another five minute excursion into Camel country.
* I get Invasion of the Body Snatchers and pea imagery mixed up in my mind.
Spelling mistakes be damned. Just ignore them wherever they may be
1 Which republic has just become the 192nd member of the United Nations?
2 Israel has launched Operation Summer Rain in the Gaza Strip to free which captured soldier?
3 Which two countries have agreed to allow a referendum in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh to decide its status?
4 The world's two leading steel producers have announced they are to merge. What are they called?
5 Where in June 1922 did France grant 100 hectares "freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes"?
6 In June 1995 which space shuttle became the first to dock with Russian space station Mir?
7 In which city did the Sampoong Department Store collapse in 1995, killing 501 and injuring 937?
8 What is the only date each year where both the month and day are perfect numbers?
9 Part of the Chmielnicki Uprising, where in Volhynia, Ukraine did the biggest battle in the 17th century take place beteen Polish and Cossack and peasant forces from June 28 to June 30?
10 The first of what kind of judging competition took place on June 28, 1859 in Newcastle-on-Tyne?
11 Romania ceded which region, modern day Moldova, to the USSR on June 28, 1940?
12 Who formed the Organization of Afro-American Unity on June 28, 1964?
13 Best known for her role as Elizabeth Warden in Keeping Up Appearances, who is the cousin of actor John Inman?
14 At what location near Moscow did the world's first nuclear power station open on June 27, 1954?
15 Willy Brandt in 1985, Pierre Trudeau in 1984 and Joseph Rotblat and Hans Bethe in 1992. Which $50,000 "Peace Prize" did they win in those years?
16 Professsor of economics at the Stockholm School of Economics from 1933 to 1947, which Swedish economist and politician published the landmark book, "An American Dilemma: The Negro problem and Modern Democracy" in 1944, thus coining the phrase "An American Dilemma"?
17 Born in 1949, which Chinese American fashion designer is known for her wedding gown collection opened her own design salon in Carlyle Hotel in New York in 1990 and has designed costumes for figure skaters like Nancy Kerrigan and bridal gowns for the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Victorian Beckham and Sharon Stone?
18 A member of The Bells during the late 60s and early 70s, which Canadian musician and pianist is best known for his solo instrumental hit "Music Box Dancer"?
19 Which Roman emperor was killed during the retreat from the Sassanid Empire on June 26, 363, and replaced by General Jovian who was proclaimed Emperor by the troops on the battlefield?
20 According to legend, the Pied Piper lured 130 children of Hamelin away from on June 26 in which year of the 13th century?
21 What vehicle was patented on June 26, 1819?
22 June 26, 1934 saw the initial flight of which helicopter in Germany, seen as the first practical one in history?
23 On June 25, 1974 the Universal Product Code was scanned for the first time to sell a package of what at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio?
24 Elvis Presley gave his last concert at the Market Square Arena on June 26, 1977. In which city was the venue?
25 Which Nobel Laureate began her writing career in 1930 with the publication of East Wind: West Wind?
26 What is seen by many to be Willy Messerschmitt's single most important design, which he created in collaboration with Walter Rethel in 1934 and which became the most important fighter in the Luftwaffe as Germany re-armed prior to WW2 and is the most-produced fighter in history to this day with some 35,000 built?
27 In which two events at the 1932 Olympics did Mildred "Babe" Didriksen Zaharias win gold?
28 Which Italain conductor served as Music Director of the Vienna State Opera from 1986 to 1991, as well as principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 1979 to 1987 and in 1989 succeeded von Karajan as principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, retiring from the post in 2002?
29 Having his greatest success with the US and UK number one The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde, which British musician was born Clive Powell in 1943?
30 A one-time Penthouse Pet of the Month from February 1977 under the name Betsy Harris, which singer had her greatest success singing Take My Breath Away with her band Berlin?
31 Famed for his impersonation of Ronaldo and dying at the 2006 World Cup, by what name was the Jewish Brazilian comedian Claudio Besserman Vianna better known?
32 Which wife of Henry III of England died on June 26, 1291?
33 Ornithologist Gilbert White's house in Selborne now contains his museum as well as the Oates Memorial Museum, commemorating Frank and Lawrence Oates. What is it called?
34 Which American jazz saxophonist, who had done a stint in Lionel Hampton's band with "Brownie", wrote the threnody I Remember Clifford to honour trumpeter Clifford Brown's memory?
35 Which Dutch architect designed the De Stijl-influenced Red and Blue Chair in 1918 and designed the Schroder House in Utrecht in 1924?
36 The Spanish Catholic priest Saint Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer is best known for founding which "Prelature" in 1928?
37 The Titanic Express massacre of 2000, which saw 21 bus passengers killed, took place close to which African capital?
38 President Bashar Assad's palace is located in which principal port city of Syria?
39 Which simple steel rocket, filled with explosives of which three models have been used and all lacking a guidance system, was developed by Hamas?
40 What name was given to the final act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe held in the titular European capital in 1975 between the US and Canada, the USSR and countries of Europe that was signed by 35 nations?
41 Apollo turned which nymph, who scratched his face when he tried to rape her, into which flowering plant with about 30 species and which have the common name Bear's breeches?
42 Sharing its name with a cocktail, which small hand tool for drilling small holes, mainly in wood, without splitting, was defined in Gwilt's Architecture (1859) as "a piece of steel of a semi-cylindrical form, hollow on one side, having a cross handle at one end and a worm or screw at the other"?
43 Irving Stone wrote biographies about which men in these books: a) The Passions of the Mind? b) Greek Treasure? c) Origin?
44 Which hilly ski recreation area in the outskirts of Oslo is also the name of a famous eponymous ski jump and Medal that is Norwegian skiing's highest possible award for competitors?
45 Which female singer-songwriter has released the albums All You Can Eat (1988), Angel with a Lariat (1987) and Invincible Summer (2000)?
46 In game theory what is a set of actions or strategies taken by the players, or their payoffs resulting from the actions or strategies taken by all players?
47 Specifying not only a strategy but also a belief for each of the players, what refinement of the Nash Equilibirum for extensive form games was made by David M Kreps and Robert Wilson?
48 In game theory, what "game" is one in which information about the characteristics of the other players is incomplete, and following John C Harsanyi's framework can be modelled by introducing Nature as a player?
49 Which East European country includes the regions Samogita, Aukstaitija, Sudovia and Dzukija?
50 Who became US President following James Garfield's death on September 19, 1881?
51 Living in south and central America, what sort of creature is the Black-throated Mango?
52 In electricity, what term describes an electrical discharge brought on by the ionization of a fluid surrounding a conductor, which occurs when the potential gradient exceeds a certain value, but conditions are insufficient to cause complete electrical breakdown or arcing?
53 Which Serbian geophysicist (1879-1958) is best known for his theory of ice ages, relating variations of the Earth's orbit and long-term change, "cycles" which are now given his name?
54 The Zazas are an ethnic minority of some 2-4 million people living mainly in which country, who speak a language their own language?
55 In Information Techonlogy what are MSPs?
56 The Festa Junina are annual celebrations on key days following the Catholic feast days of St Anthony, John the Apostle and St Peter ,which take place in the middle of winter that are most associated with the northeast of which country?
57 Which Norfolk town lying in the valley of the river Waveney may take its name from the the Saxon for 'lake'?
58 Which 7th centur Indian mathematician and astronomer was head of the astronomical observatory at Ujjain and during his tenure there wrote two texts on maths and astronomy: the Brahma Sputa Siddhanta in 628 and the Khandakhadyaka?
59 What term described each of the twelve legendary chivalrous retainers of Charlemagne, aka the Twelve Peers, in medieval chansons de geste and stories of romance?
60 What two-word name was given to the buffer zone beyond the province of Septimania, first set up by Charlemagne as a defensive barrier between the Ummayyad Moors of Al-Andalus and the Frankish kingdom?
61 Which mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks defeated a Muslim army at the Battle of Tours in 732?
62 Surnamed Ephesius but also called Daldianus, which professional diviner and author is best known for the extant five-volume Greek work Oneirocritica, which is considered the first book on dream interpretation?
63 What is the Bunreacht na hEireann?
64 What mineral is named after a place, meaning "High Hill", in Jingde Town in Jiangxi, China?
65 Which famous German cathedral boy's choir was founded in 1967 by Dr Wilhelm Kempf?
66 Located in northern Queensland, what is the northernmost point on the Australian continent and was named by Captain Cook in 1770?
67 Which large black parrot of the cockatoo family is unique in its kind and is the only species in its genus Probosciger and the subfamily Microglossinae?
68 What is the largest macaw and the largest species in the parrot family?
69 Which country awards the Order of Maximo Gomez?
70 Known as "Shamerim Yisraelism", which religious and ethnic group claim that their worship is the true religion of the ancient Israelites predating the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, though that claim has historically been rejected by normative Judaism?
71 What political party was formed by Oswald Mosley when he became disaffected with the Labour Party when at its 1930 conference it narrowly rejected his "Mosley Manifesto", a document he had written outlining how he would deal with the problem of unemployment?
72 First staged in 1985, Observe the Sons of UIster Marching Towards the Somme is a play by which Irish dramatist?
73 According to Aelred of Hexham, who claimed she was a rebellious teenager who met a lay brother at an adjacent male monastery and became pregnant by him, who was the alleged central protagonist of a drama at a Gilbertine convent in Yorkshire when she had been admitted to the holy life as a toddler in the 12th century?
74 Founded in 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois with the motto "Charity Never Faileth", the Relief Society is the women's organisation of which religious denomination?
75 What is the current name of The Herman Goelitz Candy Company, named from its most popular products which were favourites of President Reagan?
76 The Kai Ken is a breed hailing from which country where it is a national treasure and has been bred for centuries. What animal is it?
77 A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999, which Chinese mountain range is located at the northern border of Fujian province with Jiangxi province, and is the origin of the true Da Hong Pao tea and Lapsang souchong?
78 In which Mesomerican people's mythology was the alux (Aluxob) or alush a tiny spirit that travelled through the land?
79 Which 18th century mathematician developed elastic theory, a theory of mechanics of materials that allows for very large scale elastic deflections of structures?
80 What is a mechanism by which an agent acts upon an environment and a mechanism that puts something into automatic action and in engineering have types called pneumatic and piezoelectric?
81 A piece of software responsible for the communication between the hardware and software components, what is the core piece of most operating systems?
82 How many Federal States or Lander are there in Germany?
83 The Bundesrat has its seat at which building in Berlin?
84 Giorgio I, born in 1936 as Giorgio Carbone is the prince and head of state of which small town and self-proclaimed principality in the back hills of Liguria near the French border and Monaco?
85 Written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay under the pseudonym "Publius" in honour of Roman consul Publius Valerius Publicola, which series of 85 articles argued for the ratification of the US Constitution?
86 The Islamic redaction of which book of the Bible is called the Zabur?
87 What name would Christians give to one of the four the Islamic Holy Books, the Injli, the others being the Zabur, Tawrat and Qu'ran, that is generally held by non-Muslim historians to be an abbreviation of the Greek word sometimes rendered in English as "evangel"?
88 Typically sour and often likened to bouillabaisse, the stewed dish Sinigang comes from which country?
89 Giving its name to a technique where rows of them support a projecting wall or parapet that has been used since Neolithic times, what is a term, also called a console, for a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight, its name coming from the Latin for "raven"?
90 Veniamin Makarov from Orenburg was the only man accorded which honorary title in the USSR that was awarded from July 8, 1944, for adopting 12 boys?
91 The Chimney Sweeps Islands are a pair of small islands located within which major city?
92 Headquartered in Tokyo and known for its slogan "Inspire the Next", which Japanese global company was founded in 1910 as an electrical repair shop?
93 The pond Anapji is the oldest extant artificial body of water in which country having been built by order of King Munmu in 674 CE?
94 With 46 million viewers, what is the most watched Simpsons episode of all time?
95 Which English architect is less known for his stately furniture designs that complemented his interiors, including furnishings for Hampton Court Palace (1732), for Devonshire House in London, and at Rousham, as well as a roay barge he designed for Frederick, Prince of Wales that can now be seen at the National Maritime Museum?
96 The white water lily is the national flower of which Asian country?
97 Which expedition of 1819-1821, the second Russian expedition to circumnavigate the globe, is named after the naval officer of the Russian Empire who commanded it and who became, during this expedition, one of three people to first see the continent of Antarctica?
98 What name was given to the manned space flight made by Virgil 'Gus' Grissom and John W Young on March 23, 1965?
99 The Jockey is the local pub in which Channel 4 TV series?
100 Which mentor of Queen Victoria was born William Lamb in 1779?
101 Meaning 'the domes', what is the local name for the remains of Roman baths near San Pedro de Alcantara in Andalucia, Spain?
102 In terms of plane movements and cargo traffic, what is the busiest airport in the world?
103 Whose novel South Riding won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for 1937?
104 Which common food fish, Ophiodon elongatus, is the most commercially important species of the family marine fishes called Hexagrammidae, which incorporates the greenlings?
105 Hart's Corner, Leonard's Corner and Baker's Corner are well-known street corners in which city?
106 Father of the physicist Freeman and grandfather of the historian George, which English musician and composer is known for such works as his 1937 symphony in G Major?
107 Based on the life of the 18th century French poet and first performed in 1896, Andrea Chenier is an opera in four acts by which Italian composer?
108 The Cordillera de Talinay is a mountain range situated in the Coquimbo Region of which South American country?
109 What large genus of Gram-positive bacteria, belonging to the Firmicutes, are obligate anaerobes capable of producing endospheres and have individual cells that are rod-shaped and which take their name from the Greek for 'spindle', and have four main species which cause botulism, gangrene and tetanus?
110 Saguaro National Park is located in which US state?
111 Released in 1988, the fourth film in which horror series has the subtitle The Original Nightmare?
112 Literally "abnormal muscle tone", what generic term is used to describe a neurological movement disorder involving involuntary, sustained muscle contractions?
113 Using the same basic principle as holography, what phrase is used to describe the technique for patterning regular arrays of fine features without the use of complex optical systems or masks?
114 Which observatory at the 4145m sumit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii is home to the two largest optical/near-infrared telescopes in the world?
115 Number 100 Squadron of the RAF is based at RAF Leeming. In which county is the airbase?
116 Due to have its 52nd edition in 2007 and based at a park named the Giardini, which major contemporary art exhibition was first held in 1895?
117 Built in the south-west outskirts of Paris in 1676, which chateau was originally the home of the Lamoignon family and is now famous as an extremely popular plant fair that have been held in mid-October since 1983?
118 Which company introduced the de Havilland DH. 108 Comet on its London-Johannesburg route on May 2, 1952, making it the first regular service flown by a jet airliner?
119 Still used today, Hikuta is an ancient martial art from which country?
120 Remaining a top secret amongs the Asian rulers for over a thousand years until military soldiers found out their secrets, what ancient art was initially developed by the bodyguards of the ancient Pharoahs in Egypt as the most efficient and effective way to defend their king
121 Chairman of Cheung Kong Holdings, which man is according to Forbes Magazine the richest person of Chinese descent in the world (with $18.8 billion) and was named "Asia's Most Powerful Man" by Asiaweek in 2000?
122 Also director of two Jack Nicholson westerns, 1965's Ride the Whirlwind and The Shooting, whose most critically acclaimed film to date is the 1971 road movie Two-Lane Bricktop?
123 Designed by General Electric as their generation III reactor, what is the ABWR?
124 In abstract algebra, what phrase describes an algebraic structure (a collection of elements and operations on them obeying defining axioms) that captures essential properties and logic operations and deals specifically with the set of operations of intersection, union, complement and the logic operations of AND, OR, NOT?
125 Named after an ancient Japanese province, which battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy was the first built of her eponymous class and was, with her sister ship Musashi, the largest, heaviest battleships ever constructed?
126 Located in Alberta and spanning 10,878 km2, what is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies?
127 Shakti, was the magical dart weapon of which Hindu god that was unfailing at executing its target?
128 How is Duane Chapman, whose firm Da Kline Bail Bonds in Honolulu, better known in the title of a reality TV show?
129 The only species of the genus Betta (splendens), what popular species of freshwater aquarium fish is native to the Mekong basin and is known as pla-kad in its native Thailand?
130 Said to have died aged 90 c.1020 in poverty and embittered by royal neglect, which great Persian poet is known for his epic, the Shahnameh or "The epic of kings", to which he devoted most of his adult life (more than 35 years)? His mausoleum is located in Tus in Iran.
131 Roland Ratzenburger and Ayrton Senna both died at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, but who else was seriously injured in practice?
132 Known for his primary work which is considered to the predominant Kabbalistic study text for our generation, Talmud Eser Sefriot (The Study of the Ten Sefriot), which Warsaw-born Kabbalist who lived in Jerusalem from 1922 until his death in 1954 was also known as Baal Ha-Sulam, meaning "Owner of the Sulam"?
133 Known as "The Intimidator", which NASCAR driver is best known for his success in the Winston Cup Series in which he won seven championships (tied for most all-time with Richard Parry) and died in a crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500?
134 Frederick Christ Trump, father of magnate Donald, made his money in what area?
135 In which sport does a "bench jockey" annoy and distract opposition players and umpires with his verbal repartee?
136 In astronomy, what are AGNs?
137 Also the name of a sugary confection, what term describes a galaxy undergoing an episode of very active star formation, in many cases the increae in star formation activity being due to an interaction or collision with another galaxy?
138 Which 19th century German novelist, poet and friend of Sir Walter Scott, wrote about Britain in such books as Ein Sommer in London (1854), Ays England, Studien und Briefe (1860) and Jenseits des Tweeds, Bilder und Briefe aus Schottland (1860), and is also known for the works James Monmouth (1854) and Effi Briest (1896)?
139 Playing boundaries for which sport are 200ft by 85ft with a corner radius of 28.5ft?
140 What Greek and Latin-derived term was coined by American occultists David Michael Cunningham and Traeonna A R Wagener to denote the belief that oneself is a deity without the denial of the existence of other deities?
141 Named after a German mathematician (1862-1943), what phrase describes a generalisation of Euclidean space that is not restricted to finite dimensions and is thus an inner product space?
142 Which German mathematician is best known as the creator of set theory, in which he established the importance of one-to-one correspondence between sets, defined infinite and well ordered sets?
143 Hindu Club is a rugby union side in which country?
144 Which 33-year-old Serbian composer is best known for such works as Zhukov - A Portrait (commissioned from the Russian Federation to mark the 50th anniversary of victory over fascism), the cycle of songs Jesenin (commemorating 100 years since the birth of the author), Remember (for the victims of (9/11) and Lullaby for Baby Jesus (marking the 2000 years of Christianity)?
145 The third son of Charlemagne by his third wife Hildegard of Savoy, who was crowned as king of Aquitaine as a child in 781 then became Emperor and King of the Franks in 814 and was also known as "The Fair" or "The Debonaire"?
146 What are the three Sacraments of Initiation by which one comes to be one of Christ's Faithful?
147 One of six European alphabetic scripts identified in the Unicode standard, what alphabet did St Mesrop Mashtots create in AD 405?
148 Founded in 1776 and based just south of Reims, which independent Champagne House became known as the "Champagne of the Tsars" because Tsar Nicholas II nominated the eponymous owner as official wine supplier to the Imperial Court of Russia?
149 The Shark Island Challenge is now considered to be the most celebrated World Tour event in which sport or pastime since the elimination of the Teahupoo Challenge?
150 Occurring every year since 1974, which town and commune in southwestern France hosts the main comics festival in Europe?
151 The San Antonio Silver Stars and the Orlando Miracle play which sport?
152 Which Italian-French mathematician and astronomer is best known for his two-volume Mecanique Analytique (first ed. 1788) and such other works as Calcul des Fonctions?
153 Which fruit, Myrciaria dubia, is grown primarily in the flood-zone areas of Peru and has been called the fruit with highest vitamin C content of any fruit?
154 Comprising over 7000 different species and also called the Acanthopteri, which order includes 40 per cent of all fish and are the largest order of vertebrates?
155 One of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, which period reached from the end of the Jurassic period (about 146 million years ago) to the beginning of the Paleocene epoch of the Tertiary period (65.5 million years ago)? Also, it constitutes nearly half of era?
156 Produced by Mott the Hoople member Ian Hunter, the 1979 album Valley of The Dolls was by which punk rock band?
157 Which female artist's 1977 club classic Love is You was sampled by DJ Spiller for his UK no 1 Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)?
158 Mainly used for attracting food or confusing predators, what is the light-emitting organ that appears as luminous spots on marine animals like fishes and cephalopods, its character being important in the identification of benthic fishes?
159 Which Hungarian poet and Shakespeare translator (1900-1957) published his first book of poetry in 1922 under the title of Fold, erdo, Isten ("Earth, Forest, God") and wrote the sonnet cycle The 26th Year in memory of his long-time girlfriend Erzsebet Kozati who committed suicide in 1950?
160 Which Coronation street character was so popular that they have him his own spin-off series entitled Pardon the Expression?
161 What Mr Men-accompanying 33-book series featuring female characters did Roger Hargreaves start in 1981?
162 The fjord known as Doubtful Sound is located on the southwest corner of which country, closer to the smaller but more accessible Milford Sound?
163 Sold at carnivals in the US and Canada, what item of food is an "Elephant ear"?
164 Also called St Joseph's Day Cakes as they are traditionally consumed on La Festa di San Giuseppe (March 19), what name is given to a form of ligh, fried dough in Neapolitan Italian cuisine?
165 Deriving their name from the Latin for 'reed', which Italian pastry desserts are also called Turkish hats?
166 Located just below the eastern Himalayan foothills, which northeastern state of India has its capital at Dispur and its commercial capital at Guwahati which form the gateway to the northeastern states, together called the "seven sisters"?
167 John de Lancie played which recurring character on Star Trek: The Next Generation?
168 Later known as the American Philosophical Society, which American established the club known as the Junto in 1727 for mutual improvement?
169 Rung for the first time as the year 2000 dawned, which bell is located in Newport, Kentucky and with a weight of 33,285kg and width of 12ft is the largest swinging bell in the world?
170 On January 24,1848, which employee of Sutter's Mill found several nuggets of gold that would begin the Californian gold rush?
171 Known for her 1943 novel Two Serious Ladies and her play In The Summer House, which alcoholic American writer suffered a stroke in 1957 at the age of 40?
172 Founded by the eponymous man in 1994 with the intention of producing a world-class supercar, which Swedish manufacturer was based initially in Olofstrom before moving to Margretetorp and is known for the slogan "Spirit of Performance" and car model CCR?
173 On what two dates does an equinox occur every year?
174 Which Croatian development critic is known for his 1971 book Deschooling Society?
175 Existing from 1674 to 1818, which Hindu state of India was founded by Chhatrapati Shivaji in 1674 when he carved out an independent zone around Pune from the Bijapur Sultanate?
176 The word frass refers to what kind of droppings or excrement?
177 Lance Armstrong's 1999 Tour de France victory on his Trek bike was the first time that components from which Japanese manufacturer, known for its VIA stamp, had been used to win it?
178 According to romantic legend, the story of which Bohemian dynasty of counts and princes began over 1000 years ago when a beautiful King's daughter was attacked by a pack of wolves when hunting but was saved by a young prince who wsa ennobled by a grateful father and granted a coat of arms featuring three wolves' teeth as an emblem of his bravery?
179 The deepest river in the British Isles at its mouth, which river rises in the mountains of mid-Wales then flows east through Abergavenny and the eponymous town to the Roman legionary fortress of Caerleon and the Bristol Channel at Newport? It has the second largest tidal range in the world after the Bay of Fundy.
180 Which Roman emperor brought to an end the period popularly known as the "Crisis of the Third Century" (235-284) and established an autocractic government and laid down the groundwork for the second phase of the Roman Empire variously known as the "Dominate", the "Tetrarchy" or simply the "Late Roman Empire"?
181 Abbreviated RSV, which English translation of the Bible was popular in the mid-20th century and posed the first serious challenge to the King James Version owing to tis aim to be both a readable and literally accurate modern translation?
182 Which country's government has apparently collapsed over the handling of the Ayaan Hirsi Ali affair?
183 On June 30, 1864, what did Abraham Lincoln grant to California for "public recreation"?
184 Which theory did Einstein introduce on June 30, 1905 when he published the article "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies"?
185 Which Soviet aircraft depressurised on reentry on June 30, 1971, killing three cosmonauts?
186 Launched on April 19, 1971, what was the world's first space station?
187 Covering more than 600,00km2, the world's largest wetlands are located where?
188 Who did the Immortal Seven invite and to where?
189 Which RL Stevenson story tells the story of Richard (Dick) Shelton during the War of the Roses and how he rescues his lady Joanna Sedley and obtains justice for the murder of his father Sir Harry Shelton?
190 The term "War of the Roses" came into common usage during the 19th century during a fictional scene where opposing sides pick different-coloured roses at the Temple Church in which Shakespeare play?
191 Which English king's reign saw one conspiracy against him, the Southampton Plot led by Richard, Earl of Cambridge?
192 At which battle in Staffordshire on September 23, 1459, did a large Lancastrian army fail to prevent a Yorkist force under Lord Salisbury from marching from Middleham Castle in Yorkshire and linking up with York at Ludlow Castle?
193 Which battle on July 10, 1460 saw the Yorkist army under Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, aided by treachery in the Lancastrian ranks, capture Henry VI and take him prisoner to London?
194 Kelsey Grammer's 20-year stint as Frasier Crane equalled the record for longest running character on primetime US TV with which actor, who played Marshall Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke?
195 The Incompatible-properties argument is the idea that no description of what is consistent with reality?
196 Consolidating its power with efficient administration and strong central bureaucracy, what dynasty expanded outwards annexing the other six kingdoms of the Warring States Period and was the first to unify China?
197 Becoming over time a general term for rural violence connected to secret societies, which 18th century secret Irish agrarian organisation and so-called followers of Johanna Meskill or Sheila Meskill used violent tactics to defend tenant farmer land rights for subsistence farming and derived their name from the smocks its members wore in their nightly raids?
198 What is defined as one joule of energy per second?
199 Taking place annually in Hilo, Hawaii, the Merrie Monarch Festival is a week-long festival that celebrates what?
200 Established at the University of Pennsylvania in 1881, the Wharton School was the first American type of what educational establishment?
201 Known for such hits as "Sorry, I'm a Lady", Spanish-born Mayte Mateos and Maria Mendiola comprised which musical duet?
202 Which German economist and sociologist defined the state as an entity which possesses a monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force, a definition that became pivotal to the study of modern Western politican science, in his 1818 essay Politics as a Vocation?
203 Used to refer to various sections of their religious text in various books, the term "Bani" is used in which religion?
204 Who wrote his Symphony No. 2 in E Minor in 1906-7 and dedicated the score to Sergei Tanayev, the pupil of Tchaikovsky and Russian composer, teacher and theorist?
205 Which two springs at Mount Helicon were sacred to the Muses?
206 What are the Tentative List and Nomination File used to select?
207 What name has been given to the terraces carved into the mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines?
208 Located in Francisco P Moreno National Park in the province of Santa Cruz, in which country is the cave known as the Cueva de las Manos?
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Answers to BH78
1 Montenegro 2 Gilad Shalit 3 Armenia & Azerbaijan 4 Arcelor & Mittal 5 Vimy Ridge 6 Atlantis 7 Seoul 8 June 28 9 Berestechko 10 Conformation dog show 11 Bessarabia 12 Malcolm X 13 Josephine Tewson 14 Obninsk 15 Albert Einstein Peace Prize 16 Gunnar Myrdal 17 Vera Wang 18 Frank Mills 19 Julian the Apostate 20 1284 21 Bicycle 22 Focke-Wulf FW 61 23 Wrigley's chewing gum 24 Indianapolis 25 Pearl S Buck 26 Messerschmitt Bf109 27 80m Hurdles, Javelin 28 Claudio Abbado 29 Georgie Fame 30 Terri Nunn 31 Bussunda 32 Eleanor of Provence 33 The Wakes 34 Benny Golson 35 Gerrit Rietveld 36 Opus Dei 37 Bujumbura 38 Latakia 39 Qassam rocket 40 Helsinki Accords 41 Acanthus (Acantha) 42 Gimlet 43 a) Sigmund Freud b) Heinrich Schliemann c) Charles Darwin 44 Holmenkollen 45 k.d. lang 46 Outcome 47 Sequential equilbirium 48 Bayesian game 49 Lithuania 50 Chester A Arthur 51 Hummingbird 52 Corona discharge 53 Milutin Milankovitch 54 Turkey 55 Management service providers 56 Brazil 57 Diss 58 Brahmagupta 59 Paladins 60 Marca Hispanica 61 Charles Martel 62 Artemidorus 63 Constitution of the Republic of Ireland 64 Kaolin 65 Limburg Cathedral or Limburger Domsingknaben 66 Cape York 67 Palm Cockatoo 68 Hyacinth Macaw 69 Cuba 70 Samaritan 71 The New Party 72 Frank McGuinness 73 The Nun of Watton 74 Church of the Latter Day Saints 75 Jelly Belly Candy Company (jelly beans) 76 Dog "Tora Dog" 77 Wuyi Mountains 78 Mayan 79 Euler 80 Actuator 81 Kernel 82 Sixteen 83 Former Prussian Herrenhaus (House of Lords) 84 Seborga 85 The Federalist Papers 86 Psalms 87 Gospels 88 Philippines 89 Corbel 90 Mother Hero 91 New York City 92 Hitachi 93 South Korea 94 Who Shot Mr Burns? 95 William Kent 96 Bangladesh 97 Fabian Gottlieb von Bellinghausen 98 Gemini III 99 Shameless 100 Viscount Melbourne 101 Las Bovedas 102 Paris Charles de Gaulle 103 Winifred Holtby 104 Lingcod 105 Dublin 106 Sir George Dyson 107 Umberto Giordano 108 Chile 109 Clostridium 110 Arizona 111 The Howling 112 Dystonia 113 Interference lithography 114 W.M. Keck Observatory 115 North Yorkshire 116 Venice Biennale 117 Chateau de Courson (Journess des Plantes de Courson) 118 BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) 119 Egypt 120 Kuta 121 Li Ka Shing 122 Monte Hellman 123 Advanced Boiling Water Reactor 124 Boolean algebra 125 Yamato 126 Jasper National Park 127 Indra 128 Dog the Bounty Hunter 129 Siamese fighting fish 130 Ferdowsi or Hakim Abu-I-Qasem Ferdousi Tusi 131 Rubens Barrichello 132 Yehuda Ashlag 133 Dale Earnhardt 134 Developing real estate 135 Baseball 136 Active galaxy nuclei 137 Starburst galaxy 138 Theodor Fontane 139 Ice hockey 140 Suitheism 141 Hilbert space 142 Georg Cantor 143 Argentina 144 Aleksandr Simic 145 Louis (I) the Pious 146 Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation 147 Armenian 148 Louis Roederer 149 Bodyboarding 150 Angouleme (Angouleme International Comics Festival) 151 Women's basketball 152 Joseph Louis Lagrange 153 Camu-camu berry 154 Perciformes or Percomorphi 155 Cretaceous, Mesozoic 156 Generation X 157 Carol Williams 158 Photophore 159 Lorinc Szabo 160 Leonard Swindley (played by Arthur Lowe) 161 Little Miss 162 New Zealand 163 Doughnut 164 Zeppole (singular Zeppola) 165 Cannoli 166 Assam 167 Q 168 Benjamin Franklin 169 The World Peace Bell 170 James Marshall 171 Jane Bowles 172 Koenigsegg (Automotive AB) 173 March 20, September 23 174 Ivan Illich 175 The Maratha Empire 176 Insects 177 Shimano (Dura-Ace) 178 Kinsky 179 River Usk 180 Diocletian 181 Revised Standard Version 182 Netherlands 183 Yosemite Valley (national park) 184 Special Relativity 185 Soyuz 11 186 Salyut 1 187 Western Siberian Lowlands 188 William III to England 189 The Black Arrow 190 Henry VI Part 1 191 Henry V 192 Blore Heath 193 Northampton 194 James Arness 195 God 196 Qin 197 The Whiteboys 198 Watt 199 Hula 200 Business school 201 Baccara 202 Max Weber 203 Sikhism 204 Sergei Rachmaninoff 205 Aganippe and Hippocrene 206 World Heritage Sites 207 Banaue Rice Terraces 208 Argentina
It's been a good experience so far. You have to be organised for a start, and it's something I need a lot of practice at. Even if my organising at the moment resembles me trying to make my Freeview box work: cables, tuning, it all came to ahead and we went back to analogue thus annoying Peter Snow and all those digital TV-pushing know it alls at the Beeb ... yes, we know it's far more fun watching BBC3 and mindless pop videos sometimes, but sometimes the situation is completely and irretrievably FUBAR. However, I am sure it will all work out in the end, says Mr Polyanna.
You also have to promote it and inject the right kind of self-deprecation so as not to portray yourself as this oafish idiot who thinks nothing of his own quiz project. Admittedly, promotion has wandered into the "look at me, LOOK AT ME, no, I mean, look at what I wrote" territory, you just have to. Otherwise, the project will wither and die of loneliness.
Errors. That's another thing. Reference books are rubbish I have found. They are full of mistakes and I am the one who pays by being the recipient of emails pointing out something that quite frankly never occurred to me. I trusted the encyclopedia on some occasions and I fell for the certainty of my memory on fewer occasions, admittedly. The silliness of trusting your own mind. It's silly.
I think it's a proven scientific fact that one in ten questions you set are complete baloney, sourced from an idiot who knew a lot less than you and relied on other rubbishy, fact-fragged books, purely because they thought they were meant to.
Yet that is what happens when you set the bulk of it over one night. You think you put something to bed but instead it waits, grinning in the future darkness ready to bite you on the ass. In future I will build the set methodically and gradually, whilst attaining a mastery of categorisation, to prevent such ass-mastication from occurring.
However, I really do like the marking (I have to, there are more than 65,000 answers winging my way). I am consequently checking my Gmail (oops Googlemail account) every five minutes just to see whether any answer sheets have dropped in, ready for the marking. The judgement part of it allows me to act like a God no less and since this is my project I answer to no one. No one! You hear me! Hey, I never said I was going to invest this exercise with the utmost decorum.
It has turned me a bit strange though (okay, strangerer), having reached a slump yesterday in which I thought there is no way I am doing this again (it was when I had my third email from somebody pointing out a question made about as much sense as Dave Cameron's face). I had to tell the MQers and had to type in everyone's name into a group and at about the midway point I felt like getting up and walking away. You know, I was going to be "some time".
But no, I got over that. Now I am more preoccupied by people sending in files in formats far too futuristic for the dirty, smoke-enveloped beige block of rubbishness that I am currently and furiously typing these words into. It doesn't do .wps. I would smack it if I thought it would do any good, but then corporal punishment is good for nothing, not even bashing computers.
So far I have received and marked 11 papers: each of them proffering answers that are very good and worthy of a chorus of enthusiastic clapping.
If you want a score hint and because I am an utter score-whore, even when I am handing them out, I can confirm that first and second place are separated by 71.5 points. But it is early days yet, though I am slightly disturbed by one thing. I thought 501 questions would separate everyone out by dint of revealing their different strengths in general knowledge (no one has the same strength, but you knew that. Of course). Only 501-q's is plainly not enough. Two people have the same tally already. This means that either the questions should have been further fine-tuned or that I am getting too picky and this is really turning into a saga now. Zippp.
I am encouraged by the remarks I've got so far and would like to do a World Knowledge version that doesn't have three separate questions on English soaps (for that I am truly sorry, all my non-UK TMQ brethren, but then I never thought so many of you would do it, if any at all). I am planning my next one once the majority of the work involving #1 has been done. This will have Persian poets and Indian stupas. Or maybe not since i have mentioned them. I will feature some non-Anglo Saxon film directors though. I couldn't believe it when I noticed that there was not one Polish film director question in there. Not one Iranian film star. And certainly, no dizzyingly outre Argentinian auteur. Not one. I can be such a blind little Englander sometimes.
A Triple Gah
At the moment I feel brain-smashed.
In the midst of all the organisation MQ brouhaha. I decided to write a 200-question BH quiz for this here blog, and I did. Took me hours, of course. And now my mind has gone, dispersed into a billion little pieces scattered through the universe, never to be put together again. Metaphorically speaking. The grey matter still resides in my head. It just needs its beauty sleep. Metaphorically, speaking. Again. Ask me who is the British Prime Minister? Go on. Wait, who am I talking to?
But even when I got to 200 I couldn't quite stop. It always happens. So I went to 208, which is the highest Test score of which England cricketer? Come one!??! Boyhood hero, told me to F off at Hove and walks for cancer.
So now I have brought you in one batch, literally hundreds of difficult and nasty questions based on a totally random selection of articles from Wikipedia. I was going to preface the word "batch" with "scintillating", but this would not be true. They will destroy something in you before you even get to question 76. Let's call it the "will to live". Well, I didn't do it for your benefit (when I say bring you, I actually mean, plonk here as if I was putting out the garbage, a bulging ton of intellectual flotsam and jetsam - what's the difference between the two again? Another for my burgeoning List of Confusions). I did it for mine. My quest to take over the world of general knowledge. Ha ha hahee ho ha heee. Ho... ha ... whatever.
Podcast Still Sounds Silly*
Otherwise, I have been amusing myself by listening to the NAQT podcasts from the 2006 Intercollegiate Championship Tournament Division II. Thirteen games of some aspiring Quiz Bowlers trying in vain to find the names "Bertolucci" and "Lucky Jim". Well, you can't blame them. They're not the top notch, just yet.
It takes some getting used to with the strange elongated American quizmaster getting his tongue round vowels with all the elegance of someone trying to shovel a Bigger Mac down their gullet in one go. But that's just the way they talk. We Brits sound pompous and stuttery toffs to everyone else, so they sound like WEIRDOS TOO. I have to tell myself that every few seconds. Being a spacker limey. This I did forget when I shouted out the trumphant answer to a Lolita toss-up shortly after the few words that explained she was dead from the beginning (hey, Tarantino had nothing on Nabokov). You see? Reading proper fictional books is good for your quiz health. If only someone was around to witness it. Awww, is what I want to be hearing from you right now.
Books like: I'm reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy at the moment. It is the most depraved retelling of the Old West I have ever come across. Rape, scalping, murder, slittings, slashings and on and on in wave after overwhelming wave of viscera and gore. You wonder when something, anything is going to be killed and two paragraphs later, the scoundrel protagonists be sodomising and stabbing and getting covered in all sorts of ugly muckiness. When a couple of puppies show up you just know they're going to get murderlised, and sure and soon enough, they get chucked in a river and used as target practice before you get the chance to turn the page.
Suffice to say, it is beautiful and brilliant and the best thing I've read in ages. And there should be more wanton puppy killing in film and literature. Just because.
Come to think of it, that would have made a great few scenes in Beethoven's 2nd and both live action 101 Dalmatian movies. Many, many small dogs "blossoming". That being the euphemism for being blown to bloody pieces of canine flesh. Like I said, McCarthy is a genius, though I do wonder, looking at his bookjacket photos whether he has ever smiled or breathed in the scent of a beautiful flower on a misty summer morning. He's probably the sort of guy who likes offal and black pudding washed down with his own home-made moonshine.
However, let's get away from pondering the execution of animal atrocities, the NAQT podcasts are a brilliant idea. Apart from inviting addictive tendencies from freaks like myself (it's junkie talk, just one more and then I'll be okay), people get to listen to questions, contests and the calibre of potential opponents, as well as find out exactly how good some quizzers, or "trivia buffs" (Trivia is one letter away from being Trivial). Most importantly, they spread the gospel AND entertain. It's like buzzer quiz on the radio. With Americans. And some baffling (to British ears) questions about NCAA basketball. And frustrated Americans shouting "Goddamnit!" and "Shit". Come to think of it there should be a warning about the language. It can be quite PG-13 at times.
Anyway.
Here have the words. Thousands of them. If you get to the end you can have my undying admiration. I'll send it over to you in a shiny, golden box embossed with my initials. You'll appreciate such a gesture. I know it as long as this heart beats in my body. Which won't be long owing to this constricted feeling I get after smoking 20 cigarettes in four hours. Just one more, I feel like another five minute excursion into Camel country.
* I get Invasion of the Body Snatchers and pea imagery mixed up in my mind.
Spelling mistakes be damned. Just ignore them wherever they may be
1 Which republic has just become the 192nd member of the United Nations?
2 Israel has launched Operation Summer Rain in the Gaza Strip to free which captured soldier?
3 Which two countries have agreed to allow a referendum in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh to decide its status?
4 The world's two leading steel producers have announced they are to merge. What are they called?
5 Where in June 1922 did France grant 100 hectares "freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes"?
6 In June 1995 which space shuttle became the first to dock with Russian space station Mir?
7 In which city did the Sampoong Department Store collapse in 1995, killing 501 and injuring 937?
8 What is the only date each year where both the month and day are perfect numbers?
9 Part of the Chmielnicki Uprising, where in Volhynia, Ukraine did the biggest battle in the 17th century take place beteen Polish and Cossack and peasant forces from June 28 to June 30?
10 The first of what kind of judging competition took place on June 28, 1859 in Newcastle-on-Tyne?
11 Romania ceded which region, modern day Moldova, to the USSR on June 28, 1940?
12 Who formed the Organization of Afro-American Unity on June 28, 1964?
13 Best known for her role as Elizabeth Warden in Keeping Up Appearances, who is the cousin of actor John Inman?
14 At what location near Moscow did the world's first nuclear power station open on June 27, 1954?
15 Willy Brandt in 1985, Pierre Trudeau in 1984 and Joseph Rotblat and Hans Bethe in 1992. Which $50,000 "Peace Prize" did they win in those years?
16 Professsor of economics at the Stockholm School of Economics from 1933 to 1947, which Swedish economist and politician published the landmark book, "An American Dilemma: The Negro problem and Modern Democracy" in 1944, thus coining the phrase "An American Dilemma"?
17 Born in 1949, which Chinese American fashion designer is known for her wedding gown collection opened her own design salon in Carlyle Hotel in New York in 1990 and has designed costumes for figure skaters like Nancy Kerrigan and bridal gowns for the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Victorian Beckham and Sharon Stone?
18 A member of The Bells during the late 60s and early 70s, which Canadian musician and pianist is best known for his solo instrumental hit "Music Box Dancer"?
19 Which Roman emperor was killed during the retreat from the Sassanid Empire on June 26, 363, and replaced by General Jovian who was proclaimed Emperor by the troops on the battlefield?
20 According to legend, the Pied Piper lured 130 children of Hamelin away from on June 26 in which year of the 13th century?
21 What vehicle was patented on June 26, 1819?
22 June 26, 1934 saw the initial flight of which helicopter in Germany, seen as the first practical one in history?
23 On June 25, 1974 the Universal Product Code was scanned for the first time to sell a package of what at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio?
24 Elvis Presley gave his last concert at the Market Square Arena on June 26, 1977. In which city was the venue?
25 Which Nobel Laureate began her writing career in 1930 with the publication of East Wind: West Wind?
26 What is seen by many to be Willy Messerschmitt's single most important design, which he created in collaboration with Walter Rethel in 1934 and which became the most important fighter in the Luftwaffe as Germany re-armed prior to WW2 and is the most-produced fighter in history to this day with some 35,000 built?
27 In which two events at the 1932 Olympics did Mildred "Babe" Didriksen Zaharias win gold?
28 Which Italain conductor served as Music Director of the Vienna State Opera from 1986 to 1991, as well as principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 1979 to 1987 and in 1989 succeeded von Karajan as principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, retiring from the post in 2002?
29 Having his greatest success with the US and UK number one The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde, which British musician was born Clive Powell in 1943?
30 A one-time Penthouse Pet of the Month from February 1977 under the name Betsy Harris, which singer had her greatest success singing Take My Breath Away with her band Berlin?
31 Famed for his impersonation of Ronaldo and dying at the 2006 World Cup, by what name was the Jewish Brazilian comedian Claudio Besserman Vianna better known?
32 Which wife of Henry III of England died on June 26, 1291?
33 Ornithologist Gilbert White's house in Selborne now contains his museum as well as the Oates Memorial Museum, commemorating Frank and Lawrence Oates. What is it called?
34 Which American jazz saxophonist, who had done a stint in Lionel Hampton's band with "Brownie", wrote the threnody I Remember Clifford to honour trumpeter Clifford Brown's memory?
35 Which Dutch architect designed the De Stijl-influenced Red and Blue Chair in 1918 and designed the Schroder House in Utrecht in 1924?
36 The Spanish Catholic priest Saint Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer is best known for founding which "Prelature" in 1928?
37 The Titanic Express massacre of 2000, which saw 21 bus passengers killed, took place close to which African capital?
38 President Bashar Assad's palace is located in which principal port city of Syria?
39 Which simple steel rocket, filled with explosives of which three models have been used and all lacking a guidance system, was developed by Hamas?
40 What name was given to the final act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe held in the titular European capital in 1975 between the US and Canada, the USSR and countries of Europe that was signed by 35 nations?
41 Apollo turned which nymph, who scratched his face when he tried to rape her, into which flowering plant with about 30 species and which have the common name Bear's breeches?
42 Sharing its name with a cocktail, which small hand tool for drilling small holes, mainly in wood, without splitting, was defined in Gwilt's Architecture (1859) as "a piece of steel of a semi-cylindrical form, hollow on one side, having a cross handle at one end and a worm or screw at the other"?
43 Irving Stone wrote biographies about which men in these books: a) The Passions of the Mind? b) Greek Treasure? c) Origin?
44 Which hilly ski recreation area in the outskirts of Oslo is also the name of a famous eponymous ski jump and Medal that is Norwegian skiing's highest possible award for competitors?
45 Which female singer-songwriter has released the albums All You Can Eat (1988), Angel with a Lariat (1987) and Invincible Summer (2000)?
46 In game theory what is a set of actions or strategies taken by the players, or their payoffs resulting from the actions or strategies taken by all players?
47 Specifying not only a strategy but also a belief for each of the players, what refinement of the Nash Equilibirum for extensive form games was made by David M Kreps and Robert Wilson?
48 In game theory, what "game" is one in which information about the characteristics of the other players is incomplete, and following John C Harsanyi's framework can be modelled by introducing Nature as a player?
49 Which East European country includes the regions Samogita, Aukstaitija, Sudovia and Dzukija?
50 Who became US President following James Garfield's death on September 19, 1881?
51 Living in south and central America, what sort of creature is the Black-throated Mango?
52 In electricity, what term describes an electrical discharge brought on by the ionization of a fluid surrounding a conductor, which occurs when the potential gradient exceeds a certain value, but conditions are insufficient to cause complete electrical breakdown or arcing?
53 Which Serbian geophysicist (1879-1958) is best known for his theory of ice ages, relating variations of the Earth's orbit and long-term change, "cycles" which are now given his name?
54 The Zazas are an ethnic minority of some 2-4 million people living mainly in which country, who speak a language their own language?
55 In Information Techonlogy what are MSPs?
56 The Festa Junina are annual celebrations on key days following the Catholic feast days of St Anthony, John the Apostle and St Peter ,which take place in the middle of winter that are most associated with the northeast of which country?
57 Which Norfolk town lying in the valley of the river Waveney may take its name from the the Saxon for 'lake'?
58 Which 7th centur Indian mathematician and astronomer was head of the astronomical observatory at Ujjain and during his tenure there wrote two texts on maths and astronomy: the Brahma Sputa Siddhanta in 628 and the Khandakhadyaka?
59 What term described each of the twelve legendary chivalrous retainers of Charlemagne, aka the Twelve Peers, in medieval chansons de geste and stories of romance?
60 What two-word name was given to the buffer zone beyond the province of Septimania, first set up by Charlemagne as a defensive barrier between the Ummayyad Moors of Al-Andalus and the Frankish kingdom?
61 Which mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks defeated a Muslim army at the Battle of Tours in 732?
62 Surnamed Ephesius but also called Daldianus, which professional diviner and author is best known for the extant five-volume Greek work Oneirocritica, which is considered the first book on dream interpretation?
63 What is the Bunreacht na hEireann?
64 What mineral is named after a place, meaning "High Hill", in Jingde Town in Jiangxi, China?
65 Which famous German cathedral boy's choir was founded in 1967 by Dr Wilhelm Kempf?
66 Located in northern Queensland, what is the northernmost point on the Australian continent and was named by Captain Cook in 1770?
67 Which large black parrot of the cockatoo family is unique in its kind and is the only species in its genus Probosciger and the subfamily Microglossinae?
68 What is the largest macaw and the largest species in the parrot family?
69 Which country awards the Order of Maximo Gomez?
70 Known as "Shamerim Yisraelism", which religious and ethnic group claim that their worship is the true religion of the ancient Israelites predating the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, though that claim has historically been rejected by normative Judaism?
71 What political party was formed by Oswald Mosley when he became disaffected with the Labour Party when at its 1930 conference it narrowly rejected his "Mosley Manifesto", a document he had written outlining how he would deal with the problem of unemployment?
72 First staged in 1985, Observe the Sons of UIster Marching Towards the Somme is a play by which Irish dramatist?
73 According to Aelred of Hexham, who claimed she was a rebellious teenager who met a lay brother at an adjacent male monastery and became pregnant by him, who was the alleged central protagonist of a drama at a Gilbertine convent in Yorkshire when she had been admitted to the holy life as a toddler in the 12th century?
74 Founded in 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois with the motto "Charity Never Faileth", the Relief Society is the women's organisation of which religious denomination?
75 What is the current name of The Herman Goelitz Candy Company, named from its most popular products which were favourites of President Reagan?
76 The Kai Ken is a breed hailing from which country where it is a national treasure and has been bred for centuries. What animal is it?
77 A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999, which Chinese mountain range is located at the northern border of Fujian province with Jiangxi province, and is the origin of the true Da Hong Pao tea and Lapsang souchong?
78 In which Mesomerican people's mythology was the alux (Aluxob) or alush a tiny spirit that travelled through the land?
79 Which 18th century mathematician developed elastic theory, a theory of mechanics of materials that allows for very large scale elastic deflections of structures?
80 What is a mechanism by which an agent acts upon an environment and a mechanism that puts something into automatic action and in engineering have types called pneumatic and piezoelectric?
81 A piece of software responsible for the communication between the hardware and software components, what is the core piece of most operating systems?
82 How many Federal States or Lander are there in Germany?
83 The Bundesrat has its seat at which building in Berlin?
84 Giorgio I, born in 1936 as Giorgio Carbone is the prince and head of state of which small town and self-proclaimed principality in the back hills of Liguria near the French border and Monaco?
85 Written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay under the pseudonym "Publius" in honour of Roman consul Publius Valerius Publicola, which series of 85 articles argued for the ratification of the US Constitution?
86 The Islamic redaction of which book of the Bible is called the Zabur?
87 What name would Christians give to one of the four the Islamic Holy Books, the Injli, the others being the Zabur, Tawrat and Qu'ran, that is generally held by non-Muslim historians to be an abbreviation of the Greek word sometimes rendered in English as "evangel"?
88 Typically sour and often likened to bouillabaisse, the stewed dish Sinigang comes from which country?
89 Giving its name to a technique where rows of them support a projecting wall or parapet that has been used since Neolithic times, what is a term, also called a console, for a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight, its name coming from the Latin for "raven"?
90 Veniamin Makarov from Orenburg was the only man accorded which honorary title in the USSR that was awarded from July 8, 1944, for adopting 12 boys?
91 The Chimney Sweeps Islands are a pair of small islands located within which major city?
92 Headquartered in Tokyo and known for its slogan "Inspire the Next", which Japanese global company was founded in 1910 as an electrical repair shop?
93 The pond Anapji is the oldest extant artificial body of water in which country having been built by order of King Munmu in 674 CE?
94 With 46 million viewers, what is the most watched Simpsons episode of all time?
95 Which English architect is less known for his stately furniture designs that complemented his interiors, including furnishings for Hampton Court Palace (1732), for Devonshire House in London, and at Rousham, as well as a roay barge he designed for Frederick, Prince of Wales that can now be seen at the National Maritime Museum?
96 The white water lily is the national flower of which Asian country?
97 Which expedition of 1819-1821, the second Russian expedition to circumnavigate the globe, is named after the naval officer of the Russian Empire who commanded it and who became, during this expedition, one of three people to first see the continent of Antarctica?
98 What name was given to the manned space flight made by Virgil 'Gus' Grissom and John W Young on March 23, 1965?
99 The Jockey is the local pub in which Channel 4 TV series?
100 Which mentor of Queen Victoria was born William Lamb in 1779?
101 Meaning 'the domes', what is the local name for the remains of Roman baths near San Pedro de Alcantara in Andalucia, Spain?
102 In terms of plane movements and cargo traffic, what is the busiest airport in the world?
103 Whose novel South Riding won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for 1937?
104 Which common food fish, Ophiodon elongatus, is the most commercially important species of the family marine fishes called Hexagrammidae, which incorporates the greenlings?
105 Hart's Corner, Leonard's Corner and Baker's Corner are well-known street corners in which city?
106 Father of the physicist Freeman and grandfather of the historian George, which English musician and composer is known for such works as his 1937 symphony in G Major?
107 Based on the life of the 18th century French poet and first performed in 1896, Andrea Chenier is an opera in four acts by which Italian composer?
108 The Cordillera de Talinay is a mountain range situated in the Coquimbo Region of which South American country?
109 What large genus of Gram-positive bacteria, belonging to the Firmicutes, are obligate anaerobes capable of producing endospheres and have individual cells that are rod-shaped and which take their name from the Greek for 'spindle', and have four main species which cause botulism, gangrene and tetanus?
110 Saguaro National Park is located in which US state?
111 Released in 1988, the fourth film in which horror series has the subtitle The Original Nightmare?
112 Literally "abnormal muscle tone", what generic term is used to describe a neurological movement disorder involving involuntary, sustained muscle contractions?
113 Using the same basic principle as holography, what phrase is used to describe the technique for patterning regular arrays of fine features without the use of complex optical systems or masks?
114 Which observatory at the 4145m sumit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii is home to the two largest optical/near-infrared telescopes in the world?
115 Number 100 Squadron of the RAF is based at RAF Leeming. In which county is the airbase?
116 Due to have its 52nd edition in 2007 and based at a park named the Giardini, which major contemporary art exhibition was first held in 1895?
117 Built in the south-west outskirts of Paris in 1676, which chateau was originally the home of the Lamoignon family and is now famous as an extremely popular plant fair that have been held in mid-October since 1983?
118 Which company introduced the de Havilland DH. 108 Comet on its London-Johannesburg route on May 2, 1952, making it the first regular service flown by a jet airliner?
119 Still used today, Hikuta is an ancient martial art from which country?
120 Remaining a top secret amongs the Asian rulers for over a thousand years until military soldiers found out their secrets, what ancient art was initially developed by the bodyguards of the ancient Pharoahs in Egypt as the most efficient and effective way to defend their king
121 Chairman of Cheung Kong Holdings, which man is according to Forbes Magazine the richest person of Chinese descent in the world (with $18.8 billion) and was named "Asia's Most Powerful Man" by Asiaweek in 2000?
122 Also director of two Jack Nicholson westerns, 1965's Ride the Whirlwind and The Shooting, whose most critically acclaimed film to date is the 1971 road movie Two-Lane Bricktop?
123 Designed by General Electric as their generation III reactor, what is the ABWR?
124 In abstract algebra, what phrase describes an algebraic structure (a collection of elements and operations on them obeying defining axioms) that captures essential properties and logic operations and deals specifically with the set of operations of intersection, union, complement and the logic operations of AND, OR, NOT?
125 Named after an ancient Japanese province, which battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy was the first built of her eponymous class and was, with her sister ship Musashi, the largest, heaviest battleships ever constructed?
126 Located in Alberta and spanning 10,878 km2, what is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies?
127 Shakti, was the magical dart weapon of which Hindu god that was unfailing at executing its target?
128 How is Duane Chapman, whose firm Da Kline Bail Bonds in Honolulu, better known in the title of a reality TV show?
129 The only species of the genus Betta (splendens), what popular species of freshwater aquarium fish is native to the Mekong basin and is known as pla-kad in its native Thailand?
130 Said to have died aged 90 c.1020 in poverty and embittered by royal neglect, which great Persian poet is known for his epic, the Shahnameh or "The epic of kings", to which he devoted most of his adult life (more than 35 years)? His mausoleum is located in Tus in Iran.
131 Roland Ratzenburger and Ayrton Senna both died at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, but who else was seriously injured in practice?
132 Known for his primary work which is considered to the predominant Kabbalistic study text for our generation, Talmud Eser Sefriot (The Study of the Ten Sefriot), which Warsaw-born Kabbalist who lived in Jerusalem from 1922 until his death in 1954 was also known as Baal Ha-Sulam, meaning "Owner of the Sulam"?
133 Known as "The Intimidator", which NASCAR driver is best known for his success in the Winston Cup Series in which he won seven championships (tied for most all-time with Richard Parry) and died in a crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500?
134 Frederick Christ Trump, father of magnate Donald, made his money in what area?
135 In which sport does a "bench jockey" annoy and distract opposition players and umpires with his verbal repartee?
136 In astronomy, what are AGNs?
137 Also the name of a sugary confection, what term describes a galaxy undergoing an episode of very active star formation, in many cases the increae in star formation activity being due to an interaction or collision with another galaxy?
138 Which 19th century German novelist, poet and friend of Sir Walter Scott, wrote about Britain in such books as Ein Sommer in London (1854), Ays England, Studien und Briefe (1860) and Jenseits des Tweeds, Bilder und Briefe aus Schottland (1860), and is also known for the works James Monmouth (1854) and Effi Briest (1896)?
139 Playing boundaries for which sport are 200ft by 85ft with a corner radius of 28.5ft?
140 What Greek and Latin-derived term was coined by American occultists David Michael Cunningham and Traeonna A R Wagener to denote the belief that oneself is a deity without the denial of the existence of other deities?
141 Named after a German mathematician (1862-1943), what phrase describes a generalisation of Euclidean space that is not restricted to finite dimensions and is thus an inner product space?
142 Which German mathematician is best known as the creator of set theory, in which he established the importance of one-to-one correspondence between sets, defined infinite and well ordered sets?
143 Hindu Club is a rugby union side in which country?
144 Which 33-year-old Serbian composer is best known for such works as Zhukov - A Portrait (commissioned from the Russian Federation to mark the 50th anniversary of victory over fascism), the cycle of songs Jesenin (commemorating 100 years since the birth of the author), Remember (for the victims of (9/11) and Lullaby for Baby Jesus (marking the 2000 years of Christianity)?
145 The third son of Charlemagne by his third wife Hildegard of Savoy, who was crowned as king of Aquitaine as a child in 781 then became Emperor and King of the Franks in 814 and was also known as "The Fair" or "The Debonaire"?
146 What are the three Sacraments of Initiation by which one comes to be one of Christ's Faithful?
147 One of six European alphabetic scripts identified in the Unicode standard, what alphabet did St Mesrop Mashtots create in AD 405?
148 Founded in 1776 and based just south of Reims, which independent Champagne House became known as the "Champagne of the Tsars" because Tsar Nicholas II nominated the eponymous owner as official wine supplier to the Imperial Court of Russia?
149 The Shark Island Challenge is now considered to be the most celebrated World Tour event in which sport or pastime since the elimination of the Teahupoo Challenge?
150 Occurring every year since 1974, which town and commune in southwestern France hosts the main comics festival in Europe?
151 The San Antonio Silver Stars and the Orlando Miracle play which sport?
152 Which Italian-French mathematician and astronomer is best known for his two-volume Mecanique Analytique (first ed. 1788) and such other works as Calcul des Fonctions?
153 Which fruit, Myrciaria dubia, is grown primarily in the flood-zone areas of Peru and has been called the fruit with highest vitamin C content of any fruit?
154 Comprising over 7000 different species and also called the Acanthopteri, which order includes 40 per cent of all fish and are the largest order of vertebrates?
155 One of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, which period reached from the end of the Jurassic period (about 146 million years ago) to the beginning of the Paleocene epoch of the Tertiary period (65.5 million years ago)? Also, it constitutes nearly half of era?
156 Produced by Mott the Hoople member Ian Hunter, the 1979 album Valley of The Dolls was by which punk rock band?
157 Which female artist's 1977 club classic Love is You was sampled by DJ Spiller for his UK no 1 Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)?
158 Mainly used for attracting food or confusing predators, what is the light-emitting organ that appears as luminous spots on marine animals like fishes and cephalopods, its character being important in the identification of benthic fishes?
159 Which Hungarian poet and Shakespeare translator (1900-1957) published his first book of poetry in 1922 under the title of Fold, erdo, Isten ("Earth, Forest, God") and wrote the sonnet cycle The 26th Year in memory of his long-time girlfriend Erzsebet Kozati who committed suicide in 1950?
160 Which Coronation street character was so popular that they have him his own spin-off series entitled Pardon the Expression?
161 What Mr Men-accompanying 33-book series featuring female characters did Roger Hargreaves start in 1981?
162 The fjord known as Doubtful Sound is located on the southwest corner of which country, closer to the smaller but more accessible Milford Sound?
163 Sold at carnivals in the US and Canada, what item of food is an "Elephant ear"?
164 Also called St Joseph's Day Cakes as they are traditionally consumed on La Festa di San Giuseppe (March 19), what name is given to a form of ligh, fried dough in Neapolitan Italian cuisine?
165 Deriving their name from the Latin for 'reed', which Italian pastry desserts are also called Turkish hats?
166 Located just below the eastern Himalayan foothills, which northeastern state of India has its capital at Dispur and its commercial capital at Guwahati which form the gateway to the northeastern states, together called the "seven sisters"?
167 John de Lancie played which recurring character on Star Trek: The Next Generation?
168 Later known as the American Philosophical Society, which American established the club known as the Junto in 1727 for mutual improvement?
169 Rung for the first time as the year 2000 dawned, which bell is located in Newport, Kentucky and with a weight of 33,285kg and width of 12ft is the largest swinging bell in the world?
170 On January 24,1848, which employee of Sutter's Mill found several nuggets of gold that would begin the Californian gold rush?
171 Known for her 1943 novel Two Serious Ladies and her play In The Summer House, which alcoholic American writer suffered a stroke in 1957 at the age of 40?
172 Founded by the eponymous man in 1994 with the intention of producing a world-class supercar, which Swedish manufacturer was based initially in Olofstrom before moving to Margretetorp and is known for the slogan "Spirit of Performance" and car model CCR?
173 On what two dates does an equinox occur every year?
174 Which Croatian development critic is known for his 1971 book Deschooling Society?
175 Existing from 1674 to 1818, which Hindu state of India was founded by Chhatrapati Shivaji in 1674 when he carved out an independent zone around Pune from the Bijapur Sultanate?
176 The word frass refers to what kind of droppings or excrement?
177 Lance Armstrong's 1999 Tour de France victory on his Trek bike was the first time that components from which Japanese manufacturer, known for its VIA stamp, had been used to win it?
178 According to romantic legend, the story of which Bohemian dynasty of counts and princes began over 1000 years ago when a beautiful King's daughter was attacked by a pack of wolves when hunting but was saved by a young prince who wsa ennobled by a grateful father and granted a coat of arms featuring three wolves' teeth as an emblem of his bravery?
179 The deepest river in the British Isles at its mouth, which river rises in the mountains of mid-Wales then flows east through Abergavenny and the eponymous town to the Roman legionary fortress of Caerleon and the Bristol Channel at Newport? It has the second largest tidal range in the world after the Bay of Fundy.
180 Which Roman emperor brought to an end the period popularly known as the "Crisis of the Third Century" (235-284) and established an autocractic government and laid down the groundwork for the second phase of the Roman Empire variously known as the "Dominate", the "Tetrarchy" or simply the "Late Roman Empire"?
181 Abbreviated RSV, which English translation of the Bible was popular in the mid-20th century and posed the first serious challenge to the King James Version owing to tis aim to be both a readable and literally accurate modern translation?
182 Which country's government has apparently collapsed over the handling of the Ayaan Hirsi Ali affair?
183 On June 30, 1864, what did Abraham Lincoln grant to California for "public recreation"?
184 Which theory did Einstein introduce on June 30, 1905 when he published the article "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies"?
185 Which Soviet aircraft depressurised on reentry on June 30, 1971, killing three cosmonauts?
186 Launched on April 19, 1971, what was the world's first space station?
187 Covering more than 600,00km2, the world's largest wetlands are located where?
188 Who did the Immortal Seven invite and to where?
189 Which RL Stevenson story tells the story of Richard (Dick) Shelton during the War of the Roses and how he rescues his lady Joanna Sedley and obtains justice for the murder of his father Sir Harry Shelton?
190 The term "War of the Roses" came into common usage during the 19th century during a fictional scene where opposing sides pick different-coloured roses at the Temple Church in which Shakespeare play?
191 Which English king's reign saw one conspiracy against him, the Southampton Plot led by Richard, Earl of Cambridge?
192 At which battle in Staffordshire on September 23, 1459, did a large Lancastrian army fail to prevent a Yorkist force under Lord Salisbury from marching from Middleham Castle in Yorkshire and linking up with York at Ludlow Castle?
193 Which battle on July 10, 1460 saw the Yorkist army under Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, aided by treachery in the Lancastrian ranks, capture Henry VI and take him prisoner to London?
194 Kelsey Grammer's 20-year stint as Frasier Crane equalled the record for longest running character on primetime US TV with which actor, who played Marshall Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke?
195 The Incompatible-properties argument is the idea that no description of what is consistent with reality?
196 Consolidating its power with efficient administration and strong central bureaucracy, what dynasty expanded outwards annexing the other six kingdoms of the Warring States Period and was the first to unify China?
197 Becoming over time a general term for rural violence connected to secret societies, which 18th century secret Irish agrarian organisation and so-called followers of Johanna Meskill or Sheila Meskill used violent tactics to defend tenant farmer land rights for subsistence farming and derived their name from the smocks its members wore in their nightly raids?
198 What is defined as one joule of energy per second?
199 Taking place annually in Hilo, Hawaii, the Merrie Monarch Festival is a week-long festival that celebrates what?
200 Established at the University of Pennsylvania in 1881, the Wharton School was the first American type of what educational establishment?
201 Known for such hits as "Sorry, I'm a Lady", Spanish-born Mayte Mateos and Maria Mendiola comprised which musical duet?
202 Which German economist and sociologist defined the state as an entity which possesses a monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force, a definition that became pivotal to the study of modern Western politican science, in his 1818 essay Politics as a Vocation?
203 Used to refer to various sections of their religious text in various books, the term "Bani" is used in which religion?
204 Who wrote his Symphony No. 2 in E Minor in 1906-7 and dedicated the score to Sergei Tanayev, the pupil of Tchaikovsky and Russian composer, teacher and theorist?
205 Which two springs at Mount Helicon were sacred to the Muses?
206 What are the Tentative List and Nomination File used to select?
207 What name has been given to the terraces carved into the mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines?
208 Located in Francisco P Moreno National Park in the province of Santa Cruz, in which country is the cave known as the Cueva de las Manos?
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Answers to BH78
1 Montenegro 2 Gilad Shalit 3 Armenia & Azerbaijan 4 Arcelor & Mittal 5 Vimy Ridge 6 Atlantis 7 Seoul 8 June 28 9 Berestechko 10 Conformation dog show 11 Bessarabia 12 Malcolm X 13 Josephine Tewson 14 Obninsk 15 Albert Einstein Peace Prize 16 Gunnar Myrdal 17 Vera Wang 18 Frank Mills 19 Julian the Apostate 20 1284 21 Bicycle 22 Focke-Wulf FW 61 23 Wrigley's chewing gum 24 Indianapolis 25 Pearl S Buck 26 Messerschmitt Bf109 27 80m Hurdles, Javelin 28 Claudio Abbado 29 Georgie Fame 30 Terri Nunn 31 Bussunda 32 Eleanor of Provence 33 The Wakes 34 Benny Golson 35 Gerrit Rietveld 36 Opus Dei 37 Bujumbura 38 Latakia 39 Qassam rocket 40 Helsinki Accords 41 Acanthus (Acantha) 42 Gimlet 43 a) Sigmund Freud b) Heinrich Schliemann c) Charles Darwin 44 Holmenkollen 45 k.d. lang 46 Outcome 47 Sequential equilbirium 48 Bayesian game 49 Lithuania 50 Chester A Arthur 51 Hummingbird 52 Corona discharge 53 Milutin Milankovitch 54 Turkey 55 Management service providers 56 Brazil 57 Diss 58 Brahmagupta 59 Paladins 60 Marca Hispanica 61 Charles Martel 62 Artemidorus 63 Constitution of the Republic of Ireland 64 Kaolin 65 Limburg Cathedral or Limburger Domsingknaben 66 Cape York 67 Palm Cockatoo 68 Hyacinth Macaw 69 Cuba 70 Samaritan 71 The New Party 72 Frank McGuinness 73 The Nun of Watton 74 Church of the Latter Day Saints 75 Jelly Belly Candy Company (jelly beans) 76 Dog "Tora Dog" 77 Wuyi Mountains 78 Mayan 79 Euler 80 Actuator 81 Kernel 82 Sixteen 83 Former Prussian Herrenhaus (House of Lords) 84 Seborga 85 The Federalist Papers 86 Psalms 87 Gospels 88 Philippines 89 Corbel 90 Mother Hero 91 New York City 92 Hitachi 93 South Korea 94 Who Shot Mr Burns? 95 William Kent 96 Bangladesh 97 Fabian Gottlieb von Bellinghausen 98 Gemini III 99 Shameless 100 Viscount Melbourne 101 Las Bovedas 102 Paris Charles de Gaulle 103 Winifred Holtby 104 Lingcod 105 Dublin 106 Sir George Dyson 107 Umberto Giordano 108 Chile 109 Clostridium 110 Arizona 111 The Howling 112 Dystonia 113 Interference lithography 114 W.M. Keck Observatory 115 North Yorkshire 116 Venice Biennale 117 Chateau de Courson (Journess des Plantes de Courson) 118 BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) 119 Egypt 120 Kuta 121 Li Ka Shing 122 Monte Hellman 123 Advanced Boiling Water Reactor 124 Boolean algebra 125 Yamato 126 Jasper National Park 127 Indra 128 Dog the Bounty Hunter 129 Siamese fighting fish 130 Ferdowsi or Hakim Abu-I-Qasem Ferdousi Tusi 131 Rubens Barrichello 132 Yehuda Ashlag 133 Dale Earnhardt 134 Developing real estate 135 Baseball 136 Active galaxy nuclei 137 Starburst galaxy 138 Theodor Fontane 139 Ice hockey 140 Suitheism 141 Hilbert space 142 Georg Cantor 143 Argentina 144 Aleksandr Simic 145 Louis (I) the Pious 146 Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation 147 Armenian 148 Louis Roederer 149 Bodyboarding 150 Angouleme (Angouleme International Comics Festival) 151 Women's basketball 152 Joseph Louis Lagrange 153 Camu-camu berry 154 Perciformes or Percomorphi 155 Cretaceous, Mesozoic 156 Generation X 157 Carol Williams 158 Photophore 159 Lorinc Szabo 160 Leonard Swindley (played by Arthur Lowe) 161 Little Miss 162 New Zealand 163 Doughnut 164 Zeppole (singular Zeppola) 165 Cannoli 166 Assam 167 Q 168 Benjamin Franklin 169 The World Peace Bell 170 James Marshall 171 Jane Bowles 172 Koenigsegg (Automotive AB) 173 March 20, September 23 174 Ivan Illich 175 The Maratha Empire 176 Insects 177 Shimano (Dura-Ace) 178 Kinsky 179 River Usk 180 Diocletian 181 Revised Standard Version 182 Netherlands 183 Yosemite Valley (national park) 184 Special Relativity 185 Soyuz 11 186 Salyut 1 187 Western Siberian Lowlands 188 William III to England 189 The Black Arrow 190 Henry VI Part 1 191 Henry V 192 Blore Heath 193 Northampton 194 James Arness 195 God 196 Qin 197 The Whiteboys 198 Watt 199 Hula 200 Business school 201 Baccara 202 Max Weber 203 Sikhism 204 Sergei Rachmaninoff 205 Aganippe and Hippocrene 206 World Heritage Sites 207 Banaue Rice Terraces 208 Argentina
posted by That Quiz Guy at 7:59 PM
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