New "Hostile" of the Year
Hello: it's the Not So New Year
Just friendly questions from today's Prez Cup match (we beat the Masterminders 42-37 thanks to a fortuitous last round; thank heavens for the creation of the word "genocide" - er, I guess you had to be there).
Tell Me What to Think
Too tired to write otherwise. Busy and confidential. Watching an incomprehensible Japanese movie. Watching it again immediately afterwards in the vain hope that some tiny semblance of understanding may hove into the view of my mind's eye. Me typing. Eyelids flutter up, flutter down. Inhaling atomised chocolate crumbly oat-biscuits. Then thinking about Stilton/blackcurrant jam-topped digestive biscuits. La la la. Probable QLL decider on Tuesday. Also thinking about the two-point average. Or, maybe, I shouldn't be thinking about my two-point average. And the Kevin Ashman Trophy. I have apparently played enough matches to qualify, which gives me nothing but bad and selfish ideas. Baaad ideas. Monomaniacal notions. If that is the apt adjective.
Fwendlee
I wrote a ten-round, 80-question friendly. I did this because they are basically surplus questions that were either a) too long to go somewhere or b) too hard to go somewhere else (and because c) league friendlies and their pairs can get tiresome and unimaginative when you are compelled to set them time and time again). So they went into a friendly, with the ol' pick a number from 1-8 thingummijig. Thus, the number fours get a veritable Hobson's choice ... which doesn't really matter because the subject-distribution is random anyway. Or is it? Duh-duh-darrrr!
Final score was 56-39 to Sussex (Paul S 13 / Ian O 14 / Kathryn J 15 / Will J 14 - Gavin F 12 / Mark G 12 / Ray W 8 / Ken E 7)
Unanswered Qs in bold
Round 1
1 In terms of area, what is the largest county in [historic province of] Ulster?
County Donegal - bit of a trick question really, what with me not doing the specifying about historical Northern Ireland
2 Which 2010 Massive Attack album is named for a German island and former possession of Britain and Denmark?
Heligoland
3 Which British sculptor, who died in 1975, created the nine-piece bronze group Family of Man?
Barbara Hepworth
4 The Spanish Second Division team Real Sociedad is based in which city?
San Sebastian / Donostia
5 Which crime writer novelist created the investigator Sid Halley, who appeared in such novels as Whip Hand and Under Orders?
Dick Francis
6 Established in 1790, the St James's Street establishment D.R. Harris & Co. is said to be the oldest type of which shop in London?
Pharmacy
7 Max Brito was paralysed at the 1995 Rugby World Cup. He was playing for which country?
Ivory Coast
8 Guerillas and A Bend in the River are novels by which British* Nobel Literature Prize winner?
VS Naipaul - * well, he is really, citizen-wise; if I put Trinidadian-born, well, gimme gimme gimme
Round 2
1 Which Empire signed the Armistice of Mudros with the Allies in October 1918?
Ottoman Empire
2 In a list of the Commonwealth countries, which nation comes last alphabetically?
Zambia
3 Whose alternative titles include Earl of Chester, Baron of Renfrew and High Steward of Scotland?
Prince Charles / Prince of Wales
4 The Swing and The Progress of Love are late 18th century works by which French painter?
Jean-Honore Fragonard
5 The American, Shaun White, has become the first snowboarder to win back-to-back Olympic golds in which event?
Halfpipe
6 Derived from a word meaning 'pure', Katharevousa is the literary form of which modern European language?
Greek
7 John Keble's 1833 sermon on national apostasy is generally held to be the beginning of which movement?
Oxford Movement / Tractarians / Newmanites / Puseyites
8 In the song Waltzing Matilda, what is "Matilda"?
A bushman's bundle of belongings
Round 3
1 Derived from the Greek for 'grave law', taphonomy is the study of which natural process?
Fossilization / decaying organisms over time
2 Which chaplain to Egbert, king of Wessex, became bishop of Winchester in October 852?
St Swithin / Swithun
3 Which New York Yankee baseball player, who retired in April 1939, was known as the "Iron Horse"?
Lou Gehrig
4 What middle name links David Beckham, Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Jackson?
Joseph
5 Which body of water in the Northwest Territories is the deepest lake in North America at 614 metres?
Great Slave Lake
6 On his 2004 Champions' League debut for Manchester United, Wayne Rooney scored a hat-trick against which Istanbul team?
Fenerbahce SK
7 The physical act of micturition is known by what other name?
Urination / peeing / voiding / emiction
8 Raised in Grimsby, which Tory Chancellor was born in Lerwick on Shetland in 1942?
Norman Lamont
Round 4
1 Which form of asbestos derives its name from the Greek for 'gold fibre'?
Chrysotile
2 What is the married surname of JK Rowling?
Murray
3 The entertainer Lionel Blair was born in which Canadian city?
Montreal
4 Beaujolais Nouveau is officially released on the third Thursday of which month?
November
5 Premiered at Milan’s Teatro Dal Verme in 1884, Le Villi – as in The Willis or The Fairies, was which composer’s debut opera?
Giacomo Puccini
6 Derived from the Scottish Highlands for 'strait' or ‘channel’, what name may be given to a narrow channel between islands or between an island and the mainland?
Kyle
7 First settled in the mid-19th century, the American city of Laramie is in which state?
Wyoming
8 Which pale, very dry fino sherry has a Spanish name that means 'camomile'?
Manzanilla
Round 5
1 Which American actor played Sonny Corleone in The Godfather and "hobbled" novelist Paul Sheldon in the film Misery?
James Caan
2 According to Irish legend, which two cats fought until only their tails remained?
Kilkenny cats
3 The Danish-born sportsman Morten Andersen is the all-time leading points scorer in the history of which sports league?
NFL
4 Charles Reade's 1861 historical romance The Cloister and the Hearth related the adventures of Gerard Eliassoen, the father of which Dutch Renaissance humanist and theologian?
Erasmus
5 Captain James Cook named which bay on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island in honour of the man who became 1st Lord of the Admiralty in 1766?
Hawke Bay
6 Monoecus, meaning 'the lone dweller', is an alternative Latin name for which hero of classical myth?
Heracles / Hercules
7 Which British astrologer wrote The Real Counties of Britain and The Illustrated Dream Dictionary?
Russell Grant
8 Which American singer had her first UK number one with a cover of Without You in 1994?
Mariah Carey
Round 6
1 In 2009, Boggy Peak, the highest point in Antigua and Barbuda, was renamed in honour of which politician?
Barack Obama
2 Invented by Sir John Ambrose Fleming, the thermionic valve or vacuum tube is known by what other name?
Diode - another early name is the kenotron
3 Which British producer, director and writer founded AP Films with the cinematographer Arthur Provis in 1957?
Gerry Anderson - as in Anderson-Provis Films
4 Don DeLillo’s 1988 novel Libra focuses on the life of which presidential assassin?
Lee Harvey Oswald
5 What term describes a real number that cannot be expressed as a fraction or ratio of integers?
Irrational [number]
6 In February 2009, which jockey won his 3,000th National Hunt race when he rode Restless D'Artaix at Plumpton?
Tony McCoy
7 Discovered by Marguerite Perey in 1939, which radioactive metallic element is the heaviest member of the alkali metal group?
Francium
8 Which capital city is home to the HQ of the African Union?
Addis Ababa
Round 7
1 Who was the second son born to Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg?
Prince Albert
2 2010 is the quincentenary of which Florentine painter, who died on May 17, 1510?
Sandro Botticelli / Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi
3 Vidin, Lom and Ruse are inland ports on the Danube. They are in which country?
Bulgaria
4 Owned by the British transport firm FirstGroup, which bus company was founded by the Swedish-born Carl Wickman in Hibbing, Minnesota, in 1914?
Greyhound Lines
5 What name is given to a female Red or Sika deer?
Hind
6 Which battle site forms the Historic Triangle of Virginia with Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg?
Yorktown
7 Set in the year of George VI's coronation, which 1988 sitcom starred Ronnie Barker as a short-sighted removal man?
Clarence
8 CLR James's 1938 book Black Jacobins is a historical study of which revolution?
Haitian Revolution
Round 8
1 Joan of Arc was inspired by the "voices" of two female saints. Name either one.
St Catherine (of Alexandria) or St Margaret
2 Sharing his surname with a character in the sitcom MASH, which German artist is known for his 1902 statue of Beethoven and ten etchings entitled Paraphrases about the Finding of a Glove?
Max Klinger - the character being Maxwell Klinger
3 What role does the Clerk of the Closet perform for the UK sovereign?
Principal chaplain
4 Jacob's twin Esau is regarded as the ancestor of which Semitic-speaking tribal group?
Edomites
5 What name did the French give to their version of the quiz show Going for Gold?
Questions pour un champion
6 What sport is played by the Buffalo Sabres and the New York Islanders?
Ice hockey / hockey
7 Friggers are objects made outside working hours, or at the end of the day, by what type of craftsmen?
Glass blowers
8 What is the first name of Portnoy in Philip Roth's novel Portnoy's Complaint?
Alexander
Round 9
1 Carl Fogarty won all four of his World Superbikes titles riding motorcycles made by which Italian company?
Ducati
2 Made by Martell & Son, which cheese won Britain's first Smelliest Cheese Championship in May 2009 at The Royal Bath & West Show in Somerset?
Stinking Bishop
3 Which 22-year-old Wasps player has just signed for the new Australian Super 15 franchise Melbourne Rebels?
Danny Cipriani
4 Which Irishwoman founded the Vic-Wells ballet company in 1931, as well as the predecessors of today’s Birmingham Royal Ballet and Royal Ballet School?
Ninette de Valois / Edris Stannus
5 In 1904, the Royal Horticultural Society founded a garden in which small Surrey village?
Wisley
6 Paris 1919, Music For A New Society and HoboSapiens are solo albums by which former Velvet Underground member?
John Cale
7 On August 14th 1502, Christopher Columbus first set foot on the American mainland at Trujillo in which Central American country?
Honduras
8 Which Zimbabwean golfer won The Open Championship in 1994?
Nick Price
Round 10
1 There are seven cervical vertebrae and five lumbar vertebrae, while there are 12 of which type of vertebra?
Thoracic
2 The American athlete, Randy Barnes, became (and still is) the world record holder in which field event in 1990?
Shot put
3 Succeeding Herbert Asquith, who became leader of the official Opposition in November 1922?
Ramsay McDonald
4 Which SI unit is defined as 9,192,631,770 radiation cycles of the caesium-133 atom?
Second
5 The musical term "au talon" describes the playing of a string instrument with which part of the bow?
Heel / nut / frog
6 Which rock musical features the numbers Light at the End of the Tunnel, Only He (Has The Power to Move Me) and the love duet Only You?
Starlight Express
7 The formula 4πrsquared gives the surface area of what geometrical object?
Sphere
8 Derived from the Sanskrit for ‘to split’, what name is given to a thick, spicy stew, with pulses, that is a mainstay of Indian cuisine?
Dhal / dal - this question might be badly worded or I may have garbled it - "thickshhuptew". Paul said "mulligatawny".
Half-hearted spares
The first British flight using Frank Whittle's jet engine took place in May 1941. Which company made the aircraft?
Gloster
Noel Coward created the Hay Fever character Judith Bliss for which actress - the "queen of her profession" - who was born Mary Susan Etherington in 1864?
Dame Marie Tempest
Just friendly questions from today's Prez Cup match (we beat the Masterminders 42-37 thanks to a fortuitous last round; thank heavens for the creation of the word "genocide" - er, I guess you had to be there).
Tell Me What to Think
Too tired to write otherwise. Busy and confidential. Watching an incomprehensible Japanese movie. Watching it again immediately afterwards in the vain hope that some tiny semblance of understanding may hove into the view of my mind's eye. Me typing. Eyelids flutter up, flutter down. Inhaling atomised chocolate crumbly oat-biscuits. Then thinking about Stilton/blackcurrant jam-topped digestive biscuits. La la la. Probable QLL decider on Tuesday. Also thinking about the two-point average. Or, maybe, I shouldn't be thinking about my two-point average. And the Kevin Ashman Trophy. I have apparently played enough matches to qualify, which gives me nothing but bad and selfish ideas. Baaad ideas. Monomaniacal notions. If that is the apt adjective.
Fwendlee
I wrote a ten-round, 80-question friendly. I did this because they are basically surplus questions that were either a) too long to go somewhere or b) too hard to go somewhere else (and because c) league friendlies and their pairs can get tiresome and unimaginative when you are compelled to set them time and time again). So they went into a friendly, with the ol' pick a number from 1-8 thingummijig. Thus, the number fours get a veritable Hobson's choice ... which doesn't really matter because the subject-distribution is random anyway. Or is it? Duh-duh-darrrr!
Final score was 56-39 to Sussex (Paul S 13 / Ian O 14 / Kathryn J 15 / Will J 14 - Gavin F 12 / Mark G 12 / Ray W 8 / Ken E 7)
Unanswered Qs in bold
Round 1
1 In terms of area, what is the largest county in [historic province of] Ulster?
County Donegal - bit of a trick question really, what with me not doing the specifying about historical Northern Ireland
2 Which 2010 Massive Attack album is named for a German island and former possession of Britain and Denmark?
Heligoland
3 Which British sculptor, who died in 1975, created the nine-piece bronze group Family of Man?
Barbara Hepworth
4 The Spanish Second Division team Real Sociedad is based in which city?
San Sebastian / Donostia
5 Which crime writer novelist created the investigator Sid Halley, who appeared in such novels as Whip Hand and Under Orders?
Dick Francis
6 Established in 1790, the St James's Street establishment D.R. Harris & Co. is said to be the oldest type of which shop in London?
Pharmacy
7 Max Brito was paralysed at the 1995 Rugby World Cup. He was playing for which country?
Ivory Coast
8 Guerillas and A Bend in the River are novels by which British* Nobel Literature Prize winner?
VS Naipaul - * well, he is really, citizen-wise; if I put Trinidadian-born, well, gimme gimme gimme
Round 2
1 Which Empire signed the Armistice of Mudros with the Allies in October 1918?
Ottoman Empire
2 In a list of the Commonwealth countries, which nation comes last alphabetically?
Zambia
3 Whose alternative titles include Earl of Chester, Baron of Renfrew and High Steward of Scotland?
Prince Charles / Prince of Wales
4 The Swing and The Progress of Love are late 18th century works by which French painter?
Jean-Honore Fragonard
5 The American, Shaun White, has become the first snowboarder to win back-to-back Olympic golds in which event?
Halfpipe
6 Derived from a word meaning 'pure', Katharevousa is the literary form of which modern European language?
Greek
7 John Keble's 1833 sermon on national apostasy is generally held to be the beginning of which movement?
Oxford Movement / Tractarians / Newmanites / Puseyites
8 In the song Waltzing Matilda, what is "Matilda"?
A bushman's bundle of belongings
Round 3
1 Derived from the Greek for 'grave law', taphonomy is the study of which natural process?
Fossilization / decaying organisms over time
2 Which chaplain to Egbert, king of Wessex, became bishop of Winchester in October 852?
St Swithin / Swithun
3 Which New York Yankee baseball player, who retired in April 1939, was known as the "Iron Horse"?
Lou Gehrig
4 What middle name links David Beckham, Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Jackson?
Joseph
5 Which body of water in the Northwest Territories is the deepest lake in North America at 614 metres?
Great Slave Lake
6 On his 2004 Champions' League debut for Manchester United, Wayne Rooney scored a hat-trick against which Istanbul team?
Fenerbahce SK
7 The physical act of micturition is known by what other name?
Urination / peeing / voiding / emiction
8 Raised in Grimsby, which Tory Chancellor was born in Lerwick on Shetland in 1942?
Norman Lamont
Round 4
1 Which form of asbestos derives its name from the Greek for 'gold fibre'?
Chrysotile
2 What is the married surname of JK Rowling?
Murray
3 The entertainer Lionel Blair was born in which Canadian city?
Montreal
4 Beaujolais Nouveau is officially released on the third Thursday of which month?
November
5 Premiered at Milan’s Teatro Dal Verme in 1884, Le Villi – as in The Willis or The Fairies, was which composer’s debut opera?
Giacomo Puccini
6 Derived from the Scottish Highlands for 'strait' or ‘channel’, what name may be given to a narrow channel between islands or between an island and the mainland?
Kyle
7 First settled in the mid-19th century, the American city of Laramie is in which state?
Wyoming
8 Which pale, very dry fino sherry has a Spanish name that means 'camomile'?
Manzanilla
Round 5
1 Which American actor played Sonny Corleone in The Godfather and "hobbled" novelist Paul Sheldon in the film Misery?
James Caan
2 According to Irish legend, which two cats fought until only their tails remained?
Kilkenny cats
3 The Danish-born sportsman Morten Andersen is the all-time leading points scorer in the history of which sports league?
NFL
4 Charles Reade's 1861 historical romance The Cloister and the Hearth related the adventures of Gerard Eliassoen, the father of which Dutch Renaissance humanist and theologian?
Erasmus
5 Captain James Cook named which bay on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island in honour of the man who became 1st Lord of the Admiralty in 1766?
Hawke Bay
6 Monoecus, meaning 'the lone dweller', is an alternative Latin name for which hero of classical myth?
Heracles / Hercules
7 Which British astrologer wrote The Real Counties of Britain and The Illustrated Dream Dictionary?
Russell Grant
8 Which American singer had her first UK number one with a cover of Without You in 1994?
Mariah Carey
Round 6
1 In 2009, Boggy Peak, the highest point in Antigua and Barbuda, was renamed in honour of which politician?
Barack Obama
2 Invented by Sir John Ambrose Fleming, the thermionic valve or vacuum tube is known by what other name?
Diode - another early name is the kenotron
3 Which British producer, director and writer founded AP Films with the cinematographer Arthur Provis in 1957?
Gerry Anderson - as in Anderson-Provis Films
4 Don DeLillo’s 1988 novel Libra focuses on the life of which presidential assassin?
Lee Harvey Oswald
5 What term describes a real number that cannot be expressed as a fraction or ratio of integers?
Irrational [number]
6 In February 2009, which jockey won his 3,000th National Hunt race when he rode Restless D'Artaix at Plumpton?
Tony McCoy
7 Discovered by Marguerite Perey in 1939, which radioactive metallic element is the heaviest member of the alkali metal group?
Francium
8 Which capital city is home to the HQ of the African Union?
Addis Ababa
Round 7
1 Who was the second son born to Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg?
Prince Albert
2 2010 is the quincentenary of which Florentine painter, who died on May 17, 1510?
Sandro Botticelli / Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi
3 Vidin, Lom and Ruse are inland ports on the Danube. They are in which country?
Bulgaria
4 Owned by the British transport firm FirstGroup, which bus company was founded by the Swedish-born Carl Wickman in Hibbing, Minnesota, in 1914?
Greyhound Lines
5 What name is given to a female Red or Sika deer?
Hind
6 Which battle site forms the Historic Triangle of Virginia with Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg?
Yorktown
7 Set in the year of George VI's coronation, which 1988 sitcom starred Ronnie Barker as a short-sighted removal man?
Clarence
8 CLR James's 1938 book Black Jacobins is a historical study of which revolution?
Haitian Revolution
Round 8
1 Joan of Arc was inspired by the "voices" of two female saints. Name either one.
St Catherine (of Alexandria) or St Margaret
2 Sharing his surname with a character in the sitcom MASH, which German artist is known for his 1902 statue of Beethoven and ten etchings entitled Paraphrases about the Finding of a Glove?
Max Klinger - the character being Maxwell Klinger
3 What role does the Clerk of the Closet perform for the UK sovereign?
Principal chaplain
4 Jacob's twin Esau is regarded as the ancestor of which Semitic-speaking tribal group?
Edomites
5 What name did the French give to their version of the quiz show Going for Gold?
Questions pour un champion
6 What sport is played by the Buffalo Sabres and the New York Islanders?
Ice hockey / hockey
7 Friggers are objects made outside working hours, or at the end of the day, by what type of craftsmen?
Glass blowers
8 What is the first name of Portnoy in Philip Roth's novel Portnoy's Complaint?
Alexander
Round 9
1 Carl Fogarty won all four of his World Superbikes titles riding motorcycles made by which Italian company?
Ducati
2 Made by Martell & Son, which cheese won Britain's first Smelliest Cheese Championship in May 2009 at The Royal Bath & West Show in Somerset?
Stinking Bishop
3 Which 22-year-old Wasps player has just signed for the new Australian Super 15 franchise Melbourne Rebels?
Danny Cipriani
4 Which Irishwoman founded the Vic-Wells ballet company in 1931, as well as the predecessors of today’s Birmingham Royal Ballet and Royal Ballet School?
Ninette de Valois / Edris Stannus
5 In 1904, the Royal Horticultural Society founded a garden in which small Surrey village?
Wisley
6 Paris 1919, Music For A New Society and HoboSapiens are solo albums by which former Velvet Underground member?
John Cale
7 On August 14th 1502, Christopher Columbus first set foot on the American mainland at Trujillo in which Central American country?
Honduras
8 Which Zimbabwean golfer won The Open Championship in 1994?
Nick Price
Round 10
1 There are seven cervical vertebrae and five lumbar vertebrae, while there are 12 of which type of vertebra?
Thoracic
2 The American athlete, Randy Barnes, became (and still is) the world record holder in which field event in 1990?
Shot put
3 Succeeding Herbert Asquith, who became leader of the official Opposition in November 1922?
Ramsay McDonald
4 Which SI unit is defined as 9,192,631,770 radiation cycles of the caesium-133 atom?
Second
5 The musical term "au talon" describes the playing of a string instrument with which part of the bow?
Heel / nut / frog
6 Which rock musical features the numbers Light at the End of the Tunnel, Only He (Has The Power to Move Me) and the love duet Only You?
Starlight Express
7 The formula 4πrsquared gives the surface area of what geometrical object?
Sphere
8 Derived from the Sanskrit for ‘to split’, what name is given to a thick, spicy stew, with pulses, that is a mainstay of Indian cuisine?
Dhal / dal - this question might be badly worded or I may have garbled it - "thickshhuptew". Paul said "mulligatawny".
Half-hearted spares
The first British flight using Frank Whittle's jet engine took place in May 1941. Which company made the aircraft?
Gloster
Noel Coward created the Hay Fever character Judith Bliss for which actress - the "queen of her profession" - who was born Mary Susan Etherington in 1864?
Dame Marie Tempest
posted by That Quiz Guy at 12:17 PM
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