ROAR! BOOM!! MORE FATUOUS NOISES!!!

Five President's Cup in Six Seasons: Not Bad

Well, let's just say if a certain programme wasn't filming this weekend, then things might have been a bit different, or different enough.

Thankfully, we didn't fluff fings to fluffing hell, thus retaining our trophy, when a couple of seasonal blips - one of my idiotic making; another of question luck gone wrong - threatened to derail a smooth path to victory.

But a hearty well done to The Sinnerman for coming out on top on the 2-point average table. I've been bested by a fine and hard-working competitor. If that sounds like I'm taking the piss that's because everything I write nowadays seems to gleam with a sarcastic twisted post-Barley hue. Thus, I wish to point out that I'm being insanely sincere when I heap all that praise on my former Sussex teammate. Then thoughts like "The wind hums Tony Manero" come creeping in ... mwa-mwa.

Anyway, straight to the friendly. Not my most polished effort; formed of unused scrags and unnecessary sentences resultant from deciding to write it at about 11.30am. So I ended up finishing it during the reading of the first friendly; just about.

Score was 30-47 to Sussex; Sussex going first. Unanswered questions Xed and answers separated.

President's Cup Friendly 24/3/2013

R1

1 Isaac Asimov defined the 'milliHelen' as the amount of beauty sufficient to launch what? 

One ship

2 Founded in 1472, as a pawn shop, the Monte dei Paschi di Siena in Italy is believed to be the world's oldest surviving what?

Bank

3 Painted in 1907, Club Night is the first of which American painter's boxing canvasses? He is the current subject of a Royal Academy exhibition.

George Bellows

4 Which Huddersfield-born poet published the 1992 collection Kid?

Simon Armitage

5 The Wadsworth Atheneum is the oldest public art museum in which country? 

USA - located in Hartford, Connecticut

6 Ending up in hospital, the England rugby union prop Colin Smart became famous when he downed a bottle of what substance after a 1982 match against France?

Aftershave

7 Which English experimentalist writer is best known for nine novels he wrote between 1926 and 1952, four of them having the single word titles Loving, Doing, Living and Nothing?

X

8 Which double Oscar-winner is the daughter of the author of Notes to my Mother-in-Law and How Many Camels are There in Holland??

X

R2

1 Which 1992 Roy Lichtenstein work is the only quotation of another painting that he did of an interior - his work having the same three-word title of the van Gogh original?

X

2 Built in 1618, the Teatro Farnese is a Baroque-style theatre in which city in Emilia-Romagna?

Parma

3 Starring the Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal as an advertising exec, the 2012 Chilean film NO centres on the 1988 plebiscite to retain the presidency of which man?

Augusto Pinochet

4 The Holy Ampulla or Sainte Ampoule was a glass vial used to anoint the kings of which country from 1131 to 1774?

France

5 Flown in 1853, the first manned glider was built by which 'Father of British aeronautics'?

George Cayley

6 In 1811, Thomas Manning became the first English national to speak with which religious figure?

Dalai Lama

7 Whenever it is moved, which holy book must be accompanied by five Khalsa Sikhs? It is taken into a separate room at night, and must always be treated with respect and with clean hands.

Guru Granth Sahib / Adi Granth

8 Nominated for the Carbuncle Cup, the Neptune Development at Mann Island is in which English city?

Liverpool

R3

1. Which 1987 film - the reason why he did not collect his first Oscar - was Michael Caine referring to when he said: "I have never seen it, but by all accounts it it terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific"?

X

2 Which fictional character's broadcasting career began as chief DJ of Radio Smile at St Luke's Hospital in Norwich? He then replaced Peter Flint as the presenter of Scout About.

Alan Partridge

3 Which Goodness Gracious Me actress co-wrote the book for the musical Bombay Dreams? 

Meera Syal

4 Which English winner of the 1947 Nobel Prize for chemistry for his work on plant dyestuffs and alkaloids, shared his first and surname with a former Brain of Britain host?

Robert Robinson

5 The Italian shoe brand Geox once confirmed that they sent six pairs of maroon loafers per year to which religious figure?

Pope John-Paul II

6 The General Dynamics F-111 strike aircraft is known by the name of which burrowing African mammal?

X

7 An inflatable nicknamed 'Algie' is famously associated with which rock band? 

Pink Floyd

8 What was the only Squeeze single sung by lyricist Chris Difford?

Cool for Cats

R4

1. Due to the huge amounts of Fentanyl that are being synthesised across the border in Russia, which EU country has the highest number of per capita drug fatalities anywhere in Europe?

Estonia

2 A map of the island of Unst is believed to have inspired the map of which fictional location in an eponymous 19th century novel - the author having been a visitor with family ties?

Treasure Island

3 Which name for a lady's maid or female attendant comes from a Carmelite woman, the wife of Nabal (and later of King David) in the Old Testament, who impressed David with her humility and helpfulness?

Abigail

4 Premiered at Aix-en-Provence in 2012, Written on Skin is the first full-length opera by which British composer?

George Benjamin

5 The murder weapons in Cluedo are typically made of what unfinished alloy?

X

6 Which famous woman was a postulant in Nonnberg Abbey, near Salzburg, after World War One?

Maria Augusta Kutschera / Maria Augusta von Trapp

7 After the fall of Troy, Cassandra was awarded to which king - who has been played on film by Sean Connery and Brian Cox?

Agamemnon

8 Narrated by Scheherazade in the Arabian Nights, The Three Apples is believed to be the earliest known example of what type of story?

X

R5

1. What is the highest human vocal register, extending approximately from middle C to the second A above?

Soprano

2 Which actor, born Cyril Louis Goldbert in Marseille in 1933, lost £3000 thanks to a confidence trick carried out by his former secretary, Jeremy Dallas-Cope and a male model, Anthony O'Donoghue?

Peter Wyngarde

3 The 1935 film The Dictator and the 2012 film A Very Royal Affair both depict the tragic affair that which Danish king's English wife Carolina Matilda had with the physician Johann Struensee?

X

4 In which TV soap do regulars often visit The Dog in the Pond pub?

Hollyoaks

5 Who was inspired by Kiyoo Wadati's 1928 paper on shallow and deep earthquakes to first use an eponymous invention in 1935, having developed it with Beno Gutenberg?

Charles Francis Richter magnitude scale

6 Deliberately misspelled to avoid accidental mutation to a shorter word, which four-letter computing term was coined by Werner Buchholz in 1956, during the early design phase for the IBM Stretch computer?

Byte

7 Ulm's Lion Man, the world's earliest figurative sculpture at around 40,000 years old, was carved from which organic material?

Mammoth ivory

8 Which aviation pioneer designed and flew the world's first multi-engine fixed-wing aircraft, the Russky Vityaz, in 1913, and the first airliner, Ilya Muromets, in 1914?

Igor Sikorsky

R6

1 Which American did Virginia Wade defeat 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 in the semi-final of the Wimbledon singles tournament that she won in 1977?

Chris Evert

2 Named after a Biblical King of Salem, the Melchizedek is a wine bottle size that contains how many standard (750ml) wine bottles?

X

3 The largest Scrabble tournament in the world, the Brand's International Crossword Game King's Cup is held in which Asian country?

Thailand

4 Which US movie star wrote the short story Propeller One-Way Night Coach, a tale featuring his favourite pastime, flying planes?

John Travolta

5 Which surname links a star of Stand by Me and The Goonies, and a US composer who died in 1987, having written Dirge: In Memory of Thomas Wolfe, Intersection 1, and The Turfan Fragments?

Corey/Morton Feldman

6 What is the six-digit postcode/postal code used for Father Christmas?

Royal Mail: SAN TA1 / Canadian: H0H 0H0

7 The ZE postcode area is also known by the name of which Scottish island capital?

Lerwick

8 In which US state were the Battles of Saratoga fought between September 19 and October 7, 1777?

New York

R7

1In ancient Greece, a 'palestra' was a public place for training and practice in what?

Wrestling / accept: Athletics

2 In a recent episode of Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson unveiled the world's tiniest car. A punning take-off on the Peel P50, what is its letter-number designation?

X

3 In 924, Athelstan was elected King of Wessex and Mercia on the death of which man? 

Edward the Elder

4 Sir Henry Newbolt wrote a ballad, with the words "And she's fading down the river", featuring the title subject of which JMW Turner painting?

The Fighting Téméraire

5 Named after an East Yorkshire town, the Bridlington Agreement governs the transfer of membership between which organisations, to prevent poaching each other's members?

Trade unions

6 Ugenia Lavender is the title character in a series of children's novels - as in Ugenia Lavender and the Burning Pants - by which former Spice Girl?

Geri Halliwell

7 Thierry Omeyer of France in 2008, Filip Jicha of Czech Republic (2010) and Henning Fritz of Germany (2004) were all past World Players of the Year in which Olympic team sport?

Handball

8 Which NFL team completed a perfect season in 1972, winning their 14 regular season games and  three post-season games, resulting in a 17-0 record?

Miami Dolphins

R8

1 Derived from the Greek word for 'seen', which term describes photographic memory?

Eidetic

2 Which British golfer is at 15th= in the all time most LPGA major championship wins list, with four titles?

Laura Davies (2 LPGAs, 1 US Open, 1 Du Maurier Classic - the Canadian Major)

3 Shiraz and Esfahan are former capitals of which country? 

Iran / Persia

4 In 2012, which leader of Equatorial Guinea announced his ambition to move 200,000 people to the future capital city of Oyala by 2020?

X

5 Which English architect designed the Viceroy's House at New Delhi in 1913; the Britannic House, Finsbury Circus; and 1922's Midland Bank Piccadilly branch in the style of Wren?

Edwin Landseer Lutyens

6 Who received his 48th Oscar nomination for his work on the film Lincoln?

John Williams

7 In 1999, who became the first American female to win at Italy's Trofeo Topolino, a competition for skiers aged under 14?

Lindsey Vonn

8 Which brother of Napoleon was the eldest surviving son of Charles and Marie Bonaparte and was King of Naples and Sicily, as well as Spain?

Joseph 

b

r

e

a

k

i

t

d

o

w

n

b

r

a

h

R1 7. Henry Green

R1 8. Emma Thompson

R2 1. Bedroom at Arles

R3 1. Jaws IV: The Revenge

R3 6. Aardvark

R4 5. Pewter

R4 8. Detective story

R5 3. Christian VII

R6 2. 40

R7 2. P45

R8 4. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasago - I think should have accepted Kathryn's 'Nguema', though he is always referred to as President Obiang