Keyword quiz #4

1 Which French philosopher is credited with inventing the word feminism in 1837? 

2 Scorpion and Felix (c 1837) is the only comedic fictional story to have been written by which political thinker? 

3 Which Kent town's seafront is home to the world's first free-standing purpose-built clock tower (built in 1837)? 

4 In 1837, Alfred Bird used cornflour to invent an egg-free form of which dessert product?  

5 The world's largest passenger ship from 1837 to 1839, what was the first steamship to provide regular transatlantic service? 

6 In 1837, who first described his Analytical Engine, which is often acclaimed as the first computer? 

7 In 1837, the department store chain Holt Renfrew was founded in which country?  

8 Which poet was killed after a duel with Georges d’Anthès in February 1837?  

9 Which Frenchman composed the Grande Messe des Morts in 1837? 

10 Which English painter (1776-1837) said: “Landscape is my mistress”? 

11 Which 1837 poem by Mikhail Lermontov described a battle of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia?  

12 Opened in 1837 as London’s first intercity railway station, what is the West Coast Main Line’s southern terminus? 

13 Who wrote the 1837 poem To a Wreath of Snow in character as Augusta Almeda, the Queen of Gondal?  

14 Which English educator first proposed his eponymous system of shorthand in Stenographic Sound Hand in 1837?  

15 Which English author of Society in America (1837) has been called the first woman sociologist? 

16 Which US company considers itself “the world’s premier jeweller since 1837”? 

17 Which Irish composer (1782-1837) is best known as the inventor of the nocturne?  

18 The widow of Robert Seymour claimed that the idea for which 1837 Dickens novel was originally her husband’s? 

19 The harlequinade role of Clown became known as “Joey”, after which English entertainer (1778-1837)? 

20 The 1837 comic opera Zar und Zimmerman ("Tsar and Carpenter") is which German composer’s most enduring work? 

21 Cristina Trivulzio Belgiojoso’s salon hosted the famous March 31, 1837 duel between which two pianists? 

22 Opening in 1837, “Brown’s was London’s first ever…” what?  

23 Who did Ernest Augustus I succeed as king of Hanover in 1837?  

24 Which Scot wrote The French Revolution: A History (1837)? Thomas Carlyle

25 What became the London residence of the British monarch on Queen Victoria’s accession in 1837? 

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1 Charles Fourier 2 Karl Marx 3 Herne Bay 4 Custard - as in Bird's Custard [powder] 5 SS Great Western - designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel 6 Charles Babbage 7 Canada - in Quebec City 8 Alexander Pushkin 9 Hector Berlioz 10 John Constable 11 Borodino 12 London Euston 13 Emily Brontë 14 Isaac Pitman - as in Pitman shorthand 15 Harriet Martineau 16 Tiffany & Co 17 John Field 18 The Pickwick Papers 19 Joseph Grimaldi 20 Albert Lortzing 21 Franz Liszt & Sigismond Thalberg 22 Hotel 23 His brother King William IV of the United Kingdom 24 Thomas Carlyle 25 Buckingham Palace 

Keyword quiz #3

 1 The oldest statue in Trafalgar Square shows which king on horseback? 

2 In 1904, Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan was renamed after which newspaper?  

3 Which animated TV show features Plankton's regular attempts to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula? 

4 Which L-shaped square in Florence is home to the Loggia dei Lanzi and a copy of Michelangelo's David statue? 

5 The Square and Compasses is the preeminent symbol of which fraternal order?  

6 The HQ of which 22-member regional organisation is located in Tahrir Square, Cairo? 

7 What is the SI derived unit for illuminance? 

8 The Naqsh-e Jahan Square, or Imam Square, can be seen on the reverse of which country's 20,000 rial banknotes? 

9 Forster Square and Interchange are train stations that serve which West Yorkshire city?  

10 Taksim Square is located in the European part of which city?  

11 Which square-shouldered jar was invented and patented by an American tinsmith on November 30, 1858? 

12 The McKim, Mead & White-designed Pennsylvania Station was razed to make way for which New York arena? 

13 Four Square is a chain of over 280 supermarkets in which Commonwealth country? 

14 Which group of abstract artists was formed in Paris in 1929 by Joaquín Torres Garcia and Michel Seuphor? 

15 Which Swede directed the films Force Majeure (2014) and The Square (2017)? 

16 The Ritz Paris, at number 15, overlooks the octagonal border of which square? 

17 Which French city is home to the Place des Quinconces, one of the largest city squares in Europe?  

18 Which public square in central Berlin is named after a city some 16 miles to the south west?  

19 The April 15, 1989 death of which Chinese politician sparked the Tiananmen Square protests? 

20 How many squares does a Scrabble board have?   

21 Identical twins, Dean and Dan Caten are the Canadian founders of which fashion company? 

22 Which colour describes the largest extant species of rhinoceros?  

23 Which 1912 song states: “goodbye, Piccadilly” and “farewell, Leicester Square!”?  

24 Yorkshire Sculpture Park hosts Square with Two Circles and The Family of Man. Which woman sculpted them? 

25 In which Edwin A Abbott novella does the main character, A Square, live in a two-dimensional world?   

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1 Charles I 2 New York Times - as in Times Square 3 SpongeBob SquarePants 4 Piazza della Signoria 5 Freemasonry 6 Arab League 7 Lux or lumens per square metre 8 Iran - it is located in Isfahan 9 Bradford 10 Istanbul 11 Mason jar - named after inventor John Landis Mason 12 Madison Square Garden  13 New Zealand 14 Cercle et Carré (Circle and Square) 15 Ruben Östlund 16 Place Vendôme 17 Bordeaux 18 Potsdamer Platz - named after Potsdam 19 Hu Yaobang 20 225 21 DSquared² 22 White - it is also known as the square-lipped rhinoceros 23 It’s a Long Way to Tipperary 24 Barbara Hepworth 25 Flatland

Keyword quiz #2

1 Just as he was saying: “They couldn’t hit an elephant at that distance...”, Union major general John Sedgwick was killed by a sharpshooter at which May 1864 battle in Virginia?  

2 The tune that Big Ben plays contains four notes: G sharp, F sharp, E and what? 

3 A teenage Davy Jones, later of the Monkees, played Ena Sharples’s grandson Colin on which TV soap? 

4 Which “Warhol of Japan” created his first signature character, the sharp-toothed Mr DOB, in 1993? 

5 In her 1974 memoir Conundrum, Jan Morris described which revolutionary as “sharp as a cat in Cuba”?

6 The novel Vanity Fair opens with Becky Sharp throwing which Samuel Johnson work out of a carriage window? 

7 Marie Sharp’s habanero pepper sauces are made in which Central American country?  

8 In 2010, Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp founded which pinboard-style, photo-sharing website?  

9 What is the first name of the titular soldier played by Sean Bean in the ITV series Sharpe?  

10 Which Edinburgh craft brewer was founded in 2003 by master brewer Dougal Sharp? 

11 Karl Barry Sharpless is a two-time recipient of which Nobel prize?  

12 In 1976, GQ journalist Roger Sharpe helped overturn New York City’s 35-year ban on which game? 

13 Human Rights Day is held in South Africa on March 21, the anniversary of which 1960 massacre? 

14 Morton’s neuroma can cause a sharp, burning pain in the ball of which part of the body?  

15 The Gloucester & Sharpness Canal allows boats to bypass a treacherous stretch of which river?  

16 Caribbean reef and Atlantic sharpnose are species of which predatory fish?  

17 Which sharpshooter (1860-1926) often worked with her husband Frank Butler?  

18 Grantchester Grind is a sequel to which 1974 novel by Tom Sharpe? 

19 Granville Sharp (1735-1813) was a leading British figure in which movement?  

20 Who played the cardsharp Bret Maverick in the Western TV series Maverick (1957-62)?  

21 Which Civil War battle was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history?  

22 The US consul Sharpless, the maid Suzuki and Prince Yamadori are roles in which Puccini opera? 

23 Starring Amy Adams, the 2018 TV drama Sharp Objects is based on a novel by which US writer? 

24 Known in Italian as bemolle (“soft B”), which musical term means “lower in pitch” and is the opposite of sharp?  

25 Manufactured by Newell Brands, which brand’s name is a generic term for a permanent marker in the US?  

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1 Battle of Spotsylvania Court House or Spotsylvania 2 B 3 Coronation Street 4 Takashi Murakami 5 Che Guevara 6 A Dictionary of the English Language or [Samuel] Johnson’s Dictionary 7 Belize 8 Pinterest 9 Richard 10 Innis & Gunn 11 Nobel prize in chemistry, he was awarded shares of the prize in 2001 and 2022 12 Pinball 13 Sharpeville massacre 14 Foot 15 River Severn 16 Shark 17 Annie Oakley 18 Porterhouse Blue 19 Abolition of the slave trade 20 James Garner 21 Antietam or Sharpsburg - on September 17, 1862 22 Madama Butterfly 23 Gillian Flynn 24 Flat 25 Sharpie

Keyword quiz #1

Here is the first in a series of themed quizzes that are conveniently recycled from another location (basically, I can put these together in 10 minutes). I'm not sure it works, but it's definitely... something.

1 Formed in 1968, which English rock band is named after a 1934 song by the pianist Peter De Rose? 

2 Named after a purple flower, which floral-flavoured sweets were created in 1946 by Swizzels Matlow? 

3 Which online estate agent was founded in 2012 by brothers Michael and Kenny Bruce?  

4 Which tabletop game originally named its title characters Harry (yellow), Henry (orange), Homer (green) and Lizzie (purple)? 

5 The purple cow Lila is the mascot of which Swiss-founded chocolate brand?  

6 “Acting funny, but I don't know why / 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky” - which Jimi Hendrix song? 

7 Native to south-east Asia, which purple-skinned “queen of fruit” has white wedge-like segments? 

8 Which chocolate maker lost its long-standing trademark for the purple colour “Pantone 2685C”? 

9 The carnivorous purple pitcher plant is the floral emblem of which Canadian province?  

10 The swallowtail and purple emperor are Britain’s two largest species of which insect?  

11 Which 1984 album by Prince and the Revolution features the tracks Let’s Go Crazy, Darling Nikki and I Would Die 4 U? 

12 The purple-crested turaco (Tauraco porphyreolophus) is the national bird of which kingdom? 

13 Purple Mountain or Zijin Shan is located on the eastern side of which city in China’s Jiangsu province? 

14 Together with retinene (retinal), the protein opsin forms which purple visual pigment?  

15 Which Nigerian author wrote the novels Purple Hibiscus (2003) and Americanah (2013)?  

16 In a poem by Amy Lowell, which flowers are repeatedly described as "False blue, / White, / Purple"?

17 Accidentally discovered by William Henry Perkin, what was the first synthetic organic dye?   

18 What type of dinosaur is the purple TV star of Barney & Friends? 

19 The Purple Rain protest took place in which country on September 2, 1989? 

20 Celie is the heroine of which 1982 novel by Alice Walker?  

21 Which type of fruit cordial features in a Purple Guinness cocktail?  

22 Credited as the voice actor who provided the Wilhelm Scream, who had a 1958 US No 1 hit with the novelty song The Purple People Eater?   

23 Black jacobin, Crimson topaz, Green hermit, Purple-crowned fairy and Red-tailed comet are types of what?  

24 Susie Dent hosted the podcast Something Rhymes with Purple with which former Tory MP? 

25 Porphyrin is a class of pigments that derives its name from the Greek for which colour? 

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1 Deep Purple 2 Parma Violets 3 Purplebricks 4 Hungry Hungry Hippos 5 Milka 6 Purple Haze 7 Mangosteen 8 Cadbury’s 9 Newfoundland and Labrador 10 Butterfly 11 Purple Rain 12 Eswatini 13 Nanjing 14 Rhodopsin 15 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 16 Lilacs 17 Mauveine or aniline purple 18 Tyrannosaurus rex 19 South Africa 20 The Color Purple 21 Blackcurrant 22 Sheb Wooley 23 Hummingbird 24 Gyles Brandreth 25 Purple

Hello again

 I have a new Times quiz book coming out on August 27 (2026). 

Order it here on Amazon.co.uk

 I'm probably going to post a few things on here. Might even do some quizzes.