As explained in this piece from September, I have been asked to host a Sunday night quiz at a local pub. Here’s a record of the 10 rounds of questions for the quiz on Sunday 3 November 2024.

Round 1: General Knowledge

1. What is the capital city of Bosnia?
2. In UK Politics, who is the leader of the Liberal Democrats?
3. The word “sesquicentennial” is used to describe a period of how many years?
4. Published last month, “Sonny Boy: A Memoir” is the autobiography of which Oscar-winning actor?
5. Pb is the chemical symbol for which element?

Round 2: Music: 60s #1 Women

Exactly 10 women had solo #1s in the 1960s. Here are the first names of 5 of them, and the years they had #1s. Please give their surnames.

Petula (1961 & 67)

1. Helen (1961)
2. Cilla (1964)
3. Jackie (1965)
4. Mary (1968)

Round 3: Geography: what is it now?

Here are the former names of 5 places, along with the year their names changed to their current name. What are they called now?

1. Nyasaland (1964)
2. British Guiana (1966)
3. Gilbert Islands (1979)
4. Upper Volta (1984)
5. Zaire (1997)

Round 4: Animals in Oscar-winning Film Titles

Here are 5 Oscar-winning films, missing the name of an animal. Name the animal.

1. “The Power of the ___” (2020, Jane Campion Best Director)
2. “Save the _____” (1973, Jack Lemmon Best Actor)
3. “The ____ Hunter” (1978, Best Picture)
4. “Black ____” (2010, Natalie Portman Best Actress)
5. “___ Ballou” (1965, Lee Marvin Best Actor)

Round 5: Logos: Identify the following brands

[A visual round, 5 Logos]

End of Part One

Round 6: Oxford or Cambridge

The following colleges have all won “University Challenge” (years shown in brackets). Are they constituent colleges of Oxford or Cambridge?

1. Oriel (1966)
2. Churchill (1970)
3. Sidney Sussex (1971, 1978)
4. University (1972, 1976)
5. Peterhouse (2016)

Round 7: US Presidents

1. Which US President, who was elected in 1976, is the longest-lived in US history, and the first to reach 100?
2. Before Donald Trump, who was the only US President who had been divorced?
3. Boris Johnson shares his surname with two former Presidents. What is the only other surname shared by a UK prime minister and a US President?
4. Who is the only US President to serve non-consecutive terms?
5. Who is the only President to serve more than two terms?

Round 8: Metals in song titles

You will hear clips from five songs whose titles contain the name of a metal (either an element or an alloy). Name the metal.

1. Hawkwind, 1972 #3
2. Pretenders 1980 #1
3. Spandau Ballet, 1983 #2
4. Nirvana, 1992 #11
5. David Guetta featuring Sia, 2012 #1

Round 9: Real Names

How were the following people more usually known?

1. Mary O’Brien (1939-1999)
2. Edson Arantes do Nascimento (1940-2022)
3. Peter Gene Hernandez (1985-present)
4. Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880)
5. Maurice Joseph Micklewhite (1933-present)

Round 10: Pot Luck

1. RAINCOAT is an anagram of which EU nationality?
2. Phobos and Deimos are the moons of which planet?
3. Completed in 1607, what is the rather misleading name of the oldest bridge in Paris?
4. Who was the author of “Wolf Hall” and “Bring up the Bodies”, both of which won the Man Booker prize?
5. What is the only number, in English, which has all its letters in alphabetical order when written as a word?