Science Reference Work

I may have mentioned this book on the blog before, but having been working through sections of it again this week, I was reminded of how great it is and just how many points it has earned me over the year. My Science knowledge was virtually at ground zero when I started out quizzing and its took a lot of work to improve it.  This book though has helped every step of the way, broken down into manageable chunks, clear explanations of terms and very easy to use.

Up there with the likes of the Pears Quiz Companion on the Quiz Essentials list!

Pub Quiz Questions #2

As promised, the next in what should be a regular series of questions over the next few months....Answers tomorrow

1.       The films 3:10 to Yuma,  Get Shorty  and Out of Sight, as well as the FX TV show Justified, are based on the works of which crime writer who died in August 2013?

2.       Formed in 2001 in Chicago, which band are fronted by Patrick Stump who released their debut album “Take This To Your Grave” in 2003 and got their name from a character who appeared in the Simpsons?

3.       Football: Who is the only player to have scored over 10 penalties in the Premier League and still maintain a 100% scoring record?

4.       In which county would you find the Cerne Abbas Giant?

5.       Which is the highest mountain in Northern Ireland?

6.       One of the five pillars of Islam, what does Zakat involve?

7.       The recreational lake known as The Serpentine is located in which London Park?

8.       Which pop group had reservations on the infamous “Lockerbie Flight”, having to cancel at the last minute due to studio sessions overrunning?

9.       In the TV Series Doctor Foster, what is the first name of Doctor Foster?

10.   Vince Clarke had Top 5 singles as a member of 4 different groups. Name them?

Pub Quiz Questions #01 - Answers

Here are the answers to yesterdays set....

1.       After serving as an MP for Stoke on Trent Central since 2010, who quit the House of Commons in 2017 to take up a post as the Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum?	Tristram Hunt
2.       Football: In 2017 who became the first player to score 50 headed goals in the English Premier League?	Peter Crouch
3.       According to the Gospel of John, Jesus restored Lazarus to life how many days after his death?	4
4.       Which of the “Three Tenors” was born the latest?	Jose Carreras
5.       5. e Carrejasest?theife how many days after his death??Commons in 2017 to take up a post as the Director of the Victoria and AlbWhat was the tallest building in the world for 238 years between  1311 and 1549?	Lincoln Cathedral
6.       Pendle Hill is located within which forest?	Bowland Forest
7.       Miffy the Rabbit was the most known creation of which Dutch artist who died in 2017?	Dick Bruna
8.       The Big Dipper and The Plough are all part of which constellation?	Ursa Major
9.       What type of wool literally translates to “Soft Gold” in Kashmiri?	Pashmina
10.   Which famous gin-based cocktail was developed by Ngiam Tong Boon in the Raffles Hotel?	Singapore Sling

Pub Quiz Questions #01

Over the next few weeks I hope to post up some pretty regular sets of quiz questions. Each will be a batch of 10 aimed at pub quiz ranging up to quiz league style level. I'll post up the questions, followed by the answers the next day..


Here is the first set....

1.       After serving as an MP for Stoke on Trent Central since 2010, who quit the House of Commons in 2017 to take up a post as the Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum?

2.       Football: In 2017 who became the first player to score 50 headed goals in the English Premier League?

3.       According to the Gospel of John, Jesus restored Lazarus to life how many days after his death?

4.       Which of the “Three Tenors” was born the latest?

5.       5. e Carrejasest?theife how many days after his death??Commons in 2017 to take up a post as the Director of the Victoria and AlbWhat was the tallest building in the world for 238 years between  1311 and 1549?

6.       Pendle Hill is located within which forest?

7.       Miffy the Rabbit was the most known creation of which Dutch artist who died in 2017?

8.       The Big Dipper and The Plough are all part of which constellation?

9.       What type of wool literally translates to “Soft Gold” in Kashmiri?

10.   Which famous gin-based cocktail was developed by Ngiam Tong Boon in the Raffles Hotel?

Current Affairs Quiz

From this weekend, I will be posting up a weekly current affairs quiz to test your knowledge on the week's events. I have found throughout the years, other than the odd site such as the BBC's 7 Days Quiz, there is very little around in this regard. (Please tell me if I am wrong!). Anyway, I haven't decided on the format just yet, whether its going to be text based or perhaps back to the YouTube style videos I trialled out a couple of years ago. But watch this space!

BBC Quiz Books

Posting up a few days ago about my enjoyment of the BBC Question of Sport book got me checking back through some of the other BBC Books in my collection and I thought I would suggest a few.

Still about my favourite is the Mastermind quiz book. Containing thousands of questions spread across General Knowledge and Specialist Subject rounds, the book contains questions from both the TV show and ones written for the book. The specialist subject rounds tend to me more accessible than on the TV show with broader themes at play.





Pretty much as above is the University Challenge Book which contains a raft of Questions in the style of the show (Starts then 3 bonuses) that have appeared on the show and some that have been written for the book. This is not the sort of book to just casually flick through but really tests your knowledge of the type of subject areas you see on the show. Took me a good while to get through but was certainly worth it!




Next for two music books....The Old Grey Whistle Test Book and the 6 Music Quiz book. Both as good as each other and both have improved my musical knowledge a lot, both via the questions themselves and encouraging me to go away and research the bands/artists I hadn't heard of. Both books contain a range of question styles and right from the off will have you thinking.





Finally, and most recently, is the superb Brain of Britain book which I have great fun working through in recent weeks. Full of great questions, in a much easier to use format than some!

Quiz League Set B

As promised yesterday, the second set of questions from the Sunderland Echo Quiz League from back in January 2016.

Questions B

Round 1                                                                                                                        Answers

1.       Which website, the 7th most visited during last year, celebrated its 15th Birthday in January 2016?	Wikipedia
2.       “Love or Mummy” was the title of the first episode of which 1980s sitcom?	Sorry!
3.       Which is the largest lake found on the course of the River Rhone?	Lake Geneva (Lac Leman)
4.       Felix Cane is a multi-time world champion of which “performance art”, a feat which earned her a permanent position in Cirque Du Soliel’s first ever “adult themed show”?	Pole dancing

 

Round 2

1.       What name connects a member of The Seekers, a diocese of the Church of England served by Justin Welby and the Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999?	Durham  (Judith Durham, Durham,  Jeremy John Durham Ashdown
2.       What is the world’s most populous landlocked country?	Ethiopia
3.       Which striker, now playing in the Premier League, scored even more goals than Jamie Vardy in English League Football during 2015? (ie Premier League and/or Football League)	Odion Ighalo
4.       Which European capital city stands at the confluence of the River Sava and the River Danube?	Belgrade

 

Set B - Round 3

1.       If a British MP applies for the “Chiltern Hundreds” what is he or she doing?	Resigning
2.       Which cast member of the Vicar of Dibley wrote an American number one hit single in the 1960s?	Trevor Peacock  (wrote Mrs Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter)
3.       Queen Berengia is the only Queen of England never to have lived or even visited England. Which King did she marry in 1191?	Richard I
4.       With more than four million members, which charity has the largest membership in Britain?	National Trust

 

Round 4

1.       At which battle of May 1455 was King Henry VI captured, leading to Richard Duke of York being declared Lord Protector?	St Albans
2.       Gary Player is one of three golfers to win both the Open and the Senior Open. New Zealander Bob Charles and which American, a five-time Open winner in the 1970s and 1980s are the others?	Tom Watson
3.       Which band, formed in Newcastle, had the highest selling British album of 1972?	Lindisfarne
4.       In March 1990 which was the first Soviet Republic to declare itself independent and in 2015 became the 19th member of the Eurozone?	Lithuania

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Set B - Round 5

1.       Sir John Simon, Sir Kingsley Wood and John Anderson all held which major cabinet post during World War II?	Chancellor of the Exchequer
2.       Which American model spent 25 years as the face of “Covergirl” magazine, but perhaps more famously, was the subject of her former husband’s song “Uptown Girl”?	Christine Brinkley
3.       Of the seven English cities beginning with the letter L, which comes first alphabetically?	Lancaster
4.       Which sporting figure founded the charity “Livestrong”   in Austin, Texas to help people affected by cancer?	Lance Armstrong

 

Round 6

1.       Who is the only individual to win both a Turner Prize and an Oscar for Best Director?	Steve McQueen
2.       Rugby Union: With 557 points, which Irishman  has scored the most points in the history of the 5 (now 6) Nations?	Ronan O’Gara
3.       Which fictional amusement park, made famous in a film, is situated off the coast of Costa Rica?	Jurassic Park
4.       Michael Fassbender played which prominent Irish republican and short lived Member of Parliament in the 2008 film “ Hunger”?	Bobby Sands

 

Question of Sport Quiz Book

I know some people are a little turned off by the branded BBC TV Quiz Show Books, but generally they tend to be superb. The latest one I have been working my way through is the Question of Sport release from a few years back. Containing a ton of question, all in the various styles of the show, a nice range of difficulty and some superb facts, this is definitely well worth a look

Quiz League Set A

On an old memory stick I came across a League pair I set way back in January 2016 for the Sunderland Echo Quiz League which I don't think I have posted up yet. So here it is....

As mentioned before the Sunderland Quiz League involves team based questions (as oppose to some Leagues which focus on individual questions) so up to 6 brains are working on these at any one time.

I will post Set B up tomorrow.

Questions A

Round 1                                                                                                                        Answers

1.       The title of which Beach Boys song is also the title of the autobiography of Jacqueline Gold, the founder of Ann Summers?	Good Vibrations
2.       Which Government organisation is housed in a building known as the “Doughnut”?	GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters)
3.       Lady Isobel Barnett, considered one of the first TV celebrities,  became a household name on which show?	What’s My Line?
4.       Which landlocked country lies between Ukraine to the North and Romania to the South?	Moldova

 

Round 2

1.       Which daily newspaper was launched in 1986 by Andreas Whittam Smith?	The Independent
2.       When Walter Raleigh introduced tobacco to England in the early 1600s, which King wrote a pamphlet arguing against its use?	James I
3.       There are only two British Female Solo Artists to have 5 number 1 hit singles in the UK. Name either?	Jess Glynn OR Cheryl Fernandez Versini (Accept Cheryl on its own, Cheryl Cole or Cheryl Tweedy)
4.       Flowing through France, Germany and Luxembourg which river joins the Rhine at Koblenz?	Moselle

 

Set A - Round 3

1.       In 1982, who went missing for 6 days during the Paris/Dakar rally?	Mark Thatcher
2.       Much in the news in January 2016, which famous model and actress appeared on the cover of Roxy Music’s album “Sirens” dressed as a mermaid?	Jerry Hall
3.       Since the addition of Italy, which team have won the 6 nations title on the most occasions?	France
3.       Which current Labour MP is married to the former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thronging Schmidt?	Stephen Kinnock

 

Round 4

1.       Who was the first (and only) tennis player born in the 1990s to have won a Grand Slam, a feat she achieved for the first time in 2011?	Petra Kvitova
2.       Frank Blackmore introduced which specific features to UK roads in 1969. They were so confusing to drivers that he initially stood by the side of the road with a loudspeaker to direct traffic?	Mini Roundabouts (Do not accept roundabout)
3.       Who is the only person to win 2 unshared Nobel prizes in 2 different fields?	Linus Pauling
4.       Which band, formed in the 1980s in Sheffield, took their name from a fictional band in the novel “A Clockwork Orange”?	Heaven 17

 

 

 

 

 

Set A - Round 5

1.       Name EITHER of the two countries that joined the EEC at the same time as the UK in 1973	Denmark or Republic of Ireland
2.       Which composer’s 1st Symphony is nicknamed “Winter Daydreams”?	Tchaikovsky
3.       The top Test wicket takers are Mutiah Muralitharan with 800 and Shane Warne on 708. Which Indian leg spinner is third with 619 wickets in 132 test matches?	Anil Kumble
4.       The answer is not sausages. In the 1980s, a national newspaper launched the “Save our Sizzlers” campaign to prevent a ban on what?	Page Three (The Sun) Accept: Topless Models

 

Round 6

1.       Which former Soviet state is the only European country in which capital punishment is still practised with more than 250 executions since 1992?	Belarus
2.        Which Ayrshire golf course has both the longest and shortest holes on the Open Championship roster and will stage the event this year?	Royal Troon
3.       Which is the largest island in the Outer Hebrides?	Lewis and Harris
4.       Which Queen of England married Louis VII, King of France in 1137 before marrying Henry II of England in 1152?	Eleanor of Aquitaine