Round 1
1a The film Yes Man, starring Jim Carrey, is based on the book of the same name by which modern British writer?
Danny Wallace
1b Which fruit has varieties called Concorde, Packham and Cornice?
Pear
2a Which National Trail runs for 268 miles from Edale to Kirk Yetholm?
Pennine Way
2b The title of Agatha Christie's novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side is taken from a line in which poem?
The Lady of Shalott
3a What specific part of the body is affected by blepharitis?
Eyelid
3b With which musical instrument is Vladimir Ashkenazy associated?
Piano
4a In the Beatles film Yellow Submarine what is the name of the land taken over by the Blue Meanies?
Pepperland
4b Which country won the most medals at the Paralympics in Beijing?
China (211)

Round 2
1a Who took over from Dermot Murnaghan as host of BBC2's Eggheads?
Jeremy Vine
1b Which Nobel-prize winning British playwright died on December 24th 2008?
Harold Pinter
2a Which European country has land borders with Greece, Turkey, Romania, Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia?
Bulgaria
2b In cricket, which English county one-day side is known as the Phantoms?
Derbyshire
3a Which artistic movement was led by Henri Matisse and André Derain?
Fauvism
3b Which popular garden bird has the Latin name Erithacus rubecula?
Robin
4a During which conflict was the battle of Blenheim fought?
War of the Spanish Succession
4b Which European city was the destination of the girls (and thus the boys) in the Cliff Richard film Summer Holiday?
Athens

Round 3
1a Which fruit has varieties called Blue Tit, Czar and Early Laxton?
Plum
1b Who hosts the new version of ITV's The Krypton Factor?
Ben Shephard
2a The title of Agatha Christie's novel The Moving Finger comes from the line "The moving finger writes; and, having writ, moves on" in which poem?
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
2b Which National Trail runs for 177miles from Sedbury Cliffs near Chepstow to Prestatyn?
Offa's Dyke Path
3a Which popular garden bird has the Latin name Cyanistes Caeruleus?
Blue Tit
3b What specific part of the body is affected by phlebitis?
Veins
4a Which country won the most medals overall at the Beijing Olympics in 2008?
USA (110)
4b Which car manufacturer produces models called the Modus and the Scenic?
Renault

Round 4
1a Which Nobel-prize winning Russian writer died on August 3rd 2008?
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
1b The film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt, is based on a short story by whom?
F Scott Fitzgerald
2a In cricket, which English county one-day side is known as the Royals?
Worcestershire
2b Which European country has land borders with Austria, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, Poland and the Czech Republic?
Slovakia
3a With which musical instrument is Pablo Casals associated?
Cello
3b Which artistic movement was led by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso?
Cubism
4a Which car manufacturer produces models called the Roomster and the Octavia?
Skoda
4b During which conflict was the battle of Creçy fought?
Hundred Years War

Round 5
1a Which metallic element, number 77 in the periodic table, takes its name from the Latin for "rainbow"?
Iridium
1b In Greek myth, who was the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, who killed his mother to avenge his father's death?
Orestes
2a Which famous emblem was designed by Charles Sykes and modelled on Eleanor Thornton?
Rolls Royce's Spirit of Ecstasy
2b Who is the BBC's business editor?
Robert Peston
3a Give a year in the life of British astronomer Sir William Herschel.
1738 - 1822
3b What is the SI unit of electric current?
Ampere
4a In the middle of which Roman square is Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers found?
Piazza Navona
4b In 2008, which actor starred as King Lear in one of the highlights of Liverpool's Capital of Culture year?
Pete Postlethwaite

Round 6
1a In which English county is Beamish Museum?
Durham
1b How many triple word score squares are there on a traditional Scrabble board?
8
2a Which British city has cathedrals dedicated to St Nicholas and St Mary?
Newcastle upon Tyne
2b A representation of whom is the mascot used on the Queen's car when she is in England?
St George
3a Which British Prime Minister was the last to have been born in the nineteenth century?
Harold Macmillan (1894)
3b Who wrote the incidental music to Ibsen's Peer Gynt, first performed in 1876?
Edvard Grieg
4a Whose first solo UK number 1 single was I'm Still Waiting in August 1971?
Diana Ross
4b In which Paris square would you find an obelisk from the temple of Rameses II at Thebes?
Place de la Concorde

Round 7
1a On a traditional UK Monopoly board, what colour is Marlborough Street? -
Orange
1b Which metallic element, number 56 in the periodic table, takes its name from the Greek for "heavy"?
Barium
2a What is the capital of Australia's Northern Territory?
Darwin
2b Which British city has cathedrals dedicated to St Philip and St Chad?
Birmingham
3a What is the SI unit of thermodynamic temperature?
Kelvin
3b Which US President was the last to have been born in the nineteenth century?
Dwight D Eisenhower (1890)
4a In 2008, which famous actor wowed critics in Stratford with his Hamlet, but had to pull out of the London production?
David Tennant
4b Who was the Premier League's top goal scorer for three consecutive seasons between 1994 and 1997?
Alan Shearer

Round 8
1a In Greek myth, who was the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta who was entombed alive by her uncle for trying to bury her brother Polyneices after the civil war in Thebes?
Antigone
1b In which English county is Ironbridge Gorge Museum?
Shropshire
2a Who is the BBC's political editor?
Nick Robinson
2b What is the capital of the Canadian province of Manitoba?
Winnipeg
3a Who set Cardinal Newman's poem The Dream of Gerontius to music in his 1900 oratorio?
Edward Elgar
3b Give a year in the life of German astronomer Johannes Kepler
1571 - 1630
4a Who was the Premier League's top goal scorer for three consecutive seasons between 2004 and 2006?
Thierry Henry
4b Whose first solo UK number 1 single was I Only Have Eyes for You in September 1975?
Art Garfunkel

Spare Questions
1 Who captained the USA to victory in the Ryder Cup in 2008?
Paul Azinger
2 Which actress holds the record for the most Oscar nominations?
Meryl Streep (15)
3 Who was on the English throne in 1600?
Elizabeth I
4 On a dartboard, which number is directly opposite 5?
17
5 Who is the MP for Blackburn?
Jack Straw
6 Of which US state is Springfield the capital?
Illinois