Round One
1A Although later renamed as 5 Live, in what year did BBC Radio 5 start broadcasting?
1990
1B Which crop has varieties called Ailsa Craig, Big Boy and Shirley?
TOMATO
2A Whose first symphony is known as "Titan"
MAHLER
2B Give a year in the life of French painter Nicolas Poussin.
1594-1665
3A In which English cathedral is King John buried?
WORCESTER
3B Which European country has a flag of 3 horizontal bands of gold, green and red?
LITHUANIA
4A Which pop singer, popular in the 1980s, was born Michael Barratt in 1948?
SHAKIN' STEVENS
4B Which actor was the artistic director of the Globe Theatre from its inception in 1995 until 2005?
MARK RYLANCE

Round Two
1A Roderick Alleyn and Agatha Troy feature in detective novels by which Golden Age writer?
NGAIO MARSH
1B The subject of controversy in early 2016, the statue of whom adorns the facade of Oriel College, Oxford?
CECIL RHODES
2A Queen Nefertiti was the principal wife of which Pharoah, the subject of a 1983 opera by Philip Glass?
AKHENATEN
2B The Frans Hals museum is in which Dutch city, the capital of the province of North Holland?
HAARLEM
3A Which crop has varieties called Tom Thumb, Butterhead and Arctic King?
LETTUCE
3B In which year did Channel 5 start broadcasting?
1997
4A Give a year in the life of the French painter Theodore Gerricault.
1791 -1824
4B Whose first symphony is known as "Winter Daydreams"?
TCHAIKOVSKY

Round Three
1A Which European country has a flag with a black double-headed eagle on a red background?
ALBANIA
1B In which English cathedral is Jane Austen buried?
WINCHESTER
2A In relation to the Apollo missions what does the R stand for in the acronym LRV?
Lunar ROVING vehicle
2B Which New Wave band had albums entitled "The Kiss", "The Head on the Door" (1985) and "Pornography" (1982)?
THE CURE
3A The wine " Lachryma Christi" comes from grapes grown on the slopes of which geographical landmark?
VESUVIUS
3B What is the name of the vascular tissue in plants that transports water and solutes from the roots to the rest of the plant?
XYLEM
4A In 1982 who was the first person in Britain known to have died of HIV/AIDS?
TERENCE HIGGINS
4B Peter Hall, Trevor Nunn and Terry Hands were the first three artistic directors of which company? ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

Round Four
1A The action of the film trilogy "Back To The Future" is set in four different years. 1985 is one, name one of the other three.
1885,1955 or 2015
1B In Egyptian mythology of what was Montu the god?
WAR
2A Camila Batmanghelidjh was the founder of which now collapsed charity?
KIDS COMPANY
2B Who, in the 1930s, was the first man to wear shorts in a tennis match at Wimbledon?
BUNNY AUSTIN
3A Which New Wave band had albums called" Nocturne", "The Scream" (1978) and "Join Hands" (1979)?
SIOUXSIE and the BANSHEES
3B Who is the mother of the actress Dakota Johnson?
MELANIE GRIFFITH
4A By what name did Zoroastrians fleeing from present-day Iran, become known after arriving in India?
PARSEES (from Persians)
4B What was the name of the nanny allegedly killed by Lord Lucan in 1974?
SANDRA RIVETT

Round Five
1A In which type of wine was George, Duke of Clarence allegedly drowned in the fifteenth century?
MALMSEY (or MADEIRA)
1B In 2015 Michelle Payne became the first female to win which prestigious horse race?
The MELBOURNE CUP
2A What is the derived Sl unit of radioactivity called?
BECQUEREL
2B In Egyptian mythology which God's name means " The Hidden One". He was later combined with Ra as "King of the Gods"?
AMUN (or AMEN or AMON)
3A In relation to the construction of the Apollo spacecraft what does the A stand for in the acronym VAB?
Vehicle ASSEMBLY Building
3B Only two men in history have won all 4 Grand Slam tennis titles plus Olympic singles gold and also the Davis Cup. Name either.
RAFAEL NADAL and ANDRE AGASSI
4A Richard Shelton is the hero of which 1888 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson?
THE BLACK ARROW
4B In which Irish county is the Blarney Stone?
CORK

Round Six
1A What is the county town of the Irish county of Kerry?
TRALEE
1B Alfred Lion and Francis Wolf started which iconic jazz music label in 1939?
BLUE NOTE
2A Associated with the TV quiz Only Connect, Cerestes is the Latin name for which particular poisonous snake?
HORNED VIPER
2B Which team beat the Cleveland Indians in 2016 to win their First World Series Baseball title since 1908?
CHICAGO CUBS
3A Founded in 1899 and the oldest of its type, in which city is the Permanent Court for Arbitration which resolves international disputes based?
THE HAGUE
3B In the USA, which state lies immediately east of North Dakota?
MINNESOTA
4A Acton Bell was the early pseudonym of which later famous novelist?
ANNE BRONTE
4B What is the derived Sl unit of capacitance called?
FARAD

Round Seven
1A Who is the only man to have won the treble of the Le Mans 24 hour race, the Indianapolis 500 and also the Formula One World Championship?
GRAHAM HILL
1B Before becoming King of England what was King Stephen's title?
COUNT OF BLOIS
2A Which UK politician, who as a soldier escaped from Colditz Castle. Was killed in London in 1979?
AIREY NEAVE
2B Which statesman and politician who served two terms as Italian Prime Minister was murdered in 1978?
ALDO MORO
3A Which team won their third American Superbowl title in February 2016 in a record equalling 8th appearance?
DENVER BRONCOS
3B Insects of the genus myzus are a common garden pest. What is their better-known English name?
APHIDS
4A Name either of the two English kings buried at Fontevrault Abbey in France.
HENRY II or RICHARD I
4B Operation "BERLIN" was the somewhat ironic codename for which Allied Evacuation in 1944?
ARNHEM

Round Eight
1A Premiered in 1858 who wrote the operetta " Orpheus in the Underworld"?
OFFENBACH
1B The painting "Scotland Forever" (1881) by Lady Butler (ElizabethThompson) depicts a scene from which engagement?
BATTLE OF WATERLOO (CHARGE OF THE SCOTS GREYS)
2A Who succeeded Kofi Annan as the UN Secretary General in 2007?
BAN KI-MOON
2B The film "We Were Soldiers" featuring Mel Gibson was set during which war?
VIETNAM
3A Name either of the two typefaces, still in use, which were developed in Venice in the late fifteenth century ,
ROMAN or ITALIC
3B Which everyday word is given to that part of a chemical reaction in which electrons are gained by a substance?
REDUCTION
4A Of which card game did Edmund Hoyle publish, in 1742, a definitive set of rules?
WHIST
4B Who wrote the symphonic tone poem Tapiola in 1926 and gives his name to today's most widely used musical composition software?
SIBELIUS

Spare Questions
1 Painted in 1901, "La Gommeuse" was sold by Sotheby's in November 2015 for $67 million. Who painted it?
PABLO PICASSO
2 Which group of people gave their name to Palestine where they settled some 3200 years ago?
PHILISTINES
3 Which major British National Hunt race was first run in 1924?
CHELTENHAM GOLD CUP