Tuesday 18th December 2018
Set by Aigburth Swans (Liverpool). Answers correct as at January 2018

Round One
1A Which organisation has run a series of lectures on scientific topics at Christmastime almost continuously since 1825? The series was created by Michael Faraday who hosted 19 of them.
Royal Institution
1B The Royal Air Force College is situated near which village in Lincolnshire?
Cranwell
2A Give a year in the life of Dick Whittington?
1354-1423
2BHow is Barabbas described in the title of a 1589 play by Christopher Marlowe?
The Jew of Malta
3A How is Halvard Solness described in the title of an 1893 play by Henrik Ibsen?
The Master Builder
3B Give a year in the life of Roger Bacon (Dr. Mirabilis).
1219-1292
4A The Britannia Royal Naval College is situated near which Devon town?
Dartmouth
4B What is the name of the annual series of lectures given by leading " figures and commissioned by the BBC for broadcast on radio? The first speaker was Bertrand Russell in 1948.
Reith

Round Two
1A Citadel railway station is in which city in the north-west of England?
Carlisle
1B Name either of the two rivers that meet at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, USA?
Potomac or Shenandoah
2A Leo Varadkar became the Prime Minister of which European country in 2017?
Ireland
2B Which Australian is the coach of the England Rugby Union team? He was formerly the coach of Japan.
Eddie Jones
3A Which Australian is the coach of England Rugby League team? He is the coach of Brisbane Broncos and has won more Australian Grand Finals than any other coach.
Wayne Bennett
3B Jacinda Ardern became the Prime Minister of which Commonwealth country in 2017?
New Zealand
4A Name either of the two rivers that meet at Koblenz, Germany?
Rhine or Moselle
4B Harbour railway station is in which city in the south of England?
Portsmouth

Round Three
1A Known as the Crossroads of America in which US state were actor James Dean and music stars The Jacksons born?
Indiana
1B Name either the French Region or the Department in which the pilgrimage town of Lourdes is to be found?
Occitanie or Hautes (High) Pyrenees
2A Which famous train runs daily through the Swiss Alps, from St. Moritz (and other starting points) to Zermatt?
Glacier Express
2B One time dictator of Peru and known as The Liberator, Simon Bolivar died in 1830 in which country?
Colombia
3A Which politician, 1775-1847, also known as The Liberator, fought strongly for Catholicism and nationalism in Ireland?
Daniel O’Connell
3B Which famous train runs across Australia between Perth and Sydney?
Indian-Pacific Express
4A Santiago de Compostela, a centre of pilgrimage, is in which Spanish region?
Galicia
4B Known as the Cyclone state, in which US state were President Herbert Hoover and writer Bill Bryson born?
IOWA

Round Four
1A In an 1879 publication, Robert Louis Stevenson, relates his “Travels with a Donkey” in which mountain range in southern France?
Cevennes
1B At the February 2017 Oscars, “City of Stars” won the award for best original song. In which film did it feature?
La La Land
2A Name either the two British men (one alive, one dead) who have appeared as castaways on “Desert Island Discs” on radio a record four times?
Arthur Askey or Sir David Attenborough
2B What are now known as the Commonwealth Games have been held five times in the UK. Which city is the only one to have done so twice?
Edinburgh
3A On two occasions The Winter Olympic Games have been held in a city that was then or is now a capital city, name either.
Oslo or Sarajevo
3B Name either of the two men who have been permanent presenters of Radio 4’s “I’m Sorry, I Haven’t a Clue”?
Humphrey Lyttelton or Jack Dee
4A Which February 2017 Oscar winning film was based on the WW2 exploits of real American conscientious objector Desmond Doss?
Hacksaw Ridge
4B In the short story of 1819 by Washington Irving, in which mountain range of the eastern USA did Rip Van Winkle fall asleep for twenty years?
Catskills

Round Five
1A Opened in 1961, The Arnolfini Gallery and Centre for Contemporary Arts is in which English city?
Bristol
1B What girl’s name is given to the voice-operated personal assistant used in Amazon Echo speakers?
Alexa
2A Which BBC1 drama which ran for two series between 2015 and 2017 was set in and around the fictional town of Parminster?
Doctor Foster
2B In the Bible, who was the mother of John the Baptist?
Elizabeth
3A In the Bible, who was the father of James and John?
Zebedee
3B Which BBC 1 drama series of 2017 featured Tom Hardy as James Keziah Delaney who returns to London from Africa in 1814 to reclaim his inheritance?
Taboo
4A What name is given to the search engine developed by Mozilla the latest version of which is called Quantum?
Firefox
4B Opened in 1972 The Brewery Arts Centre is in which town in the North-West of England?
Kendal

Round Six
1A Which derived SI unit is named after a scientist who was born in 1856 in what is now Croatia and died in 1943 in New York?
Tesla (Magnetic Flux Density)
1B Opened in 2017, and connecting Edinburgh and Fife, what is the name of the bridge that carries the M90 across the Firth of Forth?
Queensferry
2A Which element, number 31 on the periodic table, gets its name from the Latin word for a European country?
Gallium
2B The painting “Salvator Mundi” (Saviour of the World), auctioned for a world record price in 2017, was painted by which great artist?
Leonardo da Vinci
3A The previous record auction price for a painting had been held by The Women of Algiers since 2015 and was painted by which great artist?
Pablo Picasso
3B Which element, number 97 on the periodic table, gets its name from the University where it was first synthesised?
Berkelium
4A Opened in 1971 and connecting West Dumbarton to Renfrew, which bridge carries the A898 across the River Clyde?
Erskine
4B Which derived SI unit was named after a scientist who was born in 1623 in Clermont-Ferrand, France and died in 1662 in Paris?
Pascal (Pressure and Stress)

Round Seven
1A In Indian cuisine, aloo is what type of vegetable?
Potato
1B London Pride beer is produced by which company at the Griffin Brewery, Chiswick?
Fuller's
2A Sheryl Sandberg is the chief operating officer of which Internet company?
Facebook
2B In France, what type of building is a “Bibliotheque”?
Library
3A In Germany or Austria, what type of building is a “Rathaus”?
Town Hall
3B Ana Patricia Botin is the executive chair of which international banking group?
Santander
4A Old Peculier beer is produced by which company at its brewery in Masham, North Yorkshire?
Theakston's
4B In Indian cuisine, dal or dall is what type of pulse?
Lentil

Round Eight
1A Who left his job as Secretary of State for Defence in November 2017, following allegations of inappropriate behaviour?
Michael Fallon
1B Apart from the UK and the Republic of Ireland, name either of the republics of the European Union where people drive on the left-hand side of the road?
Cyprus or Malta
2A Coloured green, which animal appears on the logo of the Rainforest Alliance, a signal to consumers that the product is friendly to the planet and to farmworkers?
Frog
2B Which house or estate is named in the opening lines of Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca"? Manderley
3A Which Dicken's novel is named in the opening lines of J D Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye"?
David Copperfield
3B Coloured red, which vehicle is on the logo for the Assured Food Standards organisation that promotes and regulates food quality in the UK?
Tractor
4A Name either of the sovereign states on the South American mainland where people drive on the left-hand side of the road?
Guyana or Suriname
4B Who left her job of Secretary of State for International Development in November 2017 following unauthorized meetings with the Israeli government?
Pritti Patel

Spare Questions
1 Windhover is an alternative name for which bird?
Kestrel
2 The Zimbabwean politician Emmerson Mnanagagwa, who took over from Mugabe, takes his nickname from which animal?
Crocodile
3 Which two letters do the Chelsea Pensioners have on their hats?
RH
4 Born 1930 and died 2017, who was the founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company and also director of the National Theatre for 15 years? He was married four times, with his first wife being the actress Leslie Caron.
Sir Peter Hall
5 What bird is the symbol for the RSPB?
Avocet
6 What is the symbol for The National Trust in England?
Oak leaf or Acorn (accept either)
7 Born 1940 and died in 2017, which English actor starred in the TV Movie “The Naked Civil Servant” (as Quentin Crisp) and the films “The Elephant Man” and as Mr. Olivander in three Harry Potter films?
John Hurt