| Q# | Question | Incorrect Answer | Correct Answer |
|---|
| 1 | More than 1,500km in length, Rio Solimoes is a name given to the upper portion of which major river? Its brown, muddy waters join the darker waters of the Rio Negro near the city of Manaus. | | Amazon |
| They're on educational philosophy. |
| 1 | Firstly, in 1837, the German educator, Friedrich Frobel, founded what type of infant school, now the first unit of elementary school in the US? | | Kindergarten |
| 1 | Born in the Austrian Empire in 1861, which philosopher founded the Waldorf School movement, based on his ideas of anthroposophy? | We'll just pass | That was Rudolf Steiner |
| 1 | And finally, born in 1870, which Italian educator originated an eponymous educational system that uses self-directed activities and self-correcting materials? | | Montessori |
| 2 | Sometimes described as the most famous Kurd in history, which Muslim ruler overthrew the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt, and in 1187, recaptured Jerusalem after. | | Saladin |
| Your bonuses, Magdalen College, are on sleep in Shakespeare. |
| 2 | Firstly, for five, the final speech of which play by Shakespeare invites the audience to consider they may have been asleep rather than watching a stage production? | | A Midsummer Night's Dream |
| 2 | Shakespeare used the word sleep most frequently in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and in which of his tragedies, in which it is said to knit up the ravell'd sleeve of care? | | Macbeth |
| 2 | In which of Shakespeare's tragedies does the main antagonist describe "a kind of men so loose of soul, that in their sleeps "will mutter their affairs?" | | Othello |
| 3 | Born in Vienna in 1902, who proposed the paradox of tolerance, namely that unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance? The argument appears in the 1945 work, The Open Society And Its Enemies. | | Karl Popper |
| A set of bonuses on physics in the 1970s for you guys. |
| 3 | The 1971 Nobel Prize for physics was awarded to the Hungarian-born Dennis Gabor for his invention of what technique? | | Holography |
| 3 | Burton Richter and Samuel Ting shared the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the J/psi particle. | | Charm quarks |
| 3 | In 1974, the first Nobel Prize in physics to be given for astronomical research was awarded jointly to Anthony Hewish and which fellow radio astronomer? | Martin Reece | No, it's Sir Martin Ryle |
| 4 | Reconstructed in 1907, the Great Mosque of Djenne is part of a World Heritage site in which West African country? | | Mali |
| These bonuses are on fathers and sons in Greek legend, St Edmund's. |
| 4 | In different accounts, who was variously killed, lamed, or struck blind by a thunderbolt, for revealing that the goddess Aphrodite was the mother of his son, Aeneas? | | Anchises |
| 4 | Which sea takes its name from the father of Theseus? He flung himself from the Acropolis when Theseus forgot to raise a sign to show he had returned alive from killing the Minotaur? | | Aegean Sea |
| 4 | And finally, for five points, during The Sack of Troy, which son of Achilles and Deidamia killed King Priam at an altar? He later took Hector's wife as his concubine. | Ayat | No, it's Pyrrhus |
| 5 | In logic, the symbol of a double-headed horizontal arrow, or three horizontal lines, indicates. ..a bi-conditional logical connective between statements, also represented by the written abbreviation, IFF. For what does the abbreviation stand? | | If and only if |
| They are on birdsong in music. |
| 5 | Born in 1908, which French composer and ornithologist is noted for incorporating birdsong into many of his compositions? | | Messiaen |
| 5 | Described as "A concerto for taped birdsong and orchestra," Cantus Arcticus is a 1972 work by which composer, born in Helsinki in 1928? | Sibelius | No, it's Rautavaara |
| 5 | First performed in 1808, which symphony includes a cadenza in which woodwind instruments are used to represent the calls of the nightingale, the quail, and the cuckoo? | | Beethoven. Sixth Symphony |
| 6 | For your picture starter, you're going to see a short quotation in French. For ten points, please tell me the philosopher to whom it is attributed. | | Voltaire. "If God did not exist, then we would have to invent him." |
| Right, three more short quotation from French philosophers for your bonuses, then, Magdalen, all in the original language. In each case, for five points, simply identify the philosopher in question. |
| 6 | Firstly, for five, who wrote this? | | It is Pascal, Blaise Pascal, "If you win, you win everything, if you lose, you lose nothing." |
| 6 | "When I play with my cat. " | Descartes | No, that was Montaigne. "When I play with my cat, how do I know she is not playing with me?" |
| 6 | Finally, who is this? | | Simone de Beauvoir. "One is not born, "but rather becomes a woman |
| 7 | Which lower case Greek letter represents in biochemistry a protein implicated in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, in particle physics, a charge lepton with a mass of 1,700. ? ..1,777 mega electron volts, and in mechanics, torque? | | Tau |
| Right, a set of bonuses this time on the Mayfair district of London, Magdalen. |
| 7 | Based in Mayfair, which organisation was founded in 1799 for diffusing the knowledge and the application of science for the common purposes of life? | Royal Society | No, it's the Royal Institution |
| 7 | Secondly, supposedly located in Mayfair's Dover Street, which members-only club appears in novels by PG Wodehouse, and has been described as "Arguably the best-loved London club in fiction"? | | The Drones Club |
| 7 | And finally, which area of central Mayfair features in the title of a popular romantic song, covered by, among others, Vera Lynn and Nat King Cole? | | Berkeley Square |
| 8 | From the tenth century, Fulk the Red, Fulk the Good, Fulk the Black, and Fulk the Surly were among counts of which historical region of France? A term derived from the region's name was later given to the empire ruled by Henry II of England. | | Anjou |
| Here are your bonuses - they are on stereoisomers in chemistry. |
| 8 | Firstly, what term is commonly used for each of the two stereoisomers that are mirror images of each other, but are non-superimposable, and thus not identical? | | Enantiomers |
| 8 | What term describes an equimolar mixture of two enantiomers, that does not exhibit optical activity? | | Racemic |
| 8 | And depending on how they rotate, plain polarised light, enantiomers may be classified as D or L isomers. For what to the letters D and L stand? | Dextro- and levoro- | It's dextro- and levo-rotatory |
| 9 | Of interest in part because they can be used to constrain the change of fundamental constraints over time, examples of what type of power source, operated at over 15 separate sites, about two billion years ago, within oil deposits in Oklo in Gabon? | | Nuclear fission |
| These bonuses are on Spanish cities and their patron saints. |
| 9 | Firstly, martyred in the third century, Justa and Rufina are the patron saints of which Andalusian city? They are often depicted with the city's Giralda Tower as one of their attributes. | | Seville |
| 9 | The Cathedral of which Mediterranean seaport is dedicated to St Eulalia, who was martyred in around 300 during the last wave of Roman persecution? | Cadiz | No, it's Barcelona |
| 9 | St Leocadia is a patron saint of which city in Castille, at one time the capital of the Visigothic Kingdom? | Segovia | No, it's Toledo |
| 10 | For your music starter, you're going to hear an excerpt from a film score. Ten points if you can identify its composer. | Is it Maurice Jarre? Hans Zimmer | No, it's John Barry |
| 11 | What common surname links the first US president to be impeached, the first female pilot. | | Johnson |
| So, lucky old you, Magdalen - you get the music bonuses. That music you heard was by John Barry. It was the theme to Out Of Africa. He is the only composer to have won a Golden Raspberry Award for the Worst Musical Score, and then gone on to win the Academy Award for the Best Original Score for a different film. All three composers coming up have also been nominated for a Golden Raspberry, but you will hear an excerpt from the score which won them an Oscar. |
| 11 | Firstly, who composed this, from a film released in 1976? | | Is it Julie Goldsmith |
| 11 | Secondly, who was the composer for this film, released in the 2010s? | Hans Zimmer | No, that is Ennio Morricone. That was the theme from Quentin Tarantino's 2015 film, The Hateful Eight |
| 11 | And finally, who composed this, from a film released in 1978? | Kraftwerk | No, that's Giorgio Moroder. That was from Midnight Express |
| 12 | "My brother is an aficionado of oolong tea." Give the dictionary spelling of the word. ..of the word "Aficionado" in this sentence. | A-F-F-I | No, it's one F. Aficionado |
| 13 | After the English calico printer, who discovered it in 1844, what term denotes the process in which cotton yarns and fabrics under tension are treated with aqueous sodium hydroxide in order to increase their lustre? | Bleaching? Immersion | No, it's mercerisation |
| 14 | What initial letter links the names of countries that border Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Kuwait, Papua New Guinea, and the United Kingdom? | | I. |
| These bonuses are on music, St Edmund's. |
| 14 | Which US composer's landmark 1964 work, In C, has no fixed duration, and starts with the note C played repeatedly in a steady rhythm? | John Cage | No, it's Terry Riley |
| 14 | Terry Riley is among those to have written works for which influential string quartet, founded by the violinist David Harrington in Seattle in 1973? | Emerson String Quartet | No, it's the Kronos Quartet |
| 14 | And finally, the Kronos Quartet's 1988 album, Winter Was Hard, includes works by Terry Riley and a recording of the 1977 composition, Fratres, written without fixed instrumentation, by which composer? | Stockhausen | No, it's Arvo Part |
| 15 | The only words uttered by the title character of which narrative poem of 1842 are, "I am half sick of shadows, and the curse is come upon me"? | | The Lady Of Shalott |
| These bonuses, Magdalen, are on British armies in India. |
| 15 | In 1751, Robert Clive captured the Fortress of Arcot on the route between Bangalore and which other present-day Indian state capital on the Coromandel Coast? | Hyderabad | No, it's Chennai, or Madras, as it was then |
| 15 | Secondly, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, which city was the scene of a notable siege of 1857 during the Indian Rebellion or Mutiny? | | Lucknow |
| 15 | The capitals of Nagaland and Manipur gave their names to battles of 1944 that became a springboard for the 14th Army's reconquest of Burma. | We don't know | They're Kohima and Imphal |
| 16 | For your picture starter, you'll see a distinctive cultural artefact made during which particular Chinese dynasty? | | Ming |
| Following on from that Ming vase, three more iconic cultural artefacts from particular Chinese dynasties. Again, simply name the relevant dynasty. |
| 16 | You may give the usual English spelling if you're unsure of the pronunciation. | | The Eastern Han |
| 16 | Secondly, this ritual vessel. | We'll go for the Qing dynasty | No, it's the Shang dynasty |
| 16 | And finally, during which dynasty were these objects made? | | Qin |
| 17 | What five-letter word was used in the mid-19th century to mean a lucky stroke in billiards, and can now mean a parasitic flatworm, a part of an anchor, or a surprising twist of fortune? | | Fluke |
| These bonuses, which could give you the lead, are on chemistry. |
| 17 | Firstly, also known as the oxo process, hydroformylation involves the addition of carbon monoxide and hydrogen to an alkene to form what organic compounds? | Alcohols | No, it's aldehydes |
| 17 | Secondly, an aldehyde reacted with a Grignard reagent will produce an alcohol. What metal is used to make a Grignard reagent? | | Magnesium |
| 17 | What alcohol would be formed by the oxidation of formaldehyde? | Ethanol | No, it's methanol |
| 18 | In astronomy, what two-word term denotes the time taken for the sun to return to the same position in the sky. ..to return to the same position in the sky with reference to the background of fixed stars? | Solar year | It's a sidereal year |
| 19 | The third meridian west crosses the Firth of Forth just to the east of Edinburgh. In which county does it meet the English Channel at a point on the Jurassic coast? | Dorset. East Sussex | No, it's Devon |
| 20 | A little larger than Scotland, what is the most sparsely populated US state east of the Mississippi? Its highest point is Mount Katahdin, the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. | | Maine |
| Your bonuses now are on Italian neorealist cinema, Magdalen. |
| 20 | Directed by Vittorio De Sica, which 1948 film concerns a father and son's search for their. | | Bicycle Thieves |
| 20 | Which director's war trilogy began with a 1945 film - Rome, Open City - followed. | | Rossellini |
| 20 | And finally, Luchino Visconti's 1942 film Ossessione was an adaptation of which novel by James M Cain? | | The Postman Always Rings Twice |
| 21 | Used in photography, which yellowish, light-sensitive compound has the chemical formula. ..has the chemical formula AgBr? | | Silver bromide |
| Your bonuses this time, Magdalen, are on human physiology. |
| 21 | Noted for its great functional complexity, what is the largest gland of the human body? | Thyroid | No, it's the liver |
| 21 | The metabolic pathway known as GNG occurs mainly in the liver. For what term do these letters stand? | | Gluconeogenesis |
| 21 | Which two vessels supply blood to the liver? | | Hepatic portal vein and hepatic artery |
| 22 | Which artist painted the early 14th-century frescoes of the lives of Jesus and the Virgin Mary that covered the internal walls of the Arena Chapel in Padua? | | Giotto |
| These bonuses are all on Russia and the United States. |
| 22 | The reign of which Russian tsar spanned the presidencies of Cleveland, McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson? | | Nicholas II |
| 22 | Who acceded to the Russian throne when Thomas Jefferson was in office, and died during the presidency of John Quincy Adams? | Catherine the Great | No, it was Alexander I. Oh, yeah |
| 22 | Who was the only US president during the reign of Catherine the Great? | | Washington |
| 23 | Beset by war, tropical storms, and plagues of insomnia, the fictional town of Macondo is a central. ..is a central location in which. | | |