| Q# | Question | Incorrect Answer | Correct Answer |
|---|
| 1 | Originally an adjective meaning "weighty" or "dignified", what term specifically refers to a Hindu spiritual teacher or one of the leaders of early Sikhism and precedes. | | Guru |
| Fitzwilliam, you get the first set of bonuses, they are on internet company names. |
| 1 | Yahoo! was allegedly named after a race of uncouth creatures in which 18th-century novel? It's Gulliver's Travels, isn't it, presumably? | | Gulliver's Travels |
| 1 | The word "E" in the name eBay originally stood for what short word? | "Extra" | No, it was "echo" |
| 1 | Which internet company's name originated with a misspelling of the term for 10 to the 100? | | Google |
| 2 | "I'm determined to see the bicycle become the default form of transport "for all of our short journeys." These are the words of which broadcaster and world champion cyclist? At the 1992 Olympics, he won Britain's first cycling gold for 72 years on his Lotus machine. | | Chris Boardman |
| Your first set of bonuses, Leicester, then, are on shrinking lakes in Asia. |
| 2 | Firstly, for five points, in which country is the saline Lake Urmia? | Armenia | No, it's Iran |
| 2 | Its inflow reduced as a result of the construction of hydroelectric power plants, Lake Balkhash lies north of the city of Almaty in which country? | Uzbekistan | No, it's Kazakhstan |
| 2 | And, finally, Kazakhstan and which other country share the remains of the Aral Sea, now a small fraction of its former size? | | Uzbekistan |
| 3 | A contraction of two longer words, what five-letter term denotes chemical reactions such as fire, respiration, photosynthesis and the rusting and dissolution of metals? | | Redox |
| Your bonuses are on physicists with polysyllabic surnames. In each case, the surname will be sufficient. |
| 3 | Born in 1910, which Indian astrophysicist has a given name and a surname both of four syllables? He worked on stellar evolution and gives his surname to a mass limit above which a white dwarf will collapse to form a neutron star. | | Chandrasahar |
| 3 | Born in 1608, which assistant to Galileo gives one of the four syllables in his surname to a unit of atmospheric pressure? | I've no idea, sorry | It's Torricelli, after whom the torr is named |
| 3 | And, finally, also with a four-syllable surname, which US physicist played a leading role in the Manhattan Project as head of the Los Alamos laboratory? | | Oppenheimer |
| 4 | The name of which national park in the western United States is given to a curve on a graph. ..showing how the venture capital invested in a new company falls as the company uses up available cash to meet its start-up expenses? The expression implies the need to find water before dying of thirst. | | Death Valley |
| 4 | You get a set of bonuses now on women and their husbands, Fitzwilliam. In 1936, the British-born anthropologist Gregory Bateson married which US author and academic working in the same discipline? Her works include Growing Up In New Guinea, and together they wrote Balinese Character. | | Margaret Mead |
| 4 | Known for her global cities thesis, Saskia Sassen married which fellow US sociologist? His works include The Craftsman and The Culture Of The New Capitalism. | Merton | No, it was Richard Sennett |
| 4 | And, finally, Harriet Taylor was the author of The Enfranchisement Of Women, an essay that was published under the name of which English philosopher and economist, whom she married in 1851? | | Mill |
| 5 | For your picture starter you'll see a selection of elements from the periodic table with their symbols and name removed. For ten points, I want you to tell me the word that would be spelled if their symbols were visible. | Cool? Book | No, it is "cook" |
| 6 | In which European capital is the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, whose collection includes several works by Gilbert and George and Jeff Koons' porcelain statue of Michael Jackson and Bubbles? The same city's national gallery houses a version of Edvard Munch's The Scream. | | Oslo |
| Your picture bonuses are three more culinary words that can be spelled using elements from the periodic table. For five points in each case, simply tell me the word that would be spelled if the symbols were visible. |
| 6 | Firstly. | | Brunch |
| 6 | Secondly. | | Pasta |
| 6 | And, finally. | | Banana |
| 7 | Minahassa is the northernmost and most elongated of the four large peninsulas of which island? Slightly smaller than Great Britain, it lies west of the Molucca Sea and east of the Makassar Strait. | | Sulawesi |
| You get a set of bonuses on smelling salts in Victorian novels, Fitzwilliam. |
| 7 | "I have habitually thought of you more in the night than "I am quite equal to. Raymond is a witness, "what ginger and sal volatile I am obliged to take." In which novel does Camilla say this, toadying to her husband's wealthy relative? | Let's try The Woman In White | No, it's Great Expectations |
| 7 | And, secondly, in which novel of 1878 does Thomasin Yeobright use spirit of hartshorn to revive her cousin, Clym, after he jumps into Shadwater Weir in an attempt to save Eustacia Vye? | Let's try The Mayor of Casterbridge | No. It was Hardy, it was The Return of the Native, though |
| 7 | And, finally, in which novel of 1871 does Dr Lydgate administer sal volatile to Dorothea when she bursts into sobs at the implications of her late husband's will? | Bleak House | No, it's Middlemarch by George Eliot |
| 8 | According to TS Eliot, which mythological queen delivered perhaps the most telling snub in all poetry? He was referring to an episode in Virgil's Aeneid. | | Dido |
| Right, your bonuses now are on industry in the early 20th century in the words of the 1907 version of the Nuttall Encyclopaedia. In each case, name the present-day British city from the description. |
| 8 | Firstly, for five points, "Population 55,000 in Warwickshire, "famous for the manufacture of ribbons "and watches and, recently, the chief seat of the "manufacture of bicycles and tricycles." | | Coventry |
| 8 | Secondly, "Population 90,000, a flourishing "and progressive sea port of Glamorganshire, "the chief seat of copper smelting and tin plate manufacture." | | Swansea |
| 8 | "Population 216,000, on a tributary of the Aire, "west of Leeds, the chief seat of worsted spinning "and weaving in England." | | Bradford |
| 9 | In which city in 1860 did French and British troops loot and destroy the complex known in English as The Garden Of Pure Light or the Old Summer Palace? Lamented at the time by Victor Hugo, the destruction is a source of considerable resentment. | Cadiz | No, it's Beijing or Peking |
| 10 | What short name links a carpenter who is the title character of an early novel by George Eliot with an Anglo-Saxon monk and historian. | | Bede |
| Right, your bonuses are on the Peterloo massacre of 1819, Leicester. |
| 10 | Who was Home Secretary at the time of Peterloo? Soon afterwards he wrote, expressing "high approbation "of the exemplary manner in which troops assisted the civil power." He'd previously served as Prime Minister from 1801 to 1804. | Pitt the Younger | It wasn't, it was Henry Addington, First Viscount Sidmouth |
| 10 | On hearing news of the massacre, who wrote The Mask Of Anarchy, a poem that urged the reformers to "rise like lions after slumber"? | | Shelley |
| 10 | In 1821, John Edward Taylor founded which newspaper, in order "to promote the liberal interest "in the aftermath of the Peterloo massacre"? | | Manchester Guardian |
| 11 | For your music starter, you'll hear a piece of classical music by a French composer. Ten points if you can name him, please. PIANO PIECE PLAYS | Debussy | Ravel |
| Part of Le Tombeau de Couperin, which pays homage to the composer Francois Couperin and 18th-century French music, and celebrates the 100th anniversary of its completion this year. |
| 11 | For the music bonuses, three more works that reference the name of another composer in their title. | | It is Benjamin Britten, that was the first movement of Variation, or part of the first movement of Variations On A Theme Of Frank Bridge, who was Britten's composition teacher |
| 11 | Secondly, this contemporary European composer. | No, we don't know | That's Arvo Part's Homage To Benjamin Britten |
| 11 | And finally. | Tchaikovsky | No, that's Rachmaninoff - I thought that was the easiest of the lot, actually - it's the opening of Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini |
| 12 | Benzino Napaloni and Adenoid Hynkel are rulers of Bacteria and Tomainia respectively, in which 1940 film written, produced, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin? | | The Great Dictator |
| Right, you get a set of bonuses, Leicester, on extremophiles, or organisms that thrive in extreme conditions. |
| 12 | Meaning "within stone", what term denotes an organism that lives inside rock, coral or animal shells or in the pores between the mineral grains of a rock? | Lithocyte | No, it was an endolith |
| 12 | Secondly, under what conditions do piezophilic or barophilic organisms thrive? | | High pressure |
| 12 | Xerophiles thrive in what general type of environment? | | Dry |
| 13 | Ten points for this, what is the title of James Baldwin's 1956 novel about a young American. ..who, having been left alone in Paris by his girlfriend, embarks on a relationship with an Italian bartender? | No-one's going to buzz from Leicester | It's Giovanni's Room |
| 14 | What initial letter links the seat of the German Federal Constitutional Court, a body of water between the Jutland Peninsula and Sweden, and an exclave of Russia on the Baltic Sea? | | K |
| Right, you get a set of bonuses on banana cultivation. |
| 14 | Firstly, for five points, the main variety of export banana shares its name with which noble family? | Russell | No, it's Cavendish |
| 14 | The Cavendish is threatened by TR4, a variant of which virulent disease, named after a Central American republic? | | It is Panama disease |
| 14 | And, finally, in the 1950s, Panama disease ravaged the former leading cultivar, the Gros Michel or Big Mike. This variety originated in which Caribbean island, an overseas Department of France? | | Martinique |
| 15 | For your picture starter, you'll see a picture of a cricketer. Ten points if you can name him. | | Brearley |
| 2017 marks the 40th anniversary of Mike Brearley's Ashes win over Australia. For your picture bonuses, three more England players who were prominent in Ashes Series, five points for each you can name. |
| 15 | Firstly, this batsman. | Hutton | No, it's Denis Compton |
| 15 | Secondly, this captain, pictured seated in the centre. | Lillywhite | No, that's the Honourable Ivo Bligh |
| 15 | And finally, this England captain. | | Strauss |
| 16 | Some 300km southeast of Moscow, the railway station of Astapovo now bears the name of which literary figure who died there in 19. ? | | Tolstoy |
| Right, Fitzwilliam, your bonuses are on courtiers and favourites of Elizabeth I. In each case I'll accept either the title or the surname of the person concerned. |
| 16 | Firstly, which courtier was rumoured to be behind the mysterious death of his first wife, Amy Robsart, an incident that did much to frustrate his ambition to marry Elizabeth? | Let's try Cecil | No, it was Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester |
| 16 | Secondly, which stepson of Dudley's was also a favourite of Elizabeth? | | It was Robert Devereux, the Second Earl of Essex |
| 16 | Referred to by the Queen as "My dear Pug" and "Water", which English adventurer and writer was accused of treason and executed by Elizabeth's successor, James I, in 1618? | | Raleigh |
| 17 | In book titles, what did Naomi Klein link to climate change, Max Weber to the Protestant ethic and Lenin to imperialism? | Culture | Capitalism |
| You get a set of bonuses on a nature reserve, Leicester. |
| 17 | In the care of Scottish Natural Heritage, the Noss Nature Reserve lies off the island of Bressay in which archipelago? | Orkney | No, it's Shetland |
| 17 | And secondly, what distinctive birds of the Auk family nest on the cliffs of Noss? | | Correct |
| 17 | Moorland in the centre of Noss is a breeding ground of which large birds, also known as bonxies? | | Skua |
| 18 | In cell biology, what is stored in the elaioplast of plants? | | Fat |
| You get a set of bonuses on humanism, Fitzwilliam. |
| 18 | What is Humanism? How Do You Live Without A God? And Other Big Questions for Kids is a 2015 work by Anne Marie Young and which children's novelist and poet? | | Michael Rosen |
| 18 | Science And Humanism is the text of a series of lectures by which physicist born in Vienna in 1887? | Einstein | No, it's Erwin Schrodinger |
| 18 | And, finally, Existentialism And Humanism is a 1946 work by which writer and philosopher who declined the 1964 Nobel Prize in literature? | | That's Sartre |
| 19 | In 1863, which Austrian Archduke was installed as the Emperor of Mexico? | | Maximillian I |
| Your bonuses are on the Four Corner US states - that is the four that meet at right angles close to the 37th parallel of latitude. |
| 19 | Home to the Petrified Forest National Park, which of the Four Corner states is the largest by population? | | Arizona |
| 19 | In which state is the Carlsbad Caverns National Park? | | New Mexico |
| 19 | The location of the Zion National Park, which is the only one of the Four Corner states to incorporate an Olympic Games host city? | | Utah |
| 20 | Give the two-word common name of the preparation made from the leaves and bark of the tree hamamelis virginiana and used as an astringent, especially for the treatment of sprains and bruises. | | Witch-hazel |
| Your bonuses this time are on people born in 1817. In each case, name the person from the description. |
| 20 | Firstly, an administrative reformer and master of Balliol College, Oxford, he produced notable translations of Plato and Thucydides. | | It was Benjamin Jowett |