BBC Radio 4 Brain of Britain Ultimate Quiz Book. Russell Davies

share the same forename and surname: what are they?

      33. Which inland sea is bounded by Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan?

      34. Although unrelated, the pop singers Joe Cocker and Jarvis Cocker both came from which British city?

      35. The name of which artistic movement is thought to have originated in a less-than-complimentary comment by the critic Louis Vauxcelles, reviewing an exhibition of the work of Georges Braque, in 1908?

      36. The man who was Surveyor of the King’s, and later the Queen’s, Pictures between 1945 and 1972, and Director of the Courtauld Institute of Art from 1947 to 1974, later became known to the general public for other reasons entirely. Who was he?

      37. Which branch of mechanics is concerned with the motion of objects under the actions of forces?

      38. First published in 1982, the anthology The Rattle Bag is a collection of the favourite poems of the two poets who edited it. They were Ted Hughes and – who else?

      39. The rock ‘n’ roll song ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, recorded most famously by Elvis Presley, was written by which performer, another Sun Records recording artist?

      40. In the familiar formula E=mc2, what is the constant represented by c?

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Quiz 5

      1. First donated in 1892 by the Governor General of Canada, which ice hockey trophy is awarded each year to the National Hockey League play-off champions?

      2. Which large building in London, opened in 1998, was described unflatteringly by Prince Charles as looking like ‘an academy for secret policemen’?

      3. A small fish found in the seas off southern Asia, the Bummalo, is generally known by what name when it’s salted and dried and served as a foodstuff?

      4. Which British locomotive, designed by Sir Nigel Gresley, set a world speed record for a steam-powered train of 126 miles per hour in 1938?

      5. Mel Blanc, the actor who provided the voices for many of the best-loved Warner Brothers cartoon characters including Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, chose what valedictory three-word phrase for his tombstone?

      6. In 2009 Dorothy Hughes and Winifred Phillips, both in their 80s, joined the ranks of which previously all-male institution?

      7. What was the name of the Australian Prime Minister who disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach in Victoria in 1967, and was presumed to have drowned?

      8. Which woodland north of Perth in Scotland is the setting for the climax of Shakespeare’s Macbeth – in which the witches’ prophecy is fulfilled, that the trees should march upon the castle of Dunsinane?

      9. Acknowledged as one of the world’s pre-eminent members of her profession, what position did Pauline Kael hold on the New Yorker magazine from 1968 until 1991?

      10. No Way Home is the title of the 2007 rags-to-riches autobiography of which ballet dancer, who began life as one of eight children living in poverty in the back streets of Havana?

      11. The capital cities of the two distinct states of the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo face one another across the Congo river: can you name them both?

      12. The name of which household fixture is derived from an old French word meaning a pony or small horse?

      13. Teenager Holden Caulfield is the hero of which American novel of the mid 20th century?

      14. Now largely discredited, ECT was a common technique of psychiatric treatment in the 20th century. What do the letters ECT stand for?

      15. Which word, sometimes used poetically to refer to the female sex, was given to a cleft stick measuring about three feet long, around which flax was wound, in the days before mechanised spinning?

      16. The provocative New York-born singer Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta became one of the world’s bestselling recording stars in 2009, thanks to hits such as ‘Poker Face’ and ‘Paparazzi’. By what stage name is she better known?

      17. In 1984 Alec Jeffreys of the University of Leicester discovered which now-common technique, of particular importance in forensic science?

      18. Of the eight Kings of England called Henry, which one had the longest reign?

      19. Which Premiership football club was, until 1900, known as Thames Ironworks FC?

      20. While she was First Lady of the United States, Jackie Kennedy’s stylish wardrobe was much-admired and imitated. Which French-born American designer and celebrity couturier was credited with inventing the ‘Jackie Look’?

      21. The standard unit of magnetic flux density is named after which American physicist, who invented the AC induction motor?

      22. A cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, said to have been inspired by the singer and flapper Helen Kane, had to be drawn with longer skirts and fuller bodices to comply with the strictures of the Hayes Code of 1934. Which character?

      23. Which ascetic sub-order of Cistercian monks was founded in Normandy in 1664 by the Abbott de Rancé?

      24. The towns of Widnes and Runcorn stand facing one another across which major river?

      25. In 1635, who founded the Académie française, the body charged with preserving French cultural heritage, and whose membership is limited to forty so-called ‘Immortals’?

      26. In which city would you find the cricket test match venue called Basin Reserve, often known locally as just ‘the Basin’?

      27. The slang word ‘droog’, amongst many others, was first coined in which novel first published in 1962, and filmed nine years later?

      28. In which type of chemical reaction does a molecule of a compound split by reacting with water?

      29. Which British statesman published a book entitled Painting as a Pastime?

      30. In Christian tradition, if plain old Angels are the lowest rank of the nine-fold celestial hierarchy, which group of beings are the highest?

      31. Along with the malleus and the incus, which tiny stirrup-shaped bone in the middle ear helps transmit vibrations to the organs of the inner ear?

      32. What’s the correct term for the pastoral staff carried by a bishop as part of the official vestments, fashioned in the form of a shepherd’s crook?

      33. Which building was the subject of a real-time film by Andy Warhol lasting over eight hours, the only action in the picture being the lights of the building going on and off?

      34. In physics, which elementary particle has a name derived from the Greek word for light, which was first used by the physical chemist Gilbert Lewis in 1926?