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

a boy playing on the seashore … whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before’ him?

      33. Critical Path and Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth are works by which American architect and environmentalist who died in 1983?

      34. If a regular rectangular box has sides of 5 centimetres, 6 centimetres and 8 centimetres, what is its volume in cubic centimetres?

      35. Which book ends with the line: ‘It was not till they had examined the rings that they recognised who it was’?

      36. The wives of which jazz musician, who was married no fewer than eight times, included the actresses Lana Turner and Ava Gardner, and the novelist Kathleen Winsor?

      37. ‘God is my oath’ or ‘God is my abundance’ is the literal meaning of which girls’ name in common use?

      38. The Logic of Scientific Discovery, originally published in 1934, is the English title of a seminal work by which Austrian-born British philosopher?

      39. Fallingwater, a private house built above the Bear Run Stream in rural Pennsylvania, is the work of which great American architect?

      40. Pythias, the ward of Hermias of Atarneus, married which Greek philosopher in the city of Assos around 345 BC?

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Quiz 16

      1. Which children’s writer and illustrator, whose family fled Hitler’s Germany in the 1930s, created the bestselling children’s books The Tiger Who Came to Tea and the series about a forgetful cat called Mog?

      2. Based on a folk tune, the orchestral work Five Variants on Dives and Lazarus was written in 1939 by which English composer?

      3. Lavrentiy Beria, executed in 1953, was the head of which organisation during the Second World War?

      4. Which King of England reigned between the years 978 and 1016, succeeding his father Edgar and his half-brother Edward?

      5. Which journal, still in existence, was founded in 1823 by the Devon-born MP, coroner and social health reformer Thomas Wakley?

      6. Lady Jane Grey got married shortly before she became Queen of England in July 1553 – so what was her actual married name at the time of her death?

      7. Which Irish Taoiseach signed the Hillsborough Agreement in 1985?

      8. In the Spiderman series of Marvel comics, Peter Parker is a freelance photographer for which newspaper?

      9. In the classic board game of Cluedo, the plant toxicologist Dr Orchid was introduced to the cast of suspects in 2016, becoming the first new character in the game for more than sixty years. Which of the six original characters did she replace?

      10. The ‘Droeshout engraving’, the ‘Janssen bust’ and the ‘Chandos portrait’ are all believed to be likenesses of which historical figure?

      11. In Australian Rules football, how many points are awarded for a goal?

      12. Which famous 20th century novel opens with these words: ‘To the red country and part of the grey country of Oklahoma the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth’?

      13. In 2008, in genealogical research for the BBC television programme Who Do You Think You Are?, which political figure discovered a hitherto-unsuspected blood tie to the British Royal Family?

      14. The villages of Reeth, Gunnerside and Keld are to be found in which of the North Yorkshire dales?

      15. What is an ‘Eton crop’?

      16. The ‘address’ of a site on the worldwide web is often referred to as its ‘URL’. What do the letters URL stand for in this context?

      17. What’s the surname of the brother and sister, both noted Hollywood actors, who played a pair of fictional siblings in the 2001 film thriller Donnie Darko?

      18. In the 1930s, the Nazi regime justified its drive for expansion of its territory by the argument that the country was over-crowded and needed ‘living space’ to give its people a comfortable life. What German word meaning ‘living space’ was used in this context?

      19. In a novel of 1889, the best-known work of its author who was born in the West Midlands, there is a comical incident in which the protagonists manage to lose their way in the Hampton Court maze. Which novel is that?

      20. According to legend, the ninth-century Pope officially known as Pope John the Eighth was unique in what respect?

      21. Which of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was to be found at Halicarnassus in present-day Turkey, which was also the birthplace of Herodotus?

      22. Somersby Rectory in Lincolnshire was the birthplace, in 1809, of which English poet?

      23. As opposed to plankton – minute aquatic organisms which drift – which word describes the ecological division of aquatic animals that swim actively and by their own efforts?

      24. What nationality was the 20th century composer Gerald Finzi?

      25. The word ‘Pavonine’, sometimes applied to a dandy or flamboyantly-dressed person, actually means ‘having the appearance of, or being similar to’ – what?

      26. In which 19th century novel does the hero meet up with two conmen who call themselves the Duke of Bridgewater and ‘Looy the Seventeen’?

      27. A classic and much-reproduced newspaper cartoon from the First World War features the caption ‘Well, if you knows of a better ‘ole, go to it.’ Who drew the cartoon?

      28. Which two-word term was coined by Thomas Rymer, the author of Tragedies of the Last Age Considered, to describe the idea that, in a work of literature, good characters should be rewarded and evil characters punished?

      29. What name was given to the first-ever line of the London underground, opened in January 1863 and running originally from Bishop’s Road to Farringdon Street?

      30. Which silver-white metalloid element, discovered by Franz Joseph Muller von Richtenstein in 1782, has the atomic number 52 and takes its name from the Latin word for ‘earth’?

      31. Casey Kasem, in addition to being one of America’s most popular disc jockeys, was also known for providing the voice for which cartoon character created by Hanna-Barbera?

      32. On which of the twenty or so Hawaiian islands will you find the modern State capital, Honolulu, as well as the former base of the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor?

      33. The principle that ‘Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity’ is known by what name?

      34. The Indian-born British physician Ronald Ross was the first to identify the means of transmission of which deadly disease?

      35.