The Times Quiz Book: 4000 challenging general knowledge questions. Olav Bjortomt

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QUIZ 5 – General Knowledge

      1 According to legend, which Italian city was founded at 12 o’clock noon on March 25, 421 AD?

      2 The 2015 Spike Lee film Chi-Raq is based on which play by Aristophanes?

      3 Which chain of “Mexican Grill” restaurants was launched by Steve Ells in Denver in 1993?

      4 Which US president’s New York City memorial is the largest mausoleum in North America?

      5 The naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon, called which animal the “proudest conquest of Man”?

      6 In which country is Europe’s highest peak, Mount Elbrus?

      7 Aged 22, who became conductor of the attendants’ band at Worcester and County Lunatic Asylum in Powick in 1879?

      8 What is the oldest of the natural sciences?

      9 Marillenschnaps is an Austrian brandy made from which fruit?

      10 First performed in 1978, Talent was the first play by which English comedienne?

      11 Peercoin, Monero, Ethereum, Nxt, Ripple and DigitalNote are types of what?

      12 Which portrait of Shakespeare was the first painting to enter the National Portrait Gallery’s collection?

      13 Launched in 1963 by Hoffmann-La Roche, what was the pharmaceutical industry’s first billion dollar drug?

      14 Who is the director of Star Wars: The Force Awakens?

      15 Founded in 2014, which Spanish political party is led by Pablo Iglesias?

      16 The name of which fashion brand, formed in Aosta in 1987, is a variation of the Finnish word for the Arctic Circle?

      17 Which US game designer created Magic: The Gathering, the first modern trading card game?

      18 A two-time French Open singles winner, which retired German tennis star married Barbara Hutton in 1955?

      19 Who won a record ninth Stanley Cup as head coach with the Detroit Red Wings in 2002?

      20 Name the pictured dog breed –

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QUIZ 6 – Literature

      1 Which Scottish novelist wrote Ice Station Zebra and The Guns of Navarone?

      2 Which 1977 Stephen King novel centres on the aspiring writer Jack Torrance?

      3 Which 18th century writer said: “No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money”?

      4 Who is the hunter hero of the Zulu trilogy, Marie (1912), Child of Storm (1913) and Finished (1917)?

      5 Samuel Butler’s translation of which epic poem opens: “Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles, son of Peleus”?

      6 Which children’s author wrote and illustrated the 1990 book Oh, the Places You’ll Go!?

      7 Marie Kondo is the Japanese author of the 2011 book The Life-Changing Magic of… what?

      8 The Overloaded Ark (1953) was which naturalist’s first book?

      9 Alden Pyle is the title character of which 1955 Graham Greene novel?

      10 Anastasia “Ana” Steele is the female protagonist of which literary trilogy?

      11 Which US novelist wrote Housekeeping, Gilead and Home?

      12 Author of The Snowman, which Norwegian crime writer created Harry Hole?

      13 Which French-Swiss woman of letters wrote the 1807 novel Corinne?

      14 Which Brothers Grimm fairy tale is known as Dornröschen, meaning Little Briar Rose?

      15 Rupert of Hentzau was the 1898 sequel to which Ruritanian adventure novel?

      16 The Prancing Pony pub in Bree features in the works of which writer?

      17 In the Charles Dickens novel, which beadle invents Oliver Twist’s name?

      18 Rebecca West’s travelogue Black Lamb and Grey Falcon is about which former country?

      19 Which Charlotte Brontë novel ends with the title character marrying the tutor Louis Moore?

      20 Which illustrated manuscript is pictured?

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QUIZ 7 – General Knowledge

      1 In 1922, who enlisted in the ranks of the RAF under the name John Hume Ross?

      2 Novelist Peter Carey described which art critic as “Australia’s Dante”?

      3 Which Prime Minister died in 1827 after 119 days in office?

      4 Which TV cops often infuriated their boss Captain Harold Dobey?

      5 What was found by the Canadian merchant ship Dei Gratia on December 4, 1872?

      6 Clive Sinclair launched which electric vehicle in 1985?

      7 Which bodybuilder won his first Mr. Olympia title in 1970?

      8 Which “Coma Scale” is named after a British city?

      9 Which scientists published Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids in April 1953?

      10 In a 1950 Disney film, Lady Tremaine is which girl’s stepmother?

      11 Hans Werner Henze’s 1968 oratorio The Raft of the Medusa is a requiem for which revolutionary?