The Friday Question Set — 31-5-2013

Blimey, I’m sorry … !

No, really … !

I have to confess, this week’s Friday question set doesn’t have the links I’ve been trying to put in, for the past few weeks.

Usually, I do that on Thursdays.

Which I didn’t get a chance to, this week: I got treated to tickets to a matinee performance of Warhouse.

Still … I can’t complain, too much.

It IS a fantastic show!

At ANY rate … ?   Here’s this week’s Friday Question Set: covered by the usual Creative Commons License*.

Online 204

ROUND ONE:  GENERAL KNOWLEDGE.

Q1) According to a survey in 2007, what North-eastern town was declared England’s noisiest?

A1) Newcastle.

Q2) In that same survey, which Devon town was named England’s quietist?

Q2) Torquay.

Q3) Which Doctor Who actor was the 1st guest on the 1st episode of Swop Swap?

A3) Tom Baker.

Q4) Dipsophobia is an unreasoning fear of what?

A4) Drinking.

Q5) Agar-agar is a type of gelatine made from what; – seaweed, algæ, or lichen?

A5) Seaweed.

Q6) What do you add to rum, to make grog?

A6) Water.

Q7) What device is used over a guitar’s fretboard, to raise the pitch of the strings?

A7) A capo.

Q8) What is another name for a ship’s load mark?

A8) Plimsoll Line.

Q9) Astrologically speaking, two of the three fire signs are LEO and ARIES.   Which is the third?

A9) Sagittarius.

Q10) On board ship, where would you find the Scuppers?

A10) On deck.   They’re the holes that allow water to run off.

ROUND TWO: FOOD AND DRINK

Q11) Which catchphrase of tv chef Jamie Oliver’s comes from a Sanskit word, meaning simply – and rather ironically – ‘…cooked’?

A11) Pukka.

Q12) With the aid of a civet’s digestive tract, Kopi Luwak sells for anything between 120 and 600 US dollars per pound making it the most expensive what in the world?

A12) Coffee.

Q13) What six letter name is given to the substance used as a setting agent in many jams and marmalades?

A13) Pectin

Q14) What type of food advertising was banned on January 1st, 2008?

A14) Junk food ads.

Q15) What sort of meat is used in the Greek dish Kleftiko?

A15) Lamb.

Q16) From which continent does Couscous originate?

A16) Africa.

Q17) What distinguishes Gruyere cheese from most other cheeses: holes, a wax coating or blue veins?

A17) Holes.

Q18) What general name is given to Indian food cooked in a clay oven?

A18) Tandoori.

Q19) What was the very first cargo to be regularly transported by train in Germany?

A19) Beer.

Q20) Pork from which European country was withdrawn in 2008?

A20) The Republic of Ireland.

ROUND THREE:  ALL THROUGH HISTORY.

Q21) Of which people was Atahualpa the last leader: the Inca, Aztec, or Toltec?

A21) The Incas.

Q22) Which battle of 1805 is sometimes referred to as The Battle of the Three Emperors: the Battle of Austerlitz, the Battle of Bunker Hill, or the Battle of Waterloo?

A22) Battle of Austerlitz.

Q23) Henry 8th got married in the Chapel Of The Observance Friars on June 11, 1509: to which of his wives?

A23) Catherine of Aragon

Q24) The Rye House Plot was a plot to kill which British monarch?

A24) Charles II.

Q25) Which delivery service operated in the USA from April 1860 to November 1861?

A25) The Pony Express.

Q26) Who is the oldest British Monarch to have ascended to the throne?

A26) William IV aged 64.

Q27) Who, according to the opening lines of the book of the same name, was born in York in 1632?

A27) Robinson Crusoe.   (Written by Daniel Dafoe.)

Q28) Who was the leader of France’s Vichy government during WWII?

A28) Marshal Henri Petain.

Q29) What name was given to the process of killing every tenth man in a mutinous Roman Legion?

A29) Decimation.

Q30) Which famous mutiny took place in 1789?

A30) The Mutiny on the Bounty.

ROUND FOUR: BLINDED WITH SCIENCE.

Q31) What part of your body would a trichologist be concerned with?

A31) Hair.

Q32) For most vertebrates, which organ produces Bile?

A32) The liver. (stored in the gallbladder).

Q33) What is the official unit used for measuring the depth of water?

A33) The metre.   (Not Fathom, as I am sure many would suggest; – the fathom is the old imperial measurement).

Q34) Deep Thought was an IBM-produced chess computer, named after the super computer in which famous work of fiction?

A34) The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Q35) What was the name of Yuri Gagarin's space capsule; – Soyuz II, MIR, Sputnik II, or Vostok I?

A35) Vostock I.

Q36) What, in 1781, became the first new planet to be discovered since the ancient times?

A36) Uranus.

Q37) ENIAC was the worlds first digital what?

A37) Digital computer.    (It stood for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator.)

Q38) In biology which word means ‘living together’: symbiosis, parasitic, or bipedal?

A38) Symbiosis.

Q39) Titan is the largest moon of which planet: Jupiter or Saturn?

A39) Saturn.

Q40) Which radioactive metal was discovered at Berkeley University in California in 1940 and named after one of the nine planets?

A40) Plutonium.

ROUND FIVE:  BY THE NUMBERS.

Q41) How many clubs made up the English Football League, when it was 1st formed?

A41) 12.

Q42) Excluding children’s books, how many discworld novels has Terry Pratchett written?

A42) 36.

Q43) Moving anticlockwise on a dartboard, what number is next to 11?

A43) 8.

Q44) How many days in two non–leap years?

A44) 730.

Q45) What’s the approximate distance from London to Paris, in miles?

A45) 200.

Q46) How many balls are used in a game of pool?

A46) 16.  (15 object balls, plus the cue ball.)

Q47) How many members are there in a water polo team?

A47) 7.

Q48) If a team at bridge wins a grand slam, how many tricks have they won?

A48) 13 tricks.

Q49) What are the odds of rolling a double 1, on two six sided dice; 1 in 36, 1 in 18, or 1 in 9?

A49) 1 in 36.   (Equal to 35 to one)

Q50) In pre-decimal money how many farthings were in a penny?

A50) Four.

ROUND SIX: GENERAL IGNORANCE.

Q51) No, No, No was the debut single for which American girl band?

A51) Destiny’s Child.

Q52) Jack Ryan invented which doll?

A52) Barbie.

Q53) The Angel, in Venezuela, is the world’s highest what; water fall, cliff face, or inland sea?

A53) Waterfall.

Q54) The Cavy is better known as which rodent?

A54) The Guinea Pig.

Q55) What was the 1st decimal coin to be released in the UK?

A55) The 50p piece.

Q56) Harriet Quimby was the first woman to fly over what?

A56) The English Channel.

Q57) Mother Theresa was noted for her work with the poor of which country?

A57) India.

Q58) What would a mural be painted on?

A58) A wall.

Q59) What’s Britain’s largest species of predatory fish?

A59) The pike.

Q60) A sudden rush of snow down the side of a mountain is known as what?

A60) An avalanche.

Enjoy those!   I hope that help.

*        Regulars will know already: but for newcomers … all it means is that you’re free to copy, use, alter and build on each of my quizzes: including the Teasers, Gazette Teasers and the Friday Question Sets.   All I ask in return is that you give me an original authors credit on your event’s flyers or posters, or on the night: and, if you republish them, give me an original authors credit AND republish under the same license.