Brain of London 2006

Brain of London

Qualifying

The qualifying competition took place on the evening of Tuesday 28 February 2006. Qualifiers plus the last 8 from 2005 proceed to the Preliminaries on Tuesday 28 March where the four finalists are decided to play for the trophy on Tuesday 25 April.

Questions

1. The Moorgate disaster on the London Underground occurred on 28 February of which year?
2. Known to the French as Aix-la-Chapelle, what, alphabetically, is the first city in Europe?
3. How are hollow pasta quills, cut diagonally into short tubes, known?
4. Who is the current Anglican Bishop of London?
5. In terms of population, which is the largest state capital in the USA?
6. IG Metall is the largest trade union in which country?
7. Which brewery, based in Blackburn, sponsored Andrew Flintoff during the 2005 cricket season?
8. Which group had their only chart topper in the British singles charts with “Son of my Father” in 1972?
9. Which member of the Deer family has the scientific name Dama Dama?
10. In which opera are the characters Gilda and the Duke of Mantua?
11. Who is the heroine of the novel “Mansfield Park”?
12. Rafflesia, the world’s largest single flower, has which characteristic odour?
13. Jordanian vehicles bear the international registration HKJ. What does the “H” stand for?
14. What is the name for the Japanese art of flower arranging?
15. What is the capital of the Central African Republic?
16. Which is the only team to have won the European Cup/Champions League more times than its own domestic league?
17. Education secretary Ruth Kelly is one of three Labour MPs representing which northern town?
18. Which Booker Prize winning author is the sister of Margaret Drabble?
19. A large specimen of which fish of the genus Latimeria, previously thought to be extinct, was discovered off the coast of east Africa in 1938?
20. Which well-known comedian was a member of the folk group “The Humblebums” alongside Gerry Rafferty?
21. In which London borough is Waterloo Station?
22. Who painted the altarpiece “The Garden of Earthly Delights”, which can be seen in the Prado, Madrid?
23. Which Oscar winning director was a scriptwriter on “Grange Hill” in the 1980s?
24. What does the musical term “con brio” mean?
25. The blood of which Saint, whose body is preserved in Naples Cathedral, is said to liquefy at various times through the year?
26. Danny, Toots and Smiffy are members of which comic “gang”?
27. Born Margaret Lake in Accrington, by what name is the woman who shot to TV fame in 1994 better known?
28. Who was the Secretary of the Communist party of Great Britain from 1929 to 1956?
29. What is the name of the MGM lion?
30. Which football League team plays home matches at Liberty Stadium?
31. Notably borne by a golfing great, a 1990s England footballer and a rock drummer, which surname indicates that an ancestor had been a pilgrim to the Holy Land?
32. Name the product advertised by a fictional character named Barry Scott?
33. Which element has a name derived from the German name for “troll”?
34. The largest naval battle in history took place between 23-26 October 1944 - where?
35. Which x-ray crystallographer, whose work was crucial to the discovery of the structure of DNA, died of ovarian cancer on 16 April 1958?
36. What is the English title of the Salvador Dali picture depicting limp watches hanging from tree branches?
37. What is the principal ingredient of marzipan?
38. Which ship sank after colliding with HMS Camperdown in June 1893 with the losss of 358 men?
39. The Kessock (suspension) bridge bears the A9 south into which city?
40. Africa’s first democratically elected female head of state, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, holds the presidency of which country?
41. What is the name of the house in which the Cluedo murders take place?
42. Lecturer Howard Kirk is the central figure in which novel by Malcolm Bradbury?
43. Which English comedian formed a double act with his cousin Ben Warriss?
44. What name is shared by a white “whale” (actually a dolphin) and a kind of sturgeon?
45. What pseudonym was used by Ronnie Barker when writing sketches for “The Two Ronnies”?
46. Which woman was the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1963?
47. Born in France, who died in the arms of Jean Harlow at the age of thirteen?
48. Who was the last pagan Roman Emperor?
49. Bearing the name of a minor prophet, which is the last book of the Old Testament?
50. Which famous English novel closes: “He drew a deep breath. ‘Well, I’m back,’ he said.”?

Tie-breaker: The north-western peak of Mount Rysy, in the High Tatra mountains, is the highest point in Poland. What is its height, in metres?

Answers

1. 1975
2. AACHEN
3. PENNE
4. (Richard) CHARTRES
5. PHOENIX, Arizona
6. GERMANY
7. THWAITES
8. CHICORY TIP
9. FALLOW Deer
10. RIGOLETTO
11. FANNY PRICE
12. ROTTING MEAT
13. HASHEMITE
14. IKEBANA
15. BANGUI
16. NOTTINGHAM FOREST
17. BOLTON
18. A S BYATT
19. COELACANTH
20. Billy CONNOLLY
21. LAMBETH
22. Hieronymus BOSCH
23. Anthony MINGHELLA
24. WITH VIGOUR AND SPIRIT
25. St. JANUARIUS
26. BASH STREET KIDS
27. MYSTIC MEG
28. Harry POLLITT
29. LEO
30. SWANSEA CITY
31. PALMER
32. CILLIT BANG
33. COBALT
34. LEYTE GULF
35. Rosalind FRANKLIN
36. THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY
37. ALMONDS
38. HMS VICTORIA
39. INVERNESS
40. LIBERIA
41. TUDOR GRANGE
42. THE HISTORY MAN
43. Jimmy JEWELL
44. BELUGA
45. Gerald WILEY
46. Dorothy HYMAN
47. RIN TIN TIN
48. JULIAN (the Apostate)
49. MALACHI
50. THE LORD OF THE RINGS

Tie-breaker: 2499