Trivia Quiz

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1. In the Peninsular War, what battle took place 27 Sept 1810 between the English and Portuguese armies under the Duke of Wellington, and the French under Marshal André Masséna?
a) Battle of Beresina
b) Battle of the Boyne
c) Battle of Busaco
d) Battle of Burlington Heights

2. What is the popular name for the West German left-wing guerrilla group the Rote Armee Fraktion/Red Army Faction, which was active from 1968 against what it perceived as US imperialism?
a) Baader-Meinhof gang
b) Fedayeen
c) Partisans
d) Rapparee

3. Which three wars were waged between Britain and Afghanistan to counter the threat to British India from expanding Russian influence in Afghanistan?
a) Gulf Wars
b) Indian Wars
c) British Russian Wars
d) Afghan Wars

4. Who wrote the words `If a man write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap than his neighbour, tho' he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.`?
a) Theodore Roosevelt
b) Ralph Waldo Emerson
c) John Adams
d) Calvin Coolidge

5. In 1830, there were two political parties: the Whigs and the Tories. Which of the following statements was not true?
a) The Tories supported the claims of the Catholic Duke of York as successor to the throne
b) The Tories formed most of the governments between 1785 and 1830
c) The Whigs were generally supported by the country gentry and clergy
d) The Whigs proposed an Exclusion Bill to keep the future James II from succeeding to the throne

6. In England in the 1750s the most heavily populated areas were the south, the Southwest and East Anglia. Why?
a) The manor houses were concentrated in these areas and they needed large numbers of servants to run them
b) 90% of the British people lived by fishing and hence lived in the coastal areas of the country
c) Pollution from factories made other areas of the country unpleasant places to live
d) 90% of the British people lived by farming and hence they lived in the most fertile areas of the country

7. During the French Wars (1793-1815) it was not possible to import corn. Consequently, British farmers produced more wheat and received high prices for it. When the wars ended, a Corn Law (1851) was passed, aimed at keeping the high prices. What did the 1851 Corn Law state?
a) No corn could be imported until the price of British corn had reached 80 shillings a quarter
b) Only corn from British colonies could be imported
c) Only corn from the USA could be imported
d) No corn could be imported until the price of British corn had reached 60 shillings a quarter

8. The Arctic is the area of the world surrounding the North Pole. Which of the following four statements written about it is correct?
a) It is the smallest of the world's continents
b) There is no Arctic continent at all
c) It is a continent connected to Europe
d) It is the largest of the world's continents

9. Why are there no photographs of early factories?
a) Photographers did not feel factories were of any interest
b) Factory owners did not want other people to see the conditions workers worked in
c) Photography had not been developed then
d) Only the wealthy could afford photographs and they wanted pictures of beautiful landscapes

10. What is the commodity market in the City of London that trades in North Sea oil?
a) International Petroleum Exchange
b) International Oil Exchange
c) Organisation of Petroleum-Exporting Countries
d) National Petroleum Market

11. During the French Wars (1793-1815), the British government pushed through a number of measures. Which of the following was not passed during this time?
a) The Alien Act: stopping foreigners from entering Britain
b) The Combination Act: banning the formation of trade unions
c) The Seditious Practices Act: banning meetings of more than 50 people
d) The Habeas Corpus Act: preventing the imprisonment of people without a trial

12. Who wrote the words `Matilda told such Dreadful Lies, It made one Gasp and Stretch one's Eyes; Her Aunt, who, from her Earliest Youth, Had kept a Strict Regard for Truth, Attempted to Believe Matilda: The effort very nearly killed her.`?
a) Cyril Fletcher
b) Pam Ayres
c) Ted Hughes
d) Hilaire Belloc

13. Who was Lord Beaverbrook writing about here: `He did not seem to care which way he travelled providing he was in the driver's seat. With the publication of his Private Papers in 1952, he committed suicide 25 years after his death.`?
a) Field Marshal Earl Haig
b) Ramsay MacDonald
c) David Lloyd George
d) H H Asquith

14. Who said `I always claim the mission workers came out too early to catch any sinners on this part of Broadway. At such an hour the sinners are still in bed resting up from their sinning of the night before, so they will be in good shape for more sinning a little later on.`?
a) Raymond Chandler
b) O Henry
c) Damon Runyon
d) Ernest Hemingway

15. Who could vote in county elections in 1830?
a) Male freeholders of land valued, for rating purposes, at 60 shillings
b) Male freeholders of land valued, for rating purposes, at 40 shillings
c) All male householders
d) All males

16. Who said `I think it is well also for the man in the street to realise that there is no power on earth that can protect him from being bombed. Whatever people may tell him, the bomber will always get through. The only defence is in offence, which means that you have to kill more women and children more quickly than the enemy if you want to save yourselves.`?
a) Neville Chamberlain
b) Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris
c) Franklin D Roosevelt
d) Stanley Baldwin

17. Who wrote the words `The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it.`?
a) A Conan Doyle
b) E M Forster
c) H Rider Haggard
d) Joseph Conrad

18. Who wrote the words `Do you know what `le vice Anglais` - the English vice - really is? Not flagellation, not pederasty - whatever the French believe it to be. It's our refusal to admit our emotions. We think they demean us, I suppose.`?
a) Terence Rattigan
b) W Somerset Maugham
c) D H Lawrence
d) E M Forster

19. Who wrote the words `Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.`?
a) William Ewart Gladstone
b) Evelyn Waugh
c) Charles Dickens
d) Richmal Crompton

20. Who wrote the words `This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-Paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, ... This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.`?
a) John Masefield
b) William Shakespeare
c) Rudyard Kipling
d) Henry Carey

21. How did the Boer War lead to an improvement in the health of the British population?
a) Techniques learnt during operations on the battlefield were used in hospitals at home
b) The lack of doctors on the battlefield led to many more doctors being trained
c) Nurses who worked during the war were afterwards employed in hospitals
d) The government implemented a series of medical services reforms after examining doctors' reports which showed over half of war army volunteers failed their medical test

22. During the 17th century, the cotton industry grew almost totally within Lancashire towns and villages. What was one of the reasons for this?
a) Lancashire had plenty of fast-flowing streams needed to drive the first machines
b) The raw cotton came in across the Pennines from Yorkshire
c) The cotton mill owners were in powerful guilds and would not allow growth anywhere else
d) The people of Lancashire would work for less money than elsewhere

23. Robert Owen dissolved the GNCTU in October 1934 for three main reasons. Which of the following was not one of the reasons?
a) The reasons for its formation no longer existed
b) Most skilled craftsmen refused to join a `General Union`
c) Poor communications made it difficult to organise
d) There were many dishonest officials who stole funds

24. What did the 1844 Factory Act say about textile factories?
a) Women and young people under 18 were not to work more than 14 hours per day
b) Children under 13 were not to work more than six and a half hours per day
c) Women and young people under 18 were not to work more than 12 hours per day
d) Children under 13 were not to work more than eight hours per day

25. What is a synonym?
a) A word with a near or identical meaning to another
b) A word formed from the initial letters of other words
c) A word that sounds the same as another
d) A word that has the exact opposite meaning of another

26. One weaver could cope with the output of ten spinners and between 1764 and 1790 there were many spinning inventions. Which of the following statements was not true?
a) Richard Arkwright invented a spinning machine driven by water power
b) Samuel Crompton invented a spinning machine called the mule
c) John Kay invented the power-loom
d) James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny

27. What agreement sponsored by US President F D Roosevelt at the Pan-American Conference Dec 1938 held that a threat to the peace, security, or territory of any of the American republics would be a source of concern to all the republics?
a) Montevideo Declaration
b) Arequipa Declaration
c) Quito Declaration
d) Lima Declaration

28. What is the name of the body constituted 1949 to achieve greater unity between European countries, facilitate their economic and social progress, and to uphold the principles of parliamentary democracy?
a) 1949 Council
b) European Parliament
c) Council of Europe
d) European Commission

29. Who wrote the words `My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here; My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer; Chasing the wild deer, and following the roe, My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.`?
a) William Wallace
b) Robert Burns
c) Hugh MacDiarmid
d) Norman McCaig

30. Who said `Ignorance of the law excuses no man; not that all men know the law, but because 'tis an excuse every man will plead, and no man can tell how to confute him.`?
a) John Selden
b) Judge Jeffreys
c) Lord Justice William Mansfield
d) Sir Philip Sidney

31. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are the two largest cities, Harrisburg is the capital, and Hershey's Chocolate World is a big attraction - in which US state are they?
a) Alaska
b) Illinois
c) Hawaii
d) Pennsylvania

32. What was the term popularised by Winston Churchill for the imaginary boundary dividing Europe between the capitalist West and the communist East?
a) East-West Divide
b) Maginot Line
c) Iron Curtain
d) Berlin Wall

33. Who wrote the words `Good women always think it is their fault when someone else is being offensive. Bad women never take the blame for anything.`?
a) Margaret Drabble
b) Anthony Trollope
c) Anita Brookner
d) Graham Greene

34. What British act of Parliament 1922 provided for the first large-scale state-assisted migration programme undertaken by the British government?
a) Empire Settlement Act
b) Immigration Act
c) Colonisation Act
d) Commonwealth Settlement Act

There are 34 questions, you have two minutes to answer each one.