Trivia Quiz

1. Near which island group did the USA inflict heavy damage on the Japanese navy in a decisive battle of 1942?
a) Midway Islands
b) Sulawesi
c) Philippines
d) Aleutian Islands

2. What is the name of the brightly coloured wraparound skirt worn by men and women in Malaysia and the Pacific islands?
a) Marella
b) Palliade
c) Sarong
d) Tarango

3. What is a written account of a person's life called?
a) Biopsy
b) Bibliography
c) Biography
d) Biohistory

4. In US history, which secret Irish coalminers' organisation staged strikes and used violence against coal-company officials in the 1870s ?
a) The Molly Maguires
b) Girondists
c) Popular Coalition
d) Blackshirts

5. How many players are on the field at the start of a hockey match?
a) 22
b) 26
c) 36
d) 30

6. Who wrote the words `Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind.`?
a) Henry James
b) Somerset Maugham
c) H G Wells
d) J B Priestley

7. In the British peerage, which title ranks above an earl but below a duke?
a) Viscount
b) Baron
c) Life peer
d) Marquess

8. What was the capital of the Assyrian Empire from the 8th century BC until its destruction by the Medes under King Cyaxares in 612 BC?
a) Susa
b) Tyre
c) Nineveh
d) Ur

9. Which is the `Volunteer State` of the USA?
a) Tennessee
b) Texas
c) Virginia
d) Delaware

10. What was banned during the Prohibition period in the USA?
a) Gambling
b) Alcohol
c) Ownership of guns
d) Cigarettes

11. Which aircraft of World War II was used principally by the Japanese navy?
a) Zeppelin
b) Lancaster
c) Spitfire
d) Aichi

12. Who said `I'm glad we've been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face.`?
a) Noël Coward
b) Nancy Astor
c) Clemmie Churchill
d) Elizabeth the Queen Mother

13. Which is the third largest of the Channel Islands after Jersey and Guernsey?
a) Sark
b) Alderney
c) Herm
d) Jethou

14. Who said `Keep right on to the end of the road Keep right on to the end.`?
a) Harry Lauder
b) Rudyard Kipling
c) Ross Parker
d) Robert Burns

15. Which river flows through Arizona's Grand Canyon?
a) Missouri
b) Rio Brava
c) Colorado River
d) Rio Grande

16. Which Japanese company is the world's largest manufacturer of motorcycles?
a) Kawasaki
b) Honda
c) Yamaha
d) Suzuki

17. Which book lists the words of a language in alphabetical order, with a pronunciation and meaning for each one?
a) Dictionary
b) Directory
c) Index
d) Gazetteer

18. Flora Macdonald helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape to France by disguising him as what?
a) Her grandma
b) A governess
c) A nun
d) Her maid

19. Where is El Alamein, scene of a significant battle of World War II?
a) Italy
b) Saudi Arabia
c) Egypt
d) Spain

20. Who wrote the words `I am for the woods against the world, But are the woods for me?`?
a) Rupert Brooke
b) Edmund Blunden
c) Henry David Thoreau
d) Gerard Manley Hopkins

21. What is the ancient name for Ankara, the capital of Turkey?
a) Ephesus
b) Constantinople
c) Avanos
d) Ancyra

22. What French victory over the Prussians took place 16 June 1805 at a Belgian village 14 km/9 mi Northeast of Charleroi?
a) Battle of Ligny
b) Battle of Loigny-Poupry
c) Battle of Laon
d) Battle of Issus

23. Which one of the eight Welsh counties has none of the five vowels in its name?
a) Dyfed
b) Powys
c) Clywd
d) Gwynedd

24. What is the term which describes the use of the bow and arrow, originally in hunting and warfare and now as a competitive sport?
a) Archery
b) Shooting
c) Musketry
d) Ballistics

25. Who wrote the words `I tell you, Miss, I knows an undesirable character When I see one; I've been one myself for years.`?
a) George Bernard Shaw
b) Bertolt Brecht
c) Christopher Fry
d) Charles Dickens

26. Who wrote the words `In human relations, kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths.`?
a) Iris Murdoch
b) Graham Greene
c) Laurens van der Post
d) E M Forster

27. The British royal family has been officially called the House of Windsor since 1917. What was it called before then?
a) Hanover
b) Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
c) Habsburg
d) Bourbon

29. Which US state was named after Henrietta Maria, the queen of England's Charles I?
a) North Carolina
b) Maryland
c) Louisiana
d) South Carolina

30. Which two countries have the Five Great Lakes on their communal border?
a) Russia and China
b) Germany and Poland
c) Canada and USA
d) Spain and Portugal

31. Which former principality in Eastern Europe, on the River Danube, occupied an area between Moldova and Romania?
a) Moldavia
b) Prussia
c) Transylvania
d) Ludogorie

33. Which Angry Young Man wrote the play Look Back in Anger?
a) John Braine
b) Kingsley Amis
c) John Wain
d) John Osborne

34. What Western-controlled crossing point between West and East Berlin was opened 1961 as the only crossing point between the Allied and Soviet sectors?
a) Checkpoint Charlie
b) Checkpoint Johnny
c) Checkpoint Billy
d) Checkpoint Harry

35. In which European city are the headquarters of the Red Cross?
a) Brussels
b) Lausanne
c) Geneva
d) Luxembourg

37. Who said `I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.`?
a) John Le Mesurier
b) Winston Churchill
c) Margaret Thatcher
d) Edward Heath

38. What was the late medieval development of feudalism in which grants of land were replaced by money as rewards for service?
a) Bastard feudalism
b) Burgage
c) Socage
d) Villeinage

39. What is the name for the boundary areas of England with Wales, and England with Scotland?
a) Fens
b) Potteries
c) Broads
d) Marches

40. What is the name of the most famous Highland Games, held in a village near Balmoral Castle?
a) Aranth Games
b) Braemar Gathering
c) Callorghan Gathering
d) Doonmuir Games

41. What is the term for a word or phrase that sounds old-fashioned in a modern vocabulary and is generally used only for a particular effect?
a) Verbose
b) Coined
c) Archaism
d) Corrupted

42. Which part of the Mediterranean, between Greece and Turkey, is connected to the Sea of Marmara by the Dardanelles?
a) Aegean Sea
b) Ionian Sea
c) Black Sea
d) Strait of Gibraltar

43. In which country does the Amazon rise?
a) Venezuela
b) French Guiana
c) Brazil
d) Peru

44. What region in southeastern Europe was annexed by Russia 1812, and is now divided between Moldova and Ukraine?
a) Lithuania
b) Latvia
c) Belarus
d) Bessarabia