Trivia Quiz

2. What play by US writer Eugene O'Neill enacts the harrowing tragedy of the theatrical Tyrone family, based on the author's own family?
a) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
b) A Long Day's Journey into Night
c) A Streetcar Named Desire
d) Mourning Becomes Electra

3. Israel was proclaimed an independent state in 1948. Who was its prime minister from then until 1963?
a) David Ben-Gurion
b) Yitzhak Rabin
c) Gamal Nasser
d) Golda Meir

4. Who said `It's a recession when your neighbour loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.`?
a) John Maynard Keynes
b) Franklin D Roosevelt
c) Nigel Lawson
d) Harry S Truman

5. Who wrote the words `Now who will stand on either hand, And keep the bridge with me?`?
a) Walter de la Mare
b) Rudyard Kipling
c) Thomas Babington Macaulay
d) William McGonagall

6. Who wrote the words `Any who have heard that sound will shrink at the recollection of it; it is the sound of English county families baying for broken glass.`?
a) Saki
b) Evelyn Waugh
c) John Mortimer
d) George Orwell

7. What is the capital of the Republic of Ireland, a city that contains about one quarter of the country's population?
a) Waterford
b) Cork
c) Dublin
d) Limerick

8. In which of the Russian-born author Nabokov's books is Humbert Humbert featured?
a) Laughter in the Dark
b) Lolita
c) Finding the Centre
d) Uncle Silas

10. Who wrote the words `The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday - but never jam to-day.`?
a) Karl Marx
b) Lewis Carroll
c) John Maynard Keynes
d) Charles Dickens

11. Which city has the oldest university in England, first mentioned in the mid 12th century?
a) Oxford
b) York
c) Winchester
d) Cambridge

12. What is the name of the pleasure resort and racecourse in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, France?
a) Tuileries
b) Beaubourg
c) Longchamp
d) Montmartre

13. Which area of London did Jack the Ripper terrorise in 1888?
a) Bow
b) Mile End
c) Barking
d) Whitechapel

14. Which of the world's oceans is the saltiest and has the largest tidal range?
a) Atlantic
b) Arctic
c) Indian
d) Pacific

15. The Divine Comedy is a famous work of Italian literature. Who wrote it?
a) Salvator Rosa
b) Salvatore Quasimodo
c) Giacomo Leopardi
d) Dante Alighieri

16. Which set of magical beliefs and practices is adhered to by 4% of the people of Haiti?
a) Black magic
b) Spells
c) Voodoo
d) Shamanism

17. What is the name of the arm of the North Sea cutting into Scotland north of Inverness, which was spanned by Kessock Bridge 1982?
a) Beauly Firth
b) Pentland Firth
c) Sound of Jura
d) Firth of Forth

18. How many wives did Henry VIII have beheaded?
a) One
b) Three
c) Four
d) Two

19. Which president of the USA served in the American Civil War and was assassinated after four months in office?
a) Chester Alun Arthur
b) William McKinley
c) Rutherford B Hayes
d) James Garfield

20. In which country are the Drakensberg mountains to be found?
a) Germany
b) South Africa
c) USA
d) Switzerland

21. What fat, bespectacled schoolchild featured in stories set at Greyfriars School, by Frank Richards?
a) Richmal Crompton
b) William Brown
c) Ten-Ton Tessie
d) Billy Bunter

23. Who said `Damn it all, you can't have the crown of thorns and the thirty pieces of silver.`?
a) Aneurin Bevan
b) Michael Foot
c) Enoch Powell
d) R A Butler

25. Which Dutch city was the scene of an airborne invasion of allied forces in September of 1944, the incident being the subject matter of the film The Longest Day?
a) Utrecht
b) Maastricht
c) Arnhem
d) Eindhoven

26. What is the name for a spear used in athletics events?
a) Lance
b) Javelin
c) Harpoon
d) Dart

27. Which West Indian cricketer made a test record score of 365 not out, and later hit six sixes in one over?
a) C L Hooper
b) Basil D'Oliveira
c) Viv Richards
d) Gary Sobers

28. In World War I, which french offensive north of Arras May-July 1915 was intended to hold German forces in France and prevent their movement to the Eastern Front?
a) Battle of the Somme
b) Battle of Artois
c) Battle of Tannenberg
d) Battle of Saratoga

29. In linguistics, what is the term for the potential and actual utterances of a speaker?
a) Competence and performance
b) Natural language
c) Language of confusion
d) Standard language

30. According to Roald Dahl, around which sort of workplace did Charlie Bucket win a guided tour?
a) Ice cream parlour
b) Toy shop
c) Space centre
d) Chocolate factory

31. In the Franco-Prussian War, which of the following was a Prussian victory over the French Aug-Oct 1870?
a) Battle of Meuse-Argone
b) Battle of Metz
c) Battle of Messines
d) Battle of Milne Bay

32. Who wrote the words `Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.`?
a) David Steel
b) Lewis Carroll
c) Brian Redhead
d) P G Wodehouse

33. What is the abbreviation for Buckinghamshire?
a) Bucks
b) Bux
c) Bcks
d) Buckg

34. Who said `So this gentleman said a girl with brains ought to do something with them besides think.`?
a) Marilyn Monroe
b) Dorothy Parker
c) Daisy Ashford
d) Anita Loos

35. Of which Middle Eastern country is King Hussein the ruler?
a) Bahrain
b) Jordan
c) Yemen
d) United Arab Emirates

36. Which English county do you associate with the Broads?
a) Sussex
b) Lincolnshire
c) Norfolk
d) Kent

37. In which town of northern France is there a tapestry depicting the Norman invasion of England?
a) Normandy
b) Dunkirk
c) Calais
d) Bayeux

38. Which country has the world's highest population, currently well over one billion?
a) Russia
b) USA
c) India
d) China

39. Which king of England is traditionally believed to have been murdered in the Tower of London at the age of 13?
a) Henry VI
b) Edward V
c) Edward IV
d) Richard IV

40. In which Cypriot resort will you find the `Tombs of the Kings`?
a) Paphos
b) Ephesus
c) Kyrenia
d) Luxor

41. Who said `I hate the idea of causes, and if I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.`?
a) E M Forster
b) Anthony Blunt
c) Kim Philby
d) Anthony Burgess

42. By what name is the Brazilian Edson Arantes do Nascimento better known?
a) Maradona
b) Pel�
c) Gaud�
d) Ayrton Senna

43. What is the name for the region of Europe crossing the borders of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia, within the Arctic Circle?
a) Lapland
b) Siberia
c) North Pole
d) Iceland

44. Which of the following refers to a course of study or the subjects offered at a school?
a) Faculty
b) Curriculum
c) Timetable
d) Department

45. At which town in Sudan do the White and Blue Niles join?
a) Wadi Halfa
b) Khartoum
c) Omdurman
d) El Obeid

46. What is the capital of Denmark?
a) Copenhagen
b) Aalborg
c) Odense
d) Aarhus

48. The Panama Canal is 80 km/50 mi long and connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. How many locks does it contain?
a) 6
b) 24
c) 18
d) 12

49. In which country are the Angel Falls?
a) Tanzania
b) Uruguay
c) Mali
d) Venezuela