Questions
1 Which writer’s heart was rumoured to have been eaten by a cat?
2 Who contested the videotape format war?
3 The Lambert Centre memorial marks the middle of what?
4 Who was the first English monarch to reign for more than 50 years?
5 In Japan, fugu is what hazardous delicacy?
6 What is the UK’s most-visited museum?
7 “Grey goo” is shorthand for the hypothetical threat from what?
8 What is the largest US city founded in the 20th century?
What links:
9 Rome, 44BC; Egypt, 48BC; Anatolia, 53BC?
10 Mary Pickford; Charlie Chaplin; Douglas Fairbanks; DW Griffith?
11 Cayenne; Papeete; Basse-Terre; Mamoudzou; Nouméa?
12 Vanadium and thorium (and no others)?
13 2021 US Open; 1977 Wimbledon; 1976 French Open?
14 Toasted sandwiches; Sanskrit philologist; football stickers?
15 Maximum Overdrive; Stand By Me; Mercy; The Shawshank Redemption?
Answers
1 Thomas Hardy.
2 VHS and Betamax.
3 Australia (geographic centre of mainland).
4 Henry III (1216-72).
5 Pufferfish (blowfish).
6 Tate Modern.
7 Self-replicating nanotechnology.
8 Las Vegas.
9 Deaths of Rome’s first triumvirate: Julius Caesar; Pompey; Crassus.
10 Founders of United Artists film studio.
11 Capitals of French overseas territories: French Guiana; French Polynesia; Guadeloupe; Mayotte; New Caledonia.
12 Chemical elements named after Norse deities.
13 British female tennis grand slam singles champions: Emma Raducanu; Virginia Wade; Sue Barker.
14 Panini: Italian plural; ancient Indian grammarian; made by Italian company.
15 Films based on short stories/novellas by Stephen King.
• Question 12 of this quiz was amended on 14 March 2022 to reinstate thorium’s “t”, which had gone astray during the editing process.
