Link round (2): 11 questions

One point for each answer, one point for each part of question 11.

1. What surname is shared by Gideon, the Financial Times chief foreign affairs correspondent, and Tom, the author of 2010 novel “The Imperfectionists”?
2. Which versatile sports commentator provided commentary for the “World Stare-out Championships”, a recurring sketch in the surreal BBC sketch show Big Train?
3. Which 1980 film starred Max von Sydow, Brian Blessed, Robbie Coltrane, Timothy Dalton and Richard O’Brien?
4. Which UK charity is famous for its “World’s biggest coffee morning” events?
5. Who reached Timor on 15 June 1789, after a journey of more than 4000 miles across the Pacific surviving on as little as 40 grams of bread per day?
6. Inuyama, Maruoka and Himeji are all original Japanese examples of what kind of building? There are only 12 original surviving examples left in the country, the rest being reconstructions.
7. Which food is the most widely consumed in the world, responsible for 19% of the world’s calorific intake (2009 figures)?
8. Which singer was the winner of the second series of the X Factor? His debut single, That’s My Goal, became Christmas No.1 in 2005.
9. Which American sprinter set world records for the 100 metres and 200 metres in 1988 which still stand today?
10. Which island nation with its capital at Majuro has been a colony, mandate or protectorate of Spain, Germany, Japan and the United States before finally gaining independence in 1979?
11. In what year were all of the above likely to have appeared in the news, and why?

Answers below (scroll down)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. What surname is shared by Gideon, the Financial Times chief foreign affairs correspondent, and Tom, the author of 2010 novel “The Imperfectionists”?
   A: Rachman
2. Which versatile sports commentator provided commentary for the “World Stare-out Championships”, a recurring sketch in the surreal BBC sketch show Big Train?
   A: Barry Davies
3. Which 1980 film starred the following; Max von Sydow, Brian Blessed, Robbie Coltrane, Timothy Dalton and Richard O’Brien?
   A: Flash Gordon
4. Which UK charity is famous for its “World’s biggest coffee morning” events?
   A: Macmillan
5. Who reached Timor on 15 June 1789, after a journey of more than 4000 miles across the Pacific surviving on as little as 40 grams of bread per day?
   A: Captain Bligh
6. Inuyama, Maruoka and Himeji are all original Japanese examples of what kind of building? There are only 12 original surviving examples left in the country, the rest being reconstructions.
   A: Castle
7. Which food is the most widely consumed in the world, responsible for 19% of the world’s calorific intake (2009 figures)
   A: Rice
8. Which singer was the winner of the second series of the X Factor? His debut single, That’s My Goal, became UK Christmas No.1 in 2005.
   A: Shayne Ward
9. Which American sprinter set world records for the 100 metres and 200 metres in 1988 which still stand today?
   A: Florence Griffith Joyner
10. Which island nation with its capital at Majuro has been a colony, mandate or protectorate of Spain, Germany, Japan and the United States before finally gaining independence in 1979?
    A: Marshall Islands
11. In what year were all of the above likely to have appeared in the news, and why?
    A: 1963 – all involved in or affected by the Profumo affair (Peter Rachman, Mandy Rice-Davies, Aloysius Gordon, Harold MacMillan, Timothy Bligh, Barbara Castle, Mandy Rice-Davies, Stephen Ward, Mervyn Griffith-Jones, Archie Marshall)

If you liked this quiz, you can find my book of link rounds and other unusual quiz rounds here – 1,000 challenging questions all linked with a common theme, or with a hidden message, or otherwise a bit different from your standard quiz round