One point for each answer, one point for each part of question 11.
- What surname is shared by Gideon, the Financial Times chief foreign affairs correspondent, and Tom, the author of 2010 novel “The Imperfectionists”?
- Which versatile sports commentator provided commentary for the “World Stare-out Championships”, a recurring sketch in the surreal BBC sketch show Big Train?
- Which 1980 film starred Max von Sydow, Brian Blessed, Robbie Coltrane, Timothy Dalton and Richard O’Brien?
- Which UK charity is famous for its “World’s biggest coffee morning” events?
- 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?
- 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.
- Which food is the most widely consumed in the world, responsible for 19% of the world’s calorific intake (2009 figures)?
- 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.
- Which American sprinter set world records for the 100 metres and 200 metres in 1988 which still stand today?
- 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?
- In what year were all of the above likely to have appeared in the news, and why?
Answers below (scroll down)
- What surname is shared by Gideon, the Financial Times chief foreign affairs correspondent, and Tom, the author of 2010 novel “The Imperfectionists”?
A: Rachman - 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 - Which 1980 film starred the following; Max von Sydow, Brian Blessed, Robbie Coltrane, Timothy Dalton and Richard O’Brien?
A: Flash Gordon - Which UK charity is famous for its “World’s biggest coffee morning” events?
A: Macmillan - 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 - 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 - Which food is the most widely consumed in the world, responsible for 19% of the world’s calorific intake (2009 figures)
A: Rice - 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 - Which American sprinter set world records for the 100 metres and 200 metres in 1988 which still stand today?
A: Florence Griffith Joyner - 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 - 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)
