Question: British actor Brian Cobby (1929-2012) provided the first male voice for what British announcements?
Answer: Speaking Clock

Question: Name the NASA Mars Science Laboratory rover which landed on Mars in 2012?
Answer: Curiosity

Question: Which nation defied international warnings when launching a rocket in Dec 2012?
Answer: North Korea

Question: Sir Patrick Moore, world-leading expert on astronomy for six decades who died in 2012, was technically qualified at what academic level?
Answer: Amateur

Question: Name the famous moonwalking astronaut who died in 2012?
Answer: Neil Armstrong

Question: In which city did the Rolling Stones play a 2012 surprise gig at Le Trabendo club to 350 fans for £12 each?
Answer: Paris

Question: Who played the part of Isambard Kingdom Brunel in the 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony?
Answer: Kenneth Branagh

Question: Kenyon Produce was the original name of what famous brand bought by Germany's Intersnack corporation in 2012?
Answer: Kp

Question: Banana Island is the most expensive property in a special edition of monopoly based on which Nigerian city?
Answer: Lagos

Question: What event caused Twitter's servers to crash on 25 June 2009?
Answer: Michael Jackson's death

Question: Rheology is the science/study of?
Answer: Substance flow

Question: C&W traditionally refers to what sort of music/lifeftyle/image?
Answer: Country and Western

Question: The (now largely obsolete) proofreading mark of a horizontal line above and below a passage of text gives instruction to correct?
Answer: Horizontal alignment

Question: What iconic historically semi-military people, recognized by Russia in 2010 as an ethinicity, are named after the old Cuman/Turkic word meaning 'free man'?
Answer: Cossacks

Question: The Sargasso Sea is named after a?
Answer: Seaweed

Question: What's the world's oldest amateur rowing club (now at Henley-on Thames, UK) named after the Greek mythological lover of the priestess Hero, who drowned swimming the Hellespont to visit her?
Answer: Leander

Question: What was reported stolen from Microsoft's R&D offices in Silicone Valley in Dec 2012?
Answer: Apple iPads

Question: The term 'chamois' (informally 'shammy'), soft leather for cleaning/wiping/gloves/etc, is named after, and originally made from what sort of creature?
Answer: Mountain goat/antelope

Question: The historic (at 2012, three-branch-line) San Francisco cable car system comprises how many actual cables in total?
Answer: Four

Question: What modern digital display term is an abbreviated portmanteau word from picture and element?
Answer: Pixel

Question: What name is typically given to torpedo shaped cars and bikes used in land-speed records, and also to bullet trains?
Answer: Streamliner

Question: Which global-reaching organization was revealed in 2013 to hold property investments exceeding £½bn derived from 'recognition' payments received in 1929 from Benito Mussolini?
Answer: The Vatican

Question: The six soft alkali metals (lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, caesium, and francium) react with water to produce what gas?
Answer: Hydrogen

Question: What single iconic name is associated with a fried sandwich of peanut butter, banana and bacon?
Answer: Elvis

Question: What singing voice originally held the melody in choral music?
Answer: Tenor

Question: What is the formal (systematic) chemical name for the alcohol in intoxicating drink?
Answer: Ethanol

Question: The volume of (soccer) football (regulation adult 70cm circumference) is approximately how many litres?
Answer: 5.8

Question: Nits, Blondels, Skots, Lamberts, and Footlamberts are measures of?
Answer: Luminance

Question: Name the vast global accountancy firm which effectively ceased after criminal involvement in the 2001 Enron corporate fraud?
Answer: Arthur Andersen

Question: The handtool which may be struck or bowed as a musical instrument is a 'singing (what)'?
Answer: Saw

Question: At a conference a 'plenary session' refers to a session which involves?
Answer: Everyone

Question: In Manhattan, NYC, what is famously the oldest public hospital in the US?
Answer: Bellevue

Question: Warning symbols for radioactivity and biological hazards employ a three-part icon called a what, originally referring to a three-leaved plant?
Answer: Trefoil

Question: What word follows either 'stone' or 'Chinese' in referring to deliberate obstruction?
Answer: Wall

Question: With the headline 'Simply the Best' who at 73 became Vogue's oldest front cover model (April 2013 German edition)?
Answer: Tina Turner

Question: What word appears before tilt, flood, face, house, and length, to produce five different terms?
Answer: Full

Question: The French-English word 'torchon' refers to what French-style household item?
Answer: Tea-towel

Question: What descriptively prefixes a species of bear, cobra, and caiman (like an alligator), referring to something worn by some people?
Answer: Spectacled

Question: Previously called Ezo/Yezo/Yeso/Yesso, what is Japan's north and second-largest island?
Answer: Hokkaido

Question: The US city of Memphis, Tennessee, was named after the ancient (c.3000BC) Memphis city capital of which nation?
Answer: Egypt

Question: Which word, broadly synonymous with 'typeface', derives from French 'to melt'?
Answer: Font

Question: What name is given to a puzzle or word construction which hides a word within single letters of other words?
Answer: Acrostic

Question: The 3D geometric shape called a torus is illustrated by what sort of cake?
Answer: Ring doughnut

Question: What air mattress genericized trademark is a portmanteau of its two-word description?
Answer: Lilo

Question: According to majority scholarly opinion, what was Jesus Christ's main spoken language?
Answer: Aramaic

Question: What heteronymic word has different meanings associated with court process, cricket, and boating or flying emergencies?
Answer: Bail

Question: South Africa, Vietnam, and Thailand are considered the only three nations to have produced what distinctively haired muscular type of dog?
Answer: Ridgeback

Question: The term 'mondegreen' refers to?
Answer: Misheard lyrics

Question: The base of Pimm's No1 Cup liqueur is?
Answer: Gin

Question: What joint in the body leverages the fastest human motion?
Answer: Shoulder

Question: What term refers to the off-putting banter directed by bowlers/fielders to opposing batsmen on a cricket pitch?
Answer: Sledging

Question: The 'Bechdel Test' is an informal measure of what in films and other fictional entertainment?
Answer: Gender bias

Question: What is the famous weaponry invention of Israeli army officer Uziel Gal (1923-2002)?
Answer: Uzi submachine gun

Question: Which corporation developed the Encarta encyclopedia?
Answer: Microsoft

Question: The Latin 'cochleare majus' was the common 1700s term for what kitchen/chemist measurement?
Answer: Tablespoon

Question: The early 2000s brands Heat, Fantasy, Pink Friday, Fame, and Lovely, are examples of celebrity product diversification into?
Answer: Perfumes

Question: Which car manufacturer produced the models Giulietta, Berlina, Brera and Spider?
Answer: Alfa Romeo

Question: Which vastly shrunken, once ubiquitous brand urged users to 'Let your fingers do the walking'?
Answer: Yellow Pages

Question: What social networking website attracted regulatory attention in summer 2013 after threats to female rights campaigners?
Answer: Twitter

Question: The term Phrygian Cap refers to?
Answer: Headwear

Question: On the birth of Prince George of Cambridge in 2013 who was relegated to 6th in line to the British throne?
Answer: Princess Beatrice of York

Question: Which nation in 2013 became the first to legalize marijuana production and sale?
Answer: Uruguay

Question: The Rod of Asclepius, a serpent and rod symbol from Greek mythology, is a widely used logo icon in?
Answer: Medicine

Question: Arnova, made by the French corporation Archos, is an 'entry level' brand of what?
Answer: Tablet computers