Question: Geir Haard (who in 2012 became the first politician to face court charges for negligence in contributing to the 2008 global financial crisis) led what country?
Answer: Iceland

Question: What is the lowest note on a common traditional four-string mandolin?
Answer: G

Question: The 'doppelsigrune' or 'sig runes' was the symbol of what secretive and powerful organization? The
Answer: Ss

Question: UK tabloid newspapers are commonly called?
Answer: Red-Tops

Question: Who was the last head of state of the Soviet Union?
Answer: Mikhail Gorbachev

Question: What city opened the UK's largest city-centre water feature - the 'Mirror Pool' - in Spring 2012?
Answer: Bradford

Question: As at 2012 what nationality is the Brewery corporation Carlsberg?
Answer: Danish

Question: Name Norwegian Evard Munch's famous painting of human outburst?
Answer: The Scream

Question: Hygroscopic refers to substances which do what to water?
Answer: Absorb/Adsorb

Question: What is Germany's biggest selling newspaper (at 2012)?
Answer: Bild

Question: Baselworld in Switzerland is the world's biggest annual tradeshow event for?
Answer: Watches and Jewellery

Question: Shakespeare's play of Greek/Trojan war, love and betrayal is Troilus and (who)?
Answer: Cressida

Question: Rust on metal is caused by the action of?
Answer: Moisture and Oxygen

Question: Who in the 1970s was the first big sports superstar endorsee of the Fila brand?
Answer: Björn Borg

Question: Press-ups and squat-thrusts were reportedly introduced in 2012 as staff punishments at what major retailer's Milan branch?
Answer: Abercrombie and Fitch

Question: Name the 1982 Buckingham Palace early-hours intruder who woke and spoke to Elizabeth II in her bedroom?
Answer: Michael Fagan

Question: At 2012 what mobile broadband service is/was the next major upgrade for most of Europe?
Answer: 4G

Question: 72 year-old Nepali Chandra Bahadur Dangi was certified in 2012 by the Guinness Book of World Records as the shortest human ever at how many inches?
Answer: 21.5 inches

Question: Name the Sony Playstation new handheld gaming model launched in Europe in 2012?
Answer: Vita

Question: What country inspired the term Banana Republic?
Answer: Honduras

Question: The acronym STEM in education refers to a set of what four technical subjects?
Answer: Science Technology Engineering Mathematics

Question: Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger's 'thought experiment' theory is referred to as Schrödinger's (what animal)?
Answer: Cat

Question: The natural effect causing paint to rise up the hairs of a paintbrush, and liquid to rise up a narrow tube is called (what) action?
Answer: Capillary

Question: Dr Robert Atkins, (1930-2003), who died weighing 260lbs, was noted for what eponymous conception?
Answer: Atkins Diet

Question: What ingredient, used cleverly very sparingly by the Romans, largely determines durability of concrete?
Answer: Water

Question: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC), was better known as what hugely influential organization, notably in the colonial exploitation of Asia?
Answer: Dutch East India Company

Question: Technically the potato is a?
Answer: Tuber

Question: In what modern country did the ancient Sumer or Sumerian civilisation develop and flourish?
Answer: Iraq

Question: Modern DNA studies show that the first migrants to the North American continent were?
Answer: Asians

Question: What modern convenient foodstuff takes its name from the Latin meaning 'salted (and preserved meat)'?
Answer: Sausage

Question: Name the hugely and suddenly successful 'Pictionary-type' online game bought by Zynga for $180m in 2012?
Answer: Draw Something

Question: Where did the modern common potato originate?
Answer: South America

Question: What material was used in making the 2,000 year-old dome of the Pantheon in Rome?
Answer: Concrete

Question: The Renminbi is currency, and increasingly important in global trading, of which country?
Answer: China

Question: An exoplanet is a planet which does what to a sun (outside of our own solar system)?
Answer: Orbits

Question: What popular internationally franchised UK TV quiz game show, producing very funny wrong answers, ended in the UK in March 2012?
Answer: The Weakest Link

Question: Which artist/inventor's famous lost 1504 painting, The Battle of Anghiari, was found in 2012 hidden in Florence Town Hall, behind a later fresco?
Answer: Leonardo da Vinci

Question: In what country was the wholesale 'cash'n'carry' business Makro founded?
Answer: Holland

Question: As at 2012 what is the only European country to routinely apply the death penalty?
Answer: Belarus

Question: Coptic refers to a sect of what religious order?
Answer: Christianity

Question: The daisy-like plants called chamomile/camomile are regarded to be a helpful natural aid chiefly for?
Answer: Sleep/relaxation

Question: St Tropez, Sienna X, and Fake Bake are popular brands of what product/service type?
Answer: Spray tanning

Question: The British pub name 'The Talbot' traditionally refers to a what?
Answer: Dog

Question: As at at 2012 Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao are/were president and premier of which country?
Answer: China

Question: Behind Wal-Mart, Carrefour, and Tesco, what corporation is the fourth largest retail group (by turnover, at 2012) in the world?
Answer: Metro

Question: What organ of the body has a pericardium, pulmonary trunk, and superior vena cava?
Answer: Heart

Question: Who succeeded Joseph Stalin as leader of the Sovient Union?
Answer: Nikita Khrushchev

Question: A dagga (duggi or dhama) is the bass element of what Indian percussion instrument?
Answer: Tabla

Question: Lye is an old English word for?
Answer: Caustic soda

Question: Which Greek hero killed the 'half-man/half-bull' Minotaur?
Answer: Theseus

Question: Which country has (at 2012) the longest national highway in the world?
Answer: Australia

Question: What is the only country whose homeland spans Africa and Asia?
Answer: Egypt

Question: A medina is typically an Arabic city area characterized by?
Answer: Walled narrow maze-like streets

Question: Which country's royal anthem is called 'Kongesangen'?
Answer: Norway

Question: What modern-day publishing corporation, owner of Penguin books, built the Blackwall Tunnel (under the River Thames in London)?
Answer: Pearson

Question: What vague unit of time is also the same as torque in physics, being a rotational force?
Answer: Moment

Question: Name the credit-card sized very low cost basic personal computer designed to increase young people/school computer access and skills?
Answer: Raspberry Pi

Question: What nationality is the retail group Carrefour (at 2012)?
Answer: French

Question: What UK government-funded company traditionally employing disabled people in manufacturing was founded in 1945 to provide work for injured soldiers?
Answer: Remploy

Question: Tonsure refers to removal of hair from the?
Answer: Head

Question: In old English, a Yeoman was originally a man possessing/working with?
Answer: Land

Question: What African country experienced a 2012 rebellion by Tuareg fighters?
Answer: Mali

Question: Zampone is an Italian dish made of stuffed pig's what?
Answer: Trotter

Question: Which major social networking corporation grew from a branded messaging project at podcasting site Odeo?
Answer: Twitter

Question: Pissouri, Paphos, and Protarus are seaside resorts in which Mediterranean island?
Answer: Cyprus

Question: What airline was exposed in Spring 2012 as having leaked celebrities' flight details to a paparazzi agency?
Answer: Virgin

Question: What is the only internal human organ capable of natural regeneration of lost tissue?
Answer: Liver

Question: What model pioneered personal computing in the 1980s, selling over 20 million of its (then huge) 64k memory machines?
Answer: Commodore 64

Question: What instrument most commonly features in the logos of national postal services?
Answer: Post horn