Question: Born in Delft in 1632, he painted small detailed domestic scenes notable for their treatment of various tones of daylight. Who was he?
Answer: Jan Vermeer

Question: Guy Garvey is the lead vocalist of which band?
Answer: Elbow

Question: In which constellation is Rigel the brightest star?
Answer: Orion

Question: Which US city is home to the Nationals MLB team?
Answer: Washington DC

Question: In which castle was King Edward II imprisoned and probably murdered in 1327?
Answer: Berekely

Question: Born in Paris in 1848, he pained many pictures of Polynesian life and died in the Marquesas Islands in 1903. Who was he?
Answer: Paul Gaugin

Question: What is the name of the consumer affairs programme broadcast on Radio 4 from 12.04pm each weekday?
Answer: You and Yours

Question: Into which body of water does the River Nene drain?
Answer: The Wash

Question: In “Bearded Tit”, Rory McGrath suggests “Aquilla slapheadii” as the scientific name for which bird?
Answer: Bald Eagle

Question: Justin Timberlake has spent three weeks at number one this year with which song from the album “The 20/20 Experience”?
Answer: Mirrors

Question: Who plays Madame Thenardier in the 2012 film Les Miserables?
Answer: Helena Bonham Carter

Question: Which town hosts an annual horse fair on the first Saturday of August, the fair being the subject of a folk song?
Answer: Brigg

Question: Charles VI, who ruled France from 1380 until his death in 1422, was a member of which royal house?
Answer: Valois

Question: In which country were Nobel Prize winners Alan MacDiarmid, Maurice Wilkins and Ernest Rutherford born?
Answer: New Zealand

Question: Which element is between Uranium and Plutonium in the Periodic Table?
Answer: Neptunium

Question: What is the family name of the Duke of Northumberland?
Answer: Percy

Question: The Canal Turn fence at Aintree is named after which canal?
Answer: Leeds and Liverpool

Question: Stefan Gordy, a son of the founder of Motown Records, is known by which colourful stage name?
Answer: Redfoo

Question: The first two speakers in which Shakespeare play are a shipmaster and a boatswain?
Answer: The Tempest

Question: Which is the main city in the New Zealand region of Canterbury?
Answer: Christchurch

Question: Spain ceded Florida to Britain in the 1763 Treaty of Paris which ended which war? (The name by which it is known in Britain is required)
Answer: Seven Years’ War

Question: In which African country does 100 pesetas equal 1 cedi?
Answer: Ghana

Question: The singer Solange is the sister of which other singer?
Answer: Beyonce

Question: Whose statue in Merrion Square, Dublin is known to irreverent Dubliners as “The Fag on the Crag”?
Answer: Oscar Wilde

Question: Firenze (Florence) is the capital city of which Italian region?
Answer: Tuscany

Question: Madeline Bray married which eponymous character in a Charles Dickens novel?
Answer: Nicholas Nickleby

Question: Which vitamin is also known as Alpha Tocopherol?
Answer: Vitamin E

Question: Who composed the songs “Old Folks at Home” and “Beautiful Dreamer”?
Answer: Stephen Foster

Question: In which city was the actor and playwright Alan Bennett born?
Answer: Leeds

Question: Which British coin, first minted in 1817, is still being minted and is still legal tender but nowadays is minted for the Indian market?
Answer: Gold Sovereign

Question: If you ordered Homard in a French restaurant what shellfish would you be served?
Answer: Lobster

Question: Which substance, used to make a drink, is Ghana’s main export?
Answer: Cocoa

Question: Five of the world’s ten highest waterfalls are wholly or partly in which country?
Answer: Norway

Question: In which British city is Great Victoria Street station?
Answer: Belfast

Question: The tune “Galloping Home” was used as the signature tune for which children’s TV series shown from 1972-74, and for a new series featuring the same characters from 1990-91?
Answer: Black Beauty

Question: Which wildflower is also known as the knapweed?
Answer: Cornflower

Question: Which former leader of the Lib Dems was the MP for Yeovil?
Answer: Paddy Ashdown

Question: Which song was a top 40 hit for Soft Cell in 1981 and for Marilyn Manson in 2002?
Answer: Tainted Love

Question: Who, upon splitting with her partner, said “At least I can wear high heels now”/
Answer: Nicole Kidman

Question: Which planet has an ‘anomalous spin; in that it spins in the opposite direction to the other planets?
Answer: Venus

Question: Who said on splitting from Mick Jagger “I’m sure he can find someone else to be unfaithful to soon”?
Answer: Jerry Hall

Question: In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, who was the King of Scotland?
Answer: Duncan Note: At various times in the play Duncan, Macbeth and Malcolm are king of Scotland

Question: What is the UK’s only named wind? It is a strong north-easterly which blows across the northern Penines into the Eden Valley in Cumbria.
Answer: Helm Wind

Question: Who played the title role in the 2005 London police series “Jericho”?
Answer: Robert Lindsay

Question: Which song was a hit for both Nilsson in 1972 and Maria Carey in 1994?
Answer: Without You

Question: The town of Leek is situated in which English county?
Answer: Staffordshire

Question: Charlotte is the largest city in which US State?
Answer: North Carolina

Question: Name the year – James Callaghan becomes PM; Britain and Iceland end the C od War; 21st Olympic Games begin in Montreal.
Answer: 1976

Question: Which planet is unique among the planets in having an axis of rotation that is tilted sideways?
Answer: Uranus Note: the axis of rotation of all of the planets bar Mercury are tilted to one degree or another – e.g. Earth has a tilt of 23.4° . Uranus has a tilt of 97.7°, thus being “closest” to sideways.

Question: Which king did Henry Bolingbroke depose and then succees as Henry IV in 1399?
Answer: Richard II

Question: In which British city is Preston Park railway station?
Answer: Brighton

Question: Eight of the world’s ten highest mountains are situated wholly or partly in which country?
Answer: Nepal

Question: What name is given to the smallest species of hummingbird, it being names after the insect it is closest in size to?
Answer: Bee Hummingbird

Question: South Africa is the world’s largest producer of what?
Answer: Gold

Question: Name either British coin that ceased to be legal tender on August 31st, 1971.
Answer: Threepence One Penny (Old penny)

Question: What is the meaning of the word Cenotaph?
Answer: Empty Tomb

Question: Which former leader of the Lib Dems is the MP for North East Fife?
Answer: Menzies Campbell

Question: Known as “England’s Darling”, who led resistance against William the Conqueror on the isle of Ely in 1070?
Answer: Hereward the Wake

Question: In “Far from the Madding Crowd” who became Bathsheba Everdene’s first Husband?
Answer: Sergeant Troy

Question: Which European city was called Christiania frm 1624-1925?
Answer: Oslo

Question: Apart from Ginger McCain, who is the only other trainer to have won four Grand Nationals?
Answer: Fred Rimmel

Question: Which US actor was born Joe Yule Jr?
Answer: Mickey Rooney

Question: Jacksonville is the largest city in which US state?
Answer: Florida

Question: Who was King of Denmark in Shakespeare’s Hamlet?
Answer: Claudius

Question: The town of Oswestry is in which English county?
Answer: Shropshire

Question: Who starred in the TV series “Nice Guy Eddie” as a Liverpool private investigator?
Answer: Ricky Tomlinson

Question: Name the year: Yasser Arafat new leader of the PLO; Dwight D Eisenhower dies; US Mariner 6 spacecraft launched to Mars.
Answer: 1969

Question: Bytown is the original name for which Canadian city?
Answer: Ottowa (after Colonel By)

Question: Which comedian and actor presents the Radio 4 programme “The Unbelievable Truth”?
Answer: David Mitchell

Question: By what name is the city of Madras now known?
Answer: Chennai