Question: Legal action by J K Rowling and Warner Brothers commenced in 2007 against which company for its plans to publish a Harry Potter Lexicon?
Answer: RDR Books

Question: Who wrote the 1939 book The Big Sleep?
Answer: Raymond Chandler

Question: """In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice which I've been turning over in my mind ever since,"" is the start of which novel?"
Answer: The Great Gatsby

Question: In the early 1900s a thriller was instead more commonly referred to as what sort of book?
Answer: Shocker

Question: In what decade were ISBN numbers introduced to the UK?
Answer: 1960s

Question: In 1969, P H Newby's book Something to Answer For was the first winner of what prize?
Answer: Booker Prize

Question: Who established Britain's first printing press in 1476?
Answer: William Caxton

Question: French writer Sully Prudhomme was the first winner of what prize in 1901?
Answer: Nobel Prize for Literature

Question: Who wrote Naked Lunch, (also titled The Naked Lunch)?
Answer: William Burroughs

Question: What was Christopher Latham Scholes' significant invention of 1868?
Answer: Typewriter

Question: Which novel begins "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife..."?
Answer: Pride and Prejudice

Question: Japanese author and playwrite Yukio Mishima committed what extreme act in 1970 while campaigning for Japan to restore its nationalistic principles?
Answer: Suicide

Question: Which American philosopher, and often-quoted advocate of individualism, published essays on Self-Reliance, Love, Heroism, Character and Manners in his Collections of 1841 and 1844?
Answer: Ralph Waldo Emerson

Question: Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, printed in Bruges around 1475 is regarded as the first book to have been what?
Answer: Printed in the English language

Question: In what city does Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace begin?
Answer: Saint Petersburg

Question: """Make then laugh; make them cry; make them wait..."" was a personal maxim of which novelist?"
Answer: Charles Dickens

Question: What is the land of giants called in Gulliver's Travels?
Answer: Brobdingnag

Question: What term for a short, usually witty, poem or saying derives from the Greek words 'write' and 'on'?
Answer: Epigram

Question: What was the original title of the book on which the film Schindler's List was based?
Answer: Schindler's Ark

Question: Who was the first prime minister of Israel?
Answer: David Ben-Gurion

Question: Who was the first man to appear on the cover of the American Vogue?
Answer: Richard Gere

Question: Who directed the 2005 Bob Dylan documentary No Direction Home?
Answer: Martin Scorsese

Question: What is the US state capital of Washington?
Answer: Olympia

Question: Salpingitis is the medical term for the inflammation of which part of the body?
Answer: Fallopian Tubes

Question: The Butut is the monetary unit of which country?
Answer: Gambia

Question: Who won the 1987 British Formula One Grand Prix?
Answer: Nigel Mansell

Question: What type of creature is a bonnethead?
Answer: Shark

Question: The first chamber of commerce in Britain was founded in which city in 1783?
Answer: Glasgow

Question: In astronomy what is the outermost region of a planet's atmosphere called?
Answer: Exosphere

Question: George Williams founded what in London in 1844?
Answer: Ymca

Question: Which novelist wrote under the pseudonym Ellis Bell?
Answer: Emily Bronte

Question: Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn played an architect and waitress in which 1992 film?
Answer: Housesitter

Question: A costard is what type of fruit?
Answer: Apple

Question: Which British rock band leased a six-acre section of Shepperton Studios in 1977 under the name of Ramport Enterprises?
Answer: The Who

Question: Who painted The Monarch of the Glen?
Answer: Sir Edwin Henry Landseer

Question: In US politics who replaced Spiro Agnew as Richard Nixon's vice-president in 1973?
Answer: Gerald Ford

Question: Who was crowned King of the Scots in 1306?
Answer: Robert the Bruce

Question: The Royal Mint is in which country of the UK?
Answer: Wales

Question: Who resigned as Ireland's Taoiseach (pronounced 'teeshock' - it is the head of government) in May 2008 after more than ten years in the position?
Answer: Bertie Ahern

Question: The South Ossetia war was fought between Russia and which other country?
Answer: Georgia

Question: Who in 2008 was re-elected Prime Minister of Canada?
Answer: Stephen Harper

Question: George Tupou V was crowned monarch of which country in August 2008?
Answer: Tonga

Question: Chinese Democracy was the long awaited 2008 album release of which band?
Answer: Guns N' Roses

Question: Who was Fiona Shackleton representing when she had a jug of water poured over her in February 2008?
Answer: Paul McCartney

Question: Architect Rafael Viñoly designed what notable Leicester building which opened in 2008?
Answer: The Curve Theatre

Question: For which national team did the cricketer play who was alleged to have called an Australian opponent a monkey, resulting in the suspension of the Australian tour of that country?
Answer: India

Question: Which film director, with successes including Cold Mountain and The Talented Mr Ripley, died on 18 March 2008?
Answer: Anthony Minghella

Question: Which chain announced the closure of 600 US branches in July 2008?
Answer: Starbucks

Question: In which city did the Newseum museum of news and journalism re-open in April 2008?
Answer: Washington DC

Question: On Rudy Giuliani's withdrawal from the contest for the Republican 2008 US presidential election nomination who received Giuliani's endorsement?
Answer: John McCain

Question: Which original and long lost member of the Manic Street Preachers was declared dead on 24 November 2008?
Answer: Richey Edwards

Question: What is the name of Google's web browser, launched in September 2008?
Answer: Google Chrome

Question: What 2008 film set in 1880s America starred and was directed by Ed Harris?
Answer: Appaloosa

Question: Which country won the most medals in total at the 2008 Summer Olympics?
Answer: Usa

Question: In October 2008 which country was first to follow Ireland in announcing it would guarantee all bank deposits, in the wake of the global financial crisis?
Answer: Greece

Question: Which Eastern guru to the Beatles died on 5 February 2008?
Answer: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Question: What venue hosted the 2008 Superbowl?
Answer: University of Phoenix Stadium

Question: Which American entertainer famously parodied Sarah Palin during the 2008 US presidential elections?
Answer: Tina Fey

Question: What hip-hop artist was controversially chosen to headline the 2008 Glastonbury Festival?
Answer: Jay-Z

Question: What was Abdel Kechiche's 2008 film about France's North African community?
Answer: Couscous

Question: Who ran the fraudulent $50bn investment pyramid scheme exposed in December 2008?
Answer: Bernard Madoff

Question: Who threw his shoes at George W Bush in December 2008?
Answer: Muntadhar al Zeidi

Question: Which club won the Coca Cola Football League Championship for the 2007-08 season?
Answer: West Bromwich Albion

Question: Which secretive artist's supposed real identity was 'outed' in 2008 as Robert Gunningham by the Mail on Sunday?
Answer: Banksy

Question: Which rock group won the 2008 Mercury Prize?
Answer: Elbow

Question: What successful 2008 film starring Angelina Jolie did Clint Eastwood direct?
Answer: Changeling

Question: Nelson Evora won which country's only gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics?
Answer: Portugal

Question: Who won 3 gold medals for Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and was named 2008 BBC Sports Personality of the Year?
Answer: Chris Hoy

Question: Which country won the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest?
Answer: Russia

Question: Which country ended its combat role in Iraq on 1 June 2008 with the withdrawal of its 500 troops from Nasiriyah?
Answer: Australia