Latest questions: 25 August 2020

This week's questions have been gleaned from those set for use in Weeks 10 and 11 of the 2018–19 season in Stockport Quiz League, by the Fingerpost (Questions 1 to 16), the Tame Valley (17 to 26) and the Little Horse & Farrier (27 to 44 – including 27a).

Which metallic element was found in 1906 to be present in chlorophyll – this being the first time that it had been detected in living tissue?		Magnesium
'The Romford Robot' is one of many nicknames that have been applied to which sports personality?		Steve Davis
By what title is the Welsh national anthem, Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (pronounced my hane wlard vuh nad–eye) known in English?		Land of My Fathers
Peyton–Jones is the surname of which popular character in children's entertainment?		Fireman Sam

What are the so–called 'Big Four' accountancy firms?		Deloitte
		Ernst & Young
		KPMG
		PricewaterhouseCoopers

Which five companies are represented by the acronym FAANG?		Facebook
		Amazon
		Apple
		Netflix
		Google

Who played the title character in the children's television series The Adventures of Robin Hood – produced by ATV, and first broadcast between 1955 and 1959)?		Richard Greene
Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue was a typical title given to a painting by which 20th century artist?		Piet Mondrian
Which printer's mark originated as a ligature of the letters E and T?		The ampersand (&)
Santero, Red Baron and Snowball are varieties of which vegetable?		Onion
Which bridge carries the B3129 road over the Avon Gorge? Designed by William Henry Barlow and John Hawkshaw, based on an earlier design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, it opened in 1864, five years after Brunel's death.		Clifton Suspension Bridge
Which blue dye, one of the three staples of the Mediaeval dying industry, is obtained from Isatis tinctoria – also known as glastum, or (less commonly) Asp of Jerusalem?		Woad
Who wrote the scores to all four Toy Story films, A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc. (and its sequel Monsters University), Cars and Cars 3?		Randy Newman
Three Scottish banks are licensed to issue banknotes. The Royal Bank of Scotland and the Bank of Scotland are two of them; what's the third?		Clydesdale Bank
The badge of which motor manufacturer features a red cross on a neutral background, and a person being swallowed by a giant snake, serpent or dragon (or a normal–sized snake or dragon swallowing a tiny person)?		Alfa Romeo
What name, after the Greek goddess of agriculture, does Bram Stoker give to the ship on which the title character of his novel Dracula comes ashore at Whitby?		Demeter
At which English sporting venue, which celebrated its bicentenary in 2014, is the Nursery End?		Lord's
At which English sporting venue, first used as such in 1845, is the Vauxhall End?		The Oval
The Point of No Return, Angel of Music, and Why Have You Brought Me Here?, are songs from which musical?		The Phantom of the Opera
Which team did basketball legend Earvin 'Magic' Johnson play for throughout his professional career?		Los Angeles Lakers
In poker, which hand ranks between a Straight and Two Pair?		Three of a Kind
How many blocks are there in the tower, at the start of a game of Jenga?		54
In badminton, how many feathers does a shuttlecock have (assuming it's not a plastic one)?		Sixteen
In Thomas Hardy's novel The Mayor of Casterbridge, for how much does Michael Henchard sell his wife?		Five guineas
What's the surname of the acting brothers Joe, Paul, Mark and Stephen – all born in Liverpool between 1958 and 1963?		McGann
What's the surname of the acting brothers Alec, Daniel, William and Stephen – all born in New York State between 1958 and 1966?		Baldwin
Which NASA spacecraft, launched on 28 November 1964, performed the first successful flyby of the planet Mars in July 1965 – passing within 10,000 km (just over 6,000 miles) and returning the first close–up pictures of the Martian surface?		Mariner 4
According to the laws of cricket, what is the width of the pitch?		10 feet (305 cm)
Give a year in the life of the poet Alexander Pope.		1688–1744
Which 20th century writer, in a letter to his brother, wrote "No pen, no ink, no table, no room, no time, no quiet, no inclination"?		James Joyce
Which member of One Direction left the band in 2015, and in 2016 released the album Mind of Mine and the single Pillowtalk, both of which reached No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic?		Zayn Malik
Which former Warner Brothers animator directed the cartoon sequences for the Pink Panther film (1963) and is credited as the principal creator of the Pink Panther character?		Isadore 'Friz' Freleng
In which Dickens novel does a lawyer named Mr. Jaggers appear?		Great Expectations
Which food dish is said (albeit with little or no evidence) to have been created and named at a restaurant in New Orleans, in 1867, and is known in French as omelette norvégienne (or Norwegian omelette)?		Baked Alaska
Which order of mammals includes a genus of 'slit–faced' varieties – including the 'hairy slit–faced' species, which is widely distributed throughout forests and savannas in Africa?		Bats (Chiroptera)
What's the minimum depth of a golf hole?		Four inches
Not counting Macau, what is the only Asian country that has Portuguese as an official language?		East Timor
In the US version of Monopoly, by what name is the square that's known as Super Tax in the UK version known?		Luxury Tax
Founded in 1857, Borsalino is Italy's oldest manufacturer of what items of dress?		Hats
In a suit of armour, what part of the body is protected by the culet?		The buttocks
Which Italian architect and designer, who lived from 1377 to 1446, is credited with developing the mathematical technique of linear perspective in art?		Filippo Brunelleschi
Which famous poem, written in 1906, begins with the lines "The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor ..."?		The Highwayman (by Alfred Noyes)
In the world of music and entertainment, how are Stuart '2–D' Pot, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle, and Russel Hobbs collectively known?		Gorillaz

© Haydn Thompson 2020