Latest questions: 8 December 2020

This week's questions have mostly been gleaned from those set for use in Week 16 of the 2017–18 season in Stockport Quiz League by the Tiviot (Questions 1 to 14), and in the Knockout Quarter–finals by the Horse & Farrier (Questions 15 to 31).

In rugby union, which Nottinghamshire–born player currently holds the world record for the number of points scored in a first–class career – with 7,337 between 1971 and 1989?		William 'Dusty' Hare
Who began his career in music as singer with the Frantic Elevators (in the late 1970s), before finding fame with a different band?		Mick Hucknall
What's the name of the gulf of the Aegean Sea on which Piraeus, the port of Athens, is situated? It gives its name to the islands situated within it, the largest of which are Salamina (or Salamis) and Aegina.		Saronic Gulf
Which Radio 2 music programme ended in 2018, after being broadcast weekly for almost fifty years? It was presented by Robin Richmond until 1980, and Nigel Ogden from then onwards; its theme tune was From This Moment On, by Cole Porter – played by Nigel Ogden		The Organist Entertains
What's the common name (of Biblical origin) for the flowering tree Cercis siliquastrum – which in turn was used for a novel by A. J. Cronin, a ballet by Kenneth Macmillan, and an episode of the crime drama television series Jonathan Creek?		The Judas tree
Starting as a writer and performer in the Channel 4 sketch show Smack the Pony, who played the title role in the Radio 4 sitcom Clare in the Community (from 2004), Tilly (an old school friend of the title character) in the BBC television sitcom Miranda, and Shazzer in the Bridget Jones films?		Sally Phillips
What surname is or was shared by three singers, nicknamed (respectively) the Queen of Memphis Soul, the Soul Queen of New Orleans, and The World's Oldest Teenager?		Thomas (Carla, Irma and, Rufus)
Who died in January 1941, while on a solo flight from Prestwick in Ayrshire to Kidlington, Oxfordshire, after going off course in bad weather and bailing out over the Thames Estuary (probably having run out of fuel)?		Amy Johnson
Askar Akayev, who was removed from power in 2005 by the so–called Tulip Revolution, was the first President of which country?		Kyrgyzstan
Who sang the lead vocal on Black Box's Ride On Time – the UK's best–selling single of 1989 – after they were forced to re–record it due to legal issues concerning a sample? She later found fame with a band formed by Mike Pickering, a former DJ at the Haçienda, Factory Records' legendary Manchester venue.		Heather Small
Which "showcase for brass and military band music", broadcast on the BBC Home Service / Light Programme / Radio 2 since 1947 and presented from 1995 by Frank Renton, was taken off the air in 2018?		Listen to the Band
Evia (also known as Euboea) is the second largest island – by both area and population – of which European country?		Greece
Which non–ministerial government department regulates qualifications, examinations and tests in school in England?		Ofqual
How did the preserved GWR Hall class locomotive No. 5972 Olton Hall come to prominence in the 21st century?		As the Hogwarts Express
What term was used, in the kind of mediaeval literature satirised by Cervantes in Don Quixote, for a romantic figure who roamed the country in search of adventure to prove his chivalric virtues?		Knight errant
What was the birth surname of Harry Potter's mother, Lily?		Evans
In the television drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, what's the name of the vampire who was Buffy's 'love interest' in Series 1 to 3?		Angel
Which novel by Ray Bradbury, first published in 1953, is set in a future America, where books are banned and any that are found are burnt by 'firemen'?		Fahrenheit 451
Which curve on the Monaco Grand Prix circuit gets its name from the corner shop that used to stand beside it?		Tabac
In the 1979 film Alien, what's the name of the Science Officer, played by Ian Holm – who is revealed to be an android when his head is knocked off?		Ash
In F. Scott FitzGerald's novel The Great Gatsby, what's the name of the young debutante and socialite who is the subject of the title character's obsession?		Daisy Buchanan
Which Pixar/Disney animated film, inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead, won Oscars in 2018 for Best Animated Feature and Best Song (Remember Me)?		Coco
A sciophyte is a plant that grows best where, or under what conditions?		In shade
Which chemical element is used as a test for starch, with which it forms a very dark blue–black compound? (Starch can be used in exactly the same way as a test for this element.)		Iodine
Tijuana is the largest city in which state – Mexico's most north–westerly, sharing its name with the peninsula that it forms approximately half of?		Baja California
Where, according to legend, did Richard (Dick) Whittington turn on his way out of London, after hearing Bow Bells?		Highgate Hill
How is the only Duke of York of the Fifth Creation, who was eleven years old when the city of New York was named in his honour, best known today?		King James II (of England)
Which UK tourist destination is made up of Castlehill, the Lawnmarket, the High Street, the Canongate and Abbey Strand?		The Royal Mile (Edinburgh)
What is classified according to the Bristol scale?		Human stools (faeces)
Fred Sirieix is (literally) the host of which television programme, broadcast on Channel 4 since 2013?		First Dates
Which English rugby footballer, who won 57 caps between 1985 and 1991, was known as The Blackpool Tower, on account of his 6 foot 8 inches in height and the place where he worked as a police officer?		Wade Dooley
How old was Robert Burns – Scotland's national poet – when he died in 1796?		37
What title did A. J. Cronin give to the 1969 sequel to his 1964 novel A Song of Sixpence?		A Pocketful of Rye

© Haydn Thompson 2020