Latest questions: 19 January 2021

Most of this week's questions have been gleaned from those set for use in the Plate Final of the 2016–17 season in Stockport Quiz League, by the Printers and the Star. (The first few are from knockout qualifying weeks 1 and 2 in the same season.)

In botany, what is an awn?		A hair or bristle
What term is most commonly used in Great Britain for what's known in the United States as a beltway?		Ring road
Which supermarket chain, referred to (for example by the Daily Telegraph) as "the Waitrose of the North", has its roots in The China House, a shop opened in Blackpool in 1847 by a 19–year–old tea dealer?		Booths
In office since 2010, who is the controversial Prime Minister of Hungary?		Viktor Orbán
Is It Just Me? (2013) and Peggy and Me (2016) are best–selling memoirs by which comedian, actor and writer?		Miranda Hart
Who played Edie Pegden in Last of the Summer Wine, from 1986 until her death in 2003?		Thora Hird
Common or Indian, Green and Congo are the three species in which genus of birds?		Peafowl
Sean Spicer (January to July, 2017), Sarah Sanders (July 2017 to July 2019), Stephanie Grisham (July 2019 to April 2020) and Kayleigh McEnany (April 2020 to January 2021) were the four people who served under Donald Trump in what position?		(White House) Press Secretary
What word for a kind of porridge or stew, served to the sick, gave rise to the traditional term for a surgeon's assistant on board a ship (in both the British and US navies)? It also came to mean a swamp, which gave rise to the names of two species of tree that grow in the southern United States.		Loblolly
Which theatre on St. Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster, is home to the English National Opera?		The Coliseum
Who directed the films Point Blank (1967), Deliverance (1972), Zardoz (1974), Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), Hope and Glory (1987), and The Tailor of Panama (2001)?		John Boorman
Whose autobiography, first published in 2016, was entitled The Man in the Middle: the Autobiography of the World Cup Final Referee?		Howard Webb
Which fictional city is served by the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane?		Gotham City
What's the medical name for a sideways curvature of the spine?		Scoliosis
Which British pre–decimal coin was once known as a 'bender', because due to its high silver content it could be bent in the hands?		Sixpence
Which Spanish football club is nicknamed Los Colchoneros (the Mattress Makers), because their home shirts are striped in the same way as traditional mattresses?		Atlético Madrid
Which punk–rock band was formed in 1976 by the Spanish–born drummer Paloma Romero (stage name Palmolive), after meeting German singer Ariane Forster (stage name Ari Up) at a Patti Smith concert? Their line–up also included Viv Albertine on guitar and Tessa Pollitt on bass.		The Slits
Who, as Minister of Education in Atlee's government (from 1945 until her death in 1947), raised the school leaving age from 14 to 15 and introduced free school milk?		Ellen Wilkinson
Who composed the operetta Light Cavalry – first performed in 1866, but now largely forgotten except for its overture, which is extremely popular?		Franz von Suppé
Who directed the films The Madness of King George (1994), The History Boys (2006), and The Lady in the Van (2015)? He has also directed more than sixty major theatre productions, including Miss Saigon and One Man, Two Guvnors at the National Theatre, London.		Nicholas Hytner
What name was given by the Royal Navy to the Earl of Pembroke (a merchant collier, or Whitby Cat, launched in 1764), after buying it in 1768?		HMS Endeavour
Which city is served by Julius Nyerere International Airport?		Dar es Salaam
Which middle–eastern seaport boasts the world's tallest lighthouse (at 436 feet) – completed in 1990?		Jeddah
The Spanish Gordal, the Greek Kalamata and the French Picholine have been described as three of the most 'organoleptic' varieties of which friut?		Olive
Who replaced Sandi Toksvig as co–presenter (along with Noel Fielding) of the 2020 series of The Great British Bake–Off?		Matt Lucas
What's the middle name of Joseph Biden Junior, the 46th President of the United States of America?		Robinette

© Haydn Thompson 2021