Latest questions: 27 July 2021

These questions were inspired by those set for use in Weeks 15 and 16, and the second round of Knockout Qualifying Matches, in the 2011–12 season of Stockport Quiz League, by the Navigation (Questions 1 to 9), the Park (10 to 22) and the Railway Fliers (23 to 35).

In architecture, what name is given to a rounded, convex surface – usually surrounded with carved ornamental scrollwork – for receiving a painted or low–relief decoration such as a shield or coat of arms? The word was originally applied to an oval or oblong figure seen on ancient Egyptian monuments, enclosing characters that represent the name of a sovereign.		Cartouche
In architecture, what name is given to the roughly triangular space between a curve and a rectangular border – for example, at the top of an arch or around the face of a clock? The same word can also mean the space under a staircase.		Spandrel
Guiderius and Arviragus – both legendary and possibly historical characters – are sons of the title character, in which Shakespeare play?		Cymbeline
Who wrote the libretti for Tchaikovsky's operas The Queen of Spades (1890) and Iolanta (1892)?		His brother, Modest
Which English poet collaborated with his American friend and lover Chester Kallman on the libretti for several operas, including Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress?		W. H. Auden
What was the name of the Coronation Street character played by Sarah Lancashire from 1991 to 1996?		Raquel Wolstenhulme
Which historic county in the extreme north–east of Scotland, with shores on the North Sea and the Pentland Firth, gave its name to the glassware manufacturing company (founded in 1961) that provides the trophy for the BBC's Mastermind quiz programme?		Caithness
Which river rises near Luton, in Bedfordshire, flows into the Thames at Bromley–by–Bow, and features in the early chapters of Isaak Walton's The Compleat Angler?		The Lea
Thanatology is the scientific study of ... what?		Death
Which musical features the song What Do the Simple Folk Do??		Camelot
Which musical includes the songs Getting Married Today, The Ladies Who Lunch, and Being Alive?		Company
Which food menu item is known as foie in French, hidago in Spanish, and fegato in Italian?		Liver
Described by the British Film Institute as the "dominant influence on the growth and development of commercial television in Britain", who was the founder of Granada Television?		Sidney Bernstein
Who was the founding Chief Executive of the UK's Channel 4 television network?		Jeremy Isaacs
The award–winning novel Killing Floor, first published in 1997, was the first to feature which roaming investigator?		Jack Reacher
Led Zeppelin are said to have been sued on behalf of which American blues artist, for plagiarising his song Killing Floor in The Lemon Song (which appeared on their second album)?		Howlin' Wolf (Chester Burnett)
What replaced the Vauxhall Cavalier in 1995, and was in turn replaced by the Insignia in 2008?		The Vectra
On which remote island did Sir Ernest Shackleton suffer a fatal heart attack in 1922, at the age of 47?		South Georgia
If an animal is described as excaudate, what does it lack?		A tail
Somewhere In My Heart (No. 3 in 1988) and Love, the album that it came from, were respectively the only Top Ten hit single and album for which Scottish act?		Aztec Camera
What was the paternal surname of the painter, Pablo Picasso?		Ruiz
Who was married to the Scottish aviation pioneer Jim Mollison, from 1932 to 1938?		Amy Johnson
Derived from the Greek words for "single" and "hole", what's the scientific name for the third group of living mammals, along with placentals and marsupials? Commonly known as 'egg–laying mammals', the platypus and the four species of echidna are its only living members.		Monotremes
John Wemmick – a solicitor's clerk – and his Aged Parent, appear in which Dickens novel?		Great Expectations
Who is the long–serving and much–derided pianist on Radio 4's I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue?		Colin Sell
Born in Salford in 1915, the folk singer and songwriter James Henry Miller adopted a professional name that more strongly reflected his Scottish heritage. What was it? (He had a daughter in pretty much the same line, who used the same surname.)		Ewan MacColl
In the world of consumer electronics, what do the initials HDMI stand for?		High–Definition Multimedia Interface
The merlion (mer–lion) – a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish – is the official mascot of which Asian country?		Singapore
Which Irish Gaelic word for an illicit drinking establishment is now used internationally – especially in South Africa, where such places were set up during Apartheid to be used by indigenous Africans (and are now completely legal)?		Shebeen
On a sheet of ISO standard paper (A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, etc.), the ratio between the short and long sides is 1 to what?		√2 (approx. 1.414)
With over 37,000 outlets in more than 100 countries in June 2021, what is the world's largest single–brand restaurant chain?		Subway
What's the world's largest species of dolphin?		The killer whale, or orca
What was the title of The Who's second rock opera (after Tommy) – released as a double album in 1973, and filmed in 1979 starring Phil Daniels in the central role (a young Mod named Jimmy Cooper)?		Quadrophenia
Referring to the trees that line it, what's the name of the boulevard that runs from Berlin's former Royal Palace to the Brandenburg Gate?		Unter den Linden
The wife of the American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald was noted for her beauty and high spirits, and dubbed by her husband "the first American flapper". What was her first name?		Zelda

© Haydn Thompson 2021