Latest questions: 24 October 2017

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This week's questions are from those written for the second week of the 2017–18 season in Macclesfield Quiz League. The Specialist questions were set by the Sutton Mutton and the General Knowledge were set by the Royal Oak.

Which material was patented in 1912 by Swiss chemist Jacques E. Brandenberger, who had set out to create a fabric that would repel liquids? It's made from regenerated cellulose, and the name is a combination of 'cellulose' and a French word meaning 'transparent'		Cellophane
Which British motor car brand was sold in 2017 to Groupe PSA (manufacturers of Peugeot, Citröen and DS), having been owned since 1925 by General Motors?		Vauxhall
Which company was run by Arnold Weinstock (as MD) from 1963 to 1996? Not to be confused with an American company with a very similar name (which was founded six years later, in 1892), in 1999 its defence arm was merged with British Aerospace to form BAE Systems; the rest of the company continued as Marconi, and was bought in 2005 by the Swedish–based multinational Ericsson		GEC
Which future US president was responsible, as a five–star general, for planning and supervising the Allied invasion of North Africa and the D–Day landings, both in World War II? He later served as the first Supreme Commander of NATO		Dwight D. Eisenhower
Which Irish–born British army general is best known for the construction of roads, bridges and barracks in Scotland between 1725 and 1737?		George Wade
Which French revolutionary said, on 3 December 1792, "Louis must die so that the nation may live"?		Maximilien Robespierre
Which lake in County Sligo, but partly in County Leitrim (in the Republic of Ireland), has around 20 islands – including Innisfree, which is mentioned in the poetry of W. B. Yeats?		Lough Gill
Widely regarded as the best British travel writer of his generation, and once described as "a cross between Indiana Jones, James Bond and Graham Greene", whose works include an unfinished trilogy describing his journey on foot from London to Constantinople in 1933 and 1934? The first volume, A Time of Gifts, was published in 1977, and the second, Between the Woods and the Water, in 1986		Patrick Leigh Fermor
Which Mediterranean island provides the setting for Gerald Durrell's childhood memoir My Family and Other Animals?		Corfu
In the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, which river separates the Shire from Buckland and the Old Forest – forming, for the hobbits, the boundary between the known and the unknown?		The Baranduin (Brandywine)
Which sport is played on a doubly asymmetric court, featuring a dedans, a tambour and four penthouses?		Real tennis
Since 2004, which organisation has been the governing authority of world golf, everywhere except the USA and Mexico (where the game is governed by the US Golf Association or USGA)? (The name of this organisation is the familiar abbreviation for that of the Scottish club that handed over authority to it in 2004.)		The R&A
In darts, what name is given to the line behind which the thrower must stand?		The oche (ocky)
In professional darts, what is the horizontal distance from the oche to a point below the face of the board?		7' 9¼" (2.37 metres)
Which sport is played on a court measuring 100 feet by 50 feet (30.5 by 15.25 metres), with a minimum headroom of 7.50 metres (or 8.30 metres for internationals)?		Netball
Sometimes called "the Female Python", which actress appeared in 30 of the 45 television episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus, and all four films?		Carol Cleveland
In the film Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, what's the name of the monstrously obese diner who is served vast amounts of food, vomits repeatedly, and finally explodes after being persuaded to eat a "waffer–thin" mint?		Mr. Creosote
In the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which member of the Python team plays King Arthur?		Graham Chapman
Which Welsh–born actor has played Tony Blair in three films (one for TV), and Kenneth Williams, David Frost and Brian Clough in others (Williams for TV)?		Michael Sheen
What word can mean: in poetry, the regular linguistic sound patterns of a verse; the regular underlying temporal grid of music; or the syllable patterns in hymn stanzas; also a unit of measurement?		Metre
Orbis non sufficit is the family motto of which fictional character?		James Bond
Who was the first woman, and the first British author, to win the (MAN) Booker Prize twice?		Hilary Mantel
The new series of euro banknotes, introduced in 2013, show the word 'euro' in the Cyrillic alphabet (as well as the Latin and Greek ones) in recognition of which country joining the EU?		Bulgaria
What was the last black and white film to win the Best Picture Oscar (and only the second since The Apartment in 1960)?		The Artist (2012)
Which Hawaiian word, meaning 'quick', is used to denote a website that anyone can edit using a web browser?		Wiki
What's the official name of the new bridge (opened in August 2017) that carries the M90 over the Firth of Forth – Britain's tallest bridge?		Queensferry Crossing
In which Asian capital city might you visit the Grand Palace, including the Temple of the Emerald Buddha?		Bangkok
Which English hangman from the Elizabethan era gave his name to a gallows, and so (by analogy) to a type of modern–day crane?		Thomas Derrick
Who wrote in 1955, in a letter of condolence to the family of a deceased friend: "The distinction between past, present and future is only an illusion, however persistent"?		Albert Einstein
Where would you find (in ascending order) an understory layer, a canopy layer and an emergent layer?		In a rainforest
In his Autumn 2016 budget statement, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond pledged to help a group of people he described as JAMs. What does JAM stand for?		Just About Managing
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne–Cecil became Prime Minister three times towards the end of the 19th century. He was the 3rd Marquess of ... where?		Salisbury
Known as Die Groot Krokodil ('the Great Crocodile'), who was President of South Africa from 1984 to 1989?		P. W. Botha
Who was the two–year–old victim of a shocking murder that took place in Bootle, Merseyside in 1993, which resulted in the conviction of Robert Thompson and Jon Venables (both aged 10 at the time of the murder) – the youngest convicted murderers in modern English history?		Jamie Bulger
Who became the first English bowler to take 500 Test wickets, in September 2017, having previously (in 2015) been the first to take 400?		James (Jimmy) Anderson
Who drives a Ford Focus with the registration number SCV 00919?		Pope Francis
Pope Benedict XVI, in 2013, became the first Pope to resign since Gregory XII, and the first to do so of his own volition since Celestine V. Give any one of the 122 years between those two previous resignations.		1294 to 1415
What type of tree is Yggdrasil, the "world tree" that connects the nine worlds of Norse mythology?		Ash
According to the traditional rhyme (in its best–known version), what do seven magpies signify?		A secret (never to be told)
The English name of which garden flower is derived from the French word for 'thought'?		The pansy (from pensée)
Osphresiophobia, or osmophobia, is an irrational fear of what?		Smells (or odours)
Name one of the two new presenters of The Great British Bake Off, following its move from BBC1 to Channel 4.		Noel Fielding or Sandi Toksvig
Which television presenter, previously best known for her appearances on The One Show, won the 2017 series of Celebrity Masterchef?		Angellica Bell
Which former member of Jeremy Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet was his only opponent in the 2016 leadership election, after Angela Eagle pulled out?		Owen Smith
Who captained the England squad to victory in the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup?		Heather Knight
Whose autobiography, published in 2002, was entitled A Stupid Boy? He died in 2016, aged 93.		Jimmy Perry

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Latest questions: 24 October 2017