Latest questions: 22 September 2020

This week's questions have been gleaned from those set for use in Weeks 21 and 22, and the Knockout semi–finals, of the 2018–19 season in Stockport Quiz League, by the Sun & Castle (Questions 1 to 11), Heaton Moor RUFC and the Hatters Arms (Questions 12 to 23) and the Horse & Farrier (Questions 24 to 32).

Four British airlines were merged in 1974 (whether they liked it or not) to form British Airways. BEA and BOAC were two of them; name one of the other two.		Cambrian Airways
		Northeast Airlines
Which Italian company, founded in 1926 to make radio components in Bologna, and still headquartered there, is best known today for its high–performance motorcycles? In 2012 it became part of the Volkswagen group when it was bought by Audi, through its Lamborghini subsidiary.		Ducati
Which UK motorway was completely replaced in 1999, when it became part of the M60?		M63
In which UK city would you find Mary King's Close – a covered alleyway, supposedly haunted and featured in numerous books and television programmes?		Edinburgh
Alva J. Fisher is often (but incorrectly, according to Wikipedia) named as the inventor of which domestic appliance?		The (electric) washing machine
Which cut of lamb consists of both sides of loin, or cannons, joined by the backbone?		Saddle of lamb
What's the only stadium (to date) to have held finals of both the FIFA World Cup and the Rugby Union World Cup?		Stade de France (Paris)
Who is the creator and co–writer of the BBC television sitcom Citizen Khan, and also plays the title character?		Adil Ray
Unveiled in 2018, the Cullinan is the first SUV and the first four–wheel–drive vehicle to be produced by which car marque?		Rolls–Royce
Café Terrace at Night (painted in 1888, and first exhibited in 1891 as Café, le Soir) is a painting by which artist?		Vincent van Gogh
Who served as US Assistant Secretary of War (1923–5), Secretary of War (1925–9), and Governor–General of the Philippines (1929–32), after playing (on the winning side) in the first two iterations of the major sporting competition to which he gave his name?		Dwight F. Davis
The Palladian Bridge, the Pantheon, and the Temple of Apollo – all Grade I listed – are features of which estate near the town of Mere, in south–west Wiltshire, named after its location at the source of a river that enters the sea at Bournemouth?		Stourhead
Shooting an Elephant and Inside the Whale (written in 1936 and 1940 respectively) are essays that gave their titles to collections by which English author?		George Orwell
Which French–born father of a more famous son was the co–patentee of a machine that enabled the building of the first tunnel under the Thames, which he completed in partnership with his son in 1843?		Marc Isambard Brunel
What word, used nowadays (and in more recent history) to refer to a tyrant or oppressor, was originally an honorary title applied to a Byzantine emperor or his heir apparent?		Despot
In Harper Lee's modern classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, what's the name of the brother of the narrator, Scout Finch?		Jeremy (Jem)
Which stately home near Saffron Walden, Essex, was built by the first Earl of Suffolk in the reign of James I, and is renowned as one of the finest Jacobean houses in England?		Audley End
In the field of electricity, one of the properties that is measured in volts is 'emf'. What does 'emf' stand for, in this context?		ElectroMotive Force
Which film was described in 2002 by BBC critic Jamie Russell as "The first musical ever to be given an X certificate ... and [the one that] reinvented the musical for the Age of Aquarius"?		Cabaret
Which writer created the journalist, feminist, socialist and lesbian Lindsay Gordon, the private investigator Kate Brannigan, and Detective Inspector Karen Pirie?		Val McDermid
Which former EastEnders actor won the 2020 series of Dancing on Ice?		Joe Swash
In Monty Python's Philosophers' Football Match, who was the referee?		Confucius
Which brand of slimmers' bread, produced by Hovis, was promoted in the 1970s by a series of television adverts featuring I Can't Let Maggie Go, by Honeybus?		Nimble
The flag of which US state features a brown pelican – its official state bird?		Louisiana
Who came to power in Formula One motor racing as owner of the Brabham team from 1972 to 1987?		Bernie Ecclestone
Which highly–decorated RAF pilot set up a hospice for disabled servicemen after World War II, which grew into a national charity whose mission is to help disabled individuals to live independent lives?		Leonard Cheshire
Arguably best remembered for a photograph that captured him squeezing Paul Gascoigne's private parts, who was the 'hard man' in Wimbledon FC's 'Crazy Gang'?		Vinnie Jones
Which 1996 film, starring Pamela Anderson as the eponymous comic book hero(ine), was generally shunned by audiences having been panned by critics – one of whom pointed out that the plot seemed to ape that of the 1942 classic Casablanca?		Barb Wire
Which part of the Earth's atmosphere was discovered in 1913 by the French physicists Charles Fabry and Henri Buisson?		The ozone layer
Which French–born musician spent much of his working life in England, establishing an instrument–making workshop in Haslemere, Surrey, and was a leading figure in the 20th–century revival of interest in early music? He died in Haslemere in 1940, aged 82.		Arnold Dolmetsch
Which specific type of domestic appliance was invented in 1922 by the Nobel Prize–winning Swedish physicist Gustaf Dalén, introduced to England in 1929, and manufactured there from 1930?		The AGA cooker
In which Italian city is the Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele – Europe's third–largest opera house, renowned for its "perfect" acoustics?		Palermo

© Haydn Thompson 2020