Latest questions: 27 October 2020

This week's questions have been gleaned from those set for use in Weeks 4, 5 and 6 of the 2017–18 season in Stockport Quiz League, by the Fingerpost (Questions 1 to 7), Heaton Moor Rugby Club (8 to 13) and the Railway Flyers (14 to 26).

Which humanitarian organisation was formed in 1971 by a group of French doctors and journalists, in the aftermath of the Nigerian Civil War?		Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
Who was referred to in 2017, by Prime Minister Theresa May, as 'Mother of the House', in recognition of her status as the longest continuously–serving woman MP?		Harriet Harman
The moderate French revolutionary leader Honoré Gabriel Riqueti was better known by which title?		Comte de Mirabeau
In French cuisine, savoury dishes with tomatoes, and frequently also onions and garlic, are said to be in the style of which European country?		Portugal (à la portugaise)
Sir Bernard Spilsbury, who took his own life in 1947 aged 70, was a noted practitioner in which scientific field?		(Forensic) pathology
What was the name of the aircraft in which the Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard and engineer and businessman André Borschberg, in 2016, completed the first solar–powered circumnavigation of the Earth by a piloted fixed–wing aircraft?		Solar Impulse 2
Why is the Battle of Ginnis – a minor engagement of the Mahdist War, fought on the 30th of December 1885 – particularly significant for the British army?		Last time they fought in red coats
Which city is served by Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (in the suburb of Dorval, by which name it used to be known)?		Montréal
Who wrote the children's novel We're Going on a Bear Hunt, first published in 1989?		Michael Rosen
Which country's Formula 1 Grand Prix is the only one, currently, that's staged on a figure–of–eight circuit?		Japan (Suzuka)
Who was a member (at different times) of the Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith, and Derek and the Dominos?		Eric Clapton
Paul Atterbury – one of the 'experts' on The Antiques Roadshow, noted for wearing colourful striped blazers – was supposedly the inspiration for which popular character in children's television?		Andy Pandy
What was the first name of the Italian composer Monteverdi, whose 1607 opera L'Orfeo is (according to Wikipedia) "the earliest of the genre still widely performed"?		Claudio
Which South African singer, who died in 2008 aged 76, was affectionately known as 'Mama Africa'?		Miriam Makeba
Which creatures from Celtic folklore are represented by two gigantic horses' heads in a public art sculpture at Grangemouth, near Falkirk, Scotland, opened to the public in 2014?		Kelpies
Mohammad Reza Shah (family name Pahlavi) was the last monarch to rule which country?		Iran
In Game of Thrones, who is the widow of King Robert Baratheon, who becomes Queen Regnant after all her children die?		Cersei Lannister
In Game of Thrones, who is the second child and eldest daughter of Eddard Stark – played in the television series by Sophie Turner?		Sansa Stark
Who was Commander–in–Chief of the British Army's Middle East Command in July 1942, when it halted the advance of Rommel's Afrika Corps in the First Battle of El Alamein?		Claude Auchinleck
Which 1974 film has been said to satirise the racism obscured by myth–making Hollywood accounts of the American West, with the hero being a black sheriff in an all–white town?		Blazing Saddles
David Gates and Jimmy Griffin were "co–lead singers" and songwriters with which 1970s American soft–rock group?		Bread
Which rocky island in the Firth of Forth is home to the world's largest breeding colony of northern gannets?		Bass Rock
Giuseppe Tomasi, author of Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) – the best–selling Italian novel in history – was the last Prince of which Mediterranean island, the largest of the Pelagie group – situated between Tunisia and Malta, but belonging to Italy?		Lampedusa
Who wrote the novella, first published in 1963, on which the 1967 film The Graduate was based?		Charles Webb
Who presents the BBC Radio 4 programme The Life Scientific?		Jim Al–Khalili
What's the name of the Johannesburg suburb where Nelson Mandela and others were arrested in 1963, giving its name to their subsequent trial?		Rivonia

© Haydn Thompson 2020