Latest questions: 1 December 2020

This week's questions have been gleaned from those set for use in Weeks 15 and 16 of the 2017–18 season in Stockport Quiz League, by the Railway Fliers (Questions 1 to 11) and the Alexandra (Questions 12 to 38).

Other questions from Week 15 were listed last week.

In which Staffordshire village is a Horn Dance – traditionally believed to date from the Middle Ages, or earlier – performed each year on Wakes Monday (in early September)?		Abbots Bromley
By opening his first store in Preston, Lancashire in 1985, Liverpool–born John Hargreaves founded which retail chain, said in 2020 to have 230 stores in the UK and 32 overseas?		Matalan
Which King of England was excommunicated on two separate occasions, five years apart, by popes Clement VII and Paul III?		Henry VIII
Which Cornish seaside town is best known (or was, at least until the arrival of Rick Stein) for its May Day 'Obby 'Oss festival?		Padstow
Which show cave, with an entrance near Ingleton in the Yorkshire Dales, includes The Battlefield – which, at 90 metres (300 ft) long, is one of Britain's largest known cave chambers?		White Scar Caves
Which Danish explorer, in the service of Russia, led two expeditions between 1725 and 1743 – exploring the coasts of Siberia, and from there the north–western coast of America – giving his name to a sea, an island, a glacier, a land bridge and (most famously) a strait?		Vitus Bering
Born in 1935, what is the nationality of the minimalist composer Arvo Pärt?		Estonian
Which reluctant emperor of Rome retired to the island of Capri in AD 26, leaving administration largely in the hands of two unscrupulous praetorian prefects?		Tiberius
Whose piano trio in B–flat major, Opus 97, is commonly known as the Archduke Trio, because it was one of several works he dedicated to his sponsor, Archduke Rudolph of Austria?		Ludwig van Beethoven
The work of which legendary (possibly mythical) poet is characterised by the use of epithets, such as "rosy–fingered Dawn", "swift–footed Achilles", and "wine–dark sea"?		Homer
What word links a Major League baseball team, a song written in November 1944 and sung to the tune of Lily Marlene, and a type of biscuit?		Dodgers
Which Australian tennis player – six years Rod Laver's junior – replaced Ilie Nastase in June 1974, to become the second official men's World No. 1? He is one of the few men to have been ranked No. 1 in both singles and doubles		John Newcombe
'Crubeens' is (literally) the Irish word for which traditional food item?		Pigs' trotters
Ciccioli are an Italian food item, similar to which English pub snack?		Pork scratchings
Given that Mexico is in North America, what is the largest of the seven countries of Central America, by area (and the third most populous)?		Nicaragua
Who was Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013, and President of the European Commission for five years from 2014?		Jean–Claude Juncker
Which Dickens novel is this? By far his shortest novel, it's comprised of three Books, or parts, entitled Sowing, Reaping and Garnering; and it's his only novel that's not set at least partly in London.		Hard Times
Which EU Council President said that there was "no reason to pretend that this is a happy day", and "we already miss you", after formally accepting the UK's letter triggering Article 50 and the country's withdrawal from the EU in March 2017?		Donald Tusk
Name the only South American country that has a border with Central America, and the Central American country (once its province) that it shares that border with.		Colombia
		Panama
Which dish of curried chicken and rice, popular in the southern states of the USA, was a favourite of General George S. Patton – who is said to have been introduced to it by Franklin D. Roosevelt?		Country captain
Which South Korean dish of spicy chicken, whose name literally means 'fiery chicken', is said to have gained its popularity around 2004, during a long–term recession and economic downturn?		Buldak
Flying Jacob – a casserole of chicken, cream, chili sauce, bananas, roasted peanuts and bacon – first documented in 1976, and named after its inventor – is said to be "a beloved comfort food" in which European country?		Sweden
Whose posthumous album Thanks for the Dance, released in November 2019, was described as a "continuation" of one that had been released 17 days before his death three years earlier?		Leonard Cohen
When the WTA world rankings were introduced to women's tennis, in November 1975, who was the first player to be ranked number one?		Chris Evert
Christine Perfect (later to marry John McVie and join Fleetwood Mac) played keyboards and sang in which other British blues revival band, from 1968 to 1969?		Chicken Shack
Who began his career in football management at Kettering Town in 1971, and ended it with four months in charge at Nottingham Forest in 1999? In between he managed seven other clubs, including Atlético Madrid from 1988 to 1989.		Ron Atkinson
The Order of Merit in golf's European Tour was renamed in 2009, as the Race to ... where?		Dubai
Which Leicestershire bowler entered cricketing legend when, on coming in to bat in the first of his two Tests, against Australia in 2001, Mark Waugh asked him what he was doing out there – "there's no way you're good enough to play for England"? (His reply: "Maybe not, but at least I'm the best player in my own family")		Jimmy Ormond
Playa Girón and Playa Larga are more specific features of which location, that made headlines in 1961?		The Bay of Pigs
Which American actress is the sister of director Francis Ford Coppola, and was Oscar nominated for her roles as Connie Corleone in The Godfather Part II and as Adrian Pannino, the girlfriend of the title character, in Rocky?		Talia Shire
Which recording artist has had five posthumous UK No. 1s – more than any other?		Elvis Presley
Which German–born composer's film credits include Rain Man, The Lion King, Gladiator, the Dark Knight trilogy, The Da Vinci Code, three Pirates of the Caribbean films, 12 Years a Slave, and Dunkirk?		Hans Zimmer
William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, which hosted the first major stadium concert when the Beatles opened their second US tour there in 1965, was home to which baseball team?		New York Mets
Described as "the most commercially successful female rap troupe of all time" by the Guinness Book of Hit Singles & Albums in 2005, how are Cheryl James and Sandra Denton professionally known?		Salt–N–Pepa
Which district – historically in Cheshire, but part of the City of Manchester since 1931 – was once Europe's largest council estate? A diverse leisure facility in its Civic Centre was the last venue to hold the final of the World Snooker Championships, before they moved to the Crucible in Sheffield		Wythenshawe
Why was the small town of Millstreet, in County Cork (population 1,555 in 2018) in the news in 1993?		Eurovision
In traditional education, how are astronomy, mathematics, geometry, music, grammar, logic and rhetoric collectively known?		The liberal arts

© Haydn Thompson 2020