Latest questions: 7 September 2021

These questions were inspired by those set for use in Weeks 18 and 19, and the knockout semi–finals, of the 2011–12 season in Stockport Quiz League, by Heaton Moor Rugby Club (Questions 1 to 11), the Travellers Call (12 to 20) and the Tame Valley (21 to 38).

Which Hollywood legend received his only Oscar nomination in 1975, aged 75, for his performance in The Towering Inferno?		Fred Astaire
Which Hollywood superstar received his only Oscar nomination in 1967 for his performance in the epic war drama The Sand Pebbles – which was nominated for eight awards altogether, but didn't win any?		Steve McQueen
In which Gloucestershire market town is the Royal Agricultural University – formerly known as the Royal Agricultural College – founded in 1840, and the oldest agricultural college in the English–speaking world?		Cirencester
Whose only television comedy acting role was in the title role of Slinger's Day – ITV's ill–advised follow–up to Tripper's Day, whose brief run had been halted by the death of Leonard Rossiter?		Bruce Forsyth
In the American television sitcom Frasier, what's the first name of the title character's brother?		Niles
Who was the eighth President of the USA, the first to be born after independence, and the only one (to date) to have spoken English as a second language?		Martin Van Buren
Whose army was defeated at the Battle of Châlons in AD 451, by a coalition of the Romans and the Visigoths?		Attila (the Hun)
What's the English title of the opera by Puccini that's set in a miners' camp in California?		The Girl of the (Golden) West
Who toured with the Beach Boys from December 1964 to March 1965, filling in for Brian Wilson on bass guitar and backing vocals, before going on to have a successful solo career? He died in 2017, aged 81.		Glen Campbell
In 1995, who became the first individual female winner of the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe?		Jenny Eclair
Who has been the Chief Executive Officer of Apple Inc. since the death of Steve Jobs in 2011?		Tim Cook
Where in London might you see the Guards Memorial (commemorating the First Battle of Ypres and other battles of World War I), the Royal Naval Division War Memorial, equestrian statues of the Victorian Field Marshals Roberts and Wolseley, a Turkish cannon, made in 1524 and captured in Egypt in 1801, and statues of Field Marshal Lord Kitchener and of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Mountbatten?		Horse Guards Parade
Which American criminal of the Depression era had the middle name Chestnut?		Clyde Barrow
Which constituency did Gyles Brandreth represent at Westminster from 1992 to 1997?		City of Chester
Which word entered the English language in the year 1582, via Turkish and Dutch, derived from the Arabic word qahwah?		Coffee
Which 1948 film, directed by Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift, is a fictionalised account of the first cattle drive from Texas to Kansas along the Chisholm Trail?		Red River
Which baseball team has won the World Series 27 times to date – more than twice as many as any other?		New York Yankees
Ratatouille (2007), WALL–E (2008) and Up (2009) are among the most successful releases made by which computer animation film studio, established in 1979 as the Graphics division of George Lucas's Lucasfilm company?		Pixar
Which British newspaper, formed by a merger in 1930 and considered to be "in broad support of the Liberal Party", was said by the BBC to have "folded, inappropriately ... into the grip" of the Daily Mail in 1960?		News Chronicle
In Lady Chatterley's Lover, what's the first name of Lady Chatterley's husband, Lord Chatterley?		Clifford
A hectare being one hundred ares, how many square metres are there in an are?		100
Which comic character first appeared in 1953 in Issue 1 of The Topper, transferred to the Dandy in 1993 when Beezer and Topper folded, and has been described as the female equivalent of Dennis the Menace (having the same creator)?		Beryl the Peril
Name one of the two numbers that appear on either side of the zero, on a European (single–zero) roulette wheel.		26 or 32
What name has the Ordnance Survey used since 1979 for its series of 1:50 000 scale maps (designed for motorists and general use)?		Landranger
According to Wikipedia, the amount of money that Phineas Fogg bet on his ability to travel around the world in 80 Days was the equivalent of around £1.8 million in 2019. How much was it in the book?		£20,000
ITV's first sitcom, broadcast from 1957 to 1961, was set in Hut 29 of the Surplus Ordnance Department at Nether Hopping, Staffordshire. What was its title?		The Army Game
Anaïs Anaïs, in 1978, was the first perfume to be launched by which French ready–to–wear fashion house, founded in 1962 by designer Jean Bousquet?		Cacharel
Claw, ball pein and club are three basic types of what everyday tool?		Hammer
Spoken by Clint Eastwood, "I guess we all died a little in that damned war" is the final line from which 1976 film?		The Outlaw Josey Wales
The jazz ballet Slaughter on Tenth Avenue features in which 1936 musical by Rodgers & Hart?		On Your Toes
In Shakespeare's The Tempest, which character sings the song that begins "Full fathom five thy father lies"?		Ariel
Whose autobiography, first published in 2010, is entitled What You See is What You Get?		Alan Sugar
Which British writer, in 2007, became the oldest ever recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature?		Doris Lessing
Derived from the name of an ancient Greek school of philosophy, what word means someone who reasons adroitly and speciously, rather than soundly – or someone who teaches such methods?		Sophist
George Ravenscroft was a 17th–century pioneer in the import, export and manufacture of objects made in what material?		Glass
What did eight out of ten owners say their cats preferred?		Whiskas
Who was the official Labour candidate in the first London Mayoral election, in the year 2000 – when Ken Livingstone stood, and was elected, as an Independent?		Frank Dobson
What links Brain Twister, Breakaway, Elevator, Forward Pass, Loop the Loop, Over the Falls, Rock the Baby, Round the World, Sleeper, and Walk the Dog?		Yo–yo tricks

© Haydn Thompson 2021