Latest questions: 20 June 2023

These questions were inspired by those set for use in Week 13 of the 2022–3 season in Macclesfield Quiz League, by the Dolphin.

Peter Jackson's two Tolkien trilogies (The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit) were largely shot in which country?		New Zealand
In the 1960 film The Magnificent Seven, and its first sequel, who played Chris Adams – the laconic leader of the seven gunfighters, who always dressed in black?		Yul Brynner
The so–called 'ice cream wars' took place in the 1980s, in which British city?		Glasgow
Atahualpa, who was executed in 1533, was the last effective ruler of which people or empire?		Inca(s)
What name is given to the class of marine and freshwater molluscs whose bodies are enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts (e.g. clams, oysters, cockles, mussels and scallops)?		Bivalves (Bivalvia)
What name is given to a small, extremely dense neutron star, which rotates rapidly and emits a bright beam of electromagnetic radiation from its magnetic poles – so it can only be observed (from any one point in space) at regular intervals?		A pulsar
In which English city is Sportcity – a multipurpose sports and leisure facility, including the National Cycling and Squash Centres, the headquarters of the Rugby Football League, an athletics stadium, and a Premier League football ground?		Manchester
A trophy was inaugurated in 2018, to be presented to the winners of the annual rugby union (Six Nations) match between Scotland and Wales. It was named after which former Scotland lock forward, who died of motor neurone disease in 2022, aged 52, having been diagnosed in 2016?		Doddie Weir
What's the given name of the daughter of Muhammed Ali, who followed in his footsteps to become a professional boxer? Now retired, she's a popular television personality in the USA.		Laila (Ali)
Tom, Dick or Harry is a musical number from which 1948 musical comedy by Cole Porter?		Kiss Me, Kate
In which classic English novel does the narrator say of the eponymous character, "it was the universal Opinion of all Mr. Allworthy's Family, that he was certainly born to be hanged"?		Tom Jones (by Henry Fielding)
What two–word Latin phrase is used in English to refer to an act or event that either provokes or is used to justify a war?		Casus belli
What's the Spanish word for a type of throwing weapon, made of weights on the ends of interconnected cords, used to capture animals by entangling their legs?		Bolas (or bolases)
Who wrote, in his nineteenth–century Notebooks, "Familiarity breeds contempt – and children"?		Mark Twain
Weighing up to 80 kilograms, what is the world's heaviest snake?		The (green) anaconda
In the BBC television crime drama series Happy Valley, what's the name of the psychopathic rapist and killer played by James Norton?		Tommy Lee Royce
In which middle–eastern capital city did an estimated 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate explode in 2020, causing widespread devastation and leading to the resignation of the prime minister and his cabinet six days later?		Beirut
By what nickname is the Liverpudlian charity fundraiser Michael Cullen better known? He raised over £800,000 between 2014 and 2023, starting by swimming the English Channel, then by walking around the UK, attending hundreds of football matches, clad (most of the time) only in Everton blue swimming trunks		Speedo Mick
Originally a legal term, which three–word Latin phrase, literally meaning 'without which nothing', is used in English to describe an indispensable and essential action, condition, or ingredient?		Sine qua non
The UK's highest ever temperature – 40.3° – was recorded on the 19th of July 2022, in which Lincolnshire town?		Coningsby
What's the name of the patchwork elephant created by David McKee, in a series of 43 books for young children, published between 1968 and 2021, and originally voiced for television by Johnny Morris?		Elmer
What's the subtitle of the 2022 sequel to James Cameron's 2009 film Avatar?		The Way of Water

© Haydn Thompson 2023