Transport News Brief
Christmas Quiz 2007 - Questions and Answers.
1 Who was the first model to make it to the pages of Who's Who?
Kate Moss
2 What is misfeasance?
Doing something legal in an illegal way
3 What, according to the Oxford English dictionary is the most common noun in the English language?
Time
4 What and where is the oldest free-standing glass house in the world?
The Temperate House, at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
5 Who published the first recipe for curry in England?
Hannah Glasse - in Glasse's Art of Cookery . Her 'currey' contained only pepper and coriander.
6 What notorious poison did the EU outlaw this year?
Strychnine
7 Which daughter of a Russian aristocrat won a Oscar recently?
Helen Mirren, born Ilnynea Lydia Mironoff, whose father was forced to leave by the Russian Revolution.
8 Who won this year's Templeton Prize, at £800,000, the richest in the world?
Professor Emeritus sharks Taylor, political science at McGill university.
9 Who invented Mother's Day, as we now know it?
Anna Jarvis, in the USA.
10 Who, in 1908, made the first powered flight in the UK?
Sam Cody, who was killed in a flying accident in 1913
11 When did British troops first deploy to Northern Ireland?
1969
12 What was the first jet airliner in commercial service in 1952?
The De Havilland Comet
13 Who wanted to be Bobby's Girl?
Marcie Blane, in 1962
14 When did the US annex New Mexico?
1846
15 Who famously killed herself by clasping an asp to her breast?
Cleopatra
16 Who was the lead guitarist in the Shadows?
Hank Marvin
17 What was Luciano Pavrotti's fist job?
He was a school teacher
18 Which claims to be Europe's busiest station?
Clapham Junction.
19 Whose boots were made for walking?
Nancy Sinatra's
20 When did the UK Ministry of Transport publish its first Highway Code?
1931
21 Which confederate general's surrender ended the American Civil War in 1865?
Robert E Lee
22 What did Britain recognise with the Treaty of Paris in 1783?
The United States of America
23 What is an opsimath?
One who learns late in life
24 When was the UK £1 note withdrawn?
1984
25 Which musical gave us the song The Age of Aquarius?
Hair
26 Where is the longest champagne bar in Europe?
St Pancras Station, London
27 Who was appointed director of MI5 in April '07?
John Evans
28 Where and when did the first Woolworth's open in the UK?
In Liverpool, in 1909
29 Which was the BBC's first local radio station?
Radio Leicester, which first broadcast on Thursday 8 November 1967
30 What were the traditional colours the British Suffragette movement?
Purple and green
31 Who, in the 1950s, said it was too early to tell the result of the French Revolution?
Chou en Lai, prime minister of the People's Republic of China.
32 What is the most obvious visual difference between a soprano saxophone and lower tone models?
A soprano sax is straight, while most lower-tone saxophones have a characteristic U bend.
33 Who, reputedly, had the longest entry in Who's Who?
Barbara Cartland
34 Why does the UK tax year start on 6 April?
It used to start on Lady Day, 25 March, but a change to the Gregorian calendar cut 11 days off the year.
35 When was Harvard University founded?
1636
36 When did the Marie Celeste sail from New York?
1871
37 What was particularly unusual about the 1912 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race?
Both boats sank
38 What is a micron?
One millionth of a metre. Its symbol is the Greek letter μ.
39 Which politician's statue was unveiled in Parliament Square, London, recently?
Nelson Mandela.
40 What is a antiphon?
A type of hymn, sung as a response.
41 Which airline was the first to fly the Airbus 380 'super jumbo'?
Singapore Airlines
42 What date is Easter Monday on in 2008?
24 March
43 Who took Great Balls of Fire to No 1 in 1958?
Gerry Lee Lewis
44 In which year did the UK's Open University award its first degrees?
1973
45 Who founded the British Labour Party, in 1893?
Kier Hardie
46 When, over the 2007 Christmas period, is the full moon?
Christmas Eve, 24 December.
47 When did Abba take Waterloo to No 1 in the UK?
May 1974
48 What is a Vulture Fund?
An outfit that buys the debt, usually of poor, developing countries and then sues the debtor for much more.
49 Who holds the record as England's second oldest monach?
Queen Victoria, record was broken by the present Queen on 20 December this year.
50 When did the UK join the Common Market?
1973
51 Who won the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest?
Serbia, with Marija Serifovic singing 'Molitva'
52 Who just bought more than £1,000's worth of spoons from the Savoy memorabilia sale?
Yuri Geller
53 Who is the new prime minister of the Ukraine?
Yulia Tymoshenko
54 Which big London hotel just closed for a year-long makeover?
The Savoy
55 Who wrote Fanny Hill?
Jonathan Cleland
56 Who just won the leadership of South Africa's ANC?
Jacob Zuma
57 In what year was Anne Boleyn sent to the Tower of London?
1536
58 Who is the England rugby team's head coach?
Brian Ashton
59 In writing, how should you address a bishop?
Dear Bishop
60 What is a Red Letter Day?
A day of such civil or ecclesiastical importance that it was marked in red on early religious calendars.
61 How many Red Letter Days are there now in Great Britain?
25
62 What was the name of the operation to invade Iraq in 1991?
Operation Desert Storm.
63 Who won the 2007 Man Booker Prize for literature?
Anne Enright, with The Gathering
64 How many states are there in Australia?
Six and three mainland territories
65 What is the biggest island in the Indian Ocean?
Madagascar
66 Which coroner is presiding over the latest inquest into Princess Diana's death?
Lord Justice Scott Baker.
67 For how long may the UK police hold a suspect terrorist without charging them?
28 days
68 Which of Canada's states stretches furthest south?
Ontario
69 What is Alan Bennett's latest book called?
An Uncommon Reader
70 Which credit card firm has just been ordered to withdraw an illegal fees scheme?
MasterCard
71 In which two countries are the Atlas mountains?
Algeria and Morroco
72 When did the UK and France sign the Entent Cordiale?
1904
73 What is the name of the sea between Australia and New Zealand?
The Tasman Sea.
74 Who has Time magazine named as Person of the Year for 2007?
Vladimir Putin
75 Who is Carla Bruni dating now?
Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France
76 What has Japan agreed not to kill just yet?
Humpback whales
77 Which ballet is running at Sadler's Wells until 20 January 2008?
Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker!
78 What is name the for the piece of water between the Scottish mainland and the Isles of Skye?
The Sound of Sleat
79 Britannia was the UK's last Royal Yacht. When was she launched?
1953
80 Kalaallit Nunaat is the inhabitant's name for which very large island in the Northern Hemisphere?
Greenland
81 Who played 21 live gigs at the O2 Arena last summer?
Prince
82 What, according to Schott, is the nickname for a pre-pubescent girl, dressed in a sexually provocative way?
Prostitot
83 Who owns Liverpool Football Club?
Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jnr
84 The mayor of which city plans to tax fizzy, sugary drinks to help fund the treatment of obesity?
San Francisco
85 Who is the new face of Chanel No 5?
Nicole Kidman
86 An albino bird made it to the pages of British newspapers this week. What species was it?
A robin
87 Who got a red card as Chelsea beat Liverpool recently?
Peter Crouch
88 The fossil of a small deer-like animal from India seems to be an ancestor of which living mammals?
Whales
89 Which livestock disease made its debut in England last summer?
Bluetongue
90 For which paper does Lucy Kellaway write?
The Financial Times, for which she is the management columnist
91 Which country's government just resolved a six-month row over language?
Belgium, where Flemish-speaking Flemings and French-speaking Walloons did a deal to form a government
92 Which of Ealing Studio's schools is back on the screen?
St Trinians
93 Oscar Pistorious wants, controversially, to compete in the next Olympics. What's all the fuss for?
He is a double amputee and would run on two artificial 'legs'
94 Who wrote Fahrenheit 451?
Ray Bradbury
95 Kenny Richey is to return to the UK after 21 years in the US. What was he doing there?
He was on death row
96 The EU's Schengen agreement for a passport-free zone just got nine new members. What is the total now?
24
97 Sotherby's in New York just sold a 13th century copy of what for $21.3m?
The Magna Carta
98 Who said 'If you have to tell them who you are, you aren't anybody'?
Gregory Peck
99 Filming for a new James Bond film is to start in early January. What will it be called?
Bond 22
100 Which EU country just banned stag hunting from horseback?
Ireland
Kate Moss
2 What is misfeasance?
Doing something legal in an illegal way
3 What, according to the Oxford English dictionary is the most common noun in the English language?
Time
4 What and where is the oldest free-standing glass house in the world?
The Temperate House, at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
5 Who published the first recipe for curry in England?
Hannah Glasse - in Glasse's Art of Cookery . Her 'currey' contained only pepper and coriander.
6 What notorious poison did the EU outlaw this year?
Strychnine
7 Which daughter of a Russian aristocrat won a Oscar recently?
Helen Mirren, born Ilnynea Lydia Mironoff, whose father was forced to leave by the Russian Revolution.
8 Who won this year's Templeton Prize, at £800,000, the richest in the world?
Professor Emeritus sharks Taylor, political science at McGill university.
9 Who invented Mother's Day, as we now know it?
Anna Jarvis, in the USA.
10 Who, in 1908, made the first powered flight in the UK?
Sam Cody, who was killed in a flying accident in 1913
11 When did British troops first deploy to Northern Ireland?
1969
12 What was the first jet airliner in commercial service in 1952?
The De Havilland Comet
13 Who wanted to be Bobby's Girl?
Marcie Blane, in 1962
14 When did the US annex New Mexico?
1846
15 Who famously killed herself by clasping an asp to her breast?
Cleopatra
16 Who was the lead guitarist in the Shadows?
Hank Marvin
17 What was Luciano Pavrotti's fist job?
He was a school teacher
18 Which claims to be Europe's busiest station?
Clapham Junction.
19 Whose boots were made for walking?
Nancy Sinatra's
20 When did the UK Ministry of Transport publish its first Highway Code?
1931
21 Which confederate general's surrender ended the American Civil War in 1865?
Robert E Lee
22 What did Britain recognise with the Treaty of Paris in 1783?
The United States of America
23 What is an opsimath?
One who learns late in life
24 When was the UK £1 note withdrawn?
1984
25 Which musical gave us the song The Age of Aquarius?
Hair
26 Where is the longest champagne bar in Europe?
St Pancras Station, London
27 Who was appointed director of MI5 in April '07?
John Evans
28 Where and when did the first Woolworth's open in the UK?
In Liverpool, in 1909
29 Which was the BBC's first local radio station?
Radio Leicester, which first broadcast on Thursday 8 November 1967
30 What were the traditional colours the British Suffragette movement?
Purple and green
31 Who, in the 1950s, said it was too early to tell the result of the French Revolution?
Chou en Lai, prime minister of the People's Republic of China.
32 What is the most obvious visual difference between a soprano saxophone and lower tone models?
A soprano sax is straight, while most lower-tone saxophones have a characteristic U bend.
33 Who, reputedly, had the longest entry in Who's Who?
Barbara Cartland
34 Why does the UK tax year start on 6 April?
It used to start on Lady Day, 25 March, but a change to the Gregorian calendar cut 11 days off the year.
35 When was Harvard University founded?
1636
36 When did the Marie Celeste sail from New York?
1871
37 What was particularly unusual about the 1912 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race?
Both boats sank
38 What is a micron?
One millionth of a metre. Its symbol is the Greek letter μ.
39 Which politician's statue was unveiled in Parliament Square, London, recently?
Nelson Mandela.
40 What is a antiphon?
A type of hymn, sung as a response.
41 Which airline was the first to fly the Airbus 380 'super jumbo'?
Singapore Airlines
42 What date is Easter Monday on in 2008?
24 March
43 Who took Great Balls of Fire to No 1 in 1958?
Gerry Lee Lewis
44 In which year did the UK's Open University award its first degrees?
1973
45 Who founded the British Labour Party, in 1893?
Kier Hardie
46 When, over the 2007 Christmas period, is the full moon?
Christmas Eve, 24 December.
47 When did Abba take Waterloo to No 1 in the UK?
May 1974
48 What is a Vulture Fund?
An outfit that buys the debt, usually of poor, developing countries and then sues the debtor for much more.
49 Who holds the record as England's second oldest monach?
Queen Victoria, record was broken by the present Queen on 20 December this year.
50 When did the UK join the Common Market?
1973
51 Who won the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest?
Serbia, with Marija Serifovic singing 'Molitva'
52 Who just bought more than £1,000's worth of spoons from the Savoy memorabilia sale?
Yuri Geller
53 Who is the new prime minister of the Ukraine?
Yulia Tymoshenko
54 Which big London hotel just closed for a year-long makeover?
The Savoy
55 Who wrote Fanny Hill?
Jonathan Cleland
56 Who just won the leadership of South Africa's ANC?
Jacob Zuma
57 In what year was Anne Boleyn sent to the Tower of London?
1536
58 Who is the England rugby team's head coach?
Brian Ashton
59 In writing, how should you address a bishop?
Dear Bishop
60 What is a Red Letter Day?
A day of such civil or ecclesiastical importance that it was marked in red on early religious calendars.
61 How many Red Letter Days are there now in Great Britain?
25
62 What was the name of the operation to invade Iraq in 1991?
Operation Desert Storm.
63 Who won the 2007 Man Booker Prize for literature?
Anne Enright, with The Gathering
64 How many states are there in Australia?
Six and three mainland territories
65 What is the biggest island in the Indian Ocean?
Madagascar
66 Which coroner is presiding over the latest inquest into Princess Diana's death?
Lord Justice Scott Baker.
67 For how long may the UK police hold a suspect terrorist without charging them?
28 days
68 Which of Canada's states stretches furthest south?
Ontario
69 What is Alan Bennett's latest book called?
An Uncommon Reader
70 Which credit card firm has just been ordered to withdraw an illegal fees scheme?
MasterCard
71 In which two countries are the Atlas mountains?
Algeria and Morroco
72 When did the UK and France sign the Entent Cordiale?
1904
73 What is the name of the sea between Australia and New Zealand?
The Tasman Sea.
74 Who has Time magazine named as Person of the Year for 2007?
Vladimir Putin
75 Who is Carla Bruni dating now?
Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France
76 What has Japan agreed not to kill just yet?
Humpback whales
77 Which ballet is running at Sadler's Wells until 20 January 2008?
Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker!
78 What is name the for the piece of water between the Scottish mainland and the Isles of Skye?
The Sound of Sleat
79 Britannia was the UK's last Royal Yacht. When was she launched?
1953
80 Kalaallit Nunaat is the inhabitant's name for which very large island in the Northern Hemisphere?
Greenland
81 Who played 21 live gigs at the O2 Arena last summer?
Prince
82 What, according to Schott, is the nickname for a pre-pubescent girl, dressed in a sexually provocative way?
Prostitot
83 Who owns Liverpool Football Club?
Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jnr
84 The mayor of which city plans to tax fizzy, sugary drinks to help fund the treatment of obesity?
San Francisco
85 Who is the new face of Chanel No 5?
Nicole Kidman
86 An albino bird made it to the pages of British newspapers this week. What species was it?
A robin
87 Who got a red card as Chelsea beat Liverpool recently?
Peter Crouch
88 The fossil of a small deer-like animal from India seems to be an ancestor of which living mammals?
Whales
89 Which livestock disease made its debut in England last summer?
Bluetongue
90 For which paper does Lucy Kellaway write?
The Financial Times, for which she is the management columnist
91 Which country's government just resolved a six-month row over language?
Belgium, where Flemish-speaking Flemings and French-speaking Walloons did a deal to form a government
92 Which of Ealing Studio's schools is back on the screen?
St Trinians
93 Oscar Pistorious wants, controversially, to compete in the next Olympics. What's all the fuss for?
He is a double amputee and would run on two artificial 'legs'
94 Who wrote Fahrenheit 451?
Ray Bradbury
95 Kenny Richey is to return to the UK after 21 years in the US. What was he doing there?
He was on death row
96 The EU's Schengen agreement for a passport-free zone just got nine new members. What is the total now?
24
97 Sotherby's in New York just sold a 13th century copy of what for $21.3m?
The Magna Carta
98 Who said 'If you have to tell them who you are, you aren't anybody'?
Gregory Peck
99 Filming for a new James Bond film is to start in early January. What will it be called?
Bond 22
100 Which EU country just banned stag hunting from horseback?
Ireland
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