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1. Which building, one of the holiest places of Islam, stands on the top of Mount Moriah in Jerusalem and is traditionally the site of the prophet Mohammad’s ascent to heaven?
2. What kind of strutting dance, especially popular at the height of the Ragtime era in early-20th century America, was named after the prize that was traditionally awarded to the best dancers?
3. The volt is an SI unit measuring the electrical energy converted by the electric charge moving between two points in a circuit. Although it’s commonly referred to as the ‘voltage’, what two-word term is properly given to this quantity?
4. Which French mathematician and philosopher proved, in the late 1640s, that air pressure decreased with altitude, by taking a barometer to the summit of the Puy de Dôme in the Auvergne?
5. Edmund, son of Ethelred the Unready, who briefly succeeded his father as king in 1016, is usually known by a nickname reflecting his courage. What was the nickname?
6. Stars and Stripes Forever, directed by Henry Koster and starring Clifton Webb, is a ‘biopic’ of which American composer?
7. What is the highest mountain in the world outside Asia?
8. The origin of which snack is generally attributed to the aristocrat John Montague, who is said to have eaten food in this form in order to avoid having to leave the gaming table?
9. Which daily newspaper began life in 1754 as the Leeds Intelligencer?
10. The English poet William Langland, who lived from about 1330 to 1400, is known for one long alliterative poem which exists in several different versions. What is it called?
11. Which British no.1 rock album of the 1970s features the cover image of an inflatable pig flying above Battersea power station?
12. Which inventor, born in the USA and later a naturalised Briton, developed the first fully-automatic machine gun, manufactured by Vickers and adopted by the British Army?
13. Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and the plays of Shakespeare were all edited in expurgated form by which Somerset-born physician and writer?
14. In the name of the actor and former American football player O. J. Simpson, who was acquitted of murder in 1995, what do the initials O. J. stand for?
15. The Sargasso Sea, surrounded by and effectively created by the enclosing effects of the Gulf Stream, the Canary Current and the Equatorial Current, takes its name from the abundance of Sargassum in its waters. What is Sargassum?
16. Who was in overall command of the English fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588?
17. Whose music, though originally popular in the composer’s lifetime, gained a resurgence in 1973 when his piece ‘The Entertainer’ was featured in the film The Sting?
18. What are the Aventine, the Caelian, the Capitoline, the Esquiline, the Quirinal, the Viminal and the Palatine?
19. The Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with some Observations on the Segregation of the Queen is the full title of a scholarly work written by which fictional character, created in 1887?
20. What kind of soup has a name that means ‘pepper-water’ in the Tamil language?
21. The game called Noughts and Crosses in British English is more commonly known in the US by what three-word alliterative name?
22. The Minerals and Land Pavilion, the Power and Production Pavilion, the Sea and Ships Pavilion and the Lion and Unicorn Pavilion were all built for which major event of 1951?
23. Shakespeare’s character Autolycus is described as ‘a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles’. In which play does he appear?
24. Which 1979 film was advertised with the tag-line ‘In space, no one can hear you scream’?
25. Born Karoline Blamauer in Austria at the turn of the twentieth century, the future wife of the composer Kurt Weill became known by what stage name?
26. Which European city was the birthplace of the sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi?
27. Which measurement of length, in the UK, can be defined as a tenth of a nautical mile?
28. Who was the author of the 1750s work The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director?
29. What’s the popular name for the furcula, a forked bony structure in the bodies of birds, to which the muscles of flight are attached?
30. In the musical West Side Story, what are the names of the two rival gangs, equivalent to the Montagues and the Capulets in the source story Romeo and Juliet?
31. The Battles of the Boyne in 1690, Gettysburg in 1863, and The Somme in 1916, all began on which date of the calendar?
32. The first chapter of which novel, first published in 1954, is called ‘The Sound of the Shell’?
33. Which English jeweller lends his name to the alloy of copper and zinc which he invented in the early 18th century?
34. Although her achievements in the Crimean War had for many years been eclipsed by those of Florence Nightingale, which Jamaica-born nursing pioneer was voted top of a 21st century poll to find the one hundred greatest black Britons?
35. To which famous couple was Variety magazine referring, with its June 1956 headline ‘Egghead Weds Hourglass’?
36. What is the standard unit of luminous flux, used to measure the light that passes through an area in a second?
37. Which English king was defeated and captured at the Battle of Lincoln, in 1141?
38. Martin Cooper, a Chicago engineer employed by the Motorola company, is credited with being the first person ever to do what, on the 3rd April 1973?
39. What is the simplest proper fraction that expresses the decimal value 0.85?
40. Which aromatic herb gives its distinct flavour to Earl Grey tea?
