NOTE: A site redesign is in progress. Things might not be where they used to be. Sorry for any inconvenience.

From Worldtraveller

These are the questions that I wrote for the quiz - Pete and Ivan also contributed a round each but I haven't got them.

Questions

Round One

It's a round about astronomy because I am an astronomer.

1. Who said 'Space is almost infinite. As a matter of fact, we think it is infinite' while head of the US National Space Council?
2. What connects a 1994 single released by the Inspiral Carpets, a brand of car made by General Motors and a gaming console manufactured by Sega?
3. What piece of music was written by Colin Matthews and released to critical acclaim in 2000, but became redundant on 24 August 2006?
4. Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and David Beckham are among the players described as what?
5. Who, in a very successful 1974, saw his band's second album reach number 5 on the UK charts and also co-wrote a paper entitled 'An investigation of the motion of zodiacal dust particles'?
6. a) What appears on the flags of Australia, Brazil, Niue, New Zealand and Samoa? and b) What appears on the flags of, among others, Argentina, Costa Rica, Japan, Kazakhstan and Taiwan?
7. What did Opal Fruits become in 1998?
8. What triggered the mass suicide of the Heaven's Gate cult in 1997?
9. 'Indian Love Song' by Slim Whitman proves to be the only thing that can kill the aliens in which 1996 film?
10. Give the Greek equivalents of the names of all the planets

Beer round

There's a connection between these answers...

1. What was first used by the Cunard liner 'Slavonia' on 10 June 1909?
2. In 2003, what did French MEP Francis Carpentier demand be renamed to avoid offending French visitors to London?
3. Who was the first Spanish formula one driver to win a grand prix?
4. What words, spoken on 28 August 1963, featured in what is regarded as one of the greatest speeches ever made?
5. What game show, originally hosted by Jimmy Tarbuck and later by Bobby Davro, was broadcast on ITV between 1976 and 1988?

Tiebreak: what's the distance from London to Paris, in furlongs?

Round Four

1. Which three African countries are monarchies?
2. Which US state originally wanted to call itself Columbia, but was overruled by the federal government to avoid confusion with the District of Columbia?
3. Brabham's 1978 BT46B formula one car won its debut race but was promptly banned. What was unusual about it?
4. Which national football team played their first competitive game in September 1990, beating Austria 1-0? The only other team they've ever beaten has been San Marino, although they've drawn with Scotland twice.
5. If you were in Peru and ate Cuy, what would you be eating?
6. Bexley, Huyton, Cardiff South-east, Finchley, Huntingdon. What comes next? And for a bonus, what seems very likely to come after that?
7. Which is bigger, Anglesey or the Isle of Wight?
8. What is C₂H₅OH better known as?
9. Only one of the main characters in Frasier was played by two different actors at different times during the show's 11 series. Which one?
10. Which four artists have reached the UK no. 1 with 'Unchained Melody'?

Answers

Round one

1. Dan Quayle
2. Saturn
3. Pluto, the Renewer, to 'complete' Holst's Planets suite
4. Galacticos
5. Brian May
6. a) Southern Cross, b) Sun
7. Starburst
8. The appearance of Comet Hale-Bopp
9. Mars Attacks!
10. Moving outwards from the Sun, they are Hermes, Aphrodite, Ares, Zeus, Cronos, Ouranos, and Poseidon

Beer round

1. SOS
2. Waterloo
3. Fernando Alonso
4. I have a dream
5. Winner takes all

And the tiebreaker - London and Paris are 216 miles apart, and there are, as I'm sure everyone knows, 8 furlongs in a mile, so that's 1728. The closest team on the night put 1763.

Round Four

1. Morocco, Lesotho, Swaziland
2. Washington. That really worked well then.
3. Had a great big fan on the back.
4. Faroe Islands
5. Guinea pig
6. They're the constituencies of prime ministers, so Sedgefield is current and Dunfermline East will probably be next.
7. Anglesey (714km², to IoW's 380km²)
8. Alcohol, or if you really know your organic chemistry, ethyl alcohol or ethanol.
9. Eddie the dog
10. Jimmy Young, Righteous Brothers, Robson & Jerome, Gareth Gates

Template:POW quizzes