General Knowledge 19

Question 1

Which building, one of the holiest places of Islam, stands on the top of Mount Moriah in Jerusalem?

Answer 1

The Dome of the Rock

Question 2

What kind of strutting dance was named after the prize traditionally awarded to the best dancers?

Answer 2

The cake-walk

Question 3

What two-word term is properly given to the quantity measuring electrical energy converted by the electric charge moving between two points in a circuit?

Answer 3

Potential difference

Question 4

Which French mathematician proved that air pressure decreased with altitude by taking a barometer to the summit of the Puy de Dôme?

Answer 4

Blaise Pascal

Question 5

What nickname is given to Edmund, son of Ethelred the Unready, reflecting his courage?

Answer 5

Ironside

Question 6

Stars and Stripes Forever is a biopic of which American composer?

Answer 6

John Philip Sousa

Question 7

What is the highest mountain in the world outside Asia?

Answer 7

Aconcagua

In the Andes - in Argentina

Question 8

The origin of which snack is attributed to John Montague, who is said to have eaten food in this form to avoid leaving the gaming table?

Answer 8

The sandwich

The 4th Earl of Sandwich

Question 9

Which daily newspaper began life in 1754 as the Leeds Intelligencer?

Answer 9

The Yorkshire Post

Question 10

What is the title of the long alliterative poem written by William Langland?

Answer 10

Piers Plowman

Set on border between Hereford and Worcester and starring character called Will. Written c 1377

Question 11

Which British no.1 rock album features the cover image of an inflatable pig flying above Battersea power station?

Answer 11

Animals by Pink Floyd

Question 12

Who developed the first fully-automatic machine gun, adopted by the British Army?

Answer 12

(Sir) Hiram Stevens Maxim

The Maxim Gun - 1884

Question 13

Who edited Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in expurgated form?

Answer 13

Thomas Bowdler

Bowdlerize means to expurgate (remove objectionable material).

Question 14

In the name O. J. Simpson, what do the initials O. J. stand for?

Answer 14

Orenthal James

Question 15

What is Sargassum?

Answer 15

(Brown) seaweed

Question 16

Who was in overall command of the English fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588?

Answer 16

Effingham

Question 17

Whose music gained a resurgence in 1973 with the piece ‘The Entertainer’ featured in the film The Sting?

Answer 17

Scott Joplin

Question 18

What are the Aventine, the Caelian, the Capitoline, the Esquiline, the Quirinal, the Viminal, and the Palatine?

Answer 18

The seven hills of Rome

Question 19

Who is the fictional character that wrote The Practical Handbook of Bee Culture?

Answer 19

Sherlock Holmes

Question 20

What kind of soup means ‘pepper-water’ in Tamil?

Answer 20

Mulligatawny

Question 21

What is the three-word alliterative name for the game known as Noughts and Crosses in British English?

Answer 21

Tic-tac-toe

Question 22

Which major event of 1951 featured the Minerals and Land Pavilion, the Power and Production Pavilion, and others?

Answer 22

The Festival of Britain

Mainly in the South Bank

Question 23

In which play does Shakespeare’s character Autolycus appear?

Answer 23

The Winter’s Tale

Question 24

Which 1979 film was advertised with the tagline ‘In space, no one can hear you scream’?

Answer 24

Alien

Question 25

Born Karoline Blamauer, what stage name did the future wife of composer Kurt Weill adopt?

Answer 25

Lotte Lenya

Question 26

Which European city was the birthplace of sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi?

Answer 26

Edinburgh

Question 27

What measurement of length in the UK can be defined as a tenth of a nautical mile?

Answer 27

The cable ## Footnote A nautical mile is 1.85 kilometers A mile is 1.6 kilometers. A cable is 185 meters.

Question 28

Who was the author of The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director?

Answer 28

Thomas Chippendale

Question 29

What is the popular name for the furcula, a forked bony structure in birds?

Answer 29

Wishbone

Question 30

In West Side Story, what are the names of the two rival gangs?

Answer 30

The Jets and The Sharks

Question 31

The Battles of the Boyne, Gettysburg, and The Somme all began on which date?

Answer 31

The first of July

Question 32

What is the title of the first chapter of the novel published in 1954 called ‘The Sound of the Shell’?

Answer 32

Lord of The Flies

Question 33

Which English jeweller lends his name to the alloy of copper and zinc he invented in the early 18th century?

Answer 33

(Christopher) Pinchbeck

Question 34

Which nursing pioneer was voted top of a poll to find the one hundred greatest black Britons?

Answer 34

Mary Seacole

Question 35

To which famous couple did Variety magazine refer with the headline ‘Egghead Weds Hourglass’?

Answer 35

Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe

Question 36

What is the standard unit of luminous flux?

Answer 36

The lumen

Question 37

Which English king was defeated at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141?

Answer 37

Stephen

Question 38

Who is credited with making the first mobile phone call on April 3, 1973?

Answer 38

Martin Cooper

Question 39

What is the simplest proper fraction that expresses the decimal value 0.85?

Answer 39

17/20

Question 40

Which aromatic herb gives its distinct flavour to Earl Grey tea?

Answer 40

Bergamot