General Knowledge Quiz 195

Questions

1. Actor Nicholas Courtney, who died age 81 in February 2011, played what iconic military role in over a hundred Dr Who episodes (bonus point for his full character name)?

2. Which US oil company said it would appeal against an $6 billion fine imposed by Ecuador judges in 2011 after being accused of polluting the country's Amazon region in a legal wrangle spanning almost two decades?

3. What does the cockney rhyming slang, Butcher's, traditionally mean?

4. In the British honours system where a man is made a Knight (i.e., becomes 'Sir...') what is the female equivalent?

5. Originally meaning 'as if in this manner', by what name is the second Sunday of Easter known, which provided the name of a deformed tragic character from a classic book?

6. What type of creature, recognized as the suborder Lacertilia, includes species: skink, monitor, agama and Komodo dragon?

7. What is the name of the ship of (1960s UK TV) cartoon pirate Captain Pugwash?

   1. Red Dog
   2. Blue Moon
   3. Silver Sparrow
   4. Black Pig

8. Austrian monk and scientist Gregor Johann Mendel used which plant for the study and experiment of genetics and heredity of certain traits?

   1. Pea
   2. Stinging-nettle
   3. Bamboo
   4. Beetroot

9. What are the fertile South American lowlands covering more than 750,000 square kilometres in Argentina and most of Uruguay?

10. From the Greek meaning 'against', and 'a name', what is a word called which has the opposite meaning to another word?

11. Which island group is known by the French as Iles Normande?

12. Born Joseph Frank... by what name was the US silent film comic actor noted for his deadpan expression and pork-pie hats better known?

13. What was the previous name of Taiwan, the island off the southeast coast of mainland China?

14. Which planet in our solar system has the shortest year?

15. In which European country did the 16th Century St Bartholomews Day Massacre take place?

16. What is an angle called which is larger than 180 degrees and smaller than 360 degrees?

17. Which country suspended its annual Antarctic Whale Hunt in February 2011, after activists from a US-based environmental group chased the mother ship?

18. According to the gospel of Luke, Zachariah and his barren wife Elizabeth were the parents of which great Biblical character?

19. Which US oil company said it would appeal against an $8.6 billion fine imposed by Ecuador judges in 2011 after being accused of polluting the country's Amazon region in a legal wrangle spanning almost two decades?

20. A child named Viva Katherine... was born in February 2011 into what two famous Canadian musical families?

21. Revealed in the author's archives given to Oxford's Bodelian Library in 2008, what occupationally titled novel had the working name The Reluctant Autumn of George Smiley?

22. In UK politics, what flower is the emblem of the Labour Party?

23. Which European prime minister was indicted in February 2011 to stand trial on charges for sex with an under-age prostitute, and abuse of power?

24. Which uncle of Prince William announced his engagement to Karen Gordon in February 2011?

25. Englishman John Wycliffe's 14th century Lollardy movement addressed reform of what?

    1. Slavery
    2. Monarchy
    3. Religion
    4. Farming

26. In which African country is the town of Lassa, where Lassa fever was first identified?

27. The world's largest working waterwheel, the Lady Isabella (also known as the Laxey Wheel), is on which island, known in its national language as Ellan Vannin?

28. Galena is the primary ore mineral of which metal?

29. In 1936, Ethel Cain, otherwise known as Tim, became the first what?

30. By what name is Siddartha Guatama better known?

31. At which English racecourse did two horses collapse and die in the parade ring due to electrocution, in February 2011?