General Knowledge Quiz 404

Questions

1. Derived from French pantomime, what is a clown with a white face, white garments, and pointed hat?

2. What color/colour is a polar bear's skin?

   1. Pink
   2. White
   3. Black
   4. Green

3. A biennial plant?

   1. Lives for two years
   2. Flowers twice a year
   3. Flowers alternate years
   4. Flowers every twenty years

4. Used with oxygen to weld and cut metal due to its high flame temperature what is the compound C2H2 commonly called?

5. What ground-covering plant (potentially a lawn or tea flavour/flavor) is named from the Greek meaning 'on the ground apple'?

6. What is the organic compound acid, chemical formula CH3COOH, and main component of vinegar?

7. Considered the largest food company globally (at 2011), Nestlé was founded and is headquartered in what country?

8. Seismic refers to what natural effect?

   1. Earthquake
   2. Wind
   3. Thunder
   4. Lightning

9. The Picts were an ancient tribe of people occupying what country in Roman times?

10. Name the two 2011 UK police operations respectively investigating the interception of voicemail messages, and the payment of police officers for information, by the News of the World newspaper?

11. Teams competing in what famous annual July event include THC, Movistar, Leopard, BMC and Quick-Step?

12. What in 2010 became the much-derided all-encompassing new brand name representing the combined businesses of Orange and T-Mobile?

13. Name the Qatar capital and significant host city for WTO (World Trade Organization) talks in the early 2000s?

14. What international contest awards the famous Claret Jug trophy?

15. What beer, established in 1759, refers to St James's Gate Dublin on its label?

16. What term for behaving in a subservient (overly agreeable and unquestioningly obedient) manner, especially to a boss, derives from an ancient Chinese bowing gesture?

17. A piece of what monument forms part of Ronald Reagan's statue in London's Grosvenor Square?

    1. Great Wall of China
    2. Berlin Wall
    3. Hadrian's Wall
    4. the Wailing Wall

18. Somalia is in the region known as the what of Africa?

    1. Basin
    2. Sound
    3. Horn
    4. Hook

19. Dendrites, nucleus, axon, and myelin sheath are cellular components of what sort in the human body?

    1. Blood
    2. Nerve
    3. Digestive
    4. Hair

20. What notable leader was born in Ranshofen, near Braunau, Austria, in 1889?

21. What two spices, a large seed and its outer covering, come from the plant myristica fragrans?

22. What Japanese Emperor ruled from 1926-89?

23. On the Beaufort Scale of wind force what wind name is given to number 8, which "...Breaks twigs off trees and impedes progress..."?

24. Of these sedimentary rocks, which one is not organic, being instead 'clastic'?

    1. Peat
    2. Jet
    3. Coal, Lignite
    4. Shale

25. What ancient name applies to the 'days' of hot summer, derived from belief that the star Sirius caused them?

26. Lord Byron being an example, in 18-19th century Italy a 'cicisbeo' was a what?

    1. Penfriend
    2. Poet
    3. Paid companion/lover to a married woman
    4. Invalid

27. What common name is given to medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS)?

28. Ursa Major and Ursa Minor are constellations known respectively more commonly as Great and Little what?

29. What famous palm-top computer brand suffered major stock-market confidence problems following large-scale product faults in 2011?

30. A colony of Britain until 1956, with the capital city of Khartoum, the south of what African country became an independent state in July 2011?