01 How many points are awarded for a try at Rugby Union ? 5 02 .... and for a converted try ? 7 03 What is a pergola ? An arbour, or covered walk 04 What is the smallest colony in the world ? Gibraltar, 2¼ square miles 05 What is the most densely populated territory in the world ? Macau 06 What is a pre-emptive bid at Bridge ? An opening bid intended to be high enough to discourage further bidding 07 What is the origin of the expression "To get down to brass tacks" ? Cockney rhyming slang for 'facts' 08 What was a Dodo ? A large bird, the size of a turkey, last known to exist in Mauritius in the 1680s 09 What is a 'black sheep' ? A person who is a disgrace to a family or a community 10 The Duke of Wellington called the battle of Waterloo "a damned nice thing". What did he mean ? A close thing. He went on to say "the nearest-run thing you saw in your life" 11 What is Gog Magog ? A golf club near Cambridge 12 What was England's smallest county, abolished by Act of Parliament in 1974 but recently restored ? Rutland 13 In what year was the Greater London Council abolished ? 1986 14 A former leader of the GLC became known as 'Red Ken'. Who ? Ken Livingstone 15 'Meg the arch tartar' is an anagram for which famous politician ? Margaret Thatcher 16 If a clock takes 2 seconds to strike 2 o'clock, how long will it take to strike 3 o'clock ? Four seconds. If the interval between 2 strokes is two seconds, it will be another two seconds before the third stroke 17 Who wrote 'Catch 22' ? Joseph Heller 18 .... and what was the catch ? Soldiers tried to 'work their ticket' back to USA from a particularly unpleasant overseas location by feigning madness ; but anyone wishing to leave such an awful place must be sane 19 A chair and stool together cost £31. If the chair cost £30 more than the stool, what is the price of each ? £30.50 and 50p 20 What does laconic mean ? A brief, concise or terse style of speech or writing 21 What does a hygrometer measure ? Relative humidity 22 Who invented the vacuum flask ? James Dewar 23 Who pioneered the avoidance of scurvy ? James Lind 24 .... and by what means ? A diet including citrus fruits 25 .... and what consequently became the nickname for British sailors ? Limeys 26 What does sanctimonious mean ? It describes a person making a show of piety, of being 'holier than thou' 27 Where was ten-pin bowling invented ? New York, in 1890 28 How can you quickly check if any number is exactly divisible by 3 ? Check if the total of its digits is itself divisible by 3 e.g. 123,456 is divisible by 3, so is 789. 1,234 is not 29 Who invented the first automatic telephone exchange ? Almon B. Strowger, in 1889 30 .... and what was his occupation ? The proprietor of a funeral parlour 31 .... and what motivated him ? His competitor was a friend of the local switchboard operator and so gained all the business of those phoning and wanting a funeral arranged 32 What, apart from a newspaper, is black and white and red all over ? A wounded nun, an embarrassed zebra, Santa Claus coming down a dirty chimney or a skunk with nappy rash 33 Achilles runs 10x as fast as Tom the tortoise. Tom has 10m start. After 10m Tom leads by 1m. After 1m more Tom leads by 0.1m & so on; Achilles never catches Tom. What's wrong ? The conclusion is false; in n secs Achilles runs 150 yds, Tom 15 yds 34 A Plover, a Lapwing and a Peewit are the same birds by a different name. True or false ? True 35 What does moribund mean ? Lacking vitality, at death's door 36 Who wrote the haunting music to the film 'Platoon' ? Samuel Barber, 'Adagio for strings' 37 Who wrote the play 'School for Scandal' ? Richard Brinsley Sheridan 38 Which country has the lowest unemployment rate ? Luxembourg : 2% in 1994 39 Which country has the lowest average life expectancy ? Rwanda, 36.4 years for females, 35.9 years for males (1995-'96) 40 What part of a man's anatomy is so long and hard and sticks so far out of his pyjamas that his hat can be supported on it ? His head 41 What is a spoonerism ? The interchanging of the sounds of two or more words in a phrase or sentence e.g. "Time wounds all heels", or "The Lord is a shoving leopard" 42 Who is a spoonerism named after ? The Rev. W.A. Spooner (1844-1930), Warden of New College, Oxford 43 What does germane mean ? Relevant to 44 What is trigonometry ? The branch of maths concerned with the relations of the sides and angles of triangles 45 What does genuflect mean ? To bend the knee in worship, or in respect 46 What is a gimlet ? A small hand tool for boring holes, also a cocktail of gin and lime juice 47 Which famous politician spoke of 'the black dog', meaning depression ? Sir Winston Churchill 48 What is a flitch ? A side of bacon, or a slab of timber 49 A farmer asked how long cows should be milked. What's the answer ? The same as short ones, of course 50 What is a misanthrope ? A person who avoids human society 51 Who wrote the music Sheherazade ? Ravel 52 What is the title of the music by Ravel in the film '10' ? Bolero 53 What does the French word 'oeuvre' mean ? Work 54 What does the Latin word 'opus' mean ? Work 55 Crème de Menthe is a pleasing green liqueur. If it's frappé, what is it ? Iced 56 What is the main ingredient of Steak Tartare ? Raw minced fillet of beef 57 What does a cockney mean when he says " 'e rammed is Oliver down 'is throat" ? Fist (Oliver Twist) 58 Who was called 'The First Lady of Jazz' ? Ella Fitzgerald 59 If a cockney said "I like me glass of pig's", what does he like ? Beer (Pig's ear) 60 In racing and old money terms, what was 1000 guineas worth ? The original prize was 1,000 x £1.1s.0d., or £1,050