Tomorrow, I will be fifty years old.
In February, I celebrated my birthday by inviting people to a pub quiz, for which I wrote the questions. I highly recommend this as a way to celebrate your own knowledge, and see which of your friends pays attention to your interests and the places you go on holidays.
Because of the coronavirus and the fact that everyone is stuck at home now, I'm putting the questions up here so you can see them. Good thing I didn't decide to have my birthday quiz this week instead; I'd have had to cancel.
We had ten rounds with seven questions in each round. The pictures of dogs and the Fill in the Blanks round were handed out to be filled in at leisure, to give people a chance to go to the bar. We also had a music round, but I don't know how to share that. Believe me, though, it was a very good music round.
You can find the answers here.
In February, I celebrated my birthday by inviting people to a pub quiz, for which I wrote the questions. I highly recommend this as a way to celebrate your own knowledge, and see which of your friends pays attention to your interests and the places you go on holidays.
Because of the coronavirus and the fact that everyone is stuck at home now, I'm putting the questions up here so you can see them. Good thing I didn't decide to have my birthday quiz this week instead; I'd have had to cancel.
We had ten rounds with seven questions in each round. The pictures of dogs and the Fill in the Blanks round were handed out to be filled in at leisure, to give people a chance to go to the bar. We also had a music round, but I don't know how to share that. Believe me, though, it was a very good music round.
You can find the answers here.
Round 1 -- Fifity!
- In the Paul Simon song "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover", what does Lee do?
- Which 1950 Billy Wilder film features what Wilder himself described as "you know, the usual monkey-funeral sequence"?
- The comic strip Peanuts debuted in 1950. In which year was the last new strip published?
- Who released his eponymous first solo album in 1970, featuring songs like "Lovely Linda" and "Maybe I'm Amazed"?
- Which Polynesian constitutional monarchy ended its protected-state status with the UK in 1970, never having relinquished its sovereignty?
- Which Apollo mission was launched from Cape Canaveral on April 11, 1970?
- Published in 1950, what was the name of the first book in CS Lewis's fantasy series featuring the Pevensey children?
Round 2 -- Films
- Complete the following quote from Prizzi's Honor: If Moxy Heller's so fucking smart, how come he's so fucking...?
- In what film does newsman Brian Fantana try to woo Veronica Corningstone by dousing himself in Sex Panther?
- If first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado, and third prize is you're fired, what's second prize?
- Which classic 1969 buddy film closes with the line, "Oh good. For a moment there, I thought we were in trouble"?
- Which Cary Grant protagonist shares his last name with a fictional stately home from a series of PG Wodehouse stories?
- The prison scenes for The Italian Job, In the Name of the Father, and Paddington 2 were all filmed where?
- In which neat and tidy Meath town does the classic film Fatal Deviation take place?
Round 3 -- Non-Humans
- Which Irish revolutionary leader owned a Kerry Blue terrier called Convict 224?
- What is the smallest species of penguin?
- Which fictional horse has friends called Princess Carolyn and Mr Peanutbutter?
- What kind of animal supplies the milk for roquefort cheese?
- The 9th-century poem Pangur Bán, or White Pangur, is about a monk and his companion animal. What kind of animal is Pangur?
- The hirundine family of birds includes which species?
- A "flutter" is the collective noun for what type of animal?
Round 4 -- Byrne Family Mythology
- Which Stanley Kubrick film starring Ryan O'Neal features in the Byrne family story "Where the fucking shark?"
- What colour was the Minnesota Vikings jacket that Dad brought back from American in the Seventies?
- Which Scottish actor, who played Ser Jorah Mormont in Game of Thrones and is the lead in the Jack Taylor series, did we sit near in a restaurant in Corralejo?
- What is the surname of the bakery that used to deliver our bread and also the former White House Press Secretary who appeared on Dancing with the Stars in 2019?
- Which Navan comedian stole the 1998 Perrier Award from Ed Byrne?
- What is the subtitle of Sister Act 2, in which Paul Byrne appeared as a choirboy extra?
- Jill Byrne likes Helen Mirren, but she does not like which actress who starred in the original Thomas Crown Affair?
Round 5 -- Dogs
Tell me what these breeds are, please. Just for the record, the answer to number four is not "Children", although that is very sweet.
Round 6 -- Geography
What fictional US town has the slogan "First in friendship, fourth in obesity"?
What do Postman Pat's route and the college in Community have in common?
Which US state is known as the "Sooner State"?
Portugal's highest peak is not in mainland Portugal. Where is it?
In which UK town would you find a statue of a Martian tripod?
At 1:00am on April 29, 1986, a young woman walking home from a party close to the border between Ukraine and Belarus saw a bright flash in the sky. Where did the bright flash come from?
Where in Ireland was the Irish coffee invented?
Round 7 -- General Knowledge
What did Michael Fassbender do to apologise in a Guinness ad from the 2000s?
In an email, what does CC stand for?
If Minecraft is the best-selling paid-download game of all time, what's the second?
What famous artefact is supposed to have been found on the beach at Bettystown?
Which world-famous Dundalk band have sometimes been described as "sticky, shouty, fiddly and the man"?
Iron-Eyes Cody, the famous "crying Indian" of US film and television, was not actually Native American at all. What was his heritage?
According to the Monty Python "Philosophers' Song", which German philosopher was a real pissant?
Round 8 -- Fill in the Blanks
"I just wanted to get another look at you."
1954: Judy
1976: Barbra
2018: ______
"Is it a bird?"
1952: George Reeves
2006: Brandon Routh
2016:_____________
"The horseman comes!"
1922: Will Rogers
1999: __________
2013: Tom Mison
"Home is the nicest word there is."
1932: Little House in the Big Woods
1933: Farmer Boy
1935: _____________
"Not a drop to drink."
1798: ___________
1800: Christabel
1810: Kubla Khan
"I don't think they can handle this."
Kelly
Michelle
_________
"I've got a bad feeling about this."
Harrison Ford = Alden Ehrenreich
Billy Dee Williams = ____________
Peter Mayhew = Jonas Suotamo
Round 9 -- Mash-Ups
In this round, the first part of the question runs directly into the second. It's basically the Answer Smash from House of Games, if you ever watch House of Games. I've provided the first answer so you can see how it works.
She's the singer of "A Kind of Hush" and an insect that infests wooden structures? Answer: Karen Carpenter Ant (or Karen Carpentermite).
He's a stadium on Jones's Road in Dublin and the Korean director of Old Boy?
He's the 1982 second studio album by Duran Duran and the first footballer to transfer between two English clubs for over £30 million?
It's a UK supermarket chain with its headquarters in Leeds and a 1982 hit for Trio?
He's George in Seinfeld and the ten-dollar founding father without a father?
She's the county town of Tipperary and a former presenter of The Great British Bake-Off?
He's a two-time Eurovision winner and a film where people over the age of thirty are sent to Carousel?
