Quiz Questions - Set #4

Technically it's now Thursday as it's a couple of minutes after midnight, but as I suggested a few weeks ago, Wednesday is now the day I'll be posting my weekly quiz sets. Weekly Round-Ups will still be at the weekend, and answers are still available at any time on request. Good luck!

Quiz Set 4 - Questions

Round 1: General Knowledge

1.    Marion Robert Morrison is the birth name of which famous actor?

2.    The Opium Wars were fought between which two countries? Half a point for each.

3.    Which guitarist has the nickname “Slowhand”?

4.    What kind of creature (and you don’t need to be specific) is a Shearwater?

5.    What was US president Richard Nixon’s middle name?

6.    All of British entrepreneur Richard Branson’s companies use the company name Virgin, except for one. For one point name either the company, or its primary product.

7.    Which Latin word, in common use in English today, means “things to be done”?

8.    Which is the shortest bone in the human body?

9.    In a standard modern piano, how many keys are there?

10.  In 1955, a woman named Ruth Ellis died in Britain. What was the significance of her death?

Round 2: Film Plots

There’s 17 points on offer here, because I already had this round pre-written. Please identify the film from the plot. A bonus point is on offer for identifying where I got the descriptions for numbers 5 and 10. A lot of swearing has been redacted from 5, as a little clue. The years refer to that of the film’s release in its original country, which may not be one in which English is spoken.

1.    (1998) A brother and sister are sucked into the stereotypically idyllic 50s landscape of an old TV show. But this is a world that thrives on order, and if the newcomers accidentally make changes...

2.    (2004) He's not a gangster, he's a businessman whose commodity happens to be cocaine. Or, in this case, the million ecstasy pills a group of loudmouths somehow stole from some Serbian war criminals.

3.    (1994) A 12 year old girl's life is changed forever when her family is gunned down by corrupt DEA officials. The only place she has to go is next door - the home of a lonesome hitman.

4.    (2008). A rookie assassin botches a hit, so he and his more experienced partner flee the country. Getting mixed up in the bizarre nightlife of a quaint city, the pair ponder the meaning of life and the question of what they're even doing so far from home.

5.    (1977) The one about the space hairdresser and the cowboy. He's got a tinfoil pal and a pedal bin. His father's a robot and he's slept with his sister. Lego. They're all made of Lego.

6.    (1998) Most professional sports are oversaturated and boring. What's required to get the crowds back is a game created by two drunken losers with good shooting accuracy but no athletic ability. The game is a hit but they want to keep it amateur, and big businessmen are determined to fleece it for every penny it's worth...

7.    (2000) 42 teenagers. 3 days. One deserted island. One random weapon or piece of equipment. And one survivor. This wasn't the school trip they thought they were going on. Could you kill your best friend?

8.    (2003). 10 interlinked stories taking place in the month or so before Christmas. A variety of different people crash into and out of relationships. Will the holiday spirit bring people together or tear them apart?

9.    (2011) A heavily armed police unit. A supposedly impenetrable fortress of a building controlled by some of the country's most violent criminals. And no escape except in a body bag for anyone inside, once the covert entry is rumbled...

10.  (1995) The one where there's the cowboy and he's the king of the castle? And then this astronaut shows up and he tries to take over, so the cowboy attempts to murder him, but, instead, the astronaut is taken hostage by, this evil psychopath and the cowboy has to rescue him and then they end up becoming really good friends.

11.  (1980) A paroled convict and his brother attempt to use music to save a Catholic orphanage threatened with closure. They can't possibly fail - they're on a mission from God.

12.  (2009) Conflict looms in the Middle East, and among UK and US politicians, battle lines are being drawn up. Some support the war, some oppose it, but most just want to keep their jobs. Whoever wins the debate - it won't be decided by logic, common sense or competence...

13.  (1999) Barings Bank was one of the oldest and most esteemed in the world. How could it possibly fail? Well, they could try hiring a barrow boy with no interest in things like fair trading or fraud regulations...

14.  (2004). The loveable losers who frequent a gym are about to see it closed down by the brutal owner of a nearby, bigger gym. Can it be saved? Possibly, thanks to one of the regulars who reads "Obscure Sports Quarterly"...

15.  (1993) He's an unemployed divorcee trying to get to his daughter's birthday party. Unfortunately, to do that he'll need to walk most of the way across Los Angeles on foot. He's in a bad mood as is, so the people he meets would do well not to aggravate him further...

Round 3: Connections

1.    In 1977, who became the last British female tennis player to win a singles Grand Slam event?

2.    Which author, born on 3^rd April 1783, is most famous for writing Rip van Winkle and Sleepy Hollow?

3.    Which wonder of the ancient world was completed in 280BC but destroyed in an earthquake in 226BC?

4.    Henry Jones Junior is the real name of which eponymous film character?

5.    Which herb, sometimes known as wild marjoram, is a flowering plant of the mint family?

6.    Tramar Lacel Dillard is the birth name of which rapper ,singer and songwriter?

7.    Which musical, which opened in 1943 and whose original Broadway run was over 2200 performances, was based on the play Green Grow the Lilacs?

8.    Which dessert, which has hot and cold elements is also known as a Norwegian Omelette?

9.    The cities of Southampton, Portsmouth and Winchester are all in which English county?

10.  Finally, what connects all of the above answers?