General 120925

General 120925 is a selection of 10 questions. General 120925 is the filename to differentiate it from other general knowledge quizzes. Feel free to use any of these questions and answers for your own quizzes. Just keep in mind that you cannot republish them in any format.

1   Which is the older university, Oxford or Cambridge?
A   Oxford (Oxford c.1096) (following a dispute between students and Oxford townsfolk some academics fled to Cambridge and established the University of Cambridge c.1209)

2   Which motorway connects Glasgow to Edinburgh?
A   M8

3   Which commercial radio station, closed in 1992, had the jingle ‘Two – O – Eight Medium Wave, station of the Eighties’?
A   Radio Luxembourg (it was from their transmitters that invading German forces broadcast propaganda by William Joyce a.k.a. Lord Haw-Haw – the English language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933)

4   What is the rubber or metal tip of a walking stick called?
A   Ferrule

5   Which weather phenomenon appears as luminous plasma on a ship or plane during a strong electrical storm?
A   St. Elmo’s fire (strong thunderstorms or a volcanic eruption)

6   When do individual colleges of Cambridge University have their May Balls?
A   In June (at the end of the academic year)

7   What kind of fashion items does Christian Louboutin design?
A   Shoes

8   How many Englishmen so far, have occupied the papal chair?
A   One, from 1154 to 1159 (Pope Adrian IV – Nicholas Breakspear)

9   In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process by which an egg is fertilised by sperm outside the body; what does in vitro mean?
A   In glass (it’s Latin) test tubes are glass, so I suppose that’s why.

10   What do we call the act of deep respect practised in the Orient, of bowing so low as one’s head touches the ground?
A   Kowtow (borrowed word from kòu tóu in Mandarin Chinese)