Teachers' Conferences: they can be interesting, informative, demanding, uplifting and long. Very long. They have longueurs. They can be dull at times too, no doubt about it. Long and dull. In the spirit of the week that's in it, and bearing in mind that there may be times when, God bless them, the speakers are so uninteresting that only the chair keeps you upright, Education & Living presents 100 questions to help you through those difficult moments.
The questions cover 16 categories - starting with detective fiction, as an indulgence to the compiler - plus 20 general-knowledge questions at the end as a final challenge. Cheating by sneaking looks at other people's answers, asking the person next to you, ringing someone at home or listening in on other people's conversations - in fact, all the things that you tell your pupils not to do - is not only allowed, but expected. The competition is open to non-teachers and non-delegates as well, but they won't have quite as many opportunities to cheat.
On the other hand, we'll be sticklers for neatness and legibility in your answer sheets. Be sure to enclose the coupon below.
The first correct entry out of the post-bag wins the prize. If no entrant gets all 100 questions right, the winner will be the one who gets closest to 100. No correspondence will be entered into and the decision of the editor is final.
Detective Fiction
1. Who created the Oxford detective Inspector Morse?
2. Link these fictional detectives with their American locations - either Chicago, Boston or Louisiana.
a) James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux
b) Sara Paretsky's V I Warshawski
c) Robert B Parker's Spenser
3. One of these actors has not played Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe in a film - Elliot Gould, Robert Mitchum, Humphrey Bogart or Robert Ryan. Which one?
4. Name Dorothy L Sayers's sleuthing nobleman, currently back in the bestseller lists thanks to Jill Paton-Walsh?
5. Which writer created Sam Spade, the detective hero of The Maltese Falcon?
Popular Music
6. Two of the five Spice Girls - Scary, Sporty, Baby, Posh and Ginger - share the same first name. Which two?
7. Who was the lead singer with The Jam?
8. Roxy Music covered both A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall and Jealous Guy in the course of their career. Who wrote the original versions of each song?
9. Which two pop stars - both of whom are adept on the piano - will play a joint concert in Croke Park in May?
10. The band Crazy Horse are best known for backing which famous American singer-songwriter?
Books
11. Notes from a Small Island and A Walk in the Woods were written by which American travel writer?
12. Who wrote the novel The Good Soldier?
13. Yossarian, Major Major Major and Milo Minderbender are characters in which blackly comic American novel?
14. Which Irish author wrote The Dalkey Archive and The Third Policeman?
15. Which author created the serial killer Hannibal Lecter?
Film
16. Titanic's haul of 11 Oscars equalled the record set by one other previous film - which one?
17. Who directed Finian's Rainbow, Bram Stoker's Dracula and The Godfather?
18. Who plays the presidential candidate, allegedly based on Bill Clinton, in the forthcoming film Primary Colours?
19. Who directed Some Like it Hot?
20. Each of these actors - Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, George Lazenby and Pierce Brosnan - played secret agent James Bond in one of the following films. Match the name to the film. a) The Living Daylights
b) You Only Live Twice
c) GoldenEye
d) Live and Let Die
e) On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Television
21. Give the first names of the six characters at the heart of the comedy series Friends.
22. Which former Labour Party adviser recently transferred his talents to hosting an RTE discussion programme?
23. Name the newsreader in The Simpsons.
24. Give the first names of the hard-nosed Mitchell brothers in the BBC soap opera Eastenders.
25. Which two actors play the roles of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in the TV series The X-Files?
Theatre
26. Which American Oscar-winning actress will appear in the Gate Theatre's production of A Streetcar Named Desire later this year?
27. Name the American dramatist who wrote the plays Oleanna, Glengarry Glen Ross and Sexual Perversity in Chicago.
28. In which Shakespeare play does Falstaff first appear?
29. Which Irish playwright wrote A Whistle in the Dark?
30. With which Dublin-based theatre group would you associate the plays War and Brownbread?
Fashion
31. Name Paul McCartney's designer daughter.
32. Philip Treacy is famous for designing which items of clothing?
33. Name the Italian fashion designer murdered in Florida last year.
34. Which supermodel famously fell on the catwalk due to the size of the heels on her shoes?
35. With which Irish rock star was the model in Q.34 romantically associated?
Art
36. Who created the sculpture known as The Thinker?
37. Which young British artist created works involving dead sheep, dead sharks and dead cattle floating in tanks of preservative?
38. Where, specifically, is the Irish Museum of Modern Art located?
39. The IMMA recently hosted an exhibition of the work of an American artist famed for his work with Campbell's soup tins and Marilyn Monroe. Who was he?
40. Who painted The Taking of Christ, which is now in the possession of the National Gallery of Ireland?
Sport
41. In which three years did Red Rum win the Aintree Grand National?
42. Who is the current manager of Liverpool Football Club?
43. Name the boxer who lost a piece of his ear to Mike Tyson in a heavyweight boxing match last year.
44. In which year was the Aintree Grand National called off after two false starts?
45. Who is the new Benson & Hedges Irish Masters Snooker Champion?
Poetry
46. Which English poet wrote the Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience?
47. The bestseller Birthday Letters, written by poet Ted Hughes, concerns his marriage to which American poet?
48. Who wrote the poem which begins "I heard a fly buzz when I died"?
49. In which county is the poet W B Yeats buried?
50. Which Irish poet wrote Canal Bank Walk and The Great Hunger?
Classical Music
51. Who wrote the operas Lucia di Lammermoor (1838), La Fille du Regiment (1840) and Don Pasquale (1843)?
52. Dumas fils's play La Dame aux Camelias provided the inspiration for which opera by Verdi?
53. The musical Kiss Me Kate is based on which play by Shakespeare?
54. Name the Russian composer of the ballets Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella and the opera Love for Three Oranges?
55. According to an Oscar-winning film of the 1980s, the composer Salieri was responsible for the death of which rival composer?
Irish Geography
In which Irish counties would you find the following geographical features?
56. Stack's Mountains
57. Inishbofin
58. The Devil's Bit
59. Clonakilty Bay
60. Clogher Head
Food
What types of food are the following?
61. Borsch
62. Andouille
63. Asiago
64. Madeleine
65. Pumpernickel
Mythology
66. Who was the Greek god of the Underworld?
67. Jason was the leader of which group in Greek mythology?
68. Which creature lived in the Labyrinth at Knossos until killed by Theseus?
69. Name the gorgon slain by Perseus.
70. Who were the nymphs, half-woman and half-bird, who lured sailors to their death with their song?
Science
71. Helium, neon, argon, krypton and radon are all what type of gas?
72. What do we call a plant that lives by absorbing food from dead and decaying organisms?
73. Which element has the symbol Pb?
74. Where would you find the cochlea?
75. Vitiligo affects which part of the body?
History
76. Plan Barbarossa was the code name given to Hitler's invasion of which country during the second World War?
77. Who was the president of the United States at the time that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima?
78. Who designed the Customs House in Dublin?
79. In which year did the Battle of the Little Bighorn, in which General Custer died, take place? Was it (a) 1875 (b)1876 or (c) 1877?
80. On which island did Napoleon die?
Twenty Questions on Everything
81. What type of animal is a grebe?
82. Who wrote the novel The Sound and the Fury?
83. With which US state do we usually associate the music known as Zydeco?
84. Which jazz musician had the nickname Bird?
85. What was the country now known as Myanmar formerly called?
86. Who was Don Quixote's servant?
87. Name the two Labour politicians elected to Dail Eireann in the recent by-elections in Dublin and Limerick.
88. With what sport do we associate the term lbw?
89. What is the all-too-familiar unit in which heat is measured?
90. Complete the proverb: "Handsome is . . ."
91. What does semper fidelis mean?
92. In theatre, which part of the stage is closer to the audience: upstage or downstage?
93. What is the Society of Friends also known as?
94. The Talmud forms part of the civil and religious law of which religion?
95. In legal terminology, what is the opposite of in curia (meaning "in open court")?
96. Which Alfred Hitchcock film climaxes with a chase down the presidential faces at Mount Rushmore?
97. Which American author wrote Salem's Lot and The Shining?
98. Who sang the hit single Don't Go Breaking My Heart with Elton John?
99. Which Irish rock star's biography was entitled Is That It?
100. In the cartoon strip Calvin and Hobbes, what type of animal is Hobbes?
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