Bella’s Big Hogmanay 2020 Quiz

Pub quizzes appear to be the parlour game that got us through lockdown numero uno, and as we find ourselves staring down the barrel of a third (or is it fourth?) I have compiled a quiz to keep you nice and occupied during this most uneventful of Hogmanays.

You can submit your answers here. Correct answers will be revealed on the 3rd of January, and the top 10 highest scorers will receive a prize in the form of a Bella Caledonia poster!

Literature 

  1. What was the title of Douglas Stuart’s 2020 Booker Prize winning novel, set in early 1980s Glasgow?
  2. By what name was Muriel Sarah Camberg better known?
  3. What classic children’s book opens with the line, “All children, except one, grow up”?
  4. Peter May’s latest thriller was initially rejected by publishers fifteen years ago, but for what reason?
  5. The (Scottish) name of what card game recalls a novel published by Kirstin Innes this year?

What Links…

  1. Goblin Island, Echo, Yew Place and Isle of Pigs?
  2. Prestonpans, Sherrifmuir and Drumossie Moor?
  3. Crow Road, Fleshmarket Close, Scotland Street and Espedair Street?
  4. ’24 Hour Psycho’, ‘Do Words Have Voices’, ‘Lowlands’ and ‘No Title’?
  5. Cheviot, Blackface, Soay and Castelmilk Moorit?

Who Appeared in These Movies? 

  1. ‘The Hill’, ‘The Offence’ and ‘The Hunt for Red October’?
  2. ‘Whoops Apocalypse’, ‘The Pope Must Die’ and ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’?
  3. ‘Brighton Rock’, ‘Ulysses’ and ‘The Eagle Has Landed’?
  4. What connects them?

Name These Characters from Scottish Folklore…

  1. Gentle seals that shed their skin and take on human form on dry land. They can be coerced into relationships with humans if their sealskin is stolen, but their rightful home is the sea.
  2. Shapeshifting equine water spirits who delight in drowning their victims.
  3. A solitary and stocky male fairy who is kind in character but wild. Clothed in moss and leaves, he has a gentle devotion to children and resides in a birch wood near Loch a Druing.
  4. Small household spirits dressed in brown clothes that perform chores under cover of night whilst humans are asleep. Easily offended, they can be mischievous and will leave if they feel they have been taken advantage of.

Music

  1. Can you name three acts from this year’s Scottish Album of the Year shortlist?
  2. Which sad singer-songwriter inspired ‘Solid Air’ by John Martyn?
  3. Can you name the two bands that brothers John and David Maclean are founding members of?
  4. Scotland’s grassroots music scene has taken a huge hit this year. Which famous Scottish music venue’s sign boasts “Best UK Live Venue” – Radio 1?

Firsts

  1. What did Sir Robert Anderson design in the late nineteenth century- the first purpose-built example in the world?
  2. Alexander Cumming was the first to patent, in 1775, what fundamental advance in hygiene?
  3. What popular best friend was first developed by Dudley Marjoribanks (Baron Tweedmouth) on his Glen Affric estate nearly two hundred years ago?
  4. What stock beverage was first produced by John Lawson Johnston in 1874?
  5. The great poet William Dunbar was the first to use what sometimes objectionable word in a literary context?

Politics

  1. Which European country did Conservative Michael Howard threaten to go to war with?
  2. Which senior Conservative MP told Tatler magazine he had strangled a dog?
  3. At one point it was thought that a No Deal Brexit might threaten supplies of sperm to the UK. From which country does the UK import almost half of its sperm?
  4. Which influential think-tank suggested that the Irish border issues created by Brexit should be resolved by the use of Zeppelins?

 

ANSWERS

Literature

  1. Shuggie Bain
  2. Muriel Spark
  3. Peter Pan by J M Barrie
  4. Lockdown by Peter May is set against the backdrop of a flu pandemic, and was initially rejected by publishers for being too unrealistic.
  5. Scabby Queen

What Links … 

  1. English translations of Hebridean island names : Goblin island – Eriskay. Echo – Isle of Ewe. Yew Place – Iona. Isle of Pigs – Muck.
  2. Jacobean battle sites : Drumossie Moor is another name for Culloden
  3. Real Scottish streets that inspired novel titles.
  4. The titles of Turner Prize winning pieces by Glaswegian artists : ’24 Hour Psycho’ by Douglas Gordon (1996), ‘Do Words Have Voices’ by Martin Boyce (2011), ‘Lowlands’ by Susan Philipsz (2010) and ‘No Title’ by Richard Wright (2008).
  5. Scottish breeds of sheep.

Who Appears in These Movies?

  1. Sean Connery
  2. John Sessions
  3. Maurice Roeves
  4. Scottish actors who died in 2020

Name These Characters from Scottish Folklore…

  1. Selkies
  2. Kelpies
  3. Ghillie Dhu
  4. Brownies

Music

  1. Blanck Mass, Bossy Love, Callum Easter, Cloth, Comfort, Declan Welsh and The Decadent West, Erland Cooper, The Ninth Wave, SHHE, Nova
  2. Nick Drake
  3. the Beta Band and Django Django
  4. King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut

Firsts

  1. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery
  2. The flushing lavatory
  3. The Golden Retriever
  4. Bovril
  5. Fuck. (In Secret Place this Hyndir Nycht)

Politics

  1. Spain, over Gibraltar
  2. Michael Heseltine
  3. Denmark
  4. The Leggatum Institute

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Comments (2)

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  1. Craig P says:

    Nice quiz Iona.

    Firsts, 5. Dunbar – there’s arguably two!

  2. DonDon says:

    Yes, Craig P. Great minds think alike. I thought that as well.

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