Quiz Bowl Questions
The Importance of Being Earnest
"Memory" is blamed for the three-volume novels that Mudie keeps sending a character in this work, a girl who later notes "the weather still continues charming" in a letter she wrote to herself breaking off an imaginary engagement. Minor characters in this play include the servants Merriman and Lane, while one of the male leads gets his surname from the destination of the man that found him in a handbag in Victoria Station. Another character constantly gets out of engagements by claiming to care for a fictional invalid named Bunbury, and both of the male leads get Reverend Canon to christen them. The two central women in this play are governed by Miss Prism and the snobbish Lady Bracknell. Seeing both Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax infatuated with the titular name, for 10 points, name this play centering on John Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, written by Oscar Wilde.
Edgar Allan Poe
"The Premature Burial" was written by this American author, who used that theme in such other works like "Loss of Breath" and "The Black Cat".
natural numbers
. Russell defined them by defining a function that established a set consisting of x union y, where x belonged to the set being operated on and y was not an element of x. A well ordering can be defined on these based on subset relation in the usual construction. It can be defined by starting with the empty set and using the power set operator to establish a successor function, and when the axiom of infinity is used this represents the smallest such infinite set. Hence, the size of this entity is aleph naught. The integers can be defined as equivalence classes of these entities added together, and any finite amount of data can be coded into them based on the prime factorization theorem. For ten points, name these numbers, which include 1,2,3,4... and often zero, a set of numbers often abbreviated N.
James I
A believer in absolutism, he dissolved Parliament from 1611 to 1621, favoring ministers Robert Cecil and the Duke of Buckingham instead.
Alfred the Great
Actually just the King of Wessex in southwestern England, he expelled the rival Danes from the Mercian town of London in 886, eventually conquering most of the Danelaw territory
Charles II
After Cromwell died, he used the Declaration of Breda to restore himself to the English throne.
Elizabeth I
After the death of her Catholic sister Mary I, she tried to restore religious order by declaring England a Protestant state but naming herself only "Governor" of the Church
Jean Lafitte
Although he'd later serve as the governor of Campeche in Galveston, this pirate greatly helped out Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans, earning a pardon for his crew.
William I
An able administrator, he authorized a survey of his kingdom in the 1086 Domesday Book.
Alfred the Great
As a youth he was sent to Rome where he was made either consul or king by Pope Leo IV and he was later responsible for reorganizing the fyrd. His defeat of Guthrun at the Battle of Eddington led to the Treaty of Widmore, which set up an area for autonomous Viking rule, the Danelaw. Although he is not William I, this king did create a Doom Book which was a code of law often named for him and which was prefaced by the Ten Commandments. This ruler also translated St. Augustine's Soliloquies and Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy into English and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle began under his reign. For 10 points, identify this first King of the Anglo-Saxons, the only English king to be known as "the Great".
James I
As the great-great-grandson of Henry VII, he claimed the English throne upon the death of Elizabeth I
James I
At age one he succeeded his mother Mary as King James VI of Scotland.
George III
Britain's economic empire expanded during his reign.
Council of Trent
Called by Pope Paul III and broken into three periods of debate, this council promoted the doctrine of free will, clarified the sacraments and set the stage for the Counter-Reformation.
Ph
Carbonic anhydrase is used in the bloodstream to control this quantity via conversion to bicarbonate and hydrogen ions from carbon dioxide and water.
Buret
Chemistry lab students everywhere should recognize this long, graduated tube used to deliver accurate amounts of liquid, as it is commonly used when performing titrations.
Elizabeth II
Current Queen of England
William I
Duke of Normandy from 1035, he was promised succession to the throne by Edward the Confessor, but when Edward gave the throne to Harold II in 1066, he invaded England, killing Harold and defeating the Anglo-Saxons at the Battle of Hastings
July's People
During this work, the wife of the title character is criticized for putting bales of hay where visiting children will ruin them. Those children's mother threatens to tell Martha about his mistress, although the title character has abandoned Ellen in the city. In response, he holds on to some car keys for the rest of the story. This novel ends with that mother running after a helicopter, after Maureen had accused the title character of stealing things from her in their earlier life when she tries to get a stolen gun back. It turns out that Daniel had stolen the gun earlier and run away to join a revolution. For 10 points, Maureen and Bam Smale have to take refuge with their title servant after a black revolution in South Africa in what novel by Nadine Gordimer?
John Lackland
England's barons forced he to sign the Magna Carta at Runnymede, an event that marked the beginning of the development of the British constitution.
Philip IV or Philip the Fair
Even earlier, the Council of Vienne was called mainly thanks to this French monarch, who got absolved of his conflict with Pope Boniface VII at the council. He was succeeded by Louis X.
John Lackland
Excommunicated by the Pope for four years for refusing to accept Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury
James II
Exiled to Louis XIV's court, he made an attempt to regain his crown in 1690 but was routed at the Battle of the Boyne.
Charles I
From 1630 to 1641 he tried to rule solo, but financial troubles forced him to call the Short and Long Parliaments
Richard I (the Lion-Hearted)
He also fought Philip II in Normandy, and died while defending his possessions in Aquitaine
Henry VIII
He executed top ministers who crossed him, including Thomas Cromwell and Thomas More.
Charles II
He fought two lackluster wars against the Dutch, and needed protection from Louis XIV through the Treaty of Dover.
George III
He lost the American colonies in the Revolutionary War
Henry VIII
He married six times, but only his third wife, Jane Seymour, bore him a son, the sickly Edward VI.
Alfred the Great
He translated Boethius, Augustine, and the Venerable Bede's works into Anglo-Saxon
Krishna
He was born in a prison cell on a day known as Janmashtami, shortly followed by his supernatural escape to the care of his foster parents in Vrindavana. Upon rescuing the 16,000 maidens held by the demon Narakasura, he married all of them in order to preserve their social status. Often depicted as a child eating butter or playing the flute, he held a hill up above the residents of his town to shelter them from a storm. Duryodhana chose this deity's army for the Kauravas after he refused to raise a weapon in the Kurukshetra. The Pandavas, however, chose him as he served as Arjuna's charioteer, to whom he delivered the Bhagavad Gita. For 10 points, name this incarnation of Vishnu, generally shown alongside his consort, Radha.
James I
He was the intended target of Catholic fanatic Guy Fawkes' failed Gunpowder Plot in 1605
Richard I (the Lion-Hearted)
He went on the Third Crusade to Jerusalem, winning many victories in the Holy Land, but on his way back was captured and ransomed by Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI
Elizabeth I
Henry VIII's daughter by Anne Boleyn
Elizabeth I
Her reign saw great expansion of the English navy and the emergence of William Shakespeare
Charles I
His attempt to reform the Scottish Church was the last straw, as Parliament entered into the English Civil War.
Charles I
His minister, the Duke of Buckingham, asked Parliament for money to fight costly foreign wars, and when Parliament balked, he had to sign the Petition of Right
James I
His rule saw English expansion into North America, through royal charter in Virginia and Puritan protest in Massachusetts.
James II
His three years, however, did feature heavy favoritism toward Catholics, so much so that Protestants invited his son-in-law William of Orange to rule England, deposing of him in the bloodless Glorious Revolution.
Charles II
His wife Catherine of Braganza produced no legitimate heirs, but this "Merry Monarch" has as many as 14 illegitimate children.
Pip
Identify this character, who is a friend of Herbert Pocket, a rival of Bentley Drummle and the enemy of Dolge Orlick, who brutally attacked his sister.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
In one work by this author, Donatello may not be completely human and Miriam is being sought after by a Model, and Kenyon is a humanist sculptor. The title character of another of his works goes to a meeting place where he is led by the devil, who shows that all of the seemingly Christian members of his town are actually Satanists. In another short story, Colonel Killigrew and Mr. Meadbourne drink water of the fountain of youth. In one novel by this author, Holgrave Maude and Phoebe Pynchon defy their ancestral conflicts and fall in love, while Clifford and Hepzibah are freed from the specter of their ancestor, a judge who presided over the Salem Witch Trials. In addition to The Marble Faun, he collected "Young Goodman Brown" and "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" in Twice-Told Tales. For 10 points, name this author of the House of the Seven Gables and The Scarlet Letter.
The Cherry Orchard
In this play, a bow snaps at various points at the end of scenes, though the main action occurs when Lophakin buys the estate of Ranevskya, a spendthrift who had gone to Paris after the death of her child.
Pilgrim's Progress
In this work, Christian attempts to escape the city of destruction and make his way to the Wicket gate and to the Celestial city. In the second part, his wife tries the same.
Victoria
Influenced the passage of the Reform Act of 1867, which doubled the number of Britons who could vote.
Henry II
Invaded England in 1153, forcing Stephen of Blois to acknowledge him as his heir.
Alfred the Great
Kept England from the worst of the Dark Ages by encouraging his bishops to foster literacy
Elizabeth I
Known as the "Virgin Queen" because she never married
Distillation
Name this method which separates components of a mixture based on differences in volatility or boiling point.
Blackbeard
Name this pirate active in America during the War of the Spanish Succession, the captain of the Queen Anne's Revenge.
The Seagull
Name this play, which earlier sees Konstantin shoot the title creature to give to Nina.
The Premature Burial
Name this short story, in which the narrator recounts several tales of the titular horror before recounting his own experience.
Perceval
One tale recounts how as a youth this figure put a javelin through the eye of Ither, allowing him to obtain his first suit of armor. That victory was helped by his early mentor Gurnemanz. This man failed to bed the owner of a ship that appeared to him after he saw a red cross on the pommel of his unsheathed sword. This nephew of the Queen of the Wastelands once married a woman sometimes named Condwiramurs, and broke a sword fighting against his half-brother, Feirefiz. He accomplished his most famous action with Sir Bors and a man who once sat at the Siege Perilous. In one account, this figure fails to ask a question that will save the Fisher King. The namesake of a 13th century poem by Wolfram von Eschenbach that provided inspiration for a Wagner opera, for 10 points, name this Knight of the Round Table who, along with Galahad, obtained the Holy Grail.
Hiroshima
One work set in this location depicts the title character collecting a fireman's hat and ends with him releasing a boat with a candle on it. In addition to the graphic novel Barefoot Gen, another work about this place features an essay title "On Human Dignity", included in a collection titled "this place" Notes. That work consists of seven trips to the title location by the man who also edited a collection of stories about this place, which includes a story in which the title flower blooms late on a pond where a dead body is found, Crazy Iris. Another work set here follows the lives of six people including Father Kleinsorge and Miss Sasaki. That work includes the chapter "The Noiseless Flash", as well as a fifth chapter set 40 years later. For 10 points, name this city written about by Kenzaburo Oe and John Hersey, which along with Nagasaki was destroyed by an atom bomb during World War II.
Henry VIII
Originally a supporter of the Catholic Church--the Pope had named him "Defender of the Faith"--he named himself head of the Church of England in 1533
Henry VIII
Patronized the philosopher Erasmus, the painter Hans Holbein the Younger, and the writer Thomas More.
Tevye
Perhaps Aleichem's best known creation is this dairyman who had daughters who married non-Jews and Communists who was caricatured in Fiddler on the Roof.
The Cask of Amontillado
Perhaps the best-known Poe work dealing with premature burial is this one, in which the narrator lures Fortunato to his death with the promise of the titular item.
John Bunyan
Pilgrim's Progress was a work of this writer.
Great Expectations
Pip is the protagonist of this bildungsroman by Charles Dickens.
George III
Popular at home, he suffered from porphyria, causing the "madness" that ultimately led to the Regency period (1811-1820) of his son George IV.
Victoria
Proclaimed Empress of India.
Blaise Pascal
Provincial Letters were penned by this French thinker, who sewed a document called Memorial concerning his conversion into his coat.
William I
Replaced Anglo-Saxon nobles and clergy with Normans and other continentals
Elizabeth II
Representative of the modern ceremonial monarchy, she and her husband "Prince" Philip Mountbatten have traveled the globe representing British interests. Marital failures by her sons Charles (the Prince of Wales) and Andrew have plagued her reign.
Elizabeth I
She foiled attempts at her throne by Spanish king Philip II and Mary, Queen of Scots; the latter she reluctantly executed in 1587.
James II
The 1678 Popish Plot against Charles II would have elevated the Roman Catholic him to the throne, had it been real and not fabricated by Titus Oates.
Anton Chekov
The Cherry Orchard and The Seagull were both written by this Russian playwright, who also wrote the short story "The Lady with the Dog".
Philip II
The Oath of Abjuration was a declaration of independence from this Spanish king, who later ordered the Spanish Armada to sail against England.
Charles I
The last absolute English monarch
Victoria
The longest-reigning monarch in British history
Henry II
The son of Geoffrey of Anjou and Matilda, he married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152
Chromatography
These methods separate mixtures based on retardation factor by passing them through a stationary phase. Types include paper, size-exclusion, and thin-layer.
Charles I
They defeated him, convicting him of treason and executing him. England became a Commonwealth with Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector.
Richard I (the Lion-Hearted)
Third son of Henry II, he spent only five months of his reign in England
Symphony on a Hymn Tune [or Symphony No. 1]
This Thomson symphony has its four movements structured as a set of variations on "How Firm a Foundation" in the form of a sonata, a Bach chorale prelude, a passacaglia, and finally a fugato and rondo.
Niccolo Machiavelli
This author praises the Parlements of France in a work centering on the French monarchy, and has characters like Luigi Alamanni and Fabrizio Colonna engage in a Socratic Dialogue. In one play by this author, the title character disguises himself as a doctor and convinces Nicia to give the titular plant to his daughter Lucrezia in this hope that it will kill the first man she sleeps with. Besides that play about Callimaco, The Mandrake, in his most famous work this author praises the actions of Agathocles of Syracuse and claims "the arms of others either fall off you, or weigh you down or squeeze you" in a citation of the story of David and Saul used to illustrate the problem of using mercenary troops. The author of The Discourses on Livy, for 10 points, name this writer who claimed that fear is more advantageous than love in The Prince.
Law of Multiple Proportions
This basic law states that elements combine in a ratio of small whole numbers.
War of Jenkins' Ear
This conflict with Spain, a precursor to the War of Austrian Succession, saw an amphibious assault on the fortified port of Cartagena in the New World. As the assault wore on, the early British successes gave way to starvation and disease, and the British finally withdrew after a loss of over 10,000 men and dozens of ships.
Council of Constance
This earlier church council condemned the teachings of John Wycliff and Jan Hus. It also elected Martin V to help heal the Papal Schism, which had not been fixed by the earlier Council of Pisa.
Wemmick
This eccentric clerk of Jaggers and friend of Pip in Great Expectations has a strange relationship with his father, whom he refers to as his "Aged Parent". He eventually marries Miss Skiffins.
Tory Party
This group emerged during disputes with the self-styled "True Protestants", in turn referring to themselves as the Abhorrers. Initial success in that conflict was exemplified by the crushing of the Monmouth Rebellion. The prosecution of preacher Henry Sacheverell and the namesake disturbances led to another of this group's successes, the creation of the Riot Act, thirty years after their defeat of the Exclusion Act. Cromwell's conquests during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms led to the phenomenon that named this party, by causing an increase in landless, armed Irish-Catholics. It declined from its heyday, when led by such figures as William Pitt the Younger, to a small surviving faction headed by Benjamin Disraeli that became its spiritual successor, the modern Conservative Party. Rising to prominence due to their defense of royal power during the English Restoration, this is, for 10 points, what British political party, which was opposed by the Whigs?
John II
This king got himself captured while getting crushed by the Black Prince at the Battle of Poitiers, and then, after leaving his son as a replacement hostage so he could raise a ransom, voluntarily went back into custody when his son escaped, where he died.
William I of Orange
This man, the leader of the revolt, was deemed unfit to rule as a replacement to Philip II, and thus the Dutch turned unsuccessfully to France and England.
Filtration
This method of mechanical separation differs slightly from sieving and uses a namesake device through which only fluid particles can pass.
Lebanon
This nation's 2006 conflict with Israel began when Hezbollah fired rockets at Zar'it, and saw the IDF fire on civilian targets like Beirut's Rafic Hariri Airport.
The Holy War
This other Bunyan novel describes the overthrow of Mansoul from Shaddai to Diabolus and the attempt to save it by the son of Shaddai, Emmanuel.
Louis IX
This pious monarch's notable feats include botching the Seventh and Eighth Crusades and establishing a rare peace with England. He was canonized a few decades after his death, the only French king to be so honored.
John Lackland
Though he tried to seize the crown from his brother Richard while the latter was in Germany, Richard forgave him and made him his successor.
Charles II
Tolerant of Catholics, he dissolved Parliament over the issue in 1681 and refused to prevent his brother James from succeeding him.
Richard III
Two years later, he died at the hands of Henry Tudor's Lancastrian forces at Bosworth Field, ending the Wars of the Roses and beginning the reign of Henry VII
Richard III
Upon Edward's death in 1483, he served as regent to his nephew Edward V, but likely had the boy murdered in the Tower of London that year.
John Lackland
Weak as a fighter, as French King Philip II routed him at Bouvines in 1214.
Elizabeth I
When she died, the Crown went to Scottish king James VI, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Charles II
While Cromwell ruled the Commonwealth, he was crowned King of Scotland in 1651.
Henry II
While king he developed the common law and due process, but fought with Thomas (à) Becket over submission to the Pope; He had Becket executed in 1170 but performed penance at Canterbury
Henry II
Wife and his four sons conspired with French king Philip II against him on several occasions.
Philip II
] This ruler managed to break up the Angevin Empire by fighting constant wars against the English. Earlier he embarked on the Third Crusade with his childhood friend Richard the Lionheart, though the two soon feuded and their kingdoms went back to war.
Victoria
she relinquished much of the remaining royal power, both to her husband Albert and to her favored prime ministers, Lord Melbourne, Robert Peel, and Benjamin Disraeli.
Richard III
was made Duke of Gloucester in 1461 when his brother Edward IV deposed the Lancastrian king Henry VI, as part of the Wars of the Roses
