1. Contestants from which two countries have won the most Miss Universe titles?

2. Which Beatles song title is mentioned in Don McLean's hit song 'American Pie'?

3. Which word, used in the world of espionage, stems from John Le Carre's 1974 novel 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'?

4. Who played the role of 'The Ace Face' in the film Quadrophenia?

5. Name the country from which each of the following types of soup originated? One point for each correct answer.
a. Miso
b. Gazpacho
c. Cullen Skink
d. Waterzooi

6. The name of which world famous ship translated means 'short chemise' or 'short undergarment'?

7. When the definition of a desert is 'an area with an average annual percipitation of less than 250 millimetres per year'; on which continent is the largest desert in the world?

8. In the opening scene of the cult TV series 'The Prisoner', the agent in the Lotus 7 was followed by which type of vehicle?

9. What was Sir Percy Blakeney's colourful nickname?

10. Who released each of the following number one UK albums in 1980? One point for each correct answer.
a. No Sleep Till Hammersmith
b. Double Fantasy
c. Abacab
d. The Visitors
e. Ghost In The Machine

ANSWERS

1. USA (7) and Venezuela (6)

2. Helter Skelter (Helter Skelter in the summer swelter) "Helter Skelter" is a song written by Paul McCartney, credited to Lennon–McCartney, and recorded by the Beatles on their eponymous LP The Beatles, better known as The White Album. A product of McCartney's deliberate effort to create a sound as loud and dirty as possible, the clangorous piece has been noted for both its "proto-metal roar" and "unique textures" and is considered by music historians as a key influence in the development of heavy metal. In a special stand-alone issue, Rolling Stone ranked "Helter Skelter" fifty-second on its "100 Greatest Beatles songs" list. Charles Manson claimed the song was the inspiration for his gang's string of murders in the 1960s.

3. Mole The term was introduced to the public by British spy novelist John Le Carré in his 1974 novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and has since entered general usage, but its origin is unclear, as well as to what extent it was used by intelligence services before it became popularized. Le Carré has said that the term mole was actually used by the Soviet intelligence agency KGB, and that a corresponding term used by Western intelligence services was sleeper agent. While the term mole was applied to spies in the book Historie of the Reign of King Henry VII written in 1626 by Sir Francis Bacon, Le Carré has said he did not get the term from that source.

4. Sting The Ace Face was the King of the Mods, a.k.a. The Bell Boy in the film adaptation of The Who album

5. Four answers
a. Japan
b. Spain (or Portugal)
c. Scotland
d. Belgium

6. Cutty Sark The ship was named after Cutty Sark, the nickname of the witch Nannie Dee in Robert Burns' 1791 poem Tam o' Shanter. The ship's figurehead, the original carved by Robert Hellyer of Blackwall, shows Nannie Dee in a stark white carving of a bare-breasted woman with long black hair holding a grey horse's tail in her hand. In the poem she wore a linen sark (Scots: a short chemise or undergarment), that she had been given as a child, which explains why it was cutty, or in other words far too short. The erotic sight of her dancing in such a short undergarment caused Tam to cry out "Weel done, Cutty-sark", which subsequently became a well known catchphrase.

7. The Antarctic Antarctic Desert (13,829,430 km²), Arctic (13,726,937 km²), Sahara (9,100,000+ km²)

8. A hearse

9. The Scarlet Pimpernel The Scarlet Pimpernel is a play and adventure novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. The title character, Sir Percy Blakeney, represents the original "hero with a secret identity" that inspired subsequent literary creations such as Don Diego de la Vega (El Zorro) and Bruce Wayne (Batman). Sir Percy is a wealthy English baronet who rescues individuals sentenced to death in the guillotine. He soon reveals himself to be a master of disguise, an imaginative planner, a formidable swordsman and a quick-thinking escape artist. With each rescue he taunts his enemies by leaving behind a card showing a small flower—a scarlet pimpernel.

10. Five answers
a. Motorhead
b. John Lennon & Yoko Ono
c. Genesis
d. ABBA
e. Police