Bamber Gascoigne's Challenging Quiz Book

Bamber Gascoigne

Nov 2007 · Penguin UK

About this ebook

Who was the only British Prime Minister to be assassinated? The demolition of the old London Bridge put an end to what famous tradition? Which philosopher caught a fatal chill returning from a predawn lesson given to Queen Christina of Sweden? What was the real name of Buffalo Bill? Which mutiny, leading to a war of independence, was provoked by the use of animal fat? What was smuggled from Alexandria to Venice in, it is said, a barrel of pork? What did Pope Innocent III outlaw, as a weapon of mass destruction? Who, on the first day of 1660, had the remains of a turkey for breakfast and began a new project?

Prepare to have your general knowledge tested by the best quizmaster in the business. Here are 2000 of the world's strangest and most stimulating questions, laid out in a series of thematic quizzes that cover art , literature, politics, sport, geography and history and span all the countries of the world. Bamber Gascoigne's fascination with knowledge is highly contagious and his answers give you the context you need to find out even more.

And as to the answers to the questions above -- well, you'll have to read the book...

About the author

Bamber Gascoigne was the legendary quizmaster of University Challenge (where, very unusually, he wrote his own questions) for twenty-five years. His calm intelligence and urbane manner have been much imitated -- he was spoofed in Monty Python, The Young Ones and Red Dwarf -- but never equalled. He handed over the reins to a rather more irasible Jeremy Paxman in 1994 and now devotes most of his time to www.historyworld.net, an online history encyclopedia. He has also written and presented several landmark TV documentary series including The Christians, Victorian Values, Man and Music and The Great Moghuls and he is the author of some twenty books.