The questions
1 Which pair first met at Thomas Davies’s bookshop on 16 May 1763?
2 What is the closest dwarf planet to Earth?
3 Proboscis monkeys are found only on which island?
4 Which element is named after an Austrian woman?
5 Who played his own great-grandfather in the film Zulu?
6 Victoria in Australia has withdrawn as the host of what?
7 Sildenafil was sold from 1998 under what brand name?
8 Where are three-digit numbers randomly generated by Cecil?
What links:
9 Tom Cribb, London SW1; the Royal Dyche, Burnley; Brownlee Arms, Horsforth?
10 Vietnam (1); Syria (2); Burundi (3); New Zealand (4); China (5)?
11 Pioneered Swat training; won nine World Series; wrote The Crucible?
12 Berlin; Bremen; Hamburg?
13 Catharina-Amalia; Elisabeth; Frederik; Haakon; Leonor; Victoria; William?
14 Enid Bagnold; Nicholas Evans; Michael Morpurgo; Anna Sewell?
15 Volcanic lava; makes honey; Japanese mushroom; natural satellite; airless space?
The answers
1 Samuel Johnson and James Boswell.
2 Ceres.
3 Borneo.
4 Meitnerium (Lise Meitner).
5 Chief (Mangosuthu) Buthelezi.
6 2026 Commonwealth Games.
7 Viagra.
8 Countdown.
9 Pubs named after sports stars: boxer Tom Cribb; football player and manager Sean Dyche; triathletes the Brownlee brothers.
10 Stars on the national flag.
11 Achievements of Marilyn Monroe’s husbands: policeman James Dougherty; baseball player Joe DiMaggio; playwright Arthur Miller.
12 Germany’s three federal city-states.
13 Heirs to European thrones: Netherlands; Belgium; Denmark; Norway; Spain; Sweden; UK.
14 Authors of horsey books: National Velvet; The Horse Whisperer; War Horse; Black Beauty.
15 Words with double vowels: aa; bee; shiitake; moon; vacuum.
