50 for fun; Phil Brown's weekly trivia quiz.

Byline: BROWN?

1 Which UK national athletics record did "Bath Bullet" Jason Gardener break twice in his home town on Sunday?

2 Which great city of antiquity is now a suburb of the city of Tunis?

3 Which two non-league teams forced replays with Premiership clubs in the third round of the FA Cup at the weekend?

4 The first-ever package tour - a round trip from Leicester to a temperance meeting in Loughborough for a shilling - was organized in 1841 by which name still famous in the travel business?

5 A record number of entries have been received for Cheltenham's Gold Cup in March - how many (five either way)?

6 Lieutenant-Colonel Seton's heroically suicidal order to his men of "women and children first" when a ship was sinking off South Africa in 1854 with only three working lifeboats has become known - after the ship - as what Drill?

7 Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison and George Sanders starred in classic romantic weepie The Ghost And...?

8 Of which European country is the Kalevala the national epic?

9 In tennis, which country did the US beat on Friday to take the Hopman Cup?

10 The firm of Brunner Mond, which grew from Cheshire salt mining, was one of those that joined forces to make which modern industrial giant?

11 The unit of magnetic flux density, symbol T, is named for Croatian American engineer and inventor Nikola...?

12 New snooker star Ding Junhui is currently involved in world championship qualification in which North Wales town?

13 What profession was followed by art nouveau enthusiast Spaniard Antonio Gaudi?

14 Golfer Stuart Appleby won his third successive 'tournament of champions' Mercedes Championships on Sunday - in which US state?

15 The Maunder Minimum, which happened at the same time as the "Little Ice Age" around 1700, was a minimum in what astronomical phenomenon?

16 Which Austrian city is taking the name of Arnold Schwarzenegger off its sports stadium at his request, after city politicians criticised his support for the death penalty?

17 Which major US city has reclaimed more than 250 square miles of its famous bay from the sea over the past century?

18 The violet dye orchil is obtained from several species of which symbiotic plants?

19 Which Liberal Democrat is former leader Paddy Ashdown backing to head the party following Charles Kennedy's resignation?

20 Which now world-famous writer was rejected as a marriage partner for Maria Beadnell in the 1830s because his prospects were not felt to be satisfactory?

21 Which planet's gravitational effect is responsible for the Kirkwood Gaps, where few asteroids are to be found? 22The 7,468th performance of which musical set an all-time Broadway record on Monday?

23 Who wrote the novels Madame Bovary, L'Education Sentimentale and Salammbo?

24 Bjork, Chris Eubank and David Icke have just topped a BBC magazine poll to find the star who is most... what?

25 Which tough volcanic rock takes its name from the Greek word for purple?

26 Which gruesome low-budget horror film has replaced Narnia at the top of the US box office chart?

27 Coldplay, the Kaiser Chiefs and Kelly Clarkson are among the performers confirmed for which event on February 15?

28 Drew Barrymore and Eric Bana are the stars in which forthcoming film set in Las Vegas?

29 The Romans built a circular wall around places struck by lightning, believing them to be the property of which god?

30 DNA studies have traced which pet's origins to Asia 11 million years ago?

31 Which troubled Caribbean nation has set its four-times-delayed presidential poll date for February 7?

32 Wandering 16th-century medical genius Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus Von Hohenheim gave himself - perhaps understandably - a simpler nickname to mark his opinion that he was better than a famous Roman doctor. What was it?

33 Barbara Vine is a pseudonym of which popular novelist?

34 The US Messenger probe to Mercury has set a record by communicating with Earth across 15 million miles via what device?

35 Which former part of the Soviet Union has the capital city of Chisinau?

36 Rehoboam was the son and successor of which great ruler?

37 The Japanese daikon, which can weigh up to a kilogram, is an outsize form of which popular salad foodstuff?

38 When Margaret Queen of Scotland died in 1290 on her way to marry Prince Edward, she was a year older than him... but what age was she?

39 Robert Graves' I Claudius, George Orwell's Burmese Days and Agatha Christie's Murder On The Orient Express all appeared in which year (three either way)?

40 Luzon is the largest island of which large nation?

41 In which drama now showing on TV does John Simm play a policeman transported back to 1973?

42 On which musical instrument did Vladimir Horowitz achieve international acclaim?

43 Which famous Gaulish warrior defeated after a long struggle by Julius Caesar in 52BC was chief of the Averni?

44 The late Tony Banks said of whom that "he's so unpopular that if he became a funeral director people would stop dying"?

45 Which football team takes its name - via a dance hall - from the title of a novel by Walter Scott?

46 What reminder of a crucial medieval commodity does the Lord High Chancellor sit on in the House of Lords?

47 Speaking of the novelist Joseph Conrad, what did H G Wells say was "one of our damned English tricks he has never been able to tackle"?

48 Which US Republican politician has quit as House majority leader - despite denying any wrongdoing - over links with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff?

49 Which Prime Minister said that Beatles lyrics were "unrecognisable as the Queen's English"?

50 Which Newcastle United legend's club goalscoring record did Alan Shearer equal at the weekend?

TRIVIA QUIZ

1 Indoor 100 metres' 2 Carthage' 3 Nuneaton Borough and Burton Albion' 4 Thomas Cook' 5 Sixty-four' 6 The Birkenhead Drill' 7 Mrs Muir' 8 Finland' 9 The Netherlands' 10 ICI' 11 Tesla' 12 Prestatyn' 13 Architect' 14 Hawaii' 15 Sunspots' 16 Graz' 17 San Francisco' 18 Lichens' 19 Sir Menzies Campbell' 20 Charles Dickens' 21 Jupiter' 22 Phantom Of The Opera' 23 Gustave Flaubert' 24 Eccentric' 25 Porphyry' 26 Hostel' 27 The Brit Awards' 28 Lucky You' 29 Jove/Jupiter' 30 The domestic cat' 31 Haiti' 32 Paracelsus (above Celsus)' 33 Ruth Rendell' 34 Laser' 35 Moldova' 36 Solomon' 37 Radish' 38 Seven years old' 39 In 1934' 40 The Philippines' 41 Life On Mars' 42 The piano' 43 Vercingetorix' 44 John Major' 45 Heart of Midlothian (Hearts)' 46 The Woolsack' 47 Humour' 48 Tom DeLay' 49 Edward Heath' 50 Jackie Milburn's.