'Mastermind' Questions

 

These questions were asking during the specialist subject round of the BBC programme. Each contestant had just two minutes to answer as many questions as they could.

The first set of questions were asked on a show broadcast in October 2005, and the contestant, Derek Moody, got 16 of the 17 questions correct (incorrectly answering 'You And I' to question 7).

The second set of questions were asked on a celebrity version of the programme, broadcast in December 2010. The contestant, comedian Rhys Thomas, answered 21 of the 22 questions correctly (incorrectly answering 'These Are The Days Of Our Lives' to question 18), and donated his fee for appearing to the Mercury Phoenix Trust. Host John Humphrys remarked that it was possibly the highest score achieved in the celebrity format of the show. Rhys Thomas went on to work with Queen on several projects, most notably directing the Freddie Mercury 'The Great Pretender' documentary.

The third and final first set of questions were asked on a show broadcast on 18 February 2011, and the contestant, Warren Tang, got 10 of the 15 questions correct (incorrectly answering 'Electrica', 'Dave Grose', 'Maracana', 'Dave Gowers' and 'Good Old Fashioned Loverboy', to questions 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 respectively).

 

Quiz Answers


1. Queen provided the soundtrack for which 1980 film and reached the UK top 10 with the resulting album?
2. Under what name was Roger Taylor credited on the first two Queen albums?
3. Which musician played additional keyboards for the band on their live appearances between 1984 and 1986?
4. Before forming Queen, Roger Taylor and Brian May had previously been members of which band with bass guitarist Tim Staffell?
5. On which album was Freddie Mercury credited with providing 'vocals, vocals, Bechstein Debauchery and more vocals'?
6. In 1973 and 1974, Queen went on a UK and American tour supporting which fellow British band?
7. "It's dog eat dog in this rat race" is a line from which John Deacon song on the album 'News Of The World'?
8. The four tracks that made up Queen's First EP in 1977 were 'Good Old Fashioned Loverboy', 'Death On Two Legs', 'Tenement Funster', and which track from 'Queen II'?
9. Two sound engineers who went on to produce Queen's debut album were present when the band made a demo tape at De Lane Lea studios, one was Roy Thomas Baker, who was the other?
10. In 1965, Brian went to Imperial College, London, to study which subjects?
11. Shortly before the release of the first Queen album, Freddie Mercury released a single under the name of Larry Lurex, that was a cover of which Beach Boys song?
12. What was the name of the band that Roger Taylor formed in 1987 with Peter Noone, Clayton Moss, Spike Edney and Josh Macrae?
13. Who provided backing vocals on the track 'Good Old Fashioned Loverboy' on 'A Day At The Races', the first time that anyone other than the four band members had sung on a Queen track?
14. What was the follow up single to Bohemian Rhapsody which was also on the 'A Night At The Opera' album?
15. The band used the synthesiser for the first time on the chart topping album 'The Game'. What type of synthesiser?
16. Which song on Sheer Heart Attack was the first song to appear on a Queen album that had the composition credited to all four members of the band?
17. Freddie Mercury had only played keyboard instruments on record until he played rhythm guitar on which of his own compositions?


1. Who was the last of the four members to join the band, doing so in 1971?
2. What is Freddie Mercury doing when he first appears on the video of 'I Want To Break Free'?
3. In 1973, just before the band's first album was released, under what name did Freddie Mercury release a cover of The Beach Boys' 'I Can Hear Music'?
4. Which member of the band wrote their 1984 top 10 hit single 'Radio Ga Ga'?
5. In October 1984, Queen were heavily criticised for playing a series of concerts in which venue?
6. In which year did 'Bohemian Rhapsody' first top the UK singles chart, it reached no 1 again after Freddie's death in 1991?
7. What song did the band perform on their first appearance on 'Top Of The Pops'?
8. Who co-produced some of the band's earlier albums including 'Sheer Heart Attack' and 'A Night At The Opera'?
9. Which guitar did Brian May use on 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' instead of his usual homemade one?
10. In 1978, which song was released on a double-A sided single with 'Fat Bottomed Girls'?
11. Which album was launched at a notorious party in New Orleans on Halloween 1978?
12. EMI released 'Bohemian Rhapsody' as a single, partly in response to the audience reaction after a DJ played it on his radio show. Who was the DJ?
13. In 1980, Queen wrote and performed the soundtrack for which film directed by Mike Hodges?
14. The track 'Sheer Heart Attack' does not appear on the album of the same title, on which album did it first appear?
15. Where in London did the band perform a free open-air concert in September 1976?
16. Queen's 1981 UK #1 hit 'Under Pressure' was a collaboration with which singer?
17. The band played a concert in which Eastern Bloc country in July 1986?
18. Which song gave Queen their last no 1 hit single during Freddie Mercury's lifetime?
19. With which former Free and Bad Company vocalist did Roger Taylor and Brian May perform as Queen from 2004 onwards?
20. Which festively titled single did Queen release in December 1984?
21. What is the title of Queen's 1979 live album?
22. 'Bohemian Rhapsody' reached no 2 in the US singles chart in 1992 after the song appeared in which film?


1. The video for Queen's single 'Radio Ga Ga' includes excerpts from which classic silent film?
2. At which racecourse did the band attend a special horse race, held to promote their album 'A Day At The Races'?
3. The guitar that was the source of Brian May's distinctive playing sound was made by him and his father in about 1963. What name did he give the guitar?
4. What's the title of the 1989 album that had a pioneering sleeve design featuring the faces of all four band members merging into each other?
5. For which song did Freddie Mercury win his first Ivor Novello songwriting award in 1975?
6. Who became the band's manager in September 1975, following the break from their management company Trident?
7. In the UK, Queen's recordings were released on EMI, but on which label were they released in America until 1983 when the band signed to Capitol?
8. Who became Queen's temporary bass player in 1970 after Tim Staffell, and before Barry Mitchell?
9. In 1981, the band played to a crowd of over a hundred and thirty thousand at a stadium in Sao Paulo, at the time it was a world record attendance for a concert. What stadium?
10. A live version of which song originally from the album 'A Night At The Opera', was the first single to be released from the album 'Live Killers', although it only reached no 63 in the chart?
11. Who directed the pioneering video for Queen's epic single 'Bohemian Rhapsody', which is widely regarded as the first modern pop video?
12. Which song from the album 'Sheer Heart Attack' is one of the four songs featured on Queen's 1977 EP?
13. The 1985 hit single 'One Vision' appeared on the soundtrack of which action film that was released the following year?
14. In May 1991, the last Queen video featuring Freddie Mercury was made to promote which single?
15. Which radio 1 DJ and television presenter, who was an early champion of the band, compered their free concert in Hyde Park in September 1976?