The answer to everything, from AQA 63336 via Leeds

London, 27 March 2007 – Searching for a haunted spot in the city centre? Maybe you're looking for ''the Whites' top ten goal scorers? Or perhaps you'd like to know how long it takes to throw a shoe all the way across Leeds, without risking one of your own?

The Yorkshire Evening Post has just interviewed several of AQA's Leeds based researchers, who are particularly suited to answering these as well as any other questions you may have. To read the full article go here, or see below for three researcher profiles.

At 58, Barry Simmons from Roundhay, has over 30 years experience as an IT Manager and has been a researcher for AQA for 6 months. A huge quiz buff, Barry has been a semi finalist on 'Brain of Britain' and 'Mastermind' and told Chris Tarrant on 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' – "I'll take the money," walking off with a cheque for a cool £64,000. "I'm good at the trivia questions, but understandably, I'm not quite so hot at the ones on pop music," Barry jokes. "I came across AQA when I was surfing on the internet. I had a look at their web site, saw they had some jobs going, so I applied and got it. Of all the questions I've answered, one question that stuck in my mind was: 'What is the correct type of nylon necessary to suture a giraffe?' - You don't get asked that every day!" he says.

31-year old Christopher Chilton from Armley is an actor, currently working with Duncan Preston and Bettrys Jones on 'To Kill a Mocking Bird' at the Leeds Playhouse. We've seen him on TV - from Peak Practice to Family Affairs – and when he has a spare moment, he earns some extra cash by answering questions for AQA. "I like the questions asking for advice on relationships. I suppose in some small way, I act as an agony uncle," Christopher says. "I also like the offbeat questions, helping people get names for inventions, but I steer clear of questions on football," he says.

Jamie McHale is in his first year at Leeds University studying French Linguistics and Spanish. He is 18 and comes from Hyde Park in Headingly. "Lots of my friends use AQA and think the speed and accuracy of the service is amazing, so that's how I got introduced to it," Jamie says. "I like answering the unusual questions, like how many balloons would it take to lift a car." You can ask your first question for free from here.

Ten recent Leeds' questions:

Q. Are there any haunted spots in Leeds?
A. Leeds Town Hall is said to be haunted by the ghost of Charlie Peace, a notorious criminal executed on 25 Feb 1879. He is buried at Armley Jail in Leeds.

Q. How many buildings in Leeds city centre are taller than 10 stories high?
A. There are 126 buildings in Leeds that are more than ten storeys high. The tallest is the 80m West Riding House, built in 1973.

Q. Who are Leeds United's football teams all time top 10 goal scorers?
A. Top ten: Peter Lorimer, John Charles, Allan Clarke, Billy Bremner, Johnny Giles, Mick Jones, Jack Charlton, Lee Chapman, Mark Viduka and Jim Storrie.

Q. How many young people 13-19 Live in Leeds? Where do you get the stats?
A. There are 67,455 young people, between the ages of 13 and 19, living in Leeds, according to the 2001 census and Ofsted reports for the area.

Q. Who were all Leeds football teams' goal keepers in the 90's?
A. All of the Leeds United goalkeepers of the nineties were: Mark Beeney, Mervyn Day, John Lukic, Nigel Martyn, Paul Robinson and Chris Turner.

Q. Where does the term Leeds loiner come from?
A. There are many theories, but it is thought Loiner derives from the name Loidis (in use in the 8th century for the district around modern-day Leeds).

Q. How long would it take 2,000 ants to carry 500 peanut butter sandwiches from Ipswich to Leeds & feed them to 100 hamsters?
A. The ants could reach Leeds in 3 days. It would then take the hamsters about 2 days to eat all the sandwiches. The ants leave after 5 days, unappreciated.

Q. Name 4 players that played in the Leeds 91/92 season that still play now?
A. Bolton's Gary Speed, Leeds' Gary Kelly, Bradford City's David Wetherall, and Notts County's Mike Whitlow, were in Leeds' 1991/1992 squad, and still play.

Q. Which 3 former Leeds united players were born on Christmas day?
A. Chris Kamara (1990-91), Gary McAllister (1990-96) and Robbie Elliott (2007), are the 3 former Leeds United players who were born on Christmas Day.

Q. How long would it take to throw a shoe all the way across Leeds?
A. It would mean throwing the shoe, picking it up and throwing it again. AQA thinks that it would take 12.67 hours to throw a shoe across Leeds . This is based on it being 38 miles from Bradford to Selby and walking at 3 mph.

Notes to Editors:

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Donald Parish donald.parish@shinecom.com
Shine Communications Tel: +442071007100