103. 420?

Beginning with the capture of an agent named Owens, codenamed SNOW, MI5 began to offer enemy agents the chance to avoid prosecution (and thus the possibility of the death penalty) if they would work as British double-agents. Agents who agreed to this were supervised by MI5 in transmitting bogus "intelligence" back to the German secret service, the Abwehr. This necessitated a large-scale organizational effort, since the information had to appear valuable but in actual fact be misleading. A high-level committee, the Wireless Board, was formed to provide this information. The day-to-day operation was delegated to a subcommittee, the Twenty Committee. The name of this committee lead to a phrase regularly used in English vocabulary.

What is the phrase ?

102. Mortal Killers?

These mythological creatures of Russian legend had head and chest of a beautiful woman and the body of a bird (usually an owl). According to the myth, they lived "in Indian lands" near Eden or around the Euphrates River.

These half-women half-birds sang beautiful songs to the saints, foretelling future joys. For mortals, however, the birds were dangerous. Men who heard them would forget everything on earth, follow them, and ultimately die. People would attempt to save themselves from these creatures by shooting cannons, ringing bells and making other loud noises to scare the bird off.

Vladimir Nabokov wrote some of his first novels and poems using the name of the bird as pseudonym.

Which mythological creature?

101. Fill in...

STEEL TRUE
SWORD STRAIGHT
______ _____ ______
KNIGHT
PATRIOT, PHYSICIAN & MAN OF LETTERS

Just fill in the blanks.

100. Evil Hypnotist?

This fictional character in George du Maurier's 1894 novel Trilby created a stereotype of the evil hypnotist that persists to this day. The name of the character has entered the English language meaning a person who, with evil intent, manipulates another into doing what is desired. It is frequently used for any kind of coach who seems to exercise an extreme degree of domination over a performer.

Which character/word?

99. Of Weddings and Wood...

Some say that the name of this art form is a variation of the French word for weddings and dates back to the time when Maxmillian, a frenchman was Emperor. Others say that the term comes from the name of the wood used to make the platform on which performers danced to the music of the village musicians. The “Son” is the typical sound and is a mixture of Spanish, native and African traditions.

Which art form?

98. March of the muscians?

Where would you find the following, back to back, and in the order specified below:

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Bach
Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky
L'apprenti sorcier by Paul Dukas
The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky
La Gioconda: Dance of the Hours by Ponichelli
Night on Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky
Ave Maria by Schubert

97. And they never heard of it again....

In 1960, when Kuwait was on the verge of becoming an independent state, the Kuwait Oil Company felt that a bit of PR was needed. They invited X to visit Kuwait and write a book about his observations. For two weeks the Kuwait Oil Company escorted X on a whirlwind tour of Kuwait. The end result was a book called “State of Excitement” but unfortunately it was not what the Kuwaitis had expected. The Kuwait Oil Company owned the rights to the book and hence X was politely paid off, and the book never published. The only place in the world where it can be read by the general public is the Lilly Library at Indiana University.

Identify X.