The questions
1 Which poet pointed out his name was an anagram of “hug a shady wet nun”?
2 What was the first sport to have fans?
3 Charlemagne is buried in which cathedral?
4 Who is the highest-rated female chess player ever?
5 Nessiteras rhombopteryx was a proposed scientific name for what?
6 The punk musical Lizzie is about which cause célèbre?
7 What was established in 1852 as the Museum of Manufactures?
8 Which Vietnam veteran directed three films about the war?
What links:
9 Perfumery, stationery (ground); telephones, gents’ suits (1st); carpets, travel goods (2nd)?
10 A Bar at the Folies-Bergère; Arnolfini Portrait; Las Meninas; Rokeby Venus?
11 Lydia Monks; David Roberts; Nick Sharratt; Axel Scheffler?
12 26 bones; 33 joints; more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments?
13 People of the tradition (87-90%); party of Ali (10-13%)?
14 Ezra Cornell; Sarah Lawrence; Leland Stanford; Matthew Vassar?
15 Trois-Îlets, Martinique in 1763; Hofburg Palace, Vienna in 1791?
The answers
1 Wystan Hugh Auden.
2 Baseball (originally referred to baseball spectators).
3 Aachen.
4 Judit Polgár.
5 Loch Ness monster (by naturalist Peter Scott).
6 Lizzie Borden (and her alleged murders).
7 Victoria and Albert Museum.
8 Oliver Stone.
9 Selected items in Grace Brothers’ floors (according to Are You Being Served? theme song).
10 Celebrated paintings featuring mirrors.
11 Children’s book illustrators (all worked with Julia Donaldson).
12 Anatomy of the human foot.
13 Sunni and Shia: derivation of names (approximate percentages of Muslims worldwide).
14 Gave their names to US universities.
15 Births of Napoleon’s wives: Joséphine; Marie-Louise.