Quiz #59
It should be called Trivia Pursuit
Hello everybody. I hope everyone is feeling and doing well.
There are some tricky questions in this week’s quiz, but also an equaliser that is essentially naming types of soup. Before getting to the questions, however, here is the link to the version with the answers, hosted on the website.
Now, on we go with the easiest of the rounds, that which is known as Round 1.
Round 1
Question 1
Whose music is the subject of the Las Vegas show All Shook Up?
Answer:
1 point
Question 2
Appearing in both the book and television series, The Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen was known as the mother of what type of mythological animal?
Answer:
1 point
Question 3
In which country is the Santa Claus Main Post Office situated?
Answer:
1 point
Question 4
At ₤3.70, what is the most expensive daily newspaper in the UK?
Answer:
1 point
Question 5
What event on December 5 has been described as ‘FIFA’s carnival of cringe’ and ‘the world’s worst, most embarrassing, sycophantic mess’, and prompted the head of Football Supporters Europe to ask how much longer ‘Infantino will be allowed to take football into the gutter’?
Answer:
1 point
Question 6
Leona Lewis, Alexandra Burke, the members of both Little Mix and One Direction, plus UK television presenters Stacey Solomon and Rylan Clark, all rose to fame as contestants on what UK singing talent show?
Answer:
1 point
Question 7
What two months of the year are used to describe a romantic relationship between an older person and a younger person?
Answer:
2 points
Question 8
For what three films has Frances McDormand won a Best Actress Academy Award?
Answer:
3 points
Question 9
Ignoring potential sailing routes across the Great Lakes, what are the four US states, all in the Midwest, that require a person to travel across two other states in order to reach an international border or ocean?
Answer:
4 points
Question 10
Make the longest word possible from the following letters: CDMNNORUU
Answer:
Up to 9 points
(*length of word equates to points awarded)
Round 1 points
(Maximum: 24)
Round 2
Question 1
The most visited museum in the Netherlands, the Rijksmuseum is an example of a Rijksmonument, designated by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed. Although it can also mean wealth or opulence, what does the word ‘rijk’ mean in this context?
Answer:
1 point
Question 2
What are Geminids, Ursid, and Quadrantid, all of which will be visible in the northern hemisphere in December?
Answer:
1 point
Question 3
What item of clothing completes the informal slogan attached in jest to UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s mid-2000s campaign to curb youth crime by showing more ‘love’ to adolescents: ‘hug a ___’?
Answer:
1 point
Question 4
In 2008, Chapter 1 Article 10 and Chapter 7 Articles 71-74 of Ecuador’s new constitution made it the first country in the world to give guaranteed rights to what?
Answer:
1 point
Question 5
Rather than being from the ‘old wives’ tale’ of them crawling into people’s ears, entomologists generally accept that the insect known as the earwig got its name because what part of its body is shaped similar to a human ear?
Answer:
1 point
Question 6
Named after the public’s offering of the flowers to the military during its takeover of the streets, and the key event in the ‘third wave of democracy’, the Carnation Revolution of April 25, 1974 occurred in which southern European country?
Answer:
1 point
Question 7
In March 1997, biscuit manufacturer United Biscuits, which owns the McVitie’s brand, successfully took UK supermarket Asda to court for ‘passing off’ after the supermarket released a chocolate biscuit line similar to a McVitie’s product. Also closely connected within the publishing industry, what two types of birds were the names of the similar biscuits?
Answer:
2 points
Question 8
In a 2025 survey of 2000 people conducted by the British Board of Film Classification, what three films were found to be respondents’ favourite Christmas films? The winner, receiving 20 per cent of the votes, was a 1990 American family film, followed by a 2003 UK romantic comedy and a 1946 American Christmas staple.
Answer:
3 point
Question 9
Based on precipitation and temperature levels, and given letters A to E, what are the five primary climate groups, or zones, defined by the Köppen climate classification system?
Answer:
5 points
Question 10
Implemented in 2010, and guiding the course subjects that pupils may choose as they move through school, Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence categorises school subjects into what eight general areas, with all areas needing taught at younger ages before pupils make choices to specialise as they get older?
Answer:
8 points
Round 2 points
(Maximum: 24)
Total points
(Maximum: 48)
Round 3
Question 1
Which architect, most famous for designing the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, passed away on December 5 at the age of 96?
Answer:
1 point
Question 2
Published last week, a joint study by the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and the University of Exeter found that approximately 95 per cent of what species of bird born on either South Africa’s Dassen Island and Robben Island in 2004 had died by 2012 due to food scarcity? The species, which used to number in its millions, was listed as critically endangered in 2024.
Answer:
1 point
Question 3
Named for the image on the company’s logo, what is the official name of American Express’s invite only ‘black card’ charge card?
Answer:
1 point
Question 4
Listed on the WHO List of Essential Medicines, lithium carbonate is used to stabilise what?
Answer:
1 point
Question 5
An example of a symbiotic relationship, parasitic wasps such as those in the Braconidae family are hosts to Polydnaviriformidae viruses (PDVs), which they inject alongside their eggs into animals such as moth larvae. What benefit does the virus provide for the eggs once inside their new host?
Answer:
1 point
Question 6
In the UK children’s supernatural drama Sapphire & Steel, which ran from 1979 to 1982 and starred Joanna Lumley and David McCallum, evil forces broke into the known dimension by finding weaknesses in the time corridor, resulting in people vanishing, undead spirits being released, and other time- and dimension-related consequences. Aiding the unnerving tone of the series, the time corridor weaknesses were located in objects that all had what quality?
Answer:
1 point
Question 7
Although other drugs such as methamphetamine or morphine can be used, what are the two drugs most commonly mixed together to create a speedball?
Answer:
2 points
Question 8
What have been the three different names by which the city created in 1703 by Russian leader Peter the Great has been known? The city served as Russia’s capital for over two centuries and is currently the country’s second largest city.
Answer:
3 points
Question 9
Noting that the Barbie doll works at a 1:6 scale - which means objects reduced to 1/6 of their size, which is generally deemed too large for this craft - what are the five most common scales used in the creation of dolls house miniatures?
Answer:
5 points
Question 10
In Morse Code, what seven letters can be signalled using only dots or only dashes?
Answer:
7 points
Round 3 points
(Maximum: 23)
Total points
(Maximum: 71)
Round 4
Question 1
In June, Scotsman Thomas Robinson, who had been operating under the name Tam O’Braan, was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for selling what product that he had falsely claimed was grown in Scotland?
Answer:
1 point
Question 2
One of the most popular izayaka dishes in Japan is negima yakitori, which is comprised of skewers of chicken and what type of vegetable? Negi is also a common ingredient in other Japanese dishes such as being mixed into ramen noodle soups or stir-fried with pork.
Answer:
1 point
Question 3
Which country inaugurated its $5bn 5 gigawatt ‘Renaissance Dam’ on September 9, a structure that has raised concerns in nations downriver from its location?
Answer:
1 point
Question 4
Referring to his distinctive facial hair, what is the name of the French folktale figure who murders a series of wives, and then leaves a set of palace keys with his latest wife with the one instruction to not look in the secret room?
Answer:
1 point
Question 5
Published in 1628, William Harvey’s Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus was the first work to outline what process within the human body?
Answer:
1 point
Question 6
Who is the patron saint of travel?
Answer:
1 point
Question 7
To the nearest minute, how long was Beatrice Straight on screen in her Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winning performance in the 1976 film Network, the shortest time an actor has appeared on screen in an Oscar-winning role? And, even shorter, to the nearest minute how long was Hermione Baddeley on screen to receive a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination for her performance in the 1958 film Room at the Top, the shortest-ever nominated but non-winning acting Academy Award performance?
Answer:
2 points
Question 8
The longest siege in Europe during World War I was the Siege of Przemyśl, which lasted for over six months - albeit with a month of suspended hostilities in the middle. In which modern day country is the city of Przemyśl, and which two empires fought at this battle?
Answer:
3 points
Question 9
All over 3000km long, what are the three longest rivers in Canada?
Answer:
3 points
Question 10
Now hanging together in New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the original Campbell’s Soup Cans series created by American artist Andy Warhol consisted of 32 paintings, each showing a different variety of Campbell’s soup. Amongst the 32 varieties, and discounting the word ‘broth’, what nine ingredients or flavours appear in multiple varieties of the depicted soup?
Answer:
9 points
Round 4 points
(Maximum: 23)
Total points
(Maximum: 94)
Round 5
In Round 5, there is only one answer. The less clues you need to get it, the more points you receive. If you need only one clue, you receive 10 points; if you require two clues, you will receive 9 points, and so on.
However, you may only answer once. If you answer incorrectly, you receive zero points for the round.
The following people all have what historical connection?
Clue 1 (10 points)
John Young
Clue 2 (9 points)
David Scott
Clue 3 (8 points)
Gene Cernan
Clue 4 (7 points)
Harrison Schmitt
Clue 5 (6 points)
Pete Conrad
Clue 6 (5 points)
Alan Bean
Clue 7 (4 points)
Charlie Duke
Clue 8 (3 points)
Alan Shepard
Clue 9 (2 points)
Buzz Aldrin
Clue 10 (1 point)
Neil Armstrong
Answer:
Round 5 points
(Maximum: 10)
Total points
(Maximum: 104)
And with that, the quiz comes to a close.
If you enjoyed it and would like to share or subscribe, here are the big buttons:
For those who want to print out copies and hand them around the office, here is the PDF version:
Which all leaves just the well wishes: the quiz shall return soon, and until then, have a great week. Goodbye.