History - 1 point
| Category | Question | Answer | Last Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | What was the dessert-themed name given to the 1980s gangland war in Glasgow, the name alluding to the product sold allegedly as a cover for drug dealing? | The Ice Cream Wars | 2023/04/18 |
| UK | How many pennies were in an old UK shilling? | Twelve | 2023/04/18 |
| UK | What colloquial name is given to the UK currency crash of September 16, 1992, the name combining a colour and a day of the week? | Black Wednesday | 2023/04/18 |
| UK | In the 2002 television poll 100 Greatest Britons, organised by the BBC, who was voted the greatest British person in history? | Winston Churchill | 2023/04/18 |
| UK | The Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War saw the ill-fated charge of the Light Brigade in which the advancing British were slaughtered by the Russians. However, which other unit had made a charge at the Russians before the Light Brigade? | The Heavy Brigade | 2023/04/18 |
| UK | Who was the King of Dálriada who, in 843, conquored the Picts, an event widely considered as the moment the nation of Scotland was formed? | Kenneth MacAlpin | 2023/04/18 |
| UK | What book, the compiling of which was ordered on Christmas Day 1085 by William the Conqueror, was later described by David Hume as "the most valuable piece of antiquity possessed by a nation"? | The Domesday Book | 2023/04/18 |
| UK | Which English king, who is depicted by Sean Connery in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, was captured and held for ransom in Vienna on his way home from the 3rd Crusade, only being released after the payment of 150000 marks? | Richard I (a.k.a. Richard the Lionheart) | 2023/04/18 |
| UK | Reginald Fitzurse, Hugh de Moreville, William de Tracy, and Richard le Breton famously murdered which Archbishop of Canterbury in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170? | Thomas Becket | 2023/04/18 |
| UK | Which English king signed the Magna Carta in 1215, doing so as part of peace talks against a rising baron rebellion? | John | 2023/04/18 |
| UK | Which protest group had two protesters try to interrupt the 2023 World Snooker Championships, with one getting on to a table and releasing orange dye onto the table? | Just Stop Oil | 2024/05/10 |
| UK | Which battle in the War of the Roses occurred on April 14 1471, Easter Day, and saw the York forces of Edward IV defeat a Lancastrian army led by Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick nicknamed The Kingmaker, who was killed on the battlefield? | Battle of Barnet | 2024/11/14 |
| Europe | Which Norseman and exiled murderer is credited with leading the settling of Greenland in 986? | Erik the Red | 2023/04/18 |
| Europe | Which King of the Franks was crowned Emperor by Pope Leo III in 800, effectively reviving the Western Roman Empire in an order to strengthen Catholic power in the region? | Charlemagne | 2023/04/18 |
| Europe | The Prime Minister of which European country was assassinated as he walked home from the cinema with his wife on 28 February 1986? | Sweden *Olof Palme | 2023/04/18 |
| Europe | Which viking leader was the son of Erik the Red and is credited as the first European to reach North America? | Leif Eriksson | 2023/04/18 |
| Europe | In which century was the 1st crusade? | 11th *Ordered 27 Nov 1095 | 2023/04/18 |
| Europe | Which number crusade was responsible for the ransacking of Constantinople in 1204? | 4th | 2023/04/18 |
| Europe | What disappeared on February 8, 1983, never to be seen again, with an autobiography released in 1999 claiming it had been taken by the IRA? | Shergar | 2024/04/09 |
| North America | Who was the US President during the Apollo 11 moon landings? | Richard Nixon | 2023/04/18 |
| North America | Referring to what many thought a mistake by the Secretary of State at the time, what nickname was given to the 1867 Alaska Purchase, in which the US bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2m? | Seward's Folly (or Seward's Icebox) *The Secretary of State was William Steward | 2023/04/18 |
| North America | Two of the top five deadliest airship disasters of all time, the crash of the USS Akron and the fire that destroyed the LZ 129 Hindenburg, both occurred in which US coastal state? | New Jersey | 2024/04/19 |
| North America | Synonymous with the mid-20th century Chicano Movement, which promoted visibility and rights for Mexican Americans, which US labour leader formed the National Farm Workers Association alongside his wife Dolores Huerta? | Cesar Chavez | 2024/04/18 |
| North America | Which type of fruit was at the centre of a 1965-1970 labour strike by Filipino and Mexican farm workers in the US, with the action starting in Delano, California? | Grape *The Delano Grape Strike led to boycotts of grapes grown on non-union farms. | 2024/04/18 |
| North America | With what type of gas was the Hindenburg airship filled when it caught fire on May 6, 1937, killing 36 people? | Hydrogen | 2024/04/19 |
| North America | Who was the journalist who in 1889-1890 broke the world record for circumnavigating the world, doing so in 72 days as part of a newspaper piece to realise Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty-Days novel? | Nelly Bly *Nelly Bly was the pseudonym of Elizabeth Jane Cochrane. | 2024/10/22 |
| North America | What was the anatomically-themed name of the war fought in the Caribbean between Britain and the Spanish Empire from 1739 to 1748, the name referring to a British captain and the body part the Spanish coast guard allegedly severed? | War of Jenkins Ear | 2024/10/31 |
| North America | Nicknamed 'The Man Who Lived Through Doomsday', and later given a job at the Barnum and Bailey Circus, Ludger Sylbaris survived the 1902 volcanic eruption that killed all but three people in the Martinique town of Saint-Pierre because he was where? | Prison *The night before Mount Pelée erupted, Sylbaris had been put in solitary confinement in prison for his role in a drunken fight. The next morning a superheated gas cloud from the eruption killed nearly all the town's 30000 residents. | 2024/05/03 |
| North America | What was the name of the first vessel to reach the site of RMS Titanic’s distress call on April 15, 1912, arriving an hour and a half after Titanic had sunk but able to rescue 705 people from lifeboats? | RMS Carpathia | 2024/12/07 |
| North America | What was the name of the cyclone that struck New Orleans in August 2005 and resulted in over 1300 deaths, most as a result of the city’s flood defence system failing? | Katrina | 2025/01/01 |
| Africa | The Edo Kingdom was another name for which African empire, which was ended by the British in the 19th century but whose name is still seen in the name of a modern African nation? | Benin Kingdom | 2024/04/08 |
| Africa | Which modern African nation was once the site of the Kingdom of Benin? | Nigeria | 2024/04/08 |
| Africa | On 21 August 1986, 1746 people and over 3500 livestock animals were killed at Lake Nyos in Cameroon after what unusual natural disaster occurred? | Limnic eruption *A limnic eruption is a massive carbon dioxide release from a lake which, because CO2 is heavier than air, can lead to mass asphyxiation at ground level | 2023/04/18 |
| Africa | According to celebrated 15th century Egyptian historian Al-Maqrīzī, a man named Muhammad Sa’im al-Dahr committed what act of vandalism in 1378? | Removing the Sphinx’s nose | 2024/12/07 |
| Asia | The dictator of which Asian country was assassinated by his security chief while at dinner on 26 October 1979? | South Korea *Park Chung-Hee had been in power since 1961 | 2023/04/18 |
| Asia | Heijo-kyo, established in 710, was the first permanent capital of which contemporary country? | Japan | 2023/04/18 |
| Asia | Which peninsula saw a period known as the Three Kingdoms, which ran from 1BC to the 7th century, with the kingdoms in question being the Koguryo, Paekche, and Silla? | Korean | 2023/04/18 |
| South America | Known as El Libertador, which Venezuelan leader helped free several American countries from Spanish colonial rule, including Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador, as well as aiding in the establishment of Bolivia and Panama? | Simón Bolívar | 2024/04/07 |
| South America | The communist guerrilla group Shining Path started its 'people's war' in which South American country? | Peru | 2024/04/08 |
| South America | In 1971, 17-year old Juliane Koepcke survived falling 3000 metres after the plane she was on was destroyed by lightning, and then walked 11 days through the Amazon rainforest for help. In which country was she travelling at the time? | Peru | 2024/05/03 |
| South America | What was the name of the anti-leftist campaign, conducted with US support, that installed a number of military dictatorships in South America in the 1970s and 1980s, resulting in mass human rights abuses, including thousands of deaths and disappearances? | Operation Condor | 2024/10/23 |
| Australia | In 1846, while trying to load his gun, Australian explorer John Horrocks fatally shot off his own fingers and front teeth when what type of animal he was travelling with moved? | Camel *The camel, named Harry, was the first camel in Australia. | 2024/04/09 |
| World | Which person was assassinated days before the Nobel Peace Prize nomination deadline in 1948, leading to the prize not being awarded that year and the individual - who had been nominated five times - being dubbed 'the missing laureate'? | Mahatma Gandhi (Mohandas Gandhi) | 2024/04/19 |
| World | Provided he did take a boat from Cebu to his home island, as intended but for which there is no documentation, in 1521 the slave Enrique of Malacca became the first person to achieve what feat? | Circumnavigation of the globe *Enrique was bought by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1511, and accompanied Magellan on the circumnavigation trip of 1519-1522. As Enrique's home island was further east than the starting point of Spain, and Magellan had died in the Philippines, Enrique would be the first person to complete a full trip around the globe if he did indeed take the boat home. | 2024/10/22 |
| World | On what calendar date did all of the following occur: a military coup seized power in Chile in 1973, leading to 17 years of dictatorship that resulted in over 3000 deaths; a coordinated attack took place in the United States in 2001, also killing approximately 3000 people; a crane fell on a crowd in Mecca in 2015, killing 111 people; and a flood hit the Libyan city of Derna in 2023, taking the lives of between 5000 and 24000 people? | September 11 | 2024/11/14 |
| Conflicts | In which country did the assassination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán in 1948 act as a catalyst for a civil war called La Violencia, or The Violence? | Colombia | 2024/12/27 |
| World War I | By what nickname was Manfred von Richthofen, or Baron von Richthofen, known during World War I? | The Red Baron | 2024/11/21 |
| World War II | Lasting from July 1942 to February 1943, and with a death total of over a million, what battle of World War II is widely considered to be the deadliest conflict in human history? | Battle of Stalingrad | 2024/04/09 |
| World War II | Which World War II US general was known by the nickname 'Old Blood and Guts'? | George S. Patton | 2024/04/10 |
History - 2 points
| Category | Question | Answer | Last Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | Which two wives of Henry VIII were beheaded? | 1. Anne Boleyn 2. Catherine Howard | 2023/04/20 |
| UK | Which two UK Prime Ministers have shared surnames with US Presidents? | 1. Harold Wilson 2. Boris Johnson *Harold Wilson shares a surname with Woodrow Wilson, while Boris Johnson shares his surname with both Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson | 2023/04/20 |
| UK | On 29 March 2017, the United Kingdom gave formal notification of its intention to withdraw from which two organisations following the Brexit referendum? | 1. European Union 2. European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) | 2023/04/22 |
| UK | Which two people held the position of Lord Protector during the English Interregnum of 1649 to 1660? | 1. Oliver Cromwell 2. Richard Cromwell | 2024/05/10 |
| UK | Not including Philip II of Spain, who took the title of King of England and Ireland only through his marriage to Queen Mary, who are the only two British or English monarchs to have had multiple wives during their lifetime since Henry VIII famously had six? | 1. James II 2. Charles III | 2024/12/07 |
| North America | What were the names of the two ships intended to take pilgrims from England and the Netherlands to the New World in 1620, although a leak meant one had to be left behind? | 1. Mayflower 2. Speedwell | 2024/12/07 |
| Asia | The murder of Caliph Ali in 661 and subsequent disagreement about legitimate successors led to the creation of which two denominations of Islam? | 1. Sunni 2. Shia | 2023/04/20 |
| Africa | First discovered together in 1898 but only identified through DNA testing in the 2010s, the mummies The Elder Lady and The Younger Lady are which two female family relations of the Pharaoh Tutenkhamun? | 1. Grandmother (Queen Tiye) 2. Mother (name unknown) | 2024/12/07 |
History - 3 points
| Category | Question | Answer | Last Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| South America | Which three South American nations fought against Paraguay in the War of the Triple Alliance, which ran from 1864 to 1870 and is estimated to have resulted in the deaths of 70%-90% of the Paraguayan male population, with the slaughter so bad that the Battle of Acosta Ñu saw Paraguayan children dressed as adults and sent into battle? | 1. Brazil 2. Argentina 3. Uruguay | 2024/11/14 |
History - 4 points
| Category | Question | Answer | Last Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | What were the names given to the four beaches on which allie troups landed on D-Day? | 1. Gold Beach 2. Juno Beach 3. Utah Beach 4. Sword Beach | 2023/04/20 |
| Europe | Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, which four monarchies signed the Quadruple Alliance in 1815, with the aim to ensure continued control over France and quash republicanism? | 1. Austria 2. Prussia 3. Russia 4. UK | 2025/01/01 |
| North America | Who were the two named petitioners and two named respondents in the legal case Harvard Law Professor Alan Derschowitz said 'may be ranked as the single most corrupt decision in Supreme Court history, because it is the only one that I know of where the majority justices decided as they did because of the personal identity and political affiliation of the litigants. This was cheating, and a violation of the judicial oath.'? | 1. George W. Bush 2. Richard Cheney (Dick Cheney) 3. Albert Gore (Al Gore) 4. Joseph Lieberman (Joe Lieberman) *The case relates to the disputed 2000 US Presidential election. Bush and Cheney asked the US Supreme Court to overturn the Florida Supreme Court's decision to extend a deadline to allow a recount. | 2023/04/21 |
| North America | Who have been the four US Presidents whose surnames have started with the letter J? | 1. Thomas Jefferson 2. Andrew Jackson 3. Andrew Johnson 4. Lyndon Johnson | 2024/10/31 |
| Objects | What four written languages can be found on the Rosetta Stone, currently residing at the British Museum? | 1. Egyptian hieroglyphs 2. Demotic Egyptian 3. Greek 4. English *The Memphis Decree on the Rosetta Stone is written in hieroglyphs, Demotic Egyptian, and Greek. When the British took the stone from Napoleon’s army they inscribed two English sentences on it: ‘Captured in Egypt by the British Army in 1801’ and ‘Presented by King George III’. | 2024/12/14 |
History - 5 points
| Category | Question | Answer | Last Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | What were the locations of the five garden festivals that ran in the UK between 1984 and 1992 in an effort to regenerate industrial towns and cities? | 1. Liverpool 2. Stoke-on-Trent 3. Glasgow 4. Gateshead 5. Ebbw Vale | 2023/04/20 |
History - 6 points
| Category | Question | Answer | Last Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | Which six countries were the founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community, which came into effect in 1952 and was a precursor of the European Union? | 1. Germany 2. France 3. Italy 4. The Netherlands 5. Belgium 6. Luxembourg | 2024/04/18 |
| UK | Who were the six wives of Henry VIII of England? | 1. Catherine of Aragon 2. Anne Boleyn 3. Jane Seymour 4. Anne of Cleves 5. Catherine Howard 6. Catherine Parr | 2024/11/14 |
History - 8 points
| Category | Question | Answer | Last Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| France | Between Philip II in 1120 being the first monarch to call himself King of France and the fall of the Second French Empire in 1870, what were the eight regnal names used by French kings and emperors? | 1. Philip 2. Louis 3. John 4. Charles 5. Francis 6. Henry 7. Napoleon 8. Louis Philippe | 2024/12/07 |
History - 10 points
| Category | Question | Answer | Last Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | According to the 2002 BBC show 100 Greatest Britons, who were the 10 greatest British people in history, as voted for by the British public? | 1. Winston Churchill 2. Isambard Kingdom Brunel 3. Diana, Princess of Wales 4. Charles Darwin 5. William Shakespeare 6. Isaac Newton 7. Elizabeth I 8. John Lennon 9. Horation Nelson 10. Oliver Cromwell | 2023/04/20 |
History - 14 points
| Category | Question | Answer | Last Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural Disasters | The Indian Ocean tsunami that struck on Boxing Day in 2004 killed approximately 225000 people across which 14 countries? | 1. Indonesia (167000+) 2. Sri Lanka (35000+) 3. India (16000+) 4. Thailand (8000+) 5. Myanmar (400+) 6. Somalia (289) 7. Maldives (108) 8. Malaysia (75) 9. Tanzania (13) 10. Seychelles (3) 11. Bangladesh (2) 12. South Africa (2) 13. Yemen (2) 14. Kenya (1) | 2024/12/27 |
History - 15 points
| Category | Question | Answer | Last Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | Including its cadet houses of York and Lancaster, plus one disputed French claim, name the fifteen English monarchs from the House of Plantagenet? | 1. Henry II 2. Richard I 3. John 4. Louis (disputed) 5. Henry III 6. Edward I 7. Edward II 8. Edward III 9. Richard II 10. Henry IV 11. Henry V 12. Henry VI 13. Edward IV 14. Edward V 15. Richard III | 2024/10/31 |