Quiz #28

Derived from the stigma of the crocus flower, what is widely considered to be the most expensive spice in the world?

Question 2

The first example of chronophotography – that being a series of photos that when put in order depict movement – a series of cards produced by Eadweard Muybridge in June 1878 showed what type of animal running, and thus settled an argument about whether all its legs were ever simultaneously airborne?

Question 3

By what name was the Olympic sport of artistic swimming known until its name was changed by the International Olympic Committee in 2017?

Question 4

What category of competition was contested at the World Armwrestling Championship for the first time in 1993?

Question 5

This week Italian Kimi Antonelli, driving from Mercedes, became the youngest F1 driver to claim a pole position when he claimed top spot for the Miami Grand Prix sprint event. How old is he?

Question 6

On Monday April 28, US Attorney General Pam Bondi said the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s seizure of 21 million pills of a certain illicit drug since Donald Trump became president in January had saved 21 million lives. Two days later, she moved the figure to 119 million lives saved. On Thursday, it was 258 million lives – or 75% of the US population – that had been saved. About what drug, which kills 70000 to 100000 people in the US annually, was she talking?

Question 7

What two breeds of dog are mixed to create a Chorkie, a breed that generally grows to only 15cm-25cm in height?

Question 8

In order to harvest them in summer and autumn, in what three months of the year does the Royal Horticultural Society recommend planting potatoes in the UK?

Question 9

How many syllables are there are in the three respective lines of a haiku?

Question 10

Make the longest word possible from the following letters: CCHHOOPST

Round 1 points
(Maximum: 23)

Round 2

Question 1

In which country is Davos, the town which hosts the World Economic Forum each January?

Question 2

Of what staple food is Michelin-trained chef Poppy Cooks known as the ‘queen’, having come to public attention first through a series of TikTok videos and later cookbooks?

Question 3

In an incident later fictionalised by author Compton Mackenzie for a 1947 novel, in turn adapted into a 1949 film, what alcohol was a primary cargo of the SS Politician that ran aground off the Scottish island of Eriskay, leading to locals ‘salvaging’ contents from the wreck and trying to hide it from customs men demanding they pay duty on it?

Question 4

What type of pepper, given a moustache and wearing a sombrero, was Pique, the mascot for the 1986 football World Cup finals held in Mexico?

Question 5

Which European country has installed 89 new Prime Ministers since 1861, 55 of whom were out of the job in less than two years, but one of whom was leader for over 20 years?

Question 6

According to The Japan Times, advertising campaigns in the mid-2000s saw 4 billion packets of what item handed to people in Japanese streets, with 76% of the population saying they accepted such offers?

Question 7

Which two actors who have played James Bond in the official Bond franchise were born outside the UK?

Question 8

Published in the January 2025 edition of Psychonomic Review and Bulletin, a paper by Domicele Jonauskaite and Christine Mohr of Switzerland’s Colour Experience research group reviewed 132 scientific studies of colour and emotion dating back to 1895. According to the analysis, what two colours have consistently been connected to ‘positive, high arousal emotions’ such as happiness, fun, and surprise, while avoiding negative connections with emotions such as anger?

Question 9

What are/were the names of the three sons of Frederick and Mary Attenborough who would respectively become a decorated film director, a celebrated naturalist who was controller of BBC 2, and the UK head of Alfa Romeo?

Question 10

What five US fast food or takeaway coffee brands have over 1000 stores in the UK?

Round 2 points
(Maximum: 18)

Total points
(Maximum: 41)

Round 3

Question 1

Which delivery company finished bottom of Ofcom’s postal rankings in the UK in both 2023 and 2024, with 44% of its surveyed customers reporting having had a problem with a delivery in the last six months?

Question 2

At only 183m, the shortest distance between the stadiums of two top flight football clubs in the UK is in which city?

Question 3

What unusual physical characteristic is shared by Parliament Street in Exeter, UK, L’Androuno in Gassin, France, Spreuerhofstraße in Reutlingen, Germany, and Qianshi Hutong in Beijing, China?

Question 4

Which music megastar of the 1980s and 1990s wrote a letter to Suzanne Vega after she released her 1987song Luka, saying “Luka is the most compelling piece of music I’ve heard in a long time. There are no words 2 tell you all the things I feel when I hear it. I thank God 4 u.” The song describes a child asking his downstairs neighbour not to ask about the fights she hears, reflecting the sender’s own troubled childhood.

Question 5

Published by the Marine Conservation Society, the Good Fish Guide details what fish species can be eaten sustainably based on current stock levels. In its 2025 edition, the north-east Atlantic variant of which much-eaten food fish was downgraded to level 4 of 5, when caught by trawler or net, meaning businesses and restaurants are recommended to stop selling it?

Question 6

In 1987, American Dr Stephen Trokel was the first person to conduct what type of machine-operated medical surgery? Although the surgical theory dated back to the 1890s, earlier efforts by hand had offered mixed results?

Question 7

What two nicknames, both portmanteaus of the individuals’ names, have been used for Brad Pitt’s respective relationships with Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie?

Question 8

Best known for a 1968 version by The Tams, what three adjectives complete the name of a soul song written by Ray Whitley and JR Cobb: Be___, Be ____, Be ___?

Question 9

According to its algorithm, which measures number of reviews, ratings, and page views, what does travel website Tripadvisor say are travellers’ three favourite tourist locations in Rio de Janeiro?

Question 10

Due to the Malaspina Glacier in Alaska technically being three different glaciers, the five largest non-polar glaciers in the world can be found in which four countries – three in Asia, and one in South America?

Round 3 points
(Maximum: 18)

Total points
(Maximum: 59)

Round 4

Question 1

What hobby is shared by musicians Neil Young and Rod Stewart, former head of animation at Pixar Animation Studios John Lasseter, and Reverent Lovejoy in the animation The Simpsons?

Question 2

The company’s first major handheld electronics success, and a precursor to the Gameboy, what was the name of the series of computer game devices developed by Nintendo between 1980 and 1991 which included games such as Manhole, Octopus, Donkey Kong, Squish, and Mario’s Cement Factory?

Question 3

Described by The Guardian newspaper as ‘a match made in horror movie heaven’, the trailer for the upcoming film 28 Years Later features clips from the feature paired with a 1915 recording of actor Taylor Holmes reading which Rudyard Kipling war poem? The recording has also been used by the US Navy’s Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape programme to test participants’ resistance to psychological torture.

Question 4

In 2010, after two years of lobbying, Colonel Ronnie Smith of the US Air Force successfully got eleven aeronautical waypoints on the flightpath to Antarctica renamed to five-letter variants of Per, Helge, Lasse, Mylius, Frithjof, Uroa, Snippets, Jimmy Pigg, Bones, Jehu and Nobby. Described by Col. Smith as having ‘never got their due credit’, to what do the names reference?

Question 5

In 2023, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Islamic Affairs placed a limit of only four of what device being allowed per mosque in the country? Previously, the Allahabad High Court in India had ruled in both 2020 and 2022 that the use of this device at a mosque was not a fundamental right.

Question 6

Turning 60 years old in 2025, what is the name of the board game in which players race their four pieces around a board, pressing a novelty ‘pop-o-matic’ die – a die inside a plastic bubble dome – to determine how many squares to move?

Question 7

What two metal chemical elements are most associated with the ore galena – one because it is the primary metal in the ore, and the other because trace amounts within it have a high monetary value?

Question 8

The UK top 40 album chart currently has ten albums that have spent over 300 weeks in the charts, seven of which have spent over 600 weeks in the chart. Of those, which three albums, by Abba, Fleetwood Mac, and Queen respectively, have spent over 1000 weeks in the chart?

Question 9

All six described species of night heron that are now extinct are named for the islands on which they were once seen. What three islands in the Indian Ocean give their names to a now extinct species of night heron?

Question 10

Which six countries did Che Guevara visit – five with his friend Alberto Granado – during his 1952 travels on which the posthumous book ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ is based?

Round 4 points
(Maximum: 20)

Total points
(Maximum: 79)

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.

With which musical instrument are the following people all associated?

Clue 1

Clue 2

Clue 3

Clue 4

Clue 5

Clue 6

Clue 7

Clue 8

Clue 9

Clue 10

Round 5 points
(Maximum: 10)

Total points
(Maximum: 89)