Round 1
Question 1
Which actor has had the nicknames ‘The Austrian Oak’ and ‘The Governator’?
1 point
Question 2
What concert was opened by The Coldstream Guards on July 13, 1985?
1 point
Question 3
What connects the games Mornington Crescent, Calvinball, Numberwang, and Cups?
*Mornington Crescent appears in the radio show I’m Sorry, I Haven’t a Clue, and Calvinball is played by Calvin and Hobbes in their comic strip. Numberwang is a nonsensical game in That Mitchell and Webb Look, while Chandler invents the game Cups in order to give money to an overly proud but broke Joey in Friends.
1 point
Question 4
What food is consumed at the famous annual July 4 competitive eating competition held at Coney Island in New York? The 2025 men’s winner was Joey Chestnut, who was victorious for a 17th time, and the women’s winner was Miki Sudo, who has never lost in the 11 years she has entered.
1 point
Question 5
A variety of what type of vegetable is known in Quechua as ‘q’achun wakachi’, translated as ‘the daughter-in-law cries’, because of the difficulty in peeling it? It is symbolically used at Quechua wedding ceremonies, with the bride having to try peel the vegetable without wasting any of it.
1 point
Question 6
Including its white tail, how many coloured bands appear on the ruderal bumblebee, the largest bumblebee in the UK?
*The bee has three yellow stripes on its body, and then a white tip to its tail.
1 point
Question 7
How many players are there per team in the two most common forms of rugby union?
7
2 points
Question 8
What three vowels are written the same in both the Latin and Russian Cyrillic alphabets?
*In Russia’s form of the Cyrillic alphabet, I becomes И, and U becomes У.
E
O
3 points
Question 9
Of the five Conservative Prime Ministers who led the UK between 2010 and 2024, who were the only three to lead their party to victory in a general election?
*Liz Truss took over after Boris Johnson resigned due to a failure to act over sexual allegations made against a colleague, but herself resigned 49 days later after her ‘mini budget’ caused a lack of confidence in financial markets. Rishi Sunak then took the leadership but lost the 2024 election.
Theresa May (2017)
Boris Johnson (2019)
3 points
Question 10
Make the longest word possible from the following letters: AEKLMORTW
Up to 9 points
(*length of word equates to points awarded)
Round 1 points
(Maximum: 23)
Round 2
Question 1
What was the name of the detective mystery show starring Alan Davies that ran from 1997 to 2016 on BBC1 in which he played a deviser of magic tricks who was adept at solving locked room murders?
1 point
Question 2
The Cambodian sites Tuol Sleng, Choeung Ek, and M-13 have all been added to the UNESCO Heritage site, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of which political group coming to power and beginning the four-year genocide to which all three sites are connected?
1 point
Question 3
What job title, which is also the name of an American TV franchise, is approximately the equivalent of a SOCO in the UK?
*SOCO stands for Scene of Crime Officer, and CSI is a Crime Scene Investigator.
1 point
Question 4
Which literary character famously shouted ‘Sanctuary! Sanctuary! Sanctuary!’ after rescuing a young woman from the gallows and taking refuge in a cathedral?
1 point
Question 5
Wimbledon Ladies Singles winner Iga Świątek caused a stir outside her native Poland during the tournament when she said in a courtside interview that one of her favourite foods was pasta with which type of fruit? In Poland the dish is fairly common, most often eaten by children, and is known as makaron z truskawkami.
1 point
Question 6
Per UK & EU food regulations, a drink advertised as ‘fruit juice’ must include a minimum of what percentage of juice?
*Juice cannot have added sugars, sweeteners, preservatives, flavourings, or colourings. Anything below 100 per cent juice is a fruit drink.
1 point
Question 7
The world’s busiest motor vehicle bridge, which has 14 traffic lanes spread across two decks and carries over 100 million vehicles a year, connects which two US states?
*The George Washington Bridge crosses the Hudson River, connecting Manhattan with New Jersey.
New Jersey
2 points
Question 8
What are the three colours of ball used in the different formats of international cricket?
*Red is the traditional colour of a cricket ball. White was introduced for limited-over games in the 1970s, because it was easier to see in games partly played in daylight and partly under floodlights. The pink ball was introduced in the 2010s as they were easier to see in predominantly floodlit matches.
White
Pink
3 points
Question 9
The UK is the fourth most populous island nation in the world. What are the three island sovereign nations – as recognised by the UN – with higher populations?
Japan
Philippines
3 points
Question 10
The Island Games take place in Orkney from July 12-18, featuring 24 island groups administered by which eight European nations?
*Although most island groups are around the North Atlantic or the British coast, athletes from Bermuda, The Cayman Islands, The Falkland Islands, and Greenland are also present.
Estonia
Finland
Malta
Norway
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
8 points
Round 2 points
(Maximum: 22)
Total points
(Maximum: 45)
Round 3
Question 1
Alongside the owner of the comedy club in which he performed, which US comedian was found guilty of obscenity in a Manhattan court in 1964 despite support from several high profile cultural figures?
*Bruce was pardoned in 2003, 37 years after he died.
1 point
Question 2
Which brand of ice cream ran an advertising campaign for over ten years using an adapted version of the Neapolitan song O Sole Mio?
1 point
Question 3
What item, commonly seen in gardens in affluent nations, has been re-designed by a Ugandan company called Pura Vida to help reduce food spoilage and rot during that country’s rainy season? The new design uses bamboo, insect screens, and polyethylene plastic, and is shaped to resemble the da Vinci bridge.
*Although poor communities in Uganda will dry food outside during the dry season, it is estimated 13-18 per cent of the country’s grains are lost due to moisture and rotting. The designers of the ‘solar dryer’ greenhouse, Grace Aguti and Peter Onyango, won the 2019 Resolution Social Venture Challenge.
1 point
Question 4
The first confirmed example of an insect flying across an entire ocean was announced in 2024 after it was discovered several members of a species had crossed the 4200km of Atlantic from West Africa to French Guiana in South America, a journey estimated to have taken five to eight days of non-stop flying. What type of insect made the journey?
*Around 10 painted lady butterflies with damaged wings were found resting a few metres from the water on a beach in French Guiana in 2013. Not generally found in South America, it took scientists a decade of analysing genomes and pollen DNA to work out the butterflies had most likely been born in Europe and had flown from Africa – a three-continent lifespan covering over 7000km. Although painted ladies are known to migrate 9000km between sites in Europe and Africa, the maximum distance they can fly non-stop without food and wind assistance is estimated at 780km, leading to questions about how butterflies balance physical effort and utilising the wind when unable to land. Other unconfirmed long insect journeys are African locusts arriving in the Caribbean, and the globe skimmer dragonflies crossing from India to East Africa in autumn before their offspring make the return flight in spring.
1 point
Question 5
In 2005, a scandal broke at the British Comedy Awards when the People’s Choice Award was given to Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway despite it receiving less votes than The Catherine Tate Show, allegedly because which male pop singer and former boyband member had agreed to present the award if Ant and Dec won?
*Broadcaster ITV was also found to have been urging people to vote for the award via a premium rate phone number despite the broadcast being on a time lag and the award having already been given out. Ant and Dec won the People’s Choice Award in 2006.
1 point
Question 6
Having already banned all non-essential vehicles from being on the road until 6am, what did Sweden force all remaining cars to do between 4.50am and 5am on September 3, 1967 – a day known as Högertrafikomläggningen?
*Arguably Sweden’s largest ever logistical challenge, all vehicles on the road were ordered to stop at 4.50am, carefully move to the other side of the road, and then begin their journeys again at 5am.
1 point
Question 7
What were the names of the Davies brothers who, along with Pete Quaife and Mick Avory, formed the music group The Kinks?
Dave Davies
2 points
Question 8
Although the film implies all types of birds are involved, what are the three recognisable types of birds that attack the people of Bodega Bay in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film The Birds?
*Gulls attack at various points of the film, while crows famously attack after gathering on a jungle gym. Sparrows attack the sheltering family by entering through the chimney.
Sparrows
Crows
3 points
Question 9
Excluding the words ‘football club’, what three teams in the Scottish Premier League have names that start and end with the same letter?
Dundee United
Kilmarnock
3 points
Question 10
Due for completion in 2030, the Rail Baltica project seeks to connect the Baltic region to Europe’s railway network, including stops in which five capital cities?
Tallinn
Riga
Vilnius
Warsaw
5 points
Round 3 points
(Maximum: 19)
Total points
(Maximum: 64)
Round 4
Question 1
Bob Dylan’s lecture at the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature awards – in which he spoke about books that had inspired him – rekindled claims of plagiarism within his work when it was found to have twenty similar phrases as the Sparks Notes guide to which American book?
*Plagiarism claims have followed Dylan for years, with fellow folk musician Joni Mitchell calling him a plagiarist in 2010, before softening the accusation to saying he has ‘got a lot of borrowed things’. Dylan dismisses the claims, saying his work is ‘part of the tradition’.
1 point
Question 2
At a meeting with African leaders last week, US President Donald Trump praised Joseph Boakai for speaking ‘good English’ – unaware that English is the official language of which country, of which Boakai is President?
1 point
Question 3
The name of which children’s TV character completes the lyrics to this theme tune: “He knows everything about nothing, and not too much about that, so if you someone who knows what he knows, then you must know…”?
1 point
Question 4
In Scottish Highland Games, by what descriptive collective term are events such as tossing the caber, the stone putt, and the weight over the bar known?
1 point
Question 5
A speaker cube that plays different songs and stories depending on which magnetic figurine, or ‘tonie’, is placed on top of it, the children’s toy Toniebox was devised by two men from which European country?
*Toniebox currently sells over 1100 different tonies, including lines from Playmobil, Disney, Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol, and Pixar, each for around $20, and parents can also upload their own songs and audio via ‘Creative Tonies’.
1 point
Question 6
With only a thin exosphere rather than an atmosphere, the planet Mercury has a yellow-orange ‘tail’ comprised primarily of what chemical element being spread by the solar wind?
*Mercury’s tail was discovered in 2001, and although mostly sodium does contain other elements such as calcium.
1 point
Question 7
What two fingers of the hand are most often measured in order to generate a digit ratio believed to correlate to prenatal androgen exposure – particularly testosterone and estrogen? The theory is that the more testosterone an unborn baby is exposed to, the closer the fingers will be to being the same size.
*The theory connected to the ‘2D:4D ratio’ is that the more exposure to testosterone an unborn child has, the longer the ring finger will be in relation to the index finger. However, there is no evidence that this ratio affects adult traits.
Fourth (ring)
2 points
Question 8
What are the three species of sticklebacks in the UK, each classified by the number of spines they have?
Nine-spined stickleback
Fifteen-spined stickleback (sea stickleback)
3 points
Question 9
The character Charles Hartmann appears in which three novels by Sebastian Faulks – once as a main character, and twice incidentally – with the three books collectively known as ‘The French Trilogy’?
Birdsong
Charlotte Gray
3 points
Question 10
Since the start of the 1958 tournament, when team shirts began to be associated with specific manufacturers, what seven sportswear companies have made the kit for a men’s World Cup winning football team?
*Less recognised names in the list of shirt manufacturers are Athleta, which designed Brazil’s shirt until 1978, and Erima, which made West Germany’s 1974 shirt.
Adidas
Nike
Athleta
Le Coq Sportif
Puma
Erima
7 points
Round 4 points
(Maximum: 21)
Total points
(Maximum: 85)
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.
What surname is shared by all the following people?
Clue 1
David, Canadian world champion slalom canoeist who competed in five Olympic Games
10 points
Clue 2
Trevor, geologist who published the first report on a recognised Precambrian fossil
9 points
Clue 3
Glenn, Hollywood Golden Age actor who starred in Gilda and The Big Heat
8 points
Clue 4
Rob, former mayor of Toronto who refused to resign despite public drug use and a video of him using crack cocaine
7 points
Clue 5
Ford Madox, Literary critic and editor of The English Review
6 points
Clue 6
Betty, US First Lady and founder of a substance abuse treatment clinic
5 points
Clue 7
John, film director who won a record four Academy Awards for Best Director
4 points
Clue 8
Henry, industrialist and car company founder
3 points
Clue 9
Gerald, 38th President of the United States
2 points
Clue 10
Harrison, actor known for playing Indiana Jones and Han Solo
1 point
Round 5 points
(Maximum: 10)
Total points
(Maximum: 95)
