Round 1
Question 1
The brothers John and Christopher Wright and Robert and Thomas Wintour were four of the thirteen men involved in what plot, which was led by Robert Catesby, that is remembered on November 5 each year in the UK?
*The 1605 plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament was hatched by a group of Catholics unhappy with religious persecution, but a tip off led police to find conspirator Guy Fawkes with 36 barrels of gunpowder. The punishment for the conspirators was brutal – those still alive were hung, drawn, and quartered, and those who had died trying to escape were dug up and decapitated – while the modern Bonfire Night tradition is based on a law that ran from 1606 until 1859 that demanded churches celebrate God ‘inspiring the King’s most excellent Majesty with a Divine Spirit’ in surviving ‘malignant and devilish Papists, Jesuits, and Seminary Priests’.
1 point
Question 2
Which African country was the site of a mass killing in the city of El Fasher in October, with reports of over 2000 unarmed people – including around 460 in a maternity hospital – being killed by the Rapid Support Forces in its on-going fight with the nation’s military?
*In response to international outcry, RSF said it had arrested several of its own soldiers, including commander Abu Lulu, a move labelled by many as a publicity stunt, not least because the leader of the RSF’s brother, who serves as its deputy, had appeared to have been photographed on site during the attack.
1 point
Question 3
Singers Katy Perry and Shakira, actors Liam Neeson and Orlando Bloom, footballers Lionel Messi and David Beckham, and figure skater Kim Yuna are all amongst the current goodwill ambassadors for which United Nations agency?
1 point
Question 4
The US version of what UK comedy panel show is hosted by Roy Wood Jr. and features Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black as team captains?
1 point
Question 5
18-year old Liverpool defender Amara Nallo made his second appearance for the club’s first team on Wednesday, coming on in the 67th minute in a league cup game against Crystal Palace, following his debut as an 83rd minute substitute in January in a Champions League game. Despite his late appearances, what did Nallo manage to achieve in both games?
*Nallo was sent off four minutes into his debut, and 12 minutes into his second appearance, thus managing two red cards in 16 minutes of professional football. Coincidentally, both his appearances – and red cards – have been on the 29th of the month.
1 point
Question 6
In October, which Scottish football team fired manager Brendan Rodgers, ending his second spell in charge of the club, and rehired Martin O’Neill for his second spell in charge of the club?
1 point
Question 7
Who have been the two Chief Executive Officers of Apple Inc. in the 21st century?
Tim Cook (2011-present)
2 points
Question 8
Traditional anniversary gifts for 40, 50, and 60 years are ruby, gold, and diamond. With coral no longer deemed an appropriate wedding gift due to its threatened or endangered status, what three colour-related gemstones are now recognised as the anniversary gifts for 35, 45, and 55 years of marriage?
Sapphire
Emerald
3 points
Question 9
What are the five species of big cat in the genus panthera?
*The cheetah is in the genus Acinonyx.
Tiger
Jaguar
Leopard
Snow leopard
5 points
Question 10
Make the longest word possible from the following letters: ACDEIONTU
Up to 9 points
(*length of word equates to points awarded)
Round 1 points
(Maximum: 25)
Round 2
Question 1
Due to her perceived intellect and class, Irene Adler is known as ‘The Woman’ by which literary character?
1 point
Question 2
Finished in 2023 for a cost of approximately £5.3m, a project at Stornoway Airport on Scotland’s Isle of Lewis has put over 36000 tonnes of rock next to the runway and airfield for what purpose?
*Coastal erosion and climate change is threatening the airport, leading to a project in which 22000 tonnes of rock were placed beneath the sand of the adjacent beach, and another 14000 tonnes as rock armour at the end of the runway.
1 point
Question 3
A problem for hoofed animals, and worry for cattle and sheep farmers due to its infectious nature, by what two-word term is the bacterial infection interdigital necrobacillosis more commonly known?
1 point
Question 4
When reacting to oxygen, the enzyme polyphenol oxidase is responsible for what physical change in the appearance in fruit?
*The PPO enzyme converts phenolics to quinones by the addition of oxygen in the air, and then joins them together to form brown pigments. Although usually considered undesirable, this reaction also gives coffee, tea, and chocolate their brown colour.
1 point
Question 5
A renowned landmark in the Johannesburg township of Soweto, and now used for leisure activities such as bungee jumping, paintball, and SCAD freefall (being dropped from a height into a large safety net), the brightly coloured Orlando Towers – or Soweto Towers – were originally part of what type of building?
*A walkway links the two cooling towers of the old power plant, from which the bungee jumps are done. The SCAD (suspended catch air device) freefall is done down the centre of one of the towers, while the inside of the other has been turned into a paintball course.
1 point
Question 6
In a letter written from prison in June and seen by the media last week, Luigi Mangione, who is accused of the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, wrote of a fellow inmate named ‘King’ asking to see Mangione’s music playlist and changing it so ‘now I listen to Little Durk’. While Little Durk is a Chicago hip-hop drill musician who is himself incarcerated on a murder-for-hire charge, what popular but significantly less dangerous musician had Mangione been listening to in jail before ‘King’ intervened?
1 point
Question 7
In mathematics, what are the names given to a line that connects two points of a circle’s circumference by going through the circle’s centre, and a line that connects two points of a circle’s circumference but does not go through its centre?
*A secant also crosses a circle at any two points, before continuing.
Chord
2 points
Question 8
What three daily newspapers have the highest print circulation in the UK?
Daily Mail
Daily Mirror
3 points
Question 9
Describing it as ‘the best chocolate mousse I have ever tasted’, albeit a standard non-cream combination, Michelin star chef Raymond Blanc recommends adding lemon to what three ingredients to make chocolate mousse?
Egg whites
Sugar
3 points
Question 10
What six flavours of fruit are used in the Müller fruit corner line of yoghurts in the UK? Two of the fruits appear as their own flavour, and four appear in paired flavours.
*Peach and apricot are paired for one flavour, and blackberry and raspberry for another.
Red cherry
Peach
Apricot
Blackberry
Raspberry
6 points
Round 2 points
(Maximum: 20)
Total points
(Maximum: 45)
Round 3
Question 1
Indian cookbook writer Madhur Jaffrey first came to the UK in 1955 after being offered a scholarship to study what, whereupon her discovery of the UK’s low quality Indian food led her to ask her mother to send recipes, ultimately leading to her writing career?
*Jaffrey received a scholarship to study at RADA
1 point
Question 2
On September 8, 1974, US President Gerald Ford issued Proclamation 4311 and saw his popularity nosedive from 71 per cent to 49 per cent in under a month, as well as his press secretary resign. What was the subject of Proclamation 4311?
*A Gallup poll the week of the pardon found 58 per cent of Americans wanted Republican Nixon tried for the Watergate cover up, and 53 per cent say he should not be pardoned if found guilty. Previously Nixon’s vice president, Ford had been viewed as a popular cross-party consensus builder, but the pardon meant many suspected a deal had been made and helped propel many young Democrat ‘Watergate Babies’ candidates to seats in the November mid-term elections. Their tendency to vote as a bloc against what was perceived as a tainted Republican party has been argued to be the starting point for the deliberate stalling of Presidential agendas by opposition parties, more hardline ‘New Right’ Republicans reshaping their party, and the solidifying of partisan divisions that remain in US politics.
1 point
Question 3
In the UK, what philosopher’s name is used by the police and emergency services as the codename for a response to a marauding terror attack, as was required at the weekend when a mass stabbing incident occurred on a train running between Doncaster and London?
1 point
Question 4
In the Netherlands’ General Election, held on October 29, three of the 150 seats were won by Partij voor de Dieren, or PvdD, led by Esther Ouwehand, making it one of the few parties in the world to have won national electoral seats whilst running on a platform dedicated to what?
*PvdD is one of Europe’s most successful animal rights political parties, having won seats at every election since 2006, including 6 in 2021. Pessoas-Animais-Natureza in Portugal has also had some success, having won a regional, four national, and a European Parliament seat. Other animal rights parties that have had elected officials are Révolution écologique pour le vivant in France (1 MP), Animal Justice Party in Australia (5 regional seats plus 3 council seats), and DierAnimal in Belgium (one provincial seat).
1 point
Question 5
Formed in 1835 by the Board of Ordnance and with headquarters in Nottinghamshire, what organisation goes by the acronym BGS?
1 point
Question 6
Practiced by the BGS, Civil Service, Post Office, BBC, London City Council, various school boards and Lloyds Bank, amongst many others, and only formally stopped in 1975 by the Sex Discrimination Act, what action did the ‘marriage bar’ demand of women once they got married?
*The marriage bar also blocked the hiring of married women, including those who had been widowed.
1 point
Question 7
Since 1986, and calculated by mass rather than weight due to the lack of gravity, the title of heaviest man-made object in space has been consecutively held by which two space stations, the first created by the Soviet Union and the second a collaboration between five space agencies?
*The ISS currently has a mass of over 418 tonnes.
International Space Station
2 points
Question 8
What are the three physical laws that comprise Isaac Newton’s Laws of Motion?
The force acting upon a moving body is equal to its acceleration multiplied by mass
If two objects exert forces upon each other, these forces will be equal but in opposite directions (‘for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction’)
3 points
Question 9
What four members of the band Genesis have had a UK or US number 1 single or album in projects outside Genesis, whether solo or in another band? Three achieved the feat after being in Genesis, and one before.
*While Collins has had several number 1 singles and albums, Gabriel has only ever topped the UK album chart (only ever reaching number 2 in the US). Mike Rutherford’s Mike and the Mechanics reached number 1 in the US with the song ‘The Living Years’ (number 2 in the UK), while Ray Wilson topped the UK charts with his band Stiltskin with the song ‘Inside’, which featured on a Levis advertisement, before joining Genesis after Collins left.
Peter Gabriel
Mike Rutherford
Ray Wilson
4 points
Question 10
What five composers have had pieces top the annual public-voted Classic FM Hall of Fame chart since it started in 1996, reflecting the most popular classical pieces of music amongst the listenership? The pieces that have topped the chart are respectively known as Violin Concerto No. 1, Piano Concerto No. 2, Clarinet Concerto, The Lark Ascending, and 1812 Overture.
*Vaughn William’s The Lark Ascending has topped the chart for 12 of the years, and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 for 11. Despite topping the chart for each of the first five years, Bruch’s violin concerto was only number 25 in the latest list, with higher-ranked pieces used in films The Lord of the Rings, Schindler’s List, The Mission, and Out of Africa reflecting the influence films have on public taste.
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ralph Vaughn Williams
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
5 points
Round 3 points
(Maximum: 20)
Total points
(Maximum: 65)
Round 4
Question 1
On October 25, Radio 3 presenter Matthew Sweet presented for the final time the show which he had devised and presented on the station for 12 years, with Edith Bowman taking over from November 1 – a move the Daily Telegraph labelled ‘a disaster’. What type of music had been the subject of Sweet’s show since it began?
*Whereas Sweet’s Sound of Cinema show mixed popular and obscure film pieces with occasional interviews, and in his final show referenced philosopher Theodor Adorno and the 12-tone technique, Bowman’s first episode of the show involved more well-known composers and films, as well as an interview with Oscar-winning composer Rachel Portman and a new ‘pick of the flicks’ section in which a celebrity chooses a favourite piece, with Graham Norton the first guest.
1 point
Question 2
What is the name of the cryptocurrency platform with controversial links to the family of US President Donald Trump that has been at the heart of a number of stories relating to conflicts of interest and corruption, including billionaire Justin Sun spending at least $75m on its tokens around the same time a US Securities and Exchange Commission fraud investigation into his companies was paused, and Abu Dhabi company MGX using $2b of the platform’s stablecoin to invest in Binance weeks, which was soon followed by the UAE being allowed to buy advanced US computer chips and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao being given a presidential pardon for a money laundering conviction relating to terrorist and sanctioned groups using his platform?
*A Reuters investigation found the Trump organisation had made $864m in the first half of 2025 – compared to $51m a year earlier – with $802m coming from cryptocurrency, far above the $33m Trump golf courses and $23m Trump real estate made. WLF’s board includes not only Trump’s sons but also the sons of US ‘special envoy’ Steve Witkoff. In 2021, Donald Trump told Fox Business that cryptocurrency pioneer Bitcoin ‘seems like a scam’.
1 point
Question 3
What two-word name is given to a barbecue party in Mexico, it also being the name of grilled marinated beef cooked on a parilla grill throughout much of Latin America?
1 point
Question 4
Currently hanging in the Musée national d’Art moderne in Paris, a 1930 painting by Swiss-born German artist Paul Klee shows an imprecise checkerboard design in which rows of 6, 7,or 8 rough-edged squares are coloured in a repeating black-grey-white sequence. What other art form is this painting meant to represent?
*A violinist who was the son of musicians and who married a pianist, Klee often tried to represent internal feelings towards art as external paintings. The coloured squared painting, titled ‘Rhythmic’, is generally regarded as showing the beats of music.
1 point
Question 5
Which British band, named for its singer and with record sales of over 60 million physical albums, is currently widely rumoured to be planning a world tour in 2026 after an unverified – and possibly AI generated – list of dates appeared online, which would be the band’s first tour since 2011?
*Guitarist Stuart Matthewman confirmed the band was working on a new album in 2018, and actor Brad Pitt confirmed it had used his studio in 2022, but no music outside contributing one song to a trans rights album has been released, and the band’s website hasn’t updated its events since 2011. Sade is known for being slow-moving – it once took 18 year to release two albums, and lead singer Sade Adu is well-known for being publicity shy: she moved to a Somerset farm in 2005 and hasn’t given an interview since 2020.
1 point
Question 6
Famous in the 1950s and 1960s, when she was one of the most visible black athletes in the world, Wilma Rudolph was a star in which sport?
*Rudolph, the 20th of her father’s 22 children and a childhood polio survivor who had to wear leg braces, won three gold medals at the 1960 Rome Olympics and retired from the sport in 1962 as the world record holder in the 100m and 200m, as well as being the anchor on the world record-holding US 100m relay team. Rudolph’s hometown of Clarksville, Tennessee had its first ever racially integrated public event after she refused to attend the ‘Welcome Wilma Day’ after her Olympic success unless it was integrated.
1 point
Question 7
What two European nations fought the 1783 Battle of Cuddalore which, despite being in India and between two European nations, has been increasingly viewed by historians as the last battle connected to the American Revolutionary War?
*When the battle began, the Treaty of Paris peace deal between France and Britain had already been signed but the news had yet to reach the countries’ forces in India. Fighting only stopped when a British vessel flying a white truce flag arrived, before which between 1000 and 2500 people had been killed or injured.
Great Britain
2 points
Question 8
Which two countries sit on opposite sides of the Straits of Tiran?
Saudi Arabia
2 points
Question 9
Of the 20 chemical elements currently believed to be essential for the human body, 10 are metals, of which six are the transition metals iron, copper, zinc, cobalt, manganese, and molybdenum. What are the four ‘main group’ elements – those being in columns 1-2 and 13-18 of the periodic table – that are also required? On the standard periodic table layout, these four metals sit next to each other to form a square.
Magnesium
Potassium
Calcium
4 points
Question 10
Unlike many countries, Germany has five federal supreme courts tackling five different areas of law. Over what five areas do the different courts oversee?
Administrative law
Fiscal law
Labour law
Social security law
5 points
Round 4 points
(Maximum: 19)
Total points
(Maximum: 84)
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 are all characters in which play by William Shakespeare ?
Clue 1
The Clown
10 points
Clue 2
Brabantio
9 points
Clue 3
Duke of Venice
8 points
Clue 4
Bianca
7 points
Clue 5
Roderigo
6 points
Clue 6
Emilia
5 points
Clue 7
Cassio
4 points
Clue 8
Desdemona
3 points
Clue 9
Iago
2 points
Clue 10
Othello
1 point
Round 5 points
(Maximum: 10)
Total points
(Maximum: 94)
