Round 1
Question 1
What is the second smallest planet in the solar system?
*Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system. NASA lists the equatorial diameter of Mars as 6792km, compared to 12104km for Venus and 12756km for Earth. The four gas planets are all much larger than the rocky planets. On its website, NASA wryly describes Mars as ‘the only planet we know of inhabited only by robots’.
1 point
Question 2
On May 8, American Robert Prevost marked one year holding which titled position?
1 point
Question 3
In the world of business, B2B stands for business-to-business. For what does the term B2C stand?
1 point
Question 4
Which of the following areas currently produces the most annual revenue for technology company Apple: computers; tablets; phones; wearables; services?
*iPhone sales make up around 50 per cent of Apple’s annual revenue.
1 point
Question 5
Between 1903 and 1910, in order to promote cigars, US company Brown & Bigelow commissioned artist Cash Coolidge to produce a series of artworks featuring dogs based on an 1894 picture by the same artist that depicted four dogs playing what game?
*In the original painting, four dogs (possibly St Bernard’s) are playing while smoking and drinking whisky, with one dog’s visible hand containing four aces. The Brown & Bigelow series also included dogs playing baseball and reading the paper, but the pictures involving poker became the most famous, including ‘A Friend in Need’, in which one dog passes an ace to another dog under the table.
1 point
Question 6
With some estimates putting 50 per cent of the species’s total global distribution on the island of Britain, what plant with the scientific name Hyacinthoides non-scripta is renowned for carpeting English woodland in April and May?
*Bluebells are on the list of species protected by Section 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, meaning picking, uprooting, or destroying them is a crime.
1 point
Question 7
In English, the names of which two US states contain three consecutive vowels?
*In Hawaiian, the word Hawaii contains an ʻokina (Hawai‘i), which is considered a consonant.
Louisiana
2 points
Question 8
Who were the belligerents at the decisive Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, fought between March and May 1954 and the result of which led to one side being recognised as an independent nation?
*The US and China were non-combatant supporters of the respective sides. The French defeat led to the partition of Vietnam being agreed at the 1954 Geneva Conference.
France
2 points
Question 9
A RIB is a small lightweight air-filled boat, often used by water-based emergency services and marine tour companies. For what do the letters R, I, and B stand in this context?
Inflatable
Boat
3 points
Question 10
Make the longest word possible from the following letters: AACENSSTT
Up to 9 points
(*length of word equates to points awarded)
Round 1 points
(Maximum: 22)
Round 2
Question 1
Thai, African blue, Mrs Burns’ Lemon, and Genovese are all varieties of what herb?
1 point
Question 2
Named for a famous explorer, what is the name of the strait that runs between New Zealand’s North Island and South Island?
*The strait is known in Māori as Te Moana-o-Raukawa, or The Sea of Raukawa.
1 point
Question 3
In order to increase the distance jumped, it is generally believed athletes in Ancient Greece held halteres when competing in the long jump. What is a haltere?
*Although it may appear counter-intuitive to hold a weight to jump further, the backward swinging of halteres during a jump could create more momentum, with researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University finding that carrying a 3kg weight in each hand could lead to a 6 per cent increase in jump length. An early form of dumbbell, halteres were also used for weightlifting exercises.
1 point
Question 4
In June 1752, in the city of Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin and his 22-year old son William conducted a famous experiment in which they flew a kite in a thunderstorm to prove that lightning was made of electricity. What metal item did Franklin attach to the string of the kite to prove that static electricity had transferred from the clouds and along the water on the kite’s string?
*The key, in turn, was attached to a Leyden jar. At no point was Franklin’s kite directly struck by lightning.
1 point
Question 5
What type of novelty American lollipop brand finishes this marketing slogan from the 1990s: ‘Don’t push me, push a _____’?
1 point
Question 6
What is the name of the hovercraft-inspired and usually orange brand of lawnmower first released by Swedish company Husqvarna in 1964 that claims to be easier to handle than a regular push mower due to the cushion of air it creates using a fan next to the blades?
*In 2025, a search for the oldest Flymo in the UK ended with a rare blue Flymo from 1972 belonging to Northamptonshire resident Peter Goddard being donated to the British Lawnmower Museum. Mr Goddard had previously been trying to sell the machine at car boot sales but had not found any buyers.
1 point
Question 7
What are the two types of chamber in the human heart – one upper and one lower – with each type having a ‘right’ and ‘left’ version to make four chambers in total?
*The atria are the upper chambers of the heart, while the ventricles are the lower chambers.
Ventricle
2 points
Question 8
On Sunday May 10, Barcelona beat rivals Real Madrid 2-0 in El Clásico, thereby securing the Spanish La Liga championship. Which three English internationals played in the game?
Jude Bellingham
Trent Alexander-Arnold
3 points
Question 9
In British and Irish tradition, hiring, tax, and school years used to be divided into four administrative sections, with each section beginning on a ‘quarter day’, which in Ireland occurred on the celebrations of Imbolc, Beltaine, Lughnasadh, and Samhain, rather than the religious feasts used in England and Wales. Lying roughly halfway between the solstices and equinoxes, on the first day of which four months of the year were the Irish quarter days?
*All four of the quarter day celebrations have been re-entered into the list of public holidays in Ireland. Scotland marked its quarter days in the same months as Ireland, albeit on different days.
May
August
November
4 points
Question 10
Which five non-UK countries have had a men’s world snooker champion?
Canada
Ireland
Belgium
China
5 points
Round 2 points
(Maximum: 20)
Total points
(Maximum: 42)
Round 3
Question 1
As well as being known as Generation X and the Forgotten Generation, what item-based nickname has been given to children born between the mid-1960s and 1980 in the US because it was the first generation to regularly come home from school to find an empty house due to both parents being at work or divorced?
*The Latchkey Generation became synonymous with being unsupervised and being left home alone in afternoons and evenings, with some believing it led to greater independence amongst teenagers, while critics say it led to a greater aimlessness, peer pressure, excessive television watching, and behavioural vice.
1 point
Question 2
One of the 14 allergens listed by the UK’s Food Standard Agency, what group of chemicals is known for its ability to better preserve foodstuffs and may occur naturally within or be added to products such as wine, beer, bacon, sausage, and dried fruit?
*Although not a sulphite in a strictly chemical sense, the most common sulphite listed in foods is sulphur dioxide, with other substances used in processing including potassium bisulfite, sodium sulfite, sodium bisulfite and sodium metasulfite. Allergic reactions to sulphites are more likely in people with asthma, although Allergy UK notes that in the majority of cases people experience a sulphite intolerance or reaction rather than a true IgE mediated allergy, meaning the body is not processing the chemical rather than the immune system actively fighting it.
1 point
Question 3
In 2017, the Chinese-made Baojun 510 made news by reportedly became the fastest-selling new car nameplate ever released when it surpassed 400000 sales inside 12 months, almost exclusively in China. Not counting towards this figure, under what existing General Motors brand has Baojun been rebranded to be sold to export markets?
*Baojun is a joint venture between US firm General Motors and Chinese firms SAIC Motor and SAIC-GM-Wuling, and the Baojun 510 went to export markets as the Chevrolet Groove. The fastest-selling new car nameplate does not mean the fastest-selling car, as many big sellers are updated versions of previous models or lines, or are released globally under different names; the Nissan Sentra, for instance, sells over a million cars a year, but exists as the Nissan Pulsar, Nissan Almera, and Nissan Sylphy, which are continuations of the Nissan Sunny, Nissan Bluebird, and Nissan Lucino lines, with the Sunny and Bluebird also exported under the brand Datsun.
1 point
Question 4
Since the devolved Scottish Parliament was established in 1999, there have been seven Scottish national elections, including one held on May 7. In all seven, Conservative candidate Murdo Fraser has finished second in his constituency vote, beaten every time by which high profile member of the Scottish National Party who is currently Scotland’s First Minister?
*Scotland’s elections use a list system that tops up its directly elected Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) with ‘list’ MSPs based on party vote percentages; as a result Fraser has been an MSP since 2001 despite losing every election to Swinney. After Fergus Ewing lost his seat in the 2026 election, Swinney and Scottish Labour Deputy Leader Jackie Baillie are the only MSPs to remain from the original 1999 parliamentarians.
1 point
Question 5
The first black woman to have a UK number one – which she did twice with Let’s Have Another Party and The Poor People of Paris in 1954 and 1956 respectively – Trinidad-born musician Winifred Atwell was a leading player of what musical instrument?
1 point
Question 6
Following its appearance in the 2000 film The Beach, in which the tranquility of a hidden beach is ruined by the arrival of a group of travellers, which beach in Thailand had to be closed in 2018 due to an increase in tourist numbers causing damage and overcrowding?
*At the height of its popularity, Maya Bay on the island of Ko Phi Phi Le was receiving 5000 tourists and 200 boats a day, leading to estimates that 80 per cent of the beach’s coral had been damaged or destroyed. Having also been damaged by filming for the 2000 Leonardo DiCaprio film, authorities decided to shut the beach in 2018, despite the site bringing in around $13m a year in revenue. The beach reopened in 2022 with greater restrictions on visitor numbers and time allowed on the beach, tourists only allowed to go into the water up to their knees, and no boats allowed direct access to the bay.
1 point
Question 7
Later expanded to include options to travel to Baghdad and Beirut, the Taurus Express initially ran between which two cities, one in Turkey and one in Syria?
*In Agatha Christie’s book Murder on the Orient Express, detective Hercule Poirot takes the Taurus Express to Istanbul before boarding the Orient Express. As of 2026, the Taurus Express only runs within Turkey due to conflicts that have affected Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon.
Aleppo
2 points
Question 8
The 14th century War of Chioggia was fought between which two Italian city states that were seeking dominance in the Mediterranean Sea?
*Chioggia is a port at the edge of the Venice lagoon. Venice won the battle, and the Genoa fleet retreated from the Adriatic Sea.
Genoa
2 points
Question 9
Played by Colin Jost, Matt Damon, and Aziz Ansari, and making reference to several news stories about their alleged excessive alcohol consumption, parody versions of which three men featured in the cold open to TV comedy Saturday Night Live on May 9, with the scene depicting the three giving chest bumps and high-fives in a bar as they discussed war, the Supreme Court allowing Donald Trump to run for a third presidential term, and one’s new line of self-branded bourbon?
*An FBI spokesperson said that Patel’s self-branded bourbon bottles are ‘part of a tradition in the FBI that started well over a decade ago’, although declined to show any other instances of FBI Directors putting their own name on alcohol. Patel has also been seen wearing self-branded K$h sneakers, appeared on podcasts wearing his own branded clothes, and been connected to sites selling other branded items. Previously, Patel was paid $1-$5m for serving as a consultant to Elite Depot, a Cayman Isles registered company representing clothing company Shein – which also hired future Attorney General Pam Bondi’s law firm – while the Kash Foundation paid out more in fees for ‘advertising merchandise’ to a company run by a Patel business associate – and the charity’s CEO – than it provided in charitable grants – although the charity states it is no longer affiliated with Patel.
Brett Kavanaugh
Kash Patel
3 points
Question 10
According to the World Nuclear Association, which five countries are world’s largest miners of uranium? One of the nations is in North America, one in Africa, one in Australia, and two are ‘Stans’ in central Asia, one of which is by far the largest miner with over 23000 tonnes produced in 2024, nearly 10000 tonnes more than the second placed producer.
Canada
Namibia
Australia
Uzbekistan
5 points
Round 3 points
(Maximum: 18)
Total points
(Maximum: 60)
Round 4
Question 1
Also called Ugat Shmarim, or yeast cake, what is the name of the sweetened braided bread filled with jam or nuts that originated in Jewish communities in Ukraine and Poland?
1 point
Question 2
Basketball players Giannis Antetokounmpo and Hakeem Olajuwon, footballers Bukayo Saka and Jamal Musiala, singers Sade Adu and Little Sims, and actors David Oyelowo and John Boyega all have family heritage belonging to which West African ethnic group?
1 point
Question 3
Unlike an igloo, which is made of bricks of ice or snow and meant to be longer standing, what word beginning with the letter q is given to a temporary shelter made from a hollowed pile of loose snow?
1 point
Question 4
What Belgian-born US commodities trader, nicknamed ‘The King of Oil’, co-founded the company now known as Glencore and was famous for a number of legally and morally dubious practices, including ‘daisy-chaining’ oil from old wells to new wells so he could charge more; breaking sanctions to trade with Iran, as well as generally blacklisted nations such as Cuba and apartheid-era South Africa; fleeing to Switzerland so he could keep trading after being indicted for racketeering, tax evasion, and fraud; allegedly funding Mossad and having links to the mafia; and receiving a pardon from US President Bill Clinton after donating more than $1m to Clinton and Clinton’s wife’s political campaigns as well as money to Israeli officials who lobbied on his behalf – a pardon Clinton later said he regretted?
*A billionaire by the time he died, Rich is also credited with changing the commodities market from long-term contracts to a ‘spot market’ in which commodities could be bought and sold instantaneously as prices fluctuated. He justified his many controversial dealings and frequent use of bribes as necessary due to much of the world’s commodities originating in nations with questionable governments and laws.
1 point
Question 5
On the Peugeot 402, released in 1937, the car’s model number, 402, was written vertically on the car’s front grille. What second purpose was served by the zero of the car’s name, leading to an urban myth that all Peugeot cars were originally numbered with a zero in order to fulfil this now-outdated purpose?
*Most cars stopped requiring hand cranking to start in the 1930s. The last mass produced car that provided hand cranking as an option is believed to be the 1997 edition of the Lada Niva, while France’s 1990 Citroën 2CV also kept the option.
1 point
Question 6
What was the name of the dynasty which ruled the Franks in the 6th to 8th centuries, becoming the largest state in Western Europe after it successfully defeated the Visigoths and Burgundians and conquered most of Gaul?
1 point
Question 7
The painting The Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci, depicts the moment that Jesus announces that one of the twelve apostles will betray him. Which two apostles, also known as Nathanael and the Canaanite respectively, sit at the end of the table in the painting?
Simon the Zealot
2 points
Question 8
The ‘fondue moitié-moitié’, literally meaning ‘half-and-half fondue’, is a popular Swiss fondue in which what two cheeses each comprise 50 per cent of the total cheese used?
*In 2022, trade organisations representing each of the two cheeses, Interprofession du Gruyère and Interprofession du Vacherin Fribourgeois, united to create an official Fondue Moitié-Moitié label.
Vacherin Fribourgeois
2 points
Question 9
The UK Christmas singles chart of 2008 unusually saw the top two spots taken by different cover versions of the same song. Which two artists – one the recent winner of the TV talent show X-Factor and the other a US musician who had died 11 years earlier – had the hits with their versions of the song Hallelujah? And who wrote the original version of the song?
*The Jeff Buckley version re-entered the chart as part of an unsuccessful protest movement aiming to stop another TV talent show song from becoming number one.
Jeff Buckley
Leonard Cohen
4 points
Question 10
The six men who have officially played the film character James Bond are Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig. What were the films in which each of the six men first played the James Bond character?
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (Lazenby)
Live and Let Die (Moore)
The Living Daylights (Dalton)
Goldeneye (Brosnan)
Casino Royale (Craig)
6 points
Round 4 points
(Maximum: 19)
Total points
(Maximum: 79)
Round 5
In Round 5, there is only one answer. The fewer 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 dishes all contain what food?
Clue 1
Jahodové knedlíky
10 points
Clue 2
Jordgubbstårta
9 points
Clue 3
Mansikkakakku
8 points
Clue 4
Makaron z truskawkami
7 points
Clue 5
Erdbeerkuchen
6 points
Clue 6
Gelato alla fragola
5 points
Clue 7
Fraisier
4 points
Clue 8
Eton mess
3 points
Clue 9
Tarte aux fraises
2 points
Clue 10
Strawberry delight
1 point