Round 1
Question 1
Which bear lives at 32 Windsor Gardens, London?
1 point
Question 2
The prefix nano refers to what fraction of a whole?
1 point
Question 3
What type of animal is Maximus, the pet of Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, whose official Instagram account includes his thoughts on life which also sardonically allude to world and political events, often during which he is asleep?
*After Belgium beat the US at the World Cup despite a US player being allowed to controversially play in the game, Maximus’s post was of him asleep with a toy Donald Trump doll, and the comment ‘I slept well. How about you?’. He also has a post in which he is asleep at mentions of Vladimir Putin, the budget, and Strait of Hormuz but awake at the word ‘snack’; and declining to take a call – presumably from a political leader – because he is ‘too busy’ asleep in a sunbeam in the middle of the floor.
1 point
Question 4
18th-century English writer Samuel Johnson once wrote that he was a ‘hardened and shameless’ consumer of what beverage, having drank only it with his meals for 20 years, as well as having it in evenings, at midnight, and then again in the morning?
*Johnson said his kettle ‘scarcely has time to cool’.
1 point
Question 5
Due to parliamentary process, a sitting UK Member of Parliament cannot resign, and instead leaves parliament by taking up one of two ‘paid’ positions, thus disqualifying them from being an MP. On July 8, who took on the role Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead after announcing his intention to resign as MP for Clacton?
*The other ‘legal fiction’ role is Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds, currently filled by Josh Simons, who left the Makerfield seat that was then won by Andy Burnham.
1 point
Question 6
What month of the year is named for the Roman Emperor Octavian, taking its name from an honorific given to the emperor and by which he is more commonly known?
*Amongst Octavian’s many names was Augustus, ‘the revered’, by which he is still commonly known. Prior to its renaming, August was known as sextilis, being the sixth month in the old Roman calendar.
1 point
Question 7
The 2026 Ladies Singles Final at Wimbledon featured two players from which European nation? And what nationality was the winner of the Men’s Singles Final?
Italy
2 points
Question 8
Meaning freedom, equality, brotherhood, what is the three word motto of France?
Égalité
Fraternité
3 points
Question 9
Including its latest product launch, what four flavours of fruit appear in the current Magnum ice cream stick range?
Raspberry
Mango (mango and coconut ‘sunlover’)
Peach
4 points
Question 10
Make the longest word possible from the following letters: ADDEEOPRS
Up to 9 points
(*length of word equates to points awarded)
Round 1 points
(Maximum: 24)
Round 2
Question 1
Chicken satay and beef satay are popular South-East Asian-inspired dish on western menus. Often mistakenly taken to mean ‘peanut’, due to a common accompanying sauce, what does the word satay – or sate – mean in Malay or various Indonesian languages?
*Although a broad culinary culture of sate – or grilled skewered meat – exists in South-East Asia, western cuisine has become particularly attached to versions served with peanut sauce, leading to a some presumption that satay refers to peanuts.
1 point
Question 2
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, more commonly known as Premonstratensians, is an order in which Christian church?
1 point
Question 3
What species of animal first flourished on the American continent before disappearing from the region roughly 12000 to 8000 years ago, only to then return as a pivotal tool in the Spanish conquest of South America in the 15th and 16th centuries?
*Historical records suggest that the horse returned to South America in 1519 as part of a wave of Spanish settlement. The presence of horses, camels, and elephants in Eurasia are generally seen as a major plus for the continent’s military and cultural expansion, allowing movement that a pack animal such as a llama, or a non-domesticated large animal such as a kangaroo, could not provide in other continents.
1 point
Question 4
In Ancient Rome, a denarius, sestertius, aureus, and argenteus were all examples of what sort of item?
1 point
Question 5
What rapper first came to public attention playing Jimmy Brooks in the Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, in which he starred under his given name, Aubrey Graham?
*Drake’s full name is Aubrey Drake Graham.
1 point
Question 6
The famous town crier call of ‘oyez, oyez, oyez’ – pronounced ‘oh yay, oh yay, oh yay’ – comes from the French call of ‘ouïr’, which means what?
*Town criers are also known to shout ‘hear me, hear me’, which is closer to the French meaning.
1 point
Question 7
What are the two capital cities of Bolivia?
Sucre
2 points
Question 8
Ignoring the name change that was done in 1917 due to anti-German sentiment in World War I, what have been the last three houses to have had a British monarch?
Hanover
Stuart
3 points
Question 9
What are the names of the five Great Lakes that sit on the US-Canada border?
Michigan
Huron
Erie
Ontario
5 points
Question 10
In one of history’s greatest examples of on-the-fly engineering, what five basic items did NASA ground engineers instruct the Apollo 13 crew to use to create a new lithium hydroxide filtration scrubber – required to reduce CO2 levels in the lunar module – after finding that the cuboid ones rescued from the ship’s abandoned command module could not fit into the cylinder-shaped air system port on the lunar module?
*Although the DIY carbon dioxide removal devise – affectionately called ‘the mailbox’ – was improvised, contrary to the depiction in the film Apollo 13 the ground crew did already have some idea about surviving in the lunar module, having undertaken practices since Apollo 10. There were also replacement scrubbers on the outside of the lunar module, albeit highly dangerous to reach while in flight. As each filtration system was meant to be swapped out every 24 hours, the crew later built a second box which they stuck on the end of the improvised device, thus negating the need to use another hose and bag. In 1975 the US National Air and Space Museum asked those who had thought up the concept to recreate a version to be kept in the museum’s National Collection.
Cardboard
Fabric (piece of towel)
Plastic bag
Piece of hose
5 points
Round 2 points
(Maximum: 21)
Total points
(Maximum: 45)
Round 3
Question 1
The djembe, tanggu, cuíca, and davul are all what type of musical instrument, traditional forms of which are found in every populated continent?
1 point
Question 2
The Dom Luís I Bridge between Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia in Portugal, the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge between China and North Korea, the Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo, and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge are amongst the world’s bridges that have what distinctive architectural feature?
*The Dom Luís I Bridge, officially named Ponte Luiz I, is unusual in that while its lower level runs beneath its arch, its top deck is situated at the top, creating a large space between its two levels.
1 point
Question 3
Released on probation in February 2026, less than 8 years into an 18-year sentence, British man Carl Beech had been in prison since 2018 after making high profile but false claims of historical sexual abuse by several politically powerful men in the UK, including which former Prime Minister?
*Made not long after the Jimmy Savile scandal in the UK, Beech’s claims also included him saying that he had witnessed his abusers commit three murders. Subsequent investigations cost the UK taxpayer over £2m, and led to media reports that tarnished the names of several of the accused, before ultimately finding not only that all the claims were false, but that Beech himself had been downloading child pornography and illicitly filming a teenager.
1 point
Question 4
The subject of a 5th-century BC play by Euripides, which tragic character in Greek mythology was the son of Theseus and an Amazon queen, and whose rejection of his stepmother’s advances led to her making a false accusation against him before she committed suicide, which in turn led to his exile and death?
*Hippolytus’s mother was the Amazon queen Hippolytē.
1 point
Question 5
Sometimes claimed to be the continent’s first state-like culture, but with a history now mostly understood through ceramics rather than writing, the Moche lived in an area of land in which current South American country during the 1st century AD?
1 point
Question 6
In a mission led by Francisco Franco’s Nationalist Faction and the German Luftwaffe, which Basque town was bombed for multiple hours on April 26, 1937, destroying much of the area and resulting in a death toll for which estimates ranged from 12 to multiple thousands?
*Franco’s Nationalists originally stated 12 people had died, while Basque officials put the figure at 1654, both of which are now viewed as exaggerations. The attack was the inspiration for a famous anti-war artwork by Pablo Picasso, entitled Guernica.
1 point
Question 7
What are the names of the two people conversing in the children’s song ‘There’s a hole in my bucket’?
*The opening lines of the song are ‘There’s a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza / There’s a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, a hole’. Liza’s response is ‘Then mend it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry / Then mend it dear Henry, dear Henry, mend it’.
Henry
2 points
Question 8
Categorised by the manner in which infection travels through the body, and caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, what are the three primary types of plague?
*Pneumonic plague infects the lungs, while septicemic plague is in the bloodstream. Bubonic plague travels through the body via the lymphatic vessels. One form of plague may lead to another as the disease progresses through the body.
Septicemic
Bubonic
3 points
Question 9
In 2025, after a decade of discussion, it was confirmed that there were four distinct species of giraffe rather than one. What are the names of these four species, two of which are named for geographic compass points, one for an area within East Africa well known for safari, and one for its ‘network’ coat pattern?
Southern giraffe
Masai giraffe
Reticulated giraffe
4 points
Question 10
Occasionally featuring deaf older siblings Virl and Tom in their live performances, what were the first names of the seven Osmond family siblings who found fame as singers in the 1970s? Six of the siblings were brothers who at various times were members of the group The Osmonds, while one sister had success as a solo artist and in partnership with one brother?
Wayne
Merrill
Jay
Donny
Jimmy
Marie
7 points
Round 3 points
(Maximum: 22)
Total points
(Maximum: 67)
Round 4
Question 1
The author Jane Austen was born and died in which English county?
1 point
Question 2
In the 11th century Persian polymath Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abdallah ibn Sina, also known as Avicenna, wrote al-Qanan fi’l tibb, a pioneering encyclopaedic work in what field?
*A doctor, poet, and philosopher, Avicenna is credited by some as exporting to the west the notion of physicians as gentlemen rather than quacks.
1 point
Question 3
Based on the life of Mongol emperor Tamerlane, who conquered much of central Asia in the 14th century, the play Tamburlaine was written by which English playwright?
1 point
Question 4
Article I of what legal document states ‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.’?
1 point
Question 5
What word beginning with f describes a period in the agricultural cycle in which no crops are planted in order to allow the soil to recover, as is occurring in 2026 at the section on Worthy Farm on which the Glastonbury Festival is usually held, resulting in no festival taking place this year?
1 point
Question 6
Shortened to GA – although no letter A is present in the word – and with over 130 known types, what is the name of the hormone that signals to plants to stop producing flowers or fruit?
1 point
Question 7
By 2028, England is expected to complete its move from two-tier councils to single unitary councils, meaning a single local authority will be responsible for all local services rather than having umbrella councils overseeing numerous smaller sub-divisions. Named for the administrative regions they represent, what are the names of the two levels of council in the two-tier system that is being phased out?
District council
2 points
Question 8
Noting that a glaze is a very thin layer of glass on a pot, what are generally the three components that go into the making of a pottery glaze?
*Boron is also often added for lower temperature glazes.
Alumina (stabiliser)
Flux (material to lower melting point)
3 points
Question 9
All with over 10 billion streams, who are the four most globally streamed K-Pop groups?
Blackpink
Stray Kids
Twice
4 points
Question 10
According to data from the World Bank, the top 10 economies with the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita include the British Overseas Territories of Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, the Asian country Singapore, and what seven European nations?
Liechtenstein (2)
Luxembourg (3)
Ireland (5)
Switzerland (6)
Iceland (8)
Norway (9)
7 points
Round 4 points
(Maximum: 22)
Total points
(Maximum: 89)
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.
In which city are all of the following?
Clue 1
Hydromania
10 points
Clue 2
Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary
9 points
Clue 3
Capuchin Crypt
8 points
Clue 4
Baths of Caracalla
7 points
Clue 5
Villa Borghese
6 points
Clue 6
Stadio Olimpico
5 points
Clue 7
Circus Maximus
4 points
Clue 8
The Pantheon
3 points
Clue 9
Trevi Fountain
2 points
Clue 10
The Colosseum
1 point