Round 1
Question 1
Whose music is the subject of the Las Vegas show All Shook Up?
1 point
Question 2
Appearing in both the book and television series, The Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen was known as the mother of what type of mythological animal?
1 point
Question 3
In which country is the Santa Claus Main Post Office situated?
*Located in Rovaniemi in Finland’s Lapland region, the post office claims to receive half a million letters from 200 different countries each year.
1 point
Question 4
At ₤3.70, what is the most expensive daily newspaper in the UK?
1 point
Question 5
What event on December 5 has been described as ‘FIFA’s carnival of cringe’ and ‘the world’s worst, most embarrassing, sycophantic mess’, and prompted the head of Football Supporters Europe to ask how much longer ‘Infantino will be allowed to take football into the gutter’?
*The event was widely criticised for creating a special peace prize to give to the US President; its 20-minute sycophantic presentation of the prize; the draw lasting 2.5 hours; having the host nations’ leaders each go through the process of drawing from a pot only containing their own country; its mismatched hosts; poor acting in its video skits; and describing itself as ‘a party’ while cameras showed expressionless people in suits.
1 point
Question 6
Leona Lewis, Alexandra Burke, the members of both Little Mix and One Direction, plus UK television presenters Stacey Solomon and Rylan Clark, all rose to fame as contestants on what UK singing talent show?
1 point
Question 7
What two months of the year are used to describe a romantic relationship between an older person and a younger person?
December
2 points
Question 8
For what three films has Frances McDormand won a Best Actress Academy Award?
*McDormand has been nominated for best actress three times, and won each time. She has also been nominated for best supporting actress three times, and never won.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Nomadland
3 points
Question 9
Ignoring potential sailing routes across the Great Lakes, what are the four US states, all in the Midwest, that require a person to travel across two other states in order to reach an international border or ocean?
Kansas
Missouri
Illinois
4 points
Question 10
Make the longest word possible from the following letters: CDMNNORUU
Up to 9 points
(*length of word equates to points awarded)
Round 1 points
(Maximum: 24)
Round 2
Question 1
The most visited museum in the Netherlands, the Rijksmuseum is an example of a Rijksmonument, designated by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed. Although it can also mean wealth or opulence, what does the word ‘rijk’ mean in this context?
*Similar to the German word ‘reich’, rijk previously referred to empire or realm. Dutch also has the words staat and nationaal, but rijk is generally used for things belonging to or run by the state.
1 point
Question 2
What are Geminids, Ursid, and Quadrantid, all of which will be visible in the northern hemisphere in December?
1 point
Question 3
What item of clothing completes the informal slogan attached in jest to UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s mid-2000s campaign to curb youth crime by showing more ‘love’ to adolescents: ‘hug a ___’?
*Cameron said of hoodies: ‘We – the people in suits – often see hoodies as aggressive, the uniform of a rebel army of young gangsters. But hoodies are more defensive than offensive. They’re a way to stay invisible in the street. In a dangerous environment the best thing to do is keep your head down, blend in. For some the hoodie represents all that’s wrong about youth culture in Britain today. For me, adult society’s response to the hoodie shows how far we are from finding the long-term answers to put things right.’
1 point
Question 4
In 2008, Chapter 1 Article 10 and Chapter 7 Articles 71-74 of Ecuador’s new constitution made it the first country in the world to give guaranteed rights to what?
*Chapter 1 confirmed nature’s rights alongside those of persons, communities, and nations, while Chapter 7 gave details of what those rights entailed. In November, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa was defeated in a referendum which included amongst its questions the possibility of writing a new constitution, with one of his claims – alongside a need for more executive national security powers – being that nature’s rights were limiting economic development.
1 point
Question 5
Rather than being from the ‘old wives’ tale’ of them crawling into people’s ears, entomologists generally accept that the insect known as the earwig got its name because what part of its body is shaped similar to a human ear?
*Rarely seen flying, earwigs have large wings folded underneath elytra (hardened forewings that look like panels) on their backs.
1 point
Question 6
Named after the public’s offering of the flowers to the military during its takeover of the streets, and the key event in the ‘third wave of democracy’, the Carnation Revolution of April 25, 1974 occurred in which southern European country?
*The giving of carnations was started by restaurant worker Celeste Caeiro: her restaurant had taken stock of carnations to celebrate its first anniversary, which was cancelled due to the military action, with the employees allowed to take the flowers home. When a soldier asked if she had a cigarette, she could only give him a flower, which he placed in the barrel of his gun. This was then copied by other soldiers and became a symbol of a bloodless revolution.
1 point
Question 7
In March 1997, biscuit manufacturer United Biscuits, which owns the McVitie’s brand, successfully took UK supermarket Asda to court for ‘passing off’ after the supermarket released a chocolate biscuit line similar to a McVitie’s product. Also closely connected within the publishing industry, what two types of birds were the names of the similar biscuits?
*Although McVittie’s failed to prove trademark infringement, the judge did decide that the wording and use of a cartoon bird would be enough to convince customers that Asda’s Puffin biscuits were made by the same company that made Penguins, hence the ‘passing off’ ruling. Summarising, he said that the rise of supermarket own-brands would lead to an increase in the testing of the law, and some current lawyers think United Biscuits would lose the case today as customers are aware that supermarket ‘copycats’ are different products – they just don’t care.
Puffin
2 points
Question 8
In a 2025 survey of 2000 people conducted by the British Board of Film Classification, what three films were found to be respondents’ favourite Christmas films? The winner, receiving 20 per cent of the votes, was a 1990 American family film, followed by a 2003 UK romantic comedy and a 1946 American Christmas staple.
*The survey also found the most sought after quality of a Christmas film is ‘heart-warming’, and that more people considered Die Hard to not be a Christmas film than thought it was.
Love Actually
It’s a Wonderful Life
3 points
Question 9
Based on precipitation and temperature levels, and given letters A to E, what are the five primary climate groups, or zones, defined by the Köppen climate classification system?
*Each group in the Köppen system is then further defined by its precipitation and heat patterns, such as ‘rainforest’, ‘monsoon’, or ‘dry summer’.
Arid
Temperate
Continental
Polar
5 points
Question 10
Implemented in 2010, and guiding the course subjects that pupils may choose as they move through school, Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence categorises school subjects into what eight general areas, with all areas needing taught at younger ages before pupils make choices to specialise as they get older?
Languages (including English)
Sciences
Expressive arts
Social sciences
Technologies
Health and wellbeing
Religious and moral education
8 points
Round 2 points
(Maximum: 24)
Total points
(Maximum: 48)
Round 3
Question 1
Which architect, most famous for designing the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, passed away on December 5 at the age of 96?
1 point
Question 2
Published last week, a joint study by the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and the University of Exeter found that approximately 95 per cent of what species of bird born on either South Africa’s Dassen Island and Robben Island in 2004 had died by 2012 due to food scarcity? The species, which used to number in its millions, was listed as critically endangered in 2024.
1 point
Question 3
Named for the image on the company’s logo, what is the official name of American Express’s invite only ‘black card’ charge card?
*According to American Express, rumours of an exclusive black card existed before the card itself, with the company only creating one to capitalise on the publicity.
1 point
Question 4
Listed on the WHO List of Essential Medicines, lithium carbonate is used to stabilise what?
1 point
Question 5
An example of a symbiotic relationship, parasitic wasps such as those in the Braconidae family are hosts to Polydnaviriformidae viruses (PDVs), which they inject alongside their eggs into animals such as moth larvae. What benefit does the virus provide for the eggs once inside their new host?
*While wasps have evolved a relationship to better infect hosts, there is also a known evolutionary protection against attacks within some insect hosts: Drosophila fly larvae that contain Spiroplasma bacteria and aphids with Buchnera aphidicola bacteria have shown improved resistance to attacks by certain wasps. Fruit fly larvae are known to self-medicate against the wasps by consuming an increased amount of ethanol from rotting fruit, stunting their own growth but their bodies’ reaction to which kills the wasp larvae. Despite Charles Darwin writing that parasitic wasps made him doubt the presence of a ‘beneficent’ god, the wasps are seen as a highly effective form of natural pest control.
1 point
Question 6
In the UK children’s supernatural drama Sapphire & Steel, which ran from 1979 to 1982 and starred Joanna Lumley and David McCallum, evil forces broke into the known dimension by finding weaknesses in the time corridor, resulting in people vanishing, undead spirits being released, and other time- and dimension-related consequences. Aiding the unnerving tone of the series, the time corridor weaknesses were located in objects that all had what quality?
*Abandoned buildings, antiques, and old photographs were all weaknesses in the time corridor.
1 point
Question 7
Although other drugs such as methamphetamine or morphine can be used, what are the two drugs most commonly mixed together to create a speedball?
Cocaine
2 points
Question 8
What have been the three different names by which the city created in 1703 by Russian leader Peter the Great has been known? The city served as Russia’s capital for over two centuries and is currently the country’s second largest city.
*Saint Petersburg’s first name change, to Petrograd (Peter’s City), was during WWI, as a rise in nationalism led to the want to remove German and western influences from one of Russia’s most cosmopolitan cities. In 1924 it became Leningrad after Vladimir Lenin’s death, and returned to Saint Petersburg in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Petrograd
Leningrad
3 points
Question 9
Noting that the Barbie doll works at a 1:6 scale – which means objects reduced to 1/6 of their size, which is generally deemed too large for this craft – what are the five most common scales used in the creation of dolls house miniatures?
*1:12 is widely seen as the most popular dolls house scale, while 1:48 is the scale generally used in model railways, where it is called 0 scale. 1:144 (micro scale) would be the equivalent of a dolls house within a dolls house.
1:16
1:24 (‘half scale’)
1:48
1:144
5 points
Question 10
In Morse Code, what seven letters can be signalled using only dots or only dashes?
T (one dash)
I (two dots)
M (two dashes)
S (three dots)
O (three dashes)
H (four dots)
7 points
Round 3 points
(Maximum: 23)
Total points
(Maximum: 71)
Round 4
Question 1
In June, Scotsman Thomas Robinson, who had been operating under the name Tam O’Braan, was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for selling what product that he had falsely claimed was grown in Scotland?
*O’Braan also claimed he had invented the bag for life, had been a bomb disposal expert, and had once lived in the Amazon, before developing a special tea capable of growing in the Scottish environment. In truth he was just buying wholesale tea via Italy and selling it high-end hotels, which were accused of buying the story rather than undertaking due diligence.
1 point
Question 2
One of the most popular izayaka dishes in Japan is negima yakitori, which is comprised of skewers of chicken and what type of vegetable? Negi is also a common ingredient in other Japanese dishes such as being mixed into ramen noodle soups or stir-fried with pork.
*Although it looks like a leek when cooked on the skewer, negi is less tough.
1 point
Question 3
Which country inaugurated its $5bn 5 gigawatt ‘Renaissance Dam’ on September 9, a structure that has raised concerns in nations downriver from its location?
*Egypt and Sudan have expressed concern about an upstream dam on the Nile, the river that supplies almost all their fresh water. In 2013, Egyptian politicians meeting President Morsi floated the idea of supporting rebels to sabotage the dam’s construction, unaware the meeting was being broadcast live on TV.
1 point
Question 4
Referring to his distinctive facial hair, what is the name of the French folktale figure who murders a series of wives, and then leaves a set of palace keys with his latest wife with the one instruction to not look in the secret room?
1 point
Question 5
Published in 1628, William Harvey’s Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus was the first work to outline what process within the human body?
*The Latin title of the work literally translates as ‘An Anatomical Exercise on the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Living Beings’.
1 point
Question 6
Who is the patron saint of travel?
1 point
Question 7
To the nearest minute, how long was Beatrice Straight on screen in her Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winning performance in the 1976 film Network, the shortest time an actor has appeared on screen in an Oscar-winning role? And, even shorter, to the nearest minute how long was Hermione Baddeley on screen to receive a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination for her performance in the 1958 film Room at the Top, the shortest-ever nominated but non-winning acting Academy Award performance?
*Baddeley spent a total of two minutes and nineteen seconds on screen for her nomination, and Straight was on screen for five minutes and two seconds for her win.
Two
2 points
Question 8
The longest siege in Europe during World War I was the Siege of Przemyśl, which lasted for over six months – albeit with a month of suspended hostilities in the middle. In which modern day country is the city of Przemyśl, and which two empires fought at this battle?
*Near the border with modern day Ukraine, the fortified city of Przemyśl had been part of the Austrian, and then Austria-Hungary Empire, since the late 18th century. The Russians took control on March 22 1915, only to relinquish it to a German and Austrian counter-offensive on June 3. After World War I, the Polish-Ukranian War (1918-1919) again put the town into a conflict zone, and in World War II it was invaded by the Germans on one side of its river, and the Soviets on the other, with the former committing a massacre and deportation of Polish Jews. Today it serves as a sanctuary for many Ukrainian refugees who arrive at its train station after fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, leading to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy giving it the honorary title of ‘Rescuer City’ in July 2022.
Austria-Hungary
Russia
3 points
Question 9
All over 3000km long, what are the three longest rivers in Canada?
Yukon River
Saint Lawrence River
3 points
Question 10
Now hanging together in New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the original Campbell’s Soup Cans series created by American artist Andy Warhol consisted of 32 paintings, each showing a different variety of Campbell’s soup. Amongst the 32 varieties, and discounting the word ‘broth’, what nine ingredients or flavours appear in multiple varieties of the depicted soup?
Vegetable
Pea
Beef
Chicken
Noodle
Bean
Turkey
Rice
9 points
Round 4 points
(Maximum: 23)
Total points
(Maximum: 94)
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 people all have what historical connection?
Clue 1
John Young
10 points
Clue 2
David Scott
9 points
Clue 3
Gene Cernan
8 points
Clue 4
Harrison Schmitt
7 points
Clue 5
Pete Conrad
6 points
Clue 6
Alan Bean
5 points
Clue 7
Charlie Duke
4 points
Clue 8
Alan Shepard
3 points
Clue 9
Buzz Aldrin
2 points
Clue 10
Neil Armstrong
1 point
Round 5 points
(Maximum: 10)
Total points
(Maximum: 104)
