Round 1
Question 1
Although not commonly used in everyday speech, a hand refers to a grouping of what type of fruit, with each fruit within the hand known as a finger?
1 point
Question 2
What is the name of the Spanish version of the celebrity gossip magazine Hello!?
*The UK version of Hello! relies heavily on gossip and positive coverage of the UK royal family, particularly Kate Middleton: although she has only appeared on 13 covers so far in 2026, she surpassed 20 in 2025, got nearly 30 in 2023, and had 21 consecutive appearances on the cover from 2022 to 2023 after the funeral of the Queen.
1 point
Question 3
Oxbridge, Ivy League, and grande école are all names given to groups containing elite what?
1 point
Question 4
With a name derived from the French for ‘eat all pea’, what is the British term for the vegetable known in the US as the snow pea?
1 point
Question 5
Familiar to many children around the world, Gogo, Backpack, and Let’s Go are textbook series teaching what subject?
1 point
Question 6
Alongside his brother and cousin, which former president of Syria was sentenced to death in absentia on August 11 for crimes committed during the country’s 14-year civil war?
1 point
Question 7
Excluding cameos in which he has played himself, what are the only two characters that the actor Tom Hanks has played in multiple films?
Professor Robert Langdon (Da Vinci Code franchise)
2 points
Question 8
What three celestial objects were used in Isaac Newton’s original 17th century effort to solve the three-body problem – the problem being that in classic mechanics no there is not a single equation that can predict the behaviour of three orbiting bodies affected by each other’s gravity?
*Three bodies in orbit create chaotic systems, meaning that even slight alterations caused by different starting positions or the pull of one body on another will create vastly different outcomes. While the basic mechanics of the solar system appear to centre on two bodies – a planet goes around the sun, a moon goes around a planet – it is actually an n-body system, with slight gravitational pulls from numerous objects, meaning in the long-term today’s mathematical calculations will ultimately unravel if there is even a small change in one body.
3 points
Question 9
What four colours appear in the lyrics of the song What a Wonderful World, released by Louis Armstrong in 1967?
The first line of the song includes two colours: ‘I see trees of green, red roses too’. The first line of the second verse also includes two colours, as it reads ‘I see skies of blue, and clouds of white’.
Red
Blue
White
4 points
Question 10
Make the longest word possible from the following letters: ACCEIIMNT
Up to 9 points
(*length of word equates to points awarded)
Round 1 points
(Maximum: 24)
Round 2
Question 1
According to reporting by The New York Times, France’s first heatwave of 2026 resulted in the deaths of about 2.5-3 million of what type of animal?
*Reports have noted cases of over a thousand chickens dying in large sheds in just a few hours due extreme heat, with the birds unable to sweat in order to moderate their own temperature.
1 point
Question 2
In the Marvel comic book universe, what type of buildings are The Kyln, The Vault, and The Raft?
1 point
Question 3
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro, also known as the Polisario Front, is a military and political organisation seeking the end of occupation in which African territory?
1 point
Question 4
On August 15, Hungary sank two 80-metre barges on the Danube near the town of Paks in order to create a temporary dam and raise the river’s water level due to severe drought. What type of building is situated at Paks that required the water level to be raised?
*The Paks plant has been operating at around 25 per cent due to severe water shortages, with the water necessary to cool the reactor. A second power plant, Paks II, is expected to open near the town’s Danube banks in 2032.
1 point
Question 5
What waterfall is known locally as Mosi-oa-Tunya, or The Smoke that Thunders?
*The falls are on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe.
1 point
Question 6
In hairdressing, clipper guards generally follow a standard system in which 0 is the shortest cut and what number is the longest?
1 point
Question 7
What were the first names of the men surnamed Rolls and Royce, the engineers and manufacturers famous for founding the Rolls-Royce automobile company in 1904?
*Rolls died only six years after founding the company, one of the earliest people to die in a powered aircraft crash.
Henry (Royce)
2 points
Question 8
Although it is traditionally made with just two ingredients, and deviation from this can upset purists, the Italian dish gnocchi is often generally made with what three ingredients, plus salt and any other seasoning?
Flour
Egg yolk
3 points
Question 9
The world sanctioning bodies in international boxing are the WBA, WBC, WBO, and IBF, each of which have their own world champion. For what do WBA, WBC, WBO, and IBF respectively stand?
World Boxing Council
World Boxing Organization
International Boxing Federation
4 points
Question 10
What five surnames have been shared by multiple US Presidents?
Harrison
Johnson
Roosevelt
Bush
5 points
Round 2 points
(Maximum: 20)
Total points
(Maximum: 44)
Round 3
Question 1
What two-word alliterative phrase describes an event in Australia in which sausages are grilled and sold in bread, often to raise funds for charity or community causes?
1 point
Question 2
From which 1940s stage musical, adapted into a 1950 film, are the songs There’s No Business Like Showbusiness, Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better), and Doin’ What Comes Natur’lly?
1 point
Question 3
In 2004, the American Ornithologists’ Union decided that the cackling goose was a distinct species rather than a subspecies of what other North American goose – a reclassification that still confuses some birdwatchers since the largest cackling goose looks almost identical to the smallest members of this other species but can no longer be classified by the term that used to cover both?
*A cackling goose was often called a lesser Canada goose, but lesser Canada goose now only refers to Branta canadensis parvipes, a bird almost identical in appearance to the largest cackling goose, Taverner’s cackling goose (Branta hutchinsii taverneri).
1 point
Question 4
Comprised of 12 countries, ECOWAS – also known as CEDEAO in French and Portuguese – is an economic and political union in which part of the world?
*The English name of the organisation is the Economic Community of West African States, while the French name is Communauté économique des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest. The Portuguese name is Comunidade Económica dos Estados da África Ocidental. The union used to have 15 nations, but in 2024 Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso – all ruled by military juntas – decided to leave after they had faced sanctions they claimed were trying to overthrow their governments. Political instability and coups have led to other member states being suspended, with Guinea-Bissau currently suspended following its November 2025 coup.
1 point
Question 5
What lawn, party, barbecue, and bar game, popular in the USA, has since 2015 had a professional league known by the initials ACL, with star players including Mark Richards, Tony Smith, and Mark Guy?
*Cornhole involves throwing beanbags into a 15cm hole positioned 10m away. The professional league has been shown on ESPN, and on August 2 Jamie Graham from Hamlet, North Carolina won the ACL World Championship singles title for the fourth time, retaining his title from 2025. One attraction of cornhole tournaments is that, like poker, many of the main prize tournaments are open to all players, but although around $8m is earnt by players collectively each year through winnings and sponsorship, and top players make around $100000 a year, most ‘professionals’ only earn $5000 to $25000 from the game.
1 point
Question 6
QQ, Weibo, and Wechat have been successive and successful social media services launched by which Chinese company that has an annual revenue of close to $100bn a year and which featured in the top 10 most valuable companies in the world from 2018 to 2021?
*Tencent has expanded into numerous tech-connected industries, including online money transfer, games development, and media streaming.
1 point
Question 7
Following heavy losses, the telecommunications company Motorola was split up in 2011, becoming Motorola Solutions and Motorola Mobility. What two large technology companies – one American and the other Chinese – have since purchased Motorola Mobility, with the first doing so to attain smartphone patents to protect its Android system from patent infringement lawsuits, and the second in order to help gain access to the US market using the Motorola brand?
Lenovo
2 points
Question 8
On July 31, a female tiger named Umit that had been caught in Russia was released into the Ile-Balkhash nature reserve in Kazakhstan, the first wild tiger in the country since 1948. Soon to be joined by around 50 others, what type of tiger is Umit? And what type of tiger, declared globally extinct in 2003, is this species replacing in Kazakhstan, the two being almost genetically identical and having interbred until their territories became separated in the 20th century?
*As recently as the late 19th century, Caspian tigers could be found from Turkey all the way to China, but they and their prey were heavily hunted and had their territories removed for agriculture. Found in Russia, Amur tigers are almost genetically identical to Caspian tigers. The Ile-Balkhashreserve already has two captive-bred Amur tigers living in a special enclosure, with the hope that should they breed the cubs will grow up wild. The WWF estimates that there are only 5700 tigers, of any species, living wild in the world today, a 95 per cent drop in numbers since the start of the 20th century.
Caspian tiger (Turan tiger)
2 points
Question 9
As well as a Union Jack, the flag of Fiji shows a shield that includes a dove of peace, a lion, and pictures relating to what four plants, all of which are known for their edible fruits or by-products?
*The shield is a portion of Fiji’s coat of arms, which also includes a boat, two people, and a motto that translates as ‘Fear God and honour the King’.
Banana tree (bunch of bananas)
Sugar cane
Coconut palm
4 points
Question 10
Seen by many as an effort to sell a Keeping Up with the Kardashians show to black American audiences, the reality show Braxton Family Values, plus its spin-offs, follows the lives of five sisters who are all singers, plus their singer mother Evelyn. All beginning with the letter T, what are the names of the five sisters?
*Tamar Braxton has said that the dramatic storylines on the show were ‘fake AF’.
Traci
Towanda
Trina
Tamar
5 points
Round 3 points
(Maximum: 19)
Total points
(Maximum: 63)
Round 4
Question 1
In 1863, photos of Wilson Chinn and a man known as Gordon – later renamed as Peter – appeared in the American magazine Harper’s Weekly, becoming two early examples of photographs influencing public and political opinion. What did the pictures of the two men show that led to them being widely distributed across the northern USA at the time?
*Wilson Chinn was pictured in a slave collar with the initials of his ‘owner’ branded on his face. Gordon was pictured with keloid scars on his back from being whipped. The photographs helped people visualize existing written accounts and exposed mistreatment to those ignoring the issue.
1 point
Question 2
The Great Filter Hypothesis, The Dark Forest Hypothesis, and The Zoo Hypothesis are all possible explanations for a paradox which asks why the probability of extraterrestrial life is so high and yet none has been found. Due to him reportedly having asked fellow scientists the question ‘But where is everybody?’ at lunch, after which Manhattan Project scientist is the paradox named?
*Knowing that the only evidence with which humans can presently work is their own existence on Earth, the Great Filter Hypothesis says that one of the steps necessary for a lifeform to become capable of interstellar communication must be harder than humans realise. The Dark Forest Hypothesis is simply the idea that extraterrestrial civilizations know there is life beyond their own but don’t wish to draw attention to themselves. The Zoo Hypothesis says that what we imagine as the distant universe doesn’t actually exist as such, but is rather a wall or barrier drawn up by more intelligent beings so they can watch Earth but not be seen in return. Other theories trying to answer Fermi’s paradox are that humans are just not listening properly, that advanced species inevitably wipe themselves out through the want to dominate and/or the want for leisure, and the so-called SETI Paradox, which says that all interstellar capable lifefoms are listening, but nobody is talking.
1 point
Question 3
Triclinic, monoclinic, orthohombic, tetragonal, hexagonal, and cubic are the six different families of what molecular structure when mapped in three-dimensional space?
1 point
Question 4
What is the name given to a chain of mountain ranges, as seen on the west coast of the Americas where the Alaska Range, Cascades, Sierra Nevada, Rocky Mountains, Sierra Madre, and Andes, amongst others, can all be linked together?
*The term is derived from the Spanish word cordilla, meaning small rope.
1 point
Question 5
What psychological state has been defined as ‘a psychological gap distancing the individual from people and aspects of their psychological world’; ‘the distress and turmoil experienced in human relationships, accompanied by a noticeable discrepancy between one’s ideal and actual social self’; and ‘an emotional response triggered by quantitative or qualitative disturbances in social relationships’?
1 point
Question 6
The furthest a club has ever had to travel for a domestic football fixture is generally believed to be the November 2014 Coupe de France 7th round match between AS Magenta and Trélissac-Antonne Périgord FC, with the away team travelling over 17000km each way to complete the game. Playing in its capital Nouméa, on which French island is AS Magenta based?
*Dordogne-based club Trélissac’s reward for winning 3-0 in the Pacific islands was an away game only 200km away in Luçon on the Atlantic coast, which it lost 1-0. Several New Caledonia teams have reached the 7th round of the cup – the first non-region specific round – but the curvature of the Earth means travelling to the south-west of France is further than travelling to teams in France’s north.
1 point
Question 7
In the play by Samuel Beckett, what are the names of the two characters who are waiting for Godot?
Estragon (Gogo)
2 points
Question 8
What are the three leading rum brands in the world as measured by volume produced?
Bacardi
Captain Morgan
3 points
Question 9
American singer Marvin Gaye released seven duets albums in his life. One was with Smokey Robinson, and the other six were with which four female singers, all of whom were also signed to the Motown record label?
Kim Weston
Tammi Terrell
Diana Ross
4 points
Question 10
Focused on short international trips across the seas of Europe, the ferry operator Stena Line operates 11 ferry routes between which eight European countries? Note that Stena Line is different from Stena RoRo, its roll on-roll-off sister company which charters out vessels to the likes of DFDS, Brittany Ferries, Baleària, and Corsica Linea.
*Stena is a Swedish company. Stena RoRo has three cargo and seven passenger vessels, which serve ports in France, Morocco, Italy, Spain, and Malta.
Ireland
Netherlands
Sweden
Denmark
Germany
Poland
Latvia
8 points
Round 4 points
(Maximum: 23)
Total points
(Maximum: 86)
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.
Their names translated into English, in which city are all of the following?
Clue 1
The Water Palace
10 points
Clue 2
Metropolitan Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity
9 points
Clue 3
July 9 Avenue
8 points
Clue 4
May Square
7 points
Clue 5
The Obelisk
6 points
Clue 6
Colon Theatre
5 points
Clue 7
The Red House
4 points
Clue 8
Recoleta Cemetery
3 points
Clue 9
Diego Armando Maradona Stadium
2 points
Clue 10
The Evita Museum
1 point