Round 1
Question 1
Often dried and then used as a cleansing or scrubbing sponge, what is a loofah, or luffa?
1 point
Question 2
What capital city shares its name with the count who is planned to be married to Juliet in the William Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet, and the Trojan who in Greek mythology either eloped with or abducted Helen of Troy, thus sparking the Trojan War?
1 point
Question 3
According to Betteridge’s Law of Headlines, any newspaper headline which asks a question can be answered with what word: yes or no?
*Placing questions in headlines is seen as more provocation than good journalism, as any sensationalist, biased, factually-unchecked, or influencing idea can be made into a question. However, the turning of accusations or false information into questions is broadly seen as a weak defence against libel.
1 point
Question 4
During the so-called ‘Pizza Wars’ of the late 1980s, what time limit was the ‘Domino’s guarantee’ in which it promised to deliver a pizza, with failure to do so meaning the pizza was free of charge?
*Attorney Kenneth Behrand, who was involved in several of the cases, estimated that from the guarantee’s unofficial start in 1984 until 1990 an estimated 200 lawsuits were filed against Domino’s for accidents caused by dangerous driving as drivers tried to meet the time limit.
1 point
Question 5
What word completes this criticism of the Catholic Church written in a letter by John Acton to Mandell Creighton in 1887: ‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts ____’?
*The following two lines read: ‘Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority, still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.’
1 point
Question 6
On the morning of September 9, Ben Shelton beat Carlos Alcaraz in the latest ever finish at the US Open tennis tournament. Noting that all three digits on the clock were the same number, at what time did the match finish?
1 point
Question 7
In Western culture, the Mali city of Timbuktu has become a synonym for a far away or exotic location. As well its access to the Niger river, what two products originally drew traders and travellers to the city, with one mined in Taoudenni, 650km to the north, and the other leading to the city’s nickname and near mythical status in the 16th-century?
*Once a seat of learning and vibrant trading town, Timbuktu now suffers with the encroaching Sahara desert, poverty, and both the country’s ruling military junta and Islamic extremists. The city’s three great 14th-century mosques have nonetheless seen it recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Gold
2 points
Question 8
What three letters are used in the shortened name of the chemical in cannabis that gives people a ‘high’, as well as the range of edibles and oils that use that chemical which have gone on sale since cannabis became legal in several countries?
*THC stands for tetrahydrocannabinol.
H
C
3 points
Question 9
According to guidance issued by the US Centre for Disease Control, what three language or communication milestones have most babies achieved by the age of four months?
Making responsive sounds (‘makes sounds back when you talk to him’)
Recognising a voice (‘turns head towards the sound of your voice’)
3 points
Question 10
Make the longest word possible from the following letters: AELOPSTTU
Up to 9 points
(*length of word equates to points awarded)
Round 1 points
(Maximum: 23)
Round 2
Question 1
What sign in the zodiac is spelt entirely of alternating consonants and vowels?
1 point
Question 2
‘Slept with my girlfriend’s brother’, ‘Maybe we should try a threesome’, ‘We can share him’, ‘I Married a Horse’, and ‘Babymamas seeing red’ were all episode titles of which US television show that ran from 1991 to 2018?
*A former politician turned political commentator, Jerry Springer originally devoted his talk show to serious political and social chat, with guests including Jesse Jackson. However, with ratings struggling and the studio threatening to drop the show, new producer Richard Dominik leant into sensationalist topics, and by 1997 the show was being granted the freedom to fully pursue outrageous guests.
1 point
Question 3
In which South African city is the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, or Zeitz MOCAA, the largest modern African art gallery in the world?
1 point
Question 4
On August 26, Haakon VIII became king of which country?
*The state funeral of Haakon’s father, Harald V, was on September 9. Norway’s monarchs have been fairly long-reigned, as Haakon is only the fifth monarch since 1872, although neighbouring Sweden has seen even less change: it has only had four in that time.
1 point
Question 5
The word coming from the Nenets language and meaning animal skin, what single-word name is given to a long anorak with a fur-lined hood?
1 point
Question 6
Named for a type of young animal, what name is given to a smaller stiletto heel, originally thought of as ‘trainer heels’ but which became fashionable in the 1950s and 1960s?
1 point
Question 7
Described by Time magazine at the time as ‘The Ultimate Operation’, December 3, 1967 saw what two organs from road traffic accident victim Denise Darvall successfully transplanted into two different patients by the team of surgeon Christiaan Barnard at Cape Town’s Groote Schuur Hospital, with one surgery being a world first?
*Louis Washkansky was the first successful recipient of a human heart, although he died 18 days later from unrelated pneumonia. Barnard’s team was one of many around the world waiting to try the new heart transplant technique at the time, with a similar operation in Brooklyn’s Maimonides Medical Center around the same time only able to keep a 19-day old baby alive for 6.5 hours. The donation of the heart of Ms Darvall – who was killed alongside her mother as they crossed the road to buy cake – was controversial in that her heart had to be technically stopped for her to be declared dead, as was the donation of her kidneys in apartheid South Africa since they were given to a black child. After the 4.5 hour heart surgery, Dr Barnard is reported to have said ‘Christ, it’s going to work’ and ‘I need a cup of tea’.
Kidneys
2 points
Question 8
More precisely referred to in sound and record engineering as lows, mids, and highs, what are the three general terms within the audio frequency spectrum that appear on DJ and audio equipment, allowing the user to control or isolate sounds at these frequencies? Note that one of the words remains the same.
Mids
Treble (tops)
3 points
Question 9
Within the census for England and Wales, the option to declare ethnicity includes options for what four Asian ethnicities, alongside ‘Other Asian’? Each of the four ethnicities is derived from a country in Asia.
Pakistani
Bangladeshi
Chinese
4 points
Question 10
Research into watermelon varieties has identified eight different colours of watermelon flesh. Removing the different hues of the same colour, what five different distinct colours have been identified?
*The eight recognised colours were: white, salmon yellow, pale yellow, canary yellow, orange, crimson red, scarlet red, and green.
White
Yellow
Orange
Green
5 points
Round 2 points
(Maximum: 20)
Total points
(Maximum: 43)
Round 3
Question 1
September 11, 2026 was the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks in the USA. What links Brian Clark, Ronald DiFrancesco, Richard Fern, and Stanley Praimnath, all of whom are still alive, from that day?
*The four men were all in the South Tower, which was struck between the 78th and 84th floor, and opted to descend Stairwell A, the only stairwell of the tower’s three that ultimately proved passable despite heavy smoke on the 79th floor. Clark and DiFrancesco were in a group from the 84th floor that met a woman coming up the stairs at the 81st floor who urged them to go towards the roof, but instead investigated a shout – from Prainmath – which separated them from that group. Struggling to breathe, DiFrancesco left Clark and ascended, but after lying down on the 91st floor got up and decided to head downwards, becoming the last survivor to leave the building, with the collapsing building behind him putting him in a coma for three days and leaving him with heavy burns, broken bones, and scarring. Around 10 people from the 78th floor, where people waited in a lobby to change elevators, also escaped, while the elevators themselves – some of the biggest and fastest in the world – had already moved several thousand people out of the South Tower after they had seen the strike on the North Tower. Nobody in the North Tower survived above the impact zone.
1 point
Question 2
In which country is the 1200km East-West pipeline, which was temporarily shut on September 11 after it was attacked by drones reportedly launched from Iraq?
1 point
Question 3
Meaning ‘the boy’ in Spanish, El Niño is a cyclical heating of surface water temperatures in the tropical region of the Pacific Ocean. What is the name of the opposite part of the cycle in which the surface water temperature cools?
*The western waters of the Pacific are usually warmer than the eastern waters because trade winds move water westward, which is replaced by cooler water coming up from the depths and the Humboldt Current from the south. Occurring every 3-7 years, El Niño is when warmer waters do not move westward, which leads to more warmth, cloud, and rain in the eastern Pacific. This ultimately affects the entire globe’s weather system, with Africa getting wetter winters and then drought, drought likely in the western Pacific (East Asia) followed by increased cyclones and flooding during La Niña, and very wet weather on the west coast of South America.
1 point
Question 4
What English event of 1666 led to all of the following: the execution of Frenchman Robert Hubert despite him probably not being in the country at the time; a Frenchman nearly being dismembered after a mob thought the tennis balls he was carrying could be bombs; a Frenchwoman’s breasts being cut off after a mob thought the chicks she was carrying in her apron could be bombs; a Frenchman being hit over the head with a metal bar by a blacksmith; and a Swedish diplomat being hung in the street, only to be saved when the Duke of York passed by and told the crowd to cut him down?
*Anti-foreigner sentiment in the 17th century was primarily aimed at France and the Netherlands, although most people could not tell the difference between various non-English nationalities. The 26-year old Hubert confessed to starting the fire, although his confession went against the evidence, changed multiple times, and made no sense if he was not in England at the time; nonetheless, he was executed.
1 point
Question 5
What internationally recognised symbol was originally devised by Charles Baldwin for the Dow Chemical Company and is comprised of a trefoil – or three overlapping circles positioned like a Venn diagram – with the border of each circle then thinned towards the edge by placing an off-centre circle inside, before a small circle and ring are placed in the centre of the design?
1 point
Question 6
What battle during the 5th century BC Greco-Persian Wars is now often remembered by the post-war actions of a man named Pheidippides – although there is serious doubt whether he did what was claimed?
*Pheidippides was the messenger who was said to have run 40km from Marathon to Athens to announce the Athenian army had resisted the forces of Darius. In some accounts it is also said that prior to the war he ran for two days from Marathon to Sparta to ask for reinforcements to be sent.
1 point
Question 7
The mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope is comprised of 18 segments made of what two highly heat-resistant metals, one with atomic number 79 and the other 4?
*Beryllium is light and temperature stable, and makes the core part of the mirror, which is then gold-plated.
Beryllium
2 points
Question 8
In ten-pin bowling, the names of what three animals are used to describe the following achievements: three strikes in a row; three spares in a row; and four strikes in a row? The first two terms are named for birds, while four strikes is a play on a word often used to describe the accumulation of multiples of a thing, particularly stock investments in which the initial value has multiplied x-amount of times.
*Badger appears to be a play on the word ‘bagger’.
Sparrow (or chicken)
Badger
3 points
Question 9
Including two in London and one in Scotland, what five universities finished top of the latest Guardian university rankings, released on September 12?
*The paper also surveyed course satisfaction, with the top six courses all being related to medicine: dentistry, veterinary science, medicine, physiotherapy, paramedic science, and midwifery. Business management received the lowest satisfaction.
Cambridge
London School of Economics (LSE)
St Andrews
Imperial
5 points
Question 10
All appearing inside the top 50, what six films directed by British director David Lean appeared in the British Film Institute’s Top 100 British Films list, produced in 1999 to mark the end of the 20th century?
*Lean also has six films in the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book, with A Passage to India replacing Oliver Twist.
Great Expectations
Oliver Twist
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Lawrence of Arabia
Doctor Zhivago
6 points
Round 3 points
(Maximum: 22)
Total points
(Maximum: 65)
Round 4
Question 1
What American actress was born Demetria Harmon in 1962, renamed Demetria Guynes when her 18-year old mother remarried just three months after the child was born, and took on her familiar stage name when she herself got married at the age of 18 to a 30-year old musician she had met in an LA nightclub a few months earlier, the first of her three marriages?
*Moore’s mother had been married for only two months when, while pregnant, she was abandoned by Moore’s biological father. Moore met married musician Freddy Moore in 1981, leading to him quickly divorcing and remarrying – although he and Moore separated only two years later and divorced in 1985, just as her film career gained attention. She married Bruce Willis in 1987.
1 point
Question 2
The American artist Jasper Johns is associated with painting symbolic objects, including three paintings depicting what symbol of the USA – one standard image, one painting in which the object appears three times, and one in which it is painted in white?
1 point
Question 3
The father of an even more famous engineer, who was the chief engineer in the building of the Thames Tunnel, the world’s first underwater tunnel, which was opened in London in 1843?
*Marc Isambard Brunel was the father of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
1 point
Question 4
In a 1936 satirical science-fiction book by Czech writer Karel Čapek, a super-intelligent species of what type of amphibian is enslaved by humans, leading to prejudice, pseudoscientific theories, over-intellectualism, and ultimately botched cross-species diplomacy after the animals rebel by demanding entire land masses are destroyed to generate more shallow waters in which they can live, having been armed with weapons supplied by human capitalists?
1 point
Question 5
Named for the university in which it was formalised, what type of competitive debate involves a moderator overseeing sides arguing for and against a motion via a format in which sides make opening statements, debate questions from the floor, and then deliver closing statements, with the winner ultimately decided either by an audience vote on the strength of the debate arguments, or by how many people have changed their mind between votes conducted before and after the debate?
1 point
Question 6
Despite its name suggesting it is connected to aristocracy and a city on the country’s east coast, what US cake with fluffy white frosting and a dried fruit and nut filling actually derives from Charleston, and was so liked by author Owen Winston that he named one of his novels after it?
1 point
Question 7
In the New Testament of the Bible, the parable of The Good Samaritan occurs on a road notorious for bandits between which two cities? One of the cities is currently controlled by Israel but also claimed by Palestine, and the other is in Palestine.
Jericho
2 points
Question 8
From 1825 to 1828, the Cisplatine War for control of a region known as Banda Oriental was fought by earlier forms of which two modern South American nations? And despite not being a war of independence, which third South American nation was formed at the war’s conclusion?
Argentina (United Provinces of the Río de la Plata)
Uruguay
3 points
Question 9
As well as the touchline at the side of the playing areas, rugby pitches are marked with seven solid lines across the field, four dashed lines across the field, and four dashed lines up and down the field. The names of these lines are the halfway line, goal line, dead ball line, and lines for what four distances, all measured in metres?
*Slightly confusingly, the various metre lines are measured from different startpoints, with the 22-metre line being 22 metres from the goal line, the 15-metre line being 15 metres from the touchline, and the 10-metre line being 10 metres from halfway.
15-metre line
10-metre line
5-metre line
4 points
Question 10
On September 9, US President Donald Trump promised to send every adult American a cash payment of $5000 if the Republican party kept the Senate and House of Representatives in November’s mid-term elections, a move that the magazine Business Insider counted as the eighth time Trump has proposed sending a one-off direct federal payment to people since coming back to office in 2025. For what were the seven previous reasons Americans were told by Trump they would receive a direct payment from the US government?
*The DOGE and tariff payments have not been made. The ‘warrior dividend’ was redefined by the IRS as ‘a supplemental basic allowance for housing payments’. Healthcare payments will only go ahead if the Great Healthcare Plan is passed, which it has not yet been. Affordable Care Act rebates are due to be sent in October, with insurance premiums to go up in 2027. Trump Accounts opened on July 4, with people due to receive a payment within the next three years. The $10000 payment to air traffic controllers, promised during a shutdown, was eventually only offered to 776 individuals who took zero hours off during the shutdown, including not giving payments to those who took legitimate sick or holiday leave.
Global tariff income dividend ($2000)
Healthcare payments to aid with insurance ($1500)
Affordable Care Act rebate ($500)
‘Warrior dividend’ to service personnel ($1776)
‘Trump account’ payment to babies born in 2025-2028 ($1000)
Air traffic controller bonus ($10000)
7 points
Round 4 points
(Maximum: 22)
Total points
(Maximum: 87)
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.
What are all of the following?
Clue 1
Spinner
10 points
Clue 2
Pyjama
9 points
Clue 3
Bronze whaler
8 points
Clue 4
Lemon
7 points
Clue 5
Leopard
6 points
Clue 6
Tiger
5 points
Clue 7
Bull
4 points
Clue 8
Caribbean Reef
3 points
Clue 9
Hammerhead
2 points
Clue 10
Great white
1 point