Trivia Quiz

1. What is the Russian name for Moscow, the capital of Russia?
a) Volograd
b) Mishkino
c) Minsk
d) Moskva

2. Who wrote the words `Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying: And this same flower that smiles to-day, To-morrow will be dying.`?
a) Jonathan Swift
b) William Shakespeare
c) Robert Herrick
d) Lord Byron

3. What is the name for a long-range guided missile that has a terrain-seeking radar system and flies at moderate speed and low altitude?
a) Antimissile missile
b) Cruise missile
c) Ballistic missile
d) Surface-to-air missile

4. Who wrote the words `My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends - It gives a lovely light.`?
a) Nancy Mitford
b) Thomas Chatterton
c) Edna St Vincent Millay
d) Dorothy Parker

5. Which landlocked country in the eastern Pyrenees is bounded north by France and south by Spain?
a) Switzerland
b) Andorra
c) Catalonia
d) Austria

6. In World War II, what was the costly but successful German operation to capture the island of Crete from the Allies May 1941?
a) Battle of Mycale
b) Battle of Issus
c) Battle of Crete
d) Battle of Verdun

7. Who wrote the words `But the real travellers are only those who leave For the sake of leaving.`?
a) W H Davies
b) Ambrose Bierce
c) Charles Baudelaire
d) AE Housman

8. In the UK it is observed on the fourth Sunday in Lent, whereas in the USA they celebrate it on the second Sunday in May - what is it?
a) Mother's Day
b) Independence Day
c) Thanksgiving Day
d) Father's Day

9. Which Spanish Balearic island, a popular destination for holiday-makers, has a capital called Palma?
a) Corsica
b) Majorca
c) Malta
d) Sardinia

10. In which 1912 scandal was UK chancellor Lloyd George implicated?
a) Profumo Scandal
b) Bell Scandal
c) Edison Scandal
d) Marconi Scandal

11. Who wrote the words `His lordship may compel us to be equal upstairs, but there will never be equality in the servants' hall.`?
a) Noël Coward
b) Catherine Cookson
c) P G Wodehouse
d) James Matthew Barrie

12. Which is the highest mountain in Scotland's Grampian range?
a) Snaefell
b) Scafell Pike
c) Ben Nevis
d) Ben Macdhui

13. What is the nationality of someone born in the city of Lima?
a) Brazilian
b) Peruvian
c) Argentine
d) Uruguayan

14. When did Lester Piggott last win the Derby?
a) 1991
b) 1980
c) 1983
d) 1985

15. Who wrote the words `Lord Ronald ... flung himself from the room, flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions.`?
a) Stephen Leacock
b) James Thurber
c) Spike Milligan
d) Groucho Marx

16. Who said `Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.`?
a) Dorothy Parker
b) Douglas Fairbanks Jnr
c) H L Mencken
d) Mel Brooks

17. Henry Longfellow, the US poet, wrote a narrative poem in blank verse, about which American Indian?
a) Crazy Horse
b) Hiawatha
c) Sitting Bull
d) Geronimo

18. Which British city annually hosts the largest International Festival of Music and Drama in the world?
a) Oxford
b) London
c) Edinburgh
d) Stratford-upon-Avon

19. What was the English quarterly literary review 1922-39 edited by T S Eliot?
a) The Gazette
b) The Spectator
c) The Criterion
d) The Review

20. Which of the following are an eastern Germanic people?
a) Ostrogoths
b) Etruscans
c) Bretons
d) Basques

21. Which Berber dynasty ruled much of Morocco and Spain in the 11th-12th centuries and was founded by the prophet Abdullah ibn Tashfin?
a) Abu Simbel
b) Aachen
c) Antigonid
d) Almoravid

22. What is the name of the river of which the Niagara Falls are a part?
a) Nile
b) Niagara River
c) Okavango
d) Zambezi

23. What is the major tourist attraction of the Texan city of San Antonio?
a) Southfork Ranch
b) Grave of George Washington
c) The Alamo
d) Niagara Falls

25. Which two periods of international tension - 1905 and 1911 - followed German objections to French expansion in Morocco?
a) French Expansion Crises
b) Moroccan Affair
c) German Freeze
d) Moroccan Crises

26. In Islam, what is the title of a coming messiah who will establish a reign of justice on Earth?
a) Mahdi
b) Ibadhi
c) Admadiya
d) Wahhabiyah

27. In World War II, what was the British operation in 1944 to take the Belgian city of Antwerp to provide Allied forces with a better supply port?
a) Battle of Antwerp
b) Battle of the Somme
c) Battle of Britain
d) Battle of Trafalgar

28. Where in Britain is Burgar Hill, the site of the world's most productive wind-powered generator?
a) The Orkney Islands
b) Cornwall
c) N Wales
d) West Yorkshire

29. Which international agreement, signed in 1936, allowed Turkey to remilitarize the Dardenelles?
a) Convention of Montreux
b) Convention of Montréal
c) Convention of Izmir
d) Convention of Istanbul

30. Which English city is renowned for lace, pharmaceuticals, and tobacco?
a) Leeds
b) Nottingham
c) Norwich
d) Honiton

31. What is the name of the medieval European code of amorous conduct between noblemen and noblewomen?
a) Fine love
b) Calf love
c) Free love
d) Courtly love

32. What kingdom of the 9th-19th centuries lay to the west and south of Lake Chad, west central Africa?
a) Bornu
b) Bemba
c) Brunei
d) Bantu

33. What is the name of the village where Queen Anne established a famous racecourse on the heath?
a) Newmarket
b) Derby
c) Epsom
d) Ascot

34. Who wrote the words `That night we went to Birmingham by way of Beachy Head.`?
a) Noël Coward
b) P G Wodehouse
c) Hilaire Belloc
d) G K Chesterton

35. Which name was shared by six Russian rulers, number three being The Terrible and number four being The Great?
a) Yuri
b) Igor
c) Boris
d) Ivan

37. What is the old name for Alsace, formerly part of Germany?
a) Altmark
b) Alsatia
c) Allg u
d) Ansbach

38. Which city is a naval and continental-ferry port on the mainland opposite the Isle of Wight?
a) Portsmouth
b) Southampton
c) Plymouth
d) Dover

39. Which of the following is a Greek island in the Aegean; it is one of the Cyclades?
a) Tahiti
b) Melos
c) St Vincent
d) Corsica

40. In German public places you may see a sign saying `Rauchen verboten`, what does this mean?
a) No Smoking
b) No Parking
c) Tourist Information
d) Public Lavatory

42. What is the capital of Ecuador?
a) Guayaquil
b) Santiago
c) Cuenca
d) Quito

43. What 11th-century epic poem tells of the real and imaginary deeds of the knights of Charlemagne, and their last stand against the Basques at Roncesvalles?
a) Sir Gawayne and the Greene Knight
b) Euskal Herria
c) Chanson de Roland
d) Beowulf

44. What is the name of the public holiday celebrated on the second Monday in March in many parts of the Commonwealth?
a) Easter Day
b) All Saint's Day
c) Commonwealth Day
d) Labour Day

45. Which of the following is one of the most popular steeplechase horses in Britain?
a) Desert Orchid
b) Black Bess
c) Silver Dream
d) Black Beauty

46. Who wrote the words `The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold; And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.`?
a) Lord Byron
b) Rudyard Kipling
c) Alfred Austin
d) Alfred, Lord Tennyson

47. In which year did Hong Kong revert to Chinese control?
a) 1997
b) 1996
c) 1995
d) 1998

48. What is the arm of the northern Atlantic Ocean that separates England and Wales from Ireland?
a) Irish Sea
b) North Sea
c) Baltic Sea
d) Arctic Sea

49. What name was given to the signatories of the Triple Alliance 1882, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy?
a) Axis Powers
b) Allied Powers
c) Eastern Powers
d) Central Powers