Chocolate statues, posh chairs and dogs banned from parks – take the Thursday quiz

Willow, the official dog of the Guardian Thursday quiz, is appalled about dogs being banned from parks. But where? Photograph: Martin Belam/The Guardian

It is an exciting week if you own shares in news stories that require stock photography to illustrate them, because you are going to see a lot of that in the 15 vaguely topical, quirky, silly and downright obscure questions that await you. As ever, there are no prizes, because it is just meant to be a little bit of fun. Let us know how you get on in the comments

The Thursday quiz, No 131

1. 

   Who won the first round of Argentina's presidential election at the weekend?

   1. Sergio Massa

   2. Javier Milei

   3. Juan Schiaretti

   4. Alberto Fernández

2. 

   Who apologised after footage re-emerged of them referring to a restaurant worker as “enormous” on a chatshow that aired 11 years ago?

   1. Emily Deschanel

   2. Emma Watson

   3. Emily Blunt

   4. Emma Stone

3. 

   Which country has put its monarch's throne (not pictured) on display in an exhibition for the first time?

   1. Spain

   2. Denmark

   3. Sweden

   4. Netherlands

4. 

   Talking of exhibitions, the Museum of Forbidden Art, which is devoted to art that has been censored, is opening in which European city?

   1. Barcelona

   2. Paris

   3. Milan

   4. Rotterdam

5. 

   Which European leader (not pictured) has had a high profile split with their partner, apparently over his "sexist comments"?

   1. Roberta Metsola

   2. Giorgia Meloni

   3. Ursula von der Leyen

   4. Mette Frederiksen

6. 

   Which celebrity hit out this week against stigmatising the children of stars as "nepo babies"?

   1. Russell Crowe

   2. Gillian Anderson

   3. David Beckham

   4. Gwyneth Paltrow

7. 

   Which celebrity this week endorsed a life-sized sculpture of themselves made of chocolate?

   1. Russell Crowe

   2. Gillian Anderson

   3. David Beckham

   4. Gwyneth Paltrow

8. 

   This is Willow, the official dog of the Thursday quiz. She is furious because she just found out about the place in England where dogs have been banned from every park. Where is it?

   1. Bracknell, Berkshire

   2. Callington, Cornwall

   3. Dawlish, Devon

   4. Eastbourne, East Sussex

9. 

   South Africa handed England a drubbing in the Cricket World Cup and knocked them out of the Rugby World Cup on the same day. But when did South Africa adopt their current flag (sort of pictured)?

   1. 1989

   2. 1994

   3. 1999

   4. 2004

10. 

    It is the anniversary of the gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone in which Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday (pictured, badly) participated. In which US state did it take place?

    1. New Mexico

    2. Texas

    3. Arizona

    4. California

11. 

    It is also the anniversary of the founding of the Football Association of England – the oldest football association in the world. But when was it founded?

    1. 26 October 1863

    2. 26 October 1873

    3. 26 October 1883

    4. 26 October 1893

12. 

    It is Natalie Merchant's birthday. Happy birthday, Natalie! Which band did she used to front?

    1. The Go-Go's

    2. All About Eve

    3. 10,000 Maniacs

    4. Sparks

13. 

    Which type of sub-atomic particles (being pointed at in this picture but too small to see) have been given the symbols u, d, s, c, t and b?

    1. Quarks

    2. Leptons

    3. Bosons

    4. Validiums

14. 

    The ministry of transport in which EU country is taking action after TfL tried to fine drivers for Ulez breaches in London, because, post-Brexit, UK authorities (pictured) do not have access to the personal data of EU citizens for non-criminal enforcement?

    1. Belgium

    2. Netherlands

    3. Denmark

    4. France

15. 

    And finally … which losing Conservative candidate last week left the results ceremony at a byelection via the fire exit while the winning candidate was giving their speech?

    1. Andrew Cooper, who lost the Conservative's 19,634 majority in Tamworth

    2. Lucy Cartwright, who lost the Conservative's 22,671 majority in Farringham

    3. Festus Akinbusoye, who lost the Conservative's 24,664 majority in Mid Bedfordshire

Solutions

1:A - Centrist finance minister Sergio Massa unexpectedly beat eccentric far-right populist Javier Milei into second place. The pair will now contest a run-off. The incumbent, Alberto Fernández, did not run., 2:C - In a resurfaced clip from an episode of The Jonathan Ross Show first broadcast on ITV in September 2012, the star of the summer blockbuster Oppenheimer said a waitress who served her at a Chili’s restaurant in Louisiana was “enormous”. “I was appalled that I would say something so insensitive, hurtful, and unrelated to whatever story I was trying to tell on a talkshow,” she said. Nobody appears to have asked the waitress about it., 3:D - The Dutch throne has been moved for the first time from the 13th-century Ridderzaal in The Hague to be displayed in an exhibition called the Power of the Throne exhibition at Paleis Het Loo. It is quite poorly named as the chair doesn't even have any special powers. It's just a chair., 4:A - Including work by Pablo Picasso, Ai Weiwei and Robert Mapplethorpe, founder Tatxo Benet said "This is the only museum in the world dedicated to art that has been censored. There are works that perhaps don’t have great artistic merit but their story merits them a place in the museum. That’s what these works have in common and it shows that censorship has failed, because here you can see them. It’s a triumph of freedom of expression.”, 5:B - Italy’s far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has split from her partner of almost 10 years, Andrea Giambruno, a television journalist who has made several embarrassing sexist comments that were leaked from off-air recordings., 6:D - Her comments came as she defended her daughter, Apple, who appeared as a Chanel model this year. Paltrow is the daughter of the actor Blythe Danner and the director Bruce Paltrow, and goddaughter of Steven Spielberg, who cast her in her first cinema role., 7:A - The actor shared a photo of a statue crafted in Malta from chocolate and modelled on his Gladiator strongman character Maximus., 8:B - The council has put in place the maximum “dog exclusion” PSPO on every park in town, effectively banning people from walking their dogs on any grass, and Willow has vowed revenge., 9:B - The flag of South Africa was designed in March 1994 and adopted on 27 April 1994, and the V or Y shape is taken to symbolise "the convergence of diverse elements within South African society, taking the road ahead in unity". Let's just never mention the cricket or the rugby again., 10:C - Many of the sources describing the events leading up to the gunfight, and details of the gunfight itself, conflict with each other. The quiz master assumes that would have been fun to live blog., 11:A - Eleven London football clubs and schools representatives met at the Freemasons' Tavern on Great Queen Street to agree a common set of rules, setting in motion a series of events that leads to loads of people posting really angrily about VAR on social media on a Saturday afternoon., 12:C - The band first performed with Natalie Merchant in 1981, and she announced her departure in 1993., 13:A - The letters represent up, down, strange, charm, top and bottom, which mean … something to somebody the Thursday quiz assumes, but Hawkwind obviously liked the idea., 14:A - A Belgian court bailiff is accused of abusing its legal powers to obtain more than 20,000 registered keeper details and pass them on to Euro Parking for UK enforcement. The bailiff has since had its official access to the vehicle licensing database suspended., 15:A - Thursday quiz colleague Sammy Gecsoyler reported "Cooper was late to arrive. The other candidates were standing waiting on stage for the results to be announced. In the moments before he arrived, council officials warned party operatives that the declaration may go ahead without him. One Tory staffer was overheard saying Cooper got lost in the car park. He eventually rushed on stage after entering the counting hall through a back door. After the result, while Labour’s Sarah Edwards was making her victory speech, Cooper rushed off stage and dashed out through the fire exit". Stay classy, Coops, stay classy.

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   We hope you had fun and aren't going to fact-check jokes!

If you really do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers – and can show your working – feel free to email martin.belam@theguardian.com, but remember the quiz master’s word is final and please take a moment to consider whether you are about to fact-check a throwaway joke about the 1812 Overture, as several people rather overseriously did last week.