Irish Friends, Rainbow’s end, and a very hungry caterpillar – take the Thursday quiz

The Friends, with Matt LeBlanc as the Irish Uncle (L) Photograph: Terence Patrick/AP

Can it really be Thursday lunchtime once more? Yes, it can, and so it is time to enjoy our cryptically named Thursday quiz. 15 questions on general knowledge and topical news trivia in 15 rounds. It is just for fun and there are no prizes, but there are bonus points on offer if you can make the quizmaster laugh in the comments below. Let us know how you get on.

The Thursday quiz, No 6

1. 

   GLOBAL NEWS: The Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, was forced to abandon a ceremony dedicating a road in Rome to one of his predecessors. Why?

   1. The plaque he was due to unveil was misspelled

   2. Wild boar disrupted the ceremony

   3. The ceremony had been set up at the wrong street

   4. Preparations for the ceremony had unearthed some Roman remains

2. 

   SPACE: This 2015 photograph shows one of Mars’ moons, Phobos. What is the other one called?

   1. Ares

   2. Deimos

   3. Charon

   4. Telos

3. 

   COMPARATIVELY SPEAKING: Salisbury Cathedral is the tallest cathedral in the UK. Which is the second-highest?

   1. Liverpool Anglican Cathedral

   2. Norwich Cathedral

   3. St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh

   4. St Paul's Cathedral, London

4. 

   NAME THE FLAG: Can you identify this South American flag? Does it belong to …

   1. Ecuador

   2. Colombia

   3. Guyana

   4. Venezuela

5. 

   BIODIVERSITY: A project to restore the rare small-flowered catchfly flower in Devon is being assisted by whom?

   1. Local morris dance troupes

   2. Local scout volunteers

   3. Local donkeys

   4. Being featured as part of a Blue Peter appeal on television

6. 

   UK NEWS: An analysis of transactions in retail outlets predicts that cash will be used for just 7% of them by 2024. What percentage were made by cash in 2020?

   1. 11%

   2. 13%

   3. 18%

   4. 27%

7. MUSIC: Talking of money, which British female singer had a hit in 2011 with the song "Price Tag"? Jessie J, Adele, Amy Winehouse or Kate Bush?

   1. 

      Jessie J

   2. 

      Adele

   3. 

      Amy Winehouse

   4. 

      Kate Bush

8. 

   SPORT: Who withdrew from the French Open tennis this week after being fined for failing to attend a press conference, having already told organisers they would not be appearing?

   1. Aryna Sabalenka

   2. Naomi Osaka

   3. Elina Svitolina

   4. Iga Swiatek

9. 

   FROM THE AIR: Who designed the Angel of the North?

   1. Damien Hirst

   2. Andy Goldsworthy

   3. Antony Gormley

   4. Anish Kapoor

10. CITIES: Which building is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC?

    1. The White House

    2. The Chrysler Building

    3. The Pentagon

    4. The Trump International Hotel

11. ART: What is one of the types of man-powered flying device envisaged by Leonardo da Vinci known as?

    1. Ornithopter

    2. Dirigible

    3. Gossage

    4. Submersible

12. 

    LITERATURE: The beloved author and illustrator Eric Carle died last week. What, in order, are the first things that his very hungry caterpillar ate in the famous book that many, many parents must have read many, many times?

    1. Apple, plums, pears, ice cream

    2. Strawberry, apples, bananas, plums

    3. Plum, apples, strawberry, bananas

    4. Apple, pears, plums, strawberries

13. KIDS’ TV: In the last few days we also said a final farewell to one of the three members of the singing and dancing troupe from Rainbow. Rod, Jane and …?

    1. Eddie

    2. Freddy

    3. Teddy

    4. Roger

14. SCIENCE: How cold do you have to make it before the metal mercury becomes a solid?

    1. -12.2C

    2. −24.4C

    3. −38.8C

    4. −46.6C

15. AND FINALLY: It’s the one where Matt LeBlanc went viral on Twitter for looking like an Irish uncle in HBO’s reunion special of Friends. But what was his character’s full name in the show?

    1. Joey DiMaggio

    2. Joey Tribbiani

    3. Joey Romano

    4. Joey DiBenedetto

Solutions

1:A - The plaque was to be dedicated to Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. Instead of “Azeglio”, the street marker said “Azelio”. Mattarella had already turned up to the event on Tuesday, alongside members of Ciampi’s family and the mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, before the embarrassing mistake was noticed. The wild boar option isn't entirely ridiculous. A video went viral the other week of wild boar surrounding a woman and stealing her groceries near Rome., 2:B - The moons are named after the Greek mythological twin characters Phobos and Deimos who accompanied their father, the god of war, into battle, and who represented fear and dread respectively. Cheerful stuff., 3:D - It is St Paul’s in London. It is 12 metres (38ft) shorter than Salisbury. Liverpool Anglican Cathedral is the third-highest in the UK, with Norwich fourth., 4:A - The colours of the flag were first adopted in the 1800s, with the coat of arms added in the early 20th century., 5:C - The hard-working animals will help re-establish one of Britain’s rarest wild flowers by trampling over specially seeded plots on farmland at the Devon headquarters of the Donkey Sanctuary, an international animal welfare charity., 6:B - While cash accounted for 27% of in-store transactions in 2019, the latest global payments report from the processing company Worldpay found that had fallen to 13% last year during the pandemic. The report predicts usage will continue to drop over the next three years, with some countries, such as Sweden, on course to become virtually cashless in the next couple of years., 7:A - Jessie J was number one in eight countries including the UK with it, and it also broke into the top 30 of the US Billboard 100., 8:B - Osaka said: “The truth is that I have suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018 and I have had a really hard time coping with that. I am not a natural public speaker.”, 9:C - The angel is based on a cast of his own body, although we don't think his own arms are actually 54 metres (177ft) across., 10:A - It’s the White House, and not Washington’s Trump International Hotel. You can insert your own punchline here., 11:A - He imagined it as a device in which the aviator lies down on a plank and works two large, membranous wings using hand levers, foot pedals, and a system of pulleys, which sounds like hard work, to be honest., 12:D - Chocolate cake, pickles and Swiss cheese also feature in the caterpillar’s diet, which we feel possibly gives children an unrealistic expectation of what to feed butterflies. , 13:B - We said goodbye to Freddy Marks, who appeared as part of the trio on many editions of Rainbow from 1980 onwards. The trio's own ITV show ran from 1981 to 1990. He had been in a relationship with Jane for some time, and the pair eventually married in 2016. Awww. , 14:C - Mercury has the lowest freezing point of any stable metal, and does not become a solid until it is −38.8C, which is -37.8F if you prefer., 15:B - His full name was Joseph Francis “Joey” Tribbiani Jr, and you had totally forgotten there was a Joey spin-off show, hadn’t you?

Scores

1. 15 and above.

   A perfect score? Congratulations

2. 0 and above.

   Not so good – maybe you’ll have better luck next week?

3. 6 and above.

   Well done – let us know how you got on in the comments

• If you do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers, please feel free to email martin.belam@theguardian.com but remember, the quizmaster’s word is always final and he’s not a number, he’s a free man.