Fifteen questions await you on topical news, current affairs and various other things that popped into the quizmaster’s mind for some reason. There are no prizes, but you can tell us how you got on in the comments, where you can score bonus points by being funny and spotting references to the children’s teatime favourite Doctor Who, and lose points for unnecessary quibbling over questions or answers. Enjoy!
The Thursday quiz, No 160
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An interactive webcam portal installed as a street sculpture by the Lithuanian artist Benediktas Gylys has enabled real-time silliness between which two cities?
Paris and Dubai
London and Berlin
Warsaw and Madrid
Dublin and New York
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Donald Trump praised which fictional serial killer at the weekend?
Clarence DeMarco
Hannibal Lecter
Sweeney Todd
Freddy Krueger
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Who (not pictured) won best leading actress at the Baftas at the weekend?
Helena Bonham Carter, Nolly (ITVX)
Sarah Lancashire, Happy Valley (BBC One)
Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us (Sky Atlantic)
Millie Gibson, Doctor Who (BBC One)
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Nadhim Zahawi served as a minister in the governments of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, and he loves a warm horse (pictured). How much did he say he paid to settle his tax affairs after what he described as a "careless mistake"?
Nearly £30-£50
Nearly £2m
Nearly £3m
Nearly £5m
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Nemo won Eurovision with their song The Code, which had a very strong feel that it had been influenced by Sparks and Klaus Nomi. Which country found Nemo to represent them?
Estonia
Georgia
Switzerland
Portugal
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This is Willow, the official dog of the Guardian Thursday quiz. She knows that Anton Chekhov has lent his name to a narrative principle in drama. What?
Chekhov's shoe
Chekhov's gun
Chekhov's widow
Chekhov's broom
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You've always wanted to pass GCSE computer science, right? Try this one: which of these is taught to children as being a characteristic of a Lan?
Users can share files and peripherals
It covers a wide geographical area
Data can only be transmitted at a very slow rate
Computers are connected together using a satellite
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The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, stunned people in a bar in Kyiv this week by getting up and playing guitar and singing a Neil Young song. Which song?
Rockin’ in the Free World
Like a Hurricane
Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Ohio
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Two women in their 80s have been charged with criminal damage after the glass around which historic item at the British Library (not pictured) was attacked?
The poetry manuscripts of Wilfred Owen's Dulce et Decorum Est
Magna Carta
Shakespeare's First Folio
The original handwritten lyrics to Yesterday by Paul McCartney
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It is the wedding anniversary of Marie Antoinette (not pictured) and Louis-Auguste (also not pictured). We bet they had a lovely time. But what number Louis was Louis-August when he eventually became king of France?
Louis XII
Louis XIV
Louis XVI
Lousi MLVII
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Talking of royalty, King Charles III put on a brave face while unveiling a deeply pink and red official portrait of himself. Who was the artist?
Jonathan Yeo
Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy
Nicky Philipps
One very naughty miniature dachshund
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One question about every country taking part in the Euro 2024 finals this summer. This week: Turkey. When did Ankara officially become the capital of Turkey?
1893
1923
1943
1973
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An elaborate graffiti-covered door with carvings made by bored soldiers during the French revolutionary wars has been found at which castle (not pictured) in south-east England?
Dover Castle
Rochester Castle
Leeds Castle
Hever Castle
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Raspberry Pi is to be floated on the London Stock Exchange. What does it make?
Shoes
Computers
Skateboards
Makeup
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Which song has overtaken Oasis’s Wonderwall as the most successful single not to reach No 1 in the UK? It is currently in its 408th week in the chart …
Hozier’s Take Me to Church
Ed Sheeran’s Castle on the Hill
The Killers’ Mr Brightside
Sparks' This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us
Solutions
1:D - It has sparked moments of love and joy and also people flashing their bits., 2:B - Trump said: "Silence of the Lambs. Has anyone ever seen the Silence of the Lambs? The late, great Hannibal Lecter is a wonderful man. He oftentimes would have a friend for dinner. Remember the last scene? 'Excuse me. I'm about to have a friend for dinner.' As this poor doctor walked by. 'I'm about to have a friend for dinner.' But Hannibal Lecter. Congratulations. The late, great Hannibal Lecter." No, we have no idea either., 3:B - She thanked writer Sally Wainwright and the BBC for "giving this very British drama a very British home". The show also won in the most memorable TV moment category., 4:D - In a statement released in 2022, Zahawi – who once claimed MP expenses for heating his stables – called reports that he was under investigation for non-payment of taxes "smears", but he now says "there was a careless mistake" and "the total payments [were] just shy of £5m". Meanwhile, the Thursday quiz cannot believe its luck that there is on file a picture of a horse that looks like Michael Fabricant., 5:C - It is a stunning song, and is thoroughly endorsed by the Thursday quiz. But … how many Bagpuss soft toys died for that costume, eh?, 6:B - It argues that every element in a story must be necessary and irrelevant elements should be removed, eg if a gun appears in act one of a play, by the end of it someone should have fired it., 7:A - A Lan (local area network) allows a number of co-located computers to share resources. Well done if you picked this option – you've got one point towards your fictitious computer science GCSE., 8:A - It's not entirely clear Blinken has fully understood the song's lyrics, which include "I see a woman in the night / With a baby in her hand / There's an old street light / Near a garbage can / Now she put the kid away and she’s gone to get a hit / She hates her life and what she’s done to it"., 9:B - The two protesters targeted the protective enclosure around the historic document with a hammer and chisel on Friday morning. Just Stop Oil said the pair then held up a sign reading "the government is breaking the law" before glueing themselves to the display. A statement from the British Library said "Magna Carta itself remains undamaged"., 10:C - Louis got the chop on 21 January 1793, and Marie Antoinette met the same fate in October that year. Happy anniversary, your ex-highnesses!, 11:A - "It is a vibrant painting," said the BBC culture and media editor, Katie Razzall, in a slight understatement. "Does it reference the colonial bloodshed produced by British imperialism?" asked someone else on social media. Yeo said the butterfly on his shoulder was a reference to Charles' environmental concerns, and the red was a reference to the red of the Welsh dragon and the uniform of the Welsh guards., 12:B - Ankara became the new Turkish capital upon the establishment of the republic on 29 October 1923, taking over from Constantinople a few years before that city was renamed to Istanbul., 13:A - More than 50 individual graffiti carvings were chiselled into the door. They were discovered when paint was stripped from it for conservation purposes., 14:B - The company’s main products are small computer boards that can cost as little as $15 and can operate as a fully functioning computer when plugged into screens. They are mainly intended for use by children to develop coding and IT development skills., 15:C - Comin' out of my quiz, and I've been doin' just fine …
Scores
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0 and above.
We hope you had fun – let us know how you got on in the comments
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 quizmaster’s word is final and you should spend the time watching Nemo at Eurovision instead.
