Northern lights, northern soul and discoveries at the pole – take the Thursday quiz

The aurora borealis seen from Alaska. Photograph: Luke Culver/Reuters

Once again it is time to brave the Thursday quiz challenge. Dare you enter the arena and take on 14 questions on general knowledge and topical trivia, wrestle with anagrams, spot the hidden Doctor Who reference and brave the siren call of the saintly Kate Bush? Look, it is just a silly quiz – there are no prizes. But do let us know how you got on in the comments.

The Thursday quiz, No 19

1. 

   VERY TALL THINGS NEWS: Claimed to be the tallest three-sided obelisk in the world, which feels like a niche category if ever there was one, £3.1m has been spent on restoring this monument on a hill in Somerset. Who is it for?

   1. Viscount Palmerston

   2. Benjamin Disraeli

   3. The Duke of Wellington

   4. William Pitt the Elder

2. 

   WATER FEATURES: In the 1860s Brussels covered up most of the river that runs through it, because it was a right old stinky mess. After the removal of 1,966 tonnes of concrete, a 200-metre stretch is being exposed again. But which river is it that runs through Brussels?

   1. Meuse

   2. Scheldt

   3. Senne

   4. Semois

3. 

   TOM CRUISE QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Last week we asked you about the actor's curry escapades in Birmingham. What happened to Tom Cruise in the last seven days in Birmingham that made the news this time?

   1. His car was stolen

   2. His car was impounded for illegal parking

   3. Someone crashed into his car

   4. He announced that he'd started a European Super League and then had to back down a couple of days later

4. 

   ANAGRAM TIME: A slightly different format this week. Which of these ISN'T an anagram of a former British prime minister?

   1. A Thawed Herd

   2. A Teary Mesh

   3. Jar John Om

   4. Mach Ego Evil

5. 

   EXPLORERS: Scientists claim to have discovered something near the North Pole which they have recommended be named Qeqertaq Avannarleq in the local language. What?

   1. A new breed of Arctic penguin

   2. A makeshift memorial to Captain Lawrence Oates

   3. The remains of a wrecked Viking expedition

   4. An island that is the world’s northernmost point of land

6. 

   MUSIC: Speaking of northern things, who released the 1995 album A Northern Soul?

   1. The Verve

   2. Nick Heyward

   3. M-People

   4. Kate Bush

7. 

   GEOGRAPHY: This is Puliksenija Jovanoska, who was part of the North Macedonia team competing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics for the first time under its newly agreed international name. But what is the capital of North Macedonia?

   1. Baku

   2. Shtip

   3. Yerevan

   4. Skopje

8. 

   ON THIS DAY: On 2 September 1859 the largest geomagnetic storm on record took place. A solar coronal mass ejection hit Earth's magnetosphere and caused the "Northern" lights to appear nearly all over the globe and seriously damaged telegraph systems. Officially designated SOL1859-09-01, what is it generally called?

   1. The Carstairs Event

   2. The Carrington Event

   3. The Cromwell Event

   4. The Constantinople Event

9. 

   FOOD & DRINK: The Scottish whisky industry is naturally very protective of its produce. For a drink to count as a Scotch, it has to be distilled in Scotland and aged for a minimum of how many years in an oak barrel?

   1. Two years

   2. Three years

   3. Five years

   4. Seven years

10. 

    ENSEMBLE CASTS: Our exciting new regular feature. Which British sitcom features these actors as regular supporting characters? Kirsten Cooke, Arthur Bostrom and Guy Siner

    1. 'Allo 'Allo

    2. Brush Strokes

    3. Hi-De-Hi

    4. Keeping Up Appearances

11. 

    GLOBAL NEWS: Which central American country is preparing to start accepting Bitcoin as legal tender from 7 September?

    1. Honduras

    2. El Salvador

    3. Belize

    4. Nicaragua

12. 

    WORRYING POKEMON DESCRIPTIONS: Not every Pokémon is as cute as Pikachu. Which Pokémon has this worrying official description: "People who approach this Pokémon are swallowed and turned into mummies. It loves to eat gold."

    1. Cofagrigus

    2. Yamask

    3. Absol

    4. Munna

13. 

    SCIENCE CORNER: Kraftwerk famously sang that it's in the air for you and me, but when we are talking about radioactivity, what fraction of a radioisotope has decayed after two half-lives?

    1. All of it

    2. Three quarters

    3. One quarter

    4. 1,057

14. AUTHORISED FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE: Authors including Val McDermid, Naomi Alderman, Lucy Foley, Jean Kwok and Dreda Say Mitchell have contributed stories to a new short story collection which will continue the adventures of which beloved fictional character?

    1. Nancy Drew

    2. Jane Marple

    3. Pippi Longstocking

    4. Sarah Jane Smith

Solutions

1:C - It commemorates his victory at the Battle of Waterloo and stands 53 metres (175ft) high, In total 1,508 new stones were added to the monument, and the pyramidion – the triangular section at the top – was almost completely replaced, potentially now making it also a monument to Trigger's broom., 2:C - Covered up because it was mostly just a grim receptacle of sewage with a reputation for sparking cholera outbreaks, city grandees have decided that's just what Brussels needs again. Well, that's not quite right. The process is part of a project to clean up the environment and restore aquatic life to the Senne, with the hope that more will be uncovered for use in the future., 3:A - It was recovered about three hours later, but the BMW X7 that had been used to ferry around the star who has been in the city filming scenes for the next Mission: Impossible movie was taken in Church Street in the city centre from where it was parked outside the Grand Hotel., 4:D - Correct. Michael Gove hasn't been prime minister. Yet. Although he did enjoy that solo dance in Aberdeen this week if that counts for anything. Your other options were Edward Heath, Theresa May and John Major., 5:D - The scientists initially thought they had arrived at Oodaaq, an island discovered by a Danish survey team in 1978. Only later, when checking the exact location, they realised they had visited another island 780 metres to the north-west. The small island, measuring roughly 30 metres (100ft) across and a peak of about 3 metres, consists of seabed mud as well as moraine – soil and rock left behind by moving glaciers., 6:A - It was the Wigan band's second album. Nick Heyward's most successful solo album was called North Of A Miracle. M-People's 1991 album was called Northern Soul, which may have tripped some people up. Kate Bush's connection to the north and 1995 is that she recorded a track for the soundtrack of the film The Golden Compass, based on Philip Pullman's 1995 book Northern Lights., 7:D - It is Skopje, located in the north of the country on the Vardar river. It has an urban population of around 425,000., 8:B - It was recorded by British astronomers Richard Carrington and Richard Hodgson, and presumably Richard Hodgson was furious at not getting credited at the time., 9:B - Three years in the minimum, and all whiskys are expected to state on the bottle how long they have been aged for. A whisky that doesn't display this is known as "a no age statement whisky" – but even these must be at least three years old., 10:A - Guy Siner played Lieutenant Hubert Gruber, Arthur Bostrom played the English policeman, and Kirsten Cooke was Michelle "of the Résistance" Dubois, and 'Allo 'Allo probably IS one sitcom that the cancel culture grifters could legitimately suggest might not get made today., 11:B - Cuba is preparing to follow suit a week later. In El Salvador, a national digital wallet called Chivo – local slang for “cool” – is in development with $30 worth of Bitcoin uploaded to each one as an initial balance. Transactions in Bitcoin will be exempt from capital gains tax, and foreigners investing three Bitcoins in the country (about $120,000) will be granted residency. What could possibly go wrong?, 12:A - Yes, it is the coffin Pokémon. Basically looking like the kind of Egyptian death relic you might find lying looted around the British Museum, but with arms. It evolves from Yamask, whose Pokédex entry is cheerfully: "It wanders through ruins by night, carrying a mask that's said to have been the face it had when it was still human. Sometimes they look at it and cry.", 13:B - Three quarters. The first half-life means you have half of it left. Then that halves again, so you have a quarter left. Honest., 14:B - Miss Marple was last seen in book form written by the original author in 1976, solving a “perfect” crime committed years earlier in Agatha Christie’s Sleeping Murder.

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   We hope you had fun – let us know how you got on in the comments

2. 6 and above.

   We hope you had fun – 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 quiz master’s word is always final, even if you are in the north.