Real-life Squid Game, vampire names and Vlad’s other job – take the Thursday quiz

President Putin of Russia. Photograph: Mikhail Metzel/TASS

The quiz master is already enjoying his Christmas break, but before he left he deposited 15 sealed envelopes in mysterious locations around London which have since been collated into the quiz you see before you. Fifteen questions to test your topical and general knowledge, featuring some of your favourite Thursday friends: Ron from Sparks, Kate Bush, and that Doctor Who reference to spot. Let us know how you get on in the comments

The Thursday quiz, No 34

1. 

   VLAD THE EMPLOYEE: In a documentary, Russia's President Vladimir Putin revealed that following the collapse of the Soviet Union, he was forced to take which job in order to make ends meet?

   1. An ice hockey tutor

   2. A bricklayer

   3. A taxi driver

   4. He was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar

2. 

   SQUID GAME, BUT FOR FUNDING EDUCATION: A video has gone viral showing ten teachers pitted against each other to scramble for dollar bills to fund school supplies. In which state of the US?

   1. South Dakota

   2. Montana

   3. Iowa

   4. Wisconsin

3. 

   SPORT THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN: Founding members of the European Super League™ Tottenham Hotspur were unable to play their Europa Conference League group game last week due to Covid, and now face being expunged from the competition. Which French team did they pull out from playing?

   1. Stade de Reims

   2. Lorient

   3. Rennes

   4. Lyon

4. 

   TINTINOLOGY: The sixth Tintin book was called L'Oreille Cassée in French. What was the English title?

   1. The Silver Cigarette Case

   2. The Broken Ear

   3. The Oreille Case

   4. The Calculus Affair

5. 

   ART FOR ART'S SAKE: Here are some people looking at 'A Bar at the Folies-Bergère', painted in 1882. But who painted it?

   1. Diego Velázquez

   2. Henri Matisse

   3. Georges Braque

   4. Édouard Manet

6. 

   MUSIC: The song Art For Art's Sake was a hit for who in the UK in the 1970s?

   1. 10cc

   2. Supertramp

   3. Sad Café

   4. Kate Bush

7. 

   GCSE SCIENCE CORNER: It is biology this week, and we are going to ask you a question about how kids get taught about sexytimes these days. Egg cells and sperm cells each contain these structures. Which is the correct order from smallest to largest?

   1. Gene, nucleus, chromosome

   2. Gene, chromosome, nucleus

   3. Chromosome, gene, nucleus

   4. Chromosome, nucleus, gene

8. 

   ENSEMBLE CASTS: Who narrates the world inhabited by Igglepiggle, Upsy Daisy and Makka Pakka?

   1. Tom Baker

   2. Ian McKellen

   3. Derek Jacobi

   4. Patrick Stewart

9. 

   BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: There were reports this week that South and North Korea, China and the US have agreed 'in principle' to declare a formal end to the Korean war. When did it start?

   1. 1950

   2. 1954

   3. 1958

   4. 1962

10. 

    MY BABY'S TAKING ME HOME: That's a hypnotic 2002 song by Sparks where Russell sings the title My Baby's Taking Me Home over 100 times. But that's not important right now. Where was Queen Elizabeth II born?

    1. The Lindo Wing, St Mary's Hospital

    2. Buckingham Palace

    3. 17 Bruton Street, Mayfair

    4. Balmoral

11. 

    HOME FROM HOME: These days the British royal family consider their home in Scotland to be Balmoral. Which monarch was the first to possess it, after it was purchased from the Farquharson family?

    1. George IV

    2. William IV

    3. Victoria

    4. Edward VII

12. 

    FLAGS OF JOY: Presumably nothing makes you feel more 'O Canada! With glowing hearts we see thee rise!' than a flag that features both the British Union flag AND the English flag for good measure. So where in Canada does this flag represent?

    1. Manitoba

    2. British Columbia

    3. Prince Edward Island

    4. Nova Scotia

13. 

    ON THIS DAY: Talking of the colonies, 16 December is the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. Which year?

    1. 1688

    2. 1745

    3. 1773

    4. 1788

14. 

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY: It is Benny from Abba's birthday today. Happy birthday, Benny! But when Abba won the 1974 Eurovision song contest with Waterloo, which English venue was hosting the event?

    1. Brighton

    2. Manchester

    3. Birmingham

    4. London

15. 

    INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE: We bade farewell to Anne Rice this week, who died aged 80. Tom Cruise played the main character in the film version of her debut novel Interview with the Vampire. What was the character's name?

    1. Louis

    2. Lestat

    3. Laure

    4. LeClerc

Solutions

1:C - Putin, a former agent of the Soviet Union’s KGB security services, was using the story to illustrate his own personal hardships as he declared the USSR’s fall a 'tragedy' for 'most citizens.' Putin has never before claimed to have moonlighted as a taxi driver in the early 1990s. 'Honestly, it’s not very pleasant to speak about,' he said. In a 2018 documentary, he shared a different story, 2:A - Local newspaper the Argus Leader reported $5,000 (£3,770) in single dollar bills were laid out on the ice skating rink during the Sioux Falls Stampede hockey game on Saturday night, and the teachers from nearby schools competed to grab as many as possible in less than five minutes, 3:C - It was Rennes. They'd already topped the group and so were assured of qualifying without having to play their final fixture against Tottenham, 4:B - Introducing recurring character General Alcazar, and the first Tintin adventure to start including fictional countries, it was published in book format in 1937, 5:D - Considered to be his last major work before his death the following year, the painting shows what can be seen behind the barmaid in a mirror to give a confusing perspective to what is happening in the bar, 6:A - It was taken from their fourth album – How Dare You! – and reached No 5 in the UK singles chart. It was apparently based on something guitarist Graham Gouldman's dad used to say – 'Art for art's sake, money for God's sake, okay', 7:B - The nucleus contains the chromosomes and the chromosomes contain the genes. Not as catchy as 'X and Y, sitting in a tree, K. I. S. S. I. N. G.' which is what sex education was like when the quiz master was at school, 8:C - It is, of course, Sir Derek Jacobi who narrates In The Night Garden, a programme guaranteed to make parents think they dropped acid before turning on CBeebies, 9:A - South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, said that he believed the four main parties agreed in principle to a peace declaration on the 1950-53 war. It ended with an armistice but not a peace treaty, meaning the North and South are still technically at war, 10:C - Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born on on 21 April 1926 at home. It's now a Chinese restaurant apparently. You can tell by his face that Ron from Sparks thinks you should have known that, 11:C - The official website of Balmoral states that it was purchased for Queen Victoria by Prince Albert in 1852, having been first leased in 1848. They then decided it was too small, and had a new castle built alongside the original building, 12:A - Of course it isn't Nova Scotia. That's still a colour-inverted version of the Scotland flag with the Scottish FA badge in the middle of it. This is Manitoba's flag. There is a campaign to change it, but a lot of that is because it apparently looks too similar to the flag of Ontario, 13:C - An event still baffling to the English because, fine, you might have gained your independence and established an important principle about taxation, but now you have no delicious tea to drink? Crazy fools, 14:A - This was actually a neutral venue because Luxembourg had won it in 1972, hosted it and won it again in 1973, and by 1974 were obviously bored of the whole thing and so asked the EBU can't somebody else do it instead?, 15:B - Full name Lestat de Lioncourt, born on 7 Novembe 1760, as the seventh son of the marquis d'Auvergne, and disappointingly he doesn't appear to have ever once said 'It is I, Lestat' while wearing a terrible disguise

Scores

1. 0 and above.

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

2. 5 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, and you don’t want him breaking in and stealing all your presents.