Thursday news quiz: daring dogs, delinquent capybaras and far too many bananas

A knowledgable swan Illustration: Anais Mims/The Guardian

It is time for the Thursday news quiz, where, thanks to our illustration from Anaïs Mims, you must decide whether you are gliding serenely across the waters of knowledge, your elegant neck forming a perfect question mark, or paddling furiously beneath the surface, one wrong answer away from an undignified flap. Fifteen questions on topical headlines, pop culture and general knowledge await. There are no prizes, but we always enjoy hearing how you got on in the comments. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 241

1. 

   Paul McCartney has announced he will be releasing his 18th solo album. What is it to be called?

   1. The Boys Of Dungeon Lane

   2. Merseyside Dreamer

   3. Home

   4. McCartney IV

2. 

   Tate Liverpool has lent a painting to a Salford school by an artist who shares its name. Who?

   1. JMW Turner

   2. Grayson Perry

   3. LS Lowry

   4. Francis Bacon

3. 

   YouGov (not pictured – Thursday quiz lawyers) have withdrawn a survey after concluding its data had been infested with bogus responses as respondents who are often paid for their participation use AI to fill in questionnaires at speed. What had the survey claimed?

   1. Social media usage among 13-16-year-olds was in decline

   2. Church attendance was increasing in England and Wales

   3. Traditional tinned meats like Spam and corned beef were making a comeback

   4. Very naughty miniature dachshunds were behaving better

4. 

   Which member of the US administration (not pictured, probably) told a podcast that he believed unidentified anomalous phenomena (the UAPs formerly known as UFOs) were more likely to be demons than aliens?

   1. JD Vance

   2. Pete Hegseth

   3. Marco Rubio

   4. Robert F Kennedy Jr

5. 

   Tottenham continued to add to the gaiety of the nation by yeeting Igor Tudor through the door marked 'do one' after they brought him in to help stave off relegation and he won precisely zero league matches. But who lasted longer – Igor Tudor as Tottenham manager, or Liz Truss as prime minister?

   1. Igor Tudor lasted longer as Tottenham manager than Liz Truss lasted as prime minister

   2. Liz Truss lasted longer as prime minister than Igor Tudor lasted as Tottenham manager

6. 

   Talking of Thursday quiz favourite Liz Truss, she was the subject of an April fools news story this week. What was it?

   1. She was writing a children’s book about a brave woman who knew she was right and everybody else was wrong

   2. She was launching a branded range of lettuces with 'stronger staying power'

   3. She had started an OnlyFans selling feet pictures

   4. She had been appointed to Nasa by Donald Trump

   5. She was writing a book titled 'On reflection, maybe I did make one or two mistakes'

   6. She was opening a chain of 'growth cafés' where prices change every 10 minutes based on market confidence

   7. Somebody actually watched one of her YouTube videos

7. 

   Which grizzled old rocker – who can't be short of a penny or two – has surprised fans by appearing to join Patreon?

   1. Neil Young

   2. Bob Dylan

   3. Mick Jagger

   4. David Gilmour

8. 

   This week's guest canine is Turner, who the Thursday quiz met – as ever – in a pub. Turner wants to know the names of the two nine-month-old capybaras who escaped from Marwell zoo near Winchester.

   1. Ron and Russell

   2. Nacho and Salsa

   3. Flip and Flop

   4. Samba and Tango

9. 

   The viral arrest video from 1991 of Jack Karlson (pictured in 2024) is to be added to Australia’s National Film and Sound Archive, in a frankly correct move. Which of these things did he NOT say?

   1. Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest

   2. A succulent Chinese meal

   3. Get your hand off my penis!

   4. And you, sir, are enjoying this far too much

   5. I see that you know your judo well

   6. Ooh, that's a nice headlock, sir

10. 

    Kim Novak has complained that the casting of whom is wrong to play her in a biopic?

    1. Sydney Sweeney

    2. Florence Pugh

    3. Amanda Seyfried

    4. Basil Brush

11. 

    Jerome, in south-west Missouri, has been battling its own version the great stink after 40,000lb of extra-firm what was spilled in an accident and left in the open for weeks, creating a smell that local officials called 'unforgettable'?

    1. Tofu

    2. Cottage cheese

    3. Hummus

    4. Mayonnaise

12. 

    Mary Rand, Britain’s first female Olympic gold medallist in athletics, has died at the age of 86. When and where was that gold medal?

    1. Klow 1956

    2. Rome 1960

    3. Tokyo 1964

    4. Mexico 1968

13. 

    Which country has seen a demonstration by clowns who claim a new law will prevent schools from hosting them and affect their livelihood?

    1. Nicaragua

    2. Bolivia

    3. Ecuador

    4. Borduria

14. 

    A half-blind 12-year-old New Mexico dog is being called a hero after she fended off what sort of intruder (not pictured) at her family’s home, protecting dozens of chickens and other animals but only narrowly surviving the violent encounter?

    1. A cougar

    2. A bear

    3. A raccoon

    4. A troop of escaped macaques riding 30-50 feral hogs and embarking on a crime spree

15. 

    And finally … the Thursday quiz is always very suspicious of brand jokes at this time of year – 'KitKat heist' we are looking at you – but a Tesco branch apparently ordered about one zillion bananas too many and made headlines. Where did the excess bananas (not pictured) arrive?

    1. The Isle of Man

    2. Isle of Wight

    3. Orkney

    4. Shetland

Solutions

1:A - Its title is a reference to the route from Liverpool to the Speke shoreline, the area where the former Beatle spent his young childhood, 2:C - The Lowry Academy in Salford has this week been the temporary home for LS Lowry’s Dwelling, Ordsall Lane, Salford, painted in 1927, 3:B - It was, in fact, not, 4:A - OK mate, calm down, 5:B - She did. He was there 44 days. She resigned after a similar time, but had to hang on for a few more days until Rishi Sunak could be persuaded to take up the reins. Tottenham kindly left it a few days after his father passed before giving Tudor his P45, 6:D - Byline Times claimed she would be joining the fight against the deep dark space blob, 7:B - The description of its contents suggests only that your $5 (£4) a month will get you content 'curated by Bob Dylan', which isn’t the same thing as authorship, and the lectures appear to have been voiced using AI, 8:D - Bless their little cotton socks, 9:D - This was the only thing in these options he didn't say during the escapade, 10:A - The film is intended to focus on Novak's then-controversial interracial relationship with Sammy Davis Jr. Novak appears to be criticising the choice of Sweeney because she 'sticks out so much above the waist' which doesn't feel very sisterly, 11:A - All the options sound pretty horrendous to be honest, 12:C - Her long jump victory in Tokyo made her Britain’s first female Olympic gold medallist in athletics, and she followed it up with a silver in the pentathlon and a bronze in the 4x100m relay, 13:B - Wearing full face paint and their signature red noses, the clowns gathered on Monday in front of the ministry of education in La Paz to oppose a decree published in February. Oh well, 14:B - 'She is our little saviour – she’s always been protective that way,' her owner said of Honey on Monday, 15:C - Instead of ordering 380kg of bananas, which is about 2,500 bananas, they accidentally ordered 380 wholesale boxes, each of which contained about 100 bananas. And nobody receiving the order apparently thought to check, hmmmm

Scores

1. 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 and are absolutely 100% positive you aren’t attempting to factcheck a joke – you can complain about it in the comments below. Why not watch Empathy by Bathing Suits instead?

Empathy by Bathing Suits