Thursday news quiz: Jailhouse books, museum trouble and an unexpected bear

This beautiful brown bear called Juniper hasn’t, to our knowledge, broken into any zoos recently. But she has some quiz questions for you … Photograph: Shane Srogi/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Now you might read the news every day hoping to better understand the world around you and make your way through life’s complicated twists and turns. The Thursday quiz, on the other hand, reads the news looking for the weird, the strange, the quirky, animals in unexpected places and, of course, French politicians attempting to make a heavy-handed visual metaphor with the books they are carrying. Sixteen questions await you this week – have fun and let us know how you got on in the comments. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 220

1. 

   Who won the Mercury prize?

   1. CMAT with Euro-Country

   2. Sam Fender with People Watching

   3. Wolf Alice with The Clearing

   4. Sparks with Mad!

2. 

   Which city in the UK is set to impose higher parking charges for over-sized SUV-style vehicles (not pictured)?

   1. Edinburgh

   2. Belfast

   3. Liverpool

   4. Cardiff

3. 

   Great British Railways has installed the first of its sexy new digital clock designs in which London station?

   1. London St Pancras

   2. London Bridge

   3. London Victoria

   4. The absolute hellhole that is London Euston

4. 

   Museum Wiesbaden in Germany has seen an influx of Taylor Swift fans visiting after the Thursday quiz favourite appeared to use a painting by Friedrich Heyser on display there as inspiration for her latest video. The picture features which Shakespearean character (who appears in the title of Swift's song)?

   1. Lady Macbeth

   2. Cordelia

   3. Rosalind

   4. Ophelia

5. 

   Talking of museums, the Thursday quiz's first week in charge of security at the Louvre (pictured) didn't get off to the best of starts to be honest. What did Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau tell broadcaster RTL was the value of the recently heisted jewels?

   1. About €30m-€50m

   2. About €60m

   3. About €90m

   4. About €120m

6. 

   The increasingly Franco-centric Thursday quiz has another Paris-based question. Which highly symbolic book did Nicolas Sarkozy take with him as he went straight to jail without passing 'Go' or collecting €200?

   1. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

   2. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

   3. À La Recherche du Temps Perdu by Marcel Proust

   4. Story of O by Pauline Réage

7. 

   Comedy outfit Nottingham Forest sacked Ange Postecoglou at the weekend after he hilariously failed to win any of his first eight matches in charge. Did he last longer in the role than Liz Truss lasted as prime minister?

   1. Ange Postecoglou lasted longer at Nottingham Forest than Liz Truss lasted in Downing Street

   2. Liz Truss lasted longer in Downing Street than Ange Postecoglou lasted at Nottingham Forest

8. 

   An LA cinema was offering free tickets to people who would get their head shaved in its foyer (not quite pictured) in homage to the shaven-haired role in Bugonia played by …

   1. Emma Stone

   2. Carey Mulligan

   3. Elizabeth Olsen

   4. Nicola Bryant

9. 

   Donald Trump (not quite pictured) is apparently demolishing part of which wing of the White House to put in a new $250m ballroom

   1. North wing

   2. East wing

   3. South wing

   4. West wing

10. 

    This is Willow, the official dog of the Guardian Thursday quiz. She was amused to hear that a wild bear broke into a zoo and had a peer into the bear enclosure there to say 'hi'. Where?

    1. Arete, New Mexico

    2. Kleos, Arizona

    3. Eureka, California

    4. Innsmouth, Massachusetts

11. 

    This week's guest canine is a feline interloper known affectionately as 'Charlie Hitler' for somewhat obvious reasons. Charlie is furious about most things, and is particularly angry about the fate of what has been described as 'the world's loneliest gorillas', who are still living in which otherwise empty and closed zoo?

    1. Bristol

    2. Gosport

    3. Paignton

    4. Colchester

12. 

    And now, least or most with Liberace's ghost. This week, the Thursday quiz imagines the ghost of Liberace would like to know which of these artists has won the MOST Brit awards?

    1. One Direction

    2. Kate Bush

    3. Ed Sheeran

    4. Take That

13. 

    The auction of equipment formerly owned by which member of Kraftwerk (not quite pictured) is expected to fetch between $450,000 to $650,000?

    1. Wolfgang Flür

    2. Hans Zarkov

    3. Florian Schneider

    4. Karl Bartos

14. 

    On this day with Brian May! And his badger! The 23 October is the anniversary of Belgian artist Peyo's comic characters, the Smurfs, making their debut in Spirou magazine. The Thursday quiz imagines Queen's legendary guitarist wants you to tell him – and his badger – in which year …

    1. 1057

    2. 1908

    3. 1938

    4. 1958

15. 

    What forced the temporary closure of Vilnius airport (actually pictured) this week?

    1. A swan refusing to leave the runway

    2. Balloons used to smuggle cigarettes

    3. An unattended inflatable unicorn sparking a bomb scare

    4. Very naughty miniature dachshunds

16. 

    And finally, a special bonus question. Which new meme is driving teachers up the wall (possibly pictured) as kids keep shouting it out in class for no readily apparent reason?

    1. The All Your Base Are Belong To Us meme

    2. The Mr Ring-a-Ding meme

    3. The 6-7 meme

    4. The Skibidi Toilet meme

Solutions

1:B - It topped the UK album chart when it was released in February of this year, 2:D - Councillors voted last week to approve a new parking plan for the city whereby owners of larger vehicles will be charged more for parking permits because their cars “take up more parking space and are a danger to other road users”, 3:B - Phwoah. It went up in London Bridge in recognition that in the early 1800s it was one of the first railway stations to have an electric clock linked by telegraph to the Greenwich Observatory, 4:D - Swift's The Fate of Ophelia was the lead video for her new album, 5:C - Ouch, 6:B - The story is of an innocent man sent to prison who then escapes and plots revenge, and yes, Nicolas, we can all see what you've done there, 7:B - The Australian was only in charge for 39 days, or about three-and-a-half Scaramuccis, 8:A - Stone has her hair shaved off as part of a plot point in the movie, 9:B - On his Truth Social platform on Monday, Trump said 'ground has been broken on the White House' to build the new ballroom, 10:C - Sequoia Park Zoo in Eureka in the northern part of the state said its staff spotted a wild American black bear leaning on a gate and looking in at three captive black bears in their enclosure. It was gently escorted off the premises, 11:A - Staff at the zoo think Charlie should wind his neck in, as the gorillas have been left there on purpose while a much larger enclosure is being constructed for them, and it was an 'urban explorer' breaking into the zoo that started a media frenzy about the gorillas, 12:D - Robbie Williams is the most successful solo male artist, Adele the most successful female artist and Coldplay the most successful band. From this bunch though it is Take That on top, enough to make Gary Barlow's massive son massively proud, 13:C - Alongside his suitcase synthesiser, his flute and his vocoders, fans will get a chance to buy nearly 500 of Schneider’s personal possessions in the sale by his estate. The Thursday quiz once saw Schneider sneeze during a Kraftwerk show, proving that he was NOT a robot, 14:D - In the original language they are known as Les Schtroumpfs, and still aren't funny, 15:B - It doesn't seem a terribly efficient way of shifting merch but there you go, 16:C - Six! Seven! Skibidi Toilet is soooooooo 2023

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 Landslide by Nightbus instead?

Landslide by Nightbus