Travel plans, J-Lo’s man and why now less is more – take the Thursday quiz

Jennifer Lopez! Photograph: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Have you been enjoying the Olympics? Then why not go for gold yourself with the challenge of the Thursday quiz. A mix of general knowledge and topical trivia questions, all laced with a smattering of jokes, the ever-present Kate Bush, the odd irritating anagram, and a hidden Doctor Who Easter egg for you to find. It is just for fun, but let us know how you get on in the comments.

The Thursday quiz, No 14

1. 

   CITIES: Which Scottish city boasts a statue of comic character Desperate Dan from the Dandy?

   1. Dundee

   2. Aberdeen

   3. Stirling

   4. Inverness

2. 

   GLOBAL NEWS: After months of dispute, Pedro Castillo this week became the new president of which South American nation?

   1. Ecuador

   2. Colombia

   3. Bolivia

   4. Peru

3. 

   WHAT THE HELL IS IT THIS TIME: What The Hell Is It This Time is a song by Sparks that imagines a god busy with famine and war, being somewhat vexed every time someone prays to get in touch with Him/Her in the hope that Arsenal wins. But that’s not important right now. In which book of the Gospel does it say: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

   1. Matthew

   2. Mark

   3. John

   4. Luke

4. 

   THIS QUIZ AIN'T BIG ENOUGH FOR THE BOTH OF THEM: Talking of Sparks, the Edgar Wright-directed documentary The Sparks Brothers opens in cinemas in the UK this week. But which is the older Mael brother in Sparks? Russell, left, the singing one? Or Ron, right, the creepy moustache one on the keyboards who inexplicably looks like Kevin Rowland from Dexys Midnight Runners in this particular photo? Russell or Ron?

   1. Russell?

   2. Ron?

5. FLORIDA MAN SPECIAL: A Florida man startled beachgoers when he washed ashore inside a ludicrous hybrid bubble-running wheel device. Where did he tell the Flagler county sheriff’s office that he was headed for?

   1. Havana, Cuba

   2. Cancun, Mexico

   3. New York, New York

   4. New Orleans, Louisiana

6. 

   SPORT: The 第32回オリンピック競技大会 are well under way. That's the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to me and you. But when did Tokyo last host the Olympics?

   1. 1958

   2. 1960

   3. 1964

   4. 1966

7. 

   BROADCASTING WOES: South Korean broadcaster MBC apologised after using offensive images in fact-boxes to depict several countries during the opening ceremony of the Olympics on Friday. What picture did they use for Ukraine?

   1. A picture of the band Go_A, who represented Ukraine in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest

   2. A picture of Joseph Stalin, wrongly claiming he was born there

   3. An inaccurate map of the country's borders, heightening international tensions with Russia

   4. A picture of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident

8. LITERATURE: While we are thinking about Japan, rendered in English, a Japanese haiku generally consists of three lines and how many syllables?

   1. 13

   2. 15

   3. 17

   4. 19

9. 

   CELEBRITY GOSSIP: Jennifer Lopez keeps going viral on social media every time she is pictured with her current partner. Which superhero actor is he? Plot twist – it is anagram time…

   1. Fan Beck Elf

   2. Cavern Hiss

   3. Moan As Mojo

   4. Hack Jam Hung

10. 

    MUSIC: Who had a hit in 2004 with the song Hounds of Love?

    1. Celine Dion

    2. Maxïmo Park

    3. The Futureheads

    4. Kate Bush

11. WHO SAID IT: Who once said “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself”?

    1. Eleanor Roosevelt

    2. Hillary Clinton

    3. Michelle Obama

    4. Amelia Pond

12. 

    ON THIS DAY: On 29 July 1986 Margaret Thatcher and François Mitterrand signed the agreement to build a tunnel under the Channel. But where did passenger services at the English end of "the Chunnel" originally terminate?

    1. King's Cross

    2. Waterloo

    3. Paddington

    4. Marylebone

13. 

    WHERE ON EARTH: Multidisciplinary artist Osman Yousefzada has unveiled his new installation Infinity Pattern 1, a giant vibrant pink work that covers an entire building. Where?

    1. Brechin

    2. Bristol

    3. Belfast

    4. Birmingham

14. 

    LESS IS MORE: What is it called when a manufacturer or retailer keeps the price of something the same, but reduces the quantity sold – eg instead of six Panini football stickers in a packet for 50p, you only get five Panini football stickers in a packet for 50p?

    1. Shrinkflation

    2. Stagflation

    3. Hyperinflation

    4. Deflation

Solutions

1:A - It is Dundee, where the Dandy's publishers DC Thomson are based., 2:D - After nearly two months of waiting, amid baseless claims of fraud and even rumblings of a military coup, the new president is the son of illiterate peasant farmers, and becomes leader as the country celebrates its 200th anniversary of independence., 3:C - Yes, it is John 3:16, one of the most widely quoted verses from the New Testament. You can tell by his face that Ron from Sparks thinks you should have known that., 4:B - Chief songwriter Ron is the elder brother, born in 1945. Russell arrived in 1948. Ron's extremely creepy and distinctive looks to camera were famously pastiched by Paul McCartney in his Coming Up video. It is a Charlie Chaplin moustache, by the way, not that other guy. In the documentary trailer, Sparks reveal that one of the questions the brothers most often have to field in interviews is "How did you meet?". Hasta mañana, monsieur, 5:C - Reza Baluchi said he was trying to "walk" the 1,000 miles to New York. The ocean had other ideas, and he ended up coming ashore thirty miles south of where he departed. , 6:C - The 18th Olympics were held in Tokyo in October 1964. Japan had originally been due to host the Games in 1940, but the second world war intervened. In Tokyo, athletes from East Germany and West Germany competed together as the United Team of Germany for the final time. They were the first Olympics to be broadcast live via satellite, and the first to be transmitted on television partially in colour., 7:D - Ukrainians were not best pleased to have their 2021 Olympic endeavours linked with the Soviet nuclear accident from 35 years ago. Equally, Ukrainians are entitled to feel furious that Go_A did not win the Eurovision Song Contest this year with Шум (Shum), which was clearly the best song by some distance., 8:C - Yes, in English they are generally arranged in a 5-7-5 syllable pattern across three lines, while in Japanese, haiku are traditionally printed as a single line., 9:A - No, you haven't woken up in 2002. J-Lo and Ben Affleck have been dating again and it has been making everybody feel warm inside. Affleck of course has played Batman. Your other options were Chris Evans, who plays Captain America, Jason Momoa, who plays Aquaman, and Hugh Jackman, who plays Wolverine., 10:C - It's still not Kate. The Futureheads reached number 8 in 2004 with their cover version of Kate's song, which was a hit for her much earlier in 1986. It only reached number 18 for her. There's no justice in the world, is there?, 11:A - Roosevelt was the longest-serving first lady of the United States, from 1933 to 1945, and then was US delegate to the United Nations general assembly from 1945 to 1952, giving her plenty of opportunity to observe mistakes in the making., 12:B - The Waterloo terminal cost £120m and was completed in May 1993, a year-and-a-half ahead of the delayed tunnel opening. It was in use for 13 years until replaced by St Pancras in 2007. Did you know that the Channel tunnel has the longest underwater section of any tunnel in the world? You do now., 13:D - The work covers the Selfridges building near Birmingham's New Street station. Yousefzada said: “The infinity pattern is a space without borders. You have that idea in mosques, in Islamic tiles, in churches where the arches feel like they’re never ending. It’s hopeful.”, 14:A - It is called shrinkflation, and the eagle-eyed regulars among you may have spotted that it has just happened to this quiz, which now only has 14 questions instead of the usual 15. The reason? Your regular quiz master has got a busy few weeks coming up covering the Olympics and Paralympics and then several weeks off where the quiz needs to be written in advance, and one question fewer will make that workload just a tiny bit easier. Sorry.

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   Do let us know how you got on in the comments!

2. 7 and above.

   Do 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 he hates your disturbing lack of faith.