The questions
1 Which country was renamed the Kingdom of eSwatini this year?
2 What form of betting was invented by ex-teacher Charles McNeil?
3 Which ship sank in 1545 during the Battle of the Solent?
4 What art movement was named from the Danish, Belgian and Dutch capitals?
5 Magic Weekend is an annual event in which sport?
6 Which film dramatised 1980’s “Canadian caper”?
7 What pop compilation series reached its 100th edition in July?
8 What is the largest cat in the Americas?
What links:
9 Alibaba; Tencent; Baidu; Huawei?
10 Foreign secretary, 1976; chancellor, 1990 and 2007; home secretary, 2016?
11 Operas by Offenbach and Hindemith; ballets by Delibes and Tchaikovsky?
12 Brahmin; Kshatriya; Vaishya; Shudra?
13 Helen Gurley Brown; Minsk native; flathead or Phillips; 1553-58?
14 Salvador; Borgne; Maurepas; Pontchartrain?
15 Janet Gaynor; Judy Garland; Barbra Streisand; Lady Gaga?
The answers
1 Swaziland.
2 Spread betting.
3 Mary Rose.
4 Cobra (Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam).
5 Rugby league.
6 Argo.
7 Now That’s What I Call Music.
8 Jaguar.
9 Chinese tech companies.
10 Cabinet members who became PM: Callaghan; Major and Brown; May.
11 Based on works of ETA Hoffmann: The Tales Of Hoffmann and Cardillac; Coppélia and The Nutcracker.
12 Varnas/divisions of the Hindu caste system.
13 Vodka-based cocktails: Cosmopolitan (editor); White Russian; screwdriver; Bloody Mary (Mary I’s reign).
14 Lakes around New Orleans.
15 Female lead in A Star Is Born: 1937; 1954; 1976; 2018.
