Trivia questions, page 6

Which protein-rich powder do bees carry home from flowers on their legs?

1. ASeed dust
2. BDew
3. CSap
4. DPollen

Which animal has the longest pregnancy of any mammal, at around 22 months?

1. AThe giraffe
2. BThe blue whale
3. CThe rhinoceros
4. DThe elephant

What do you call a young swan?

1. AA duckling
2. BA fledgling
3. CA cygnet
4. DA gosling

What does a cactus store in its thick stem to survive dry spells?

1. AWater
2. BSugar
3. COil
4. DSalt

In which year did the Titanic sink?

1. A1918
2. B1923
3. C1905
4. D1912

Who was the first President of the United States?

1. AGeorge Washington
2. BAbraham Lincoln
3. CThomas Jefferson
4. DJohn Adams

In which year did the Berlin Wall fall?

1. A1989
2. B1991
3. C1985
4. D1979

Which civilisation built Machu Picchu?

1. AThe Inca
2. BThe Olmecs
3. CThe Aztecs
4. DThe Maya

Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?

1. ARosalind Franklin
2. BFlorence Nightingale
3. CMarie Curie
4. DAda Lovelace

Who was the first Roman emperor?

1. ANero
2. BAugustus
3. CCaligula
4. DJulius Caesar

In which year did the Second World War end?

1. A1939
2. B1945
3. C1946
4. D1944

Which charter, sealed in 1215, limited the power of the English king?

1. AThe Domesday Book
2. BThe Act of Union
3. CMagna Carta
4. DThe Bill of Rights

Who was the British prime minister for most of the Second World War?

1. AClement Attlee
2. BNeville Chamberlain
3. CWinston Churchill
4. DDavid Lloyd George

Which Roman wall runs across northern England?

1. AThe Antonine Wall
2. BHadrian's Wall
3. COffa's Dyke
4. DThe Servian Wall

Who crossed the Atlantic in 1492 and reached the Caribbean?

1. AVasco da Gama
2. BChristopher Columbus
3. CFerdinand Magellan
4. DJohn Cabot

Which people built Tenochtitlan, where Mexico City stands today?

1. AThe Aztecs
2. BThe Maya
3. CThe Olmecs
4. DThe Inca

Who led the first expedition to reach the South Pole, in 1911?

1. AErnest Shackleton
2. BRoald Amundsen
3. CRobert Peary
4. DRobert Falcon Scott

In which country did the Industrial Revolution begin?

1. AThe United States
2. BGreat Britain
3. CFrance
4. DGermany

Which ship carried Charles Darwin on his voyage around the world?

1. AHMS Endeavour
2. BHMS Victory
3. CHMS Beagle
4. DHMS Bounty

Whose almost untouched tomb was found in Egypt's Valley of the Kings in 1922?

1. ARamesses II
2. BCleopatra
3. CAkhenaten
4. DTutankhamun

Which Roman city was buried by Mount Vesuvius in AD 79?

1. APompeii
2. BRome
3. COstia
4. DCarthage

Nelson Mandela became president of which country in 1994?

1. ASouth Africa
2. BKenya
3. CNamibia
4. DZimbabwe

Whose expedition completed the first voyage around the world, in 1522?

1. AJames Cook's
2. BFerdinand Magellan's
3. CFrancis Drake's
4. DChristopher Columbus's

Who made the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic, in 1927?

1. ALouis Blériot
2. BOrville Wright
3. CAmelia Earhart
4. DCharles Lindbergh

For which country did Joan of Arc fight?

1. ABurgundy
2. BFrance
3. CSpain
4. DEngland

Which country gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States?

1. AItaly
2. BFrance
3. CSpain
4. DThe United Kingdom

Which ancient wonder stood at the harbour of Rhodes?

1. AThe Colossus
2. BThe Mausoleum
3. CThe Hanging Gardens
4. DThe Lighthouse

Which famous queen ruled England from 1558 to 1603?

1. AMary I
2. BElizabeth I
3. CAnne
4. DVictoria

Which letter is used most often in English?

1. AS
2. BA
3. CT
4. DE

How many letters are in the English alphabet?

1. A24
2. B25
3. C28
4. D26

What do you call words that sound the same but mean different things, like 'pair' and 'pear'?

1. AAcronyms
2. BSynonyms
3. CAntonyms
4. DHomophones

What does the Latin phrase 'carpe diem' mean?

1. ATime flies
2. BSeize the day
3. CRest in peace
4. DLove conquers all

From which language does the word 'kindergarten' come?

1. ADanish
2. BGerman
3. CDutch
4. DSwedish

Which punctuation mark shows belonging, as in 'Sam's book'?

1. AThe apostrophe
2. BThe comma
3. CThe hyphen
4. DThe colon

What does 'RSVP' on an invitation ask you to do?

1. AReply
2. BBring a gift
3. CArrive early
4. DDress formally

What is a haiku?

1. AA Scottish ballad
2. BA Greek tragedy
3. CA 14-line love poem
4. DA short three-line poem from Japan

What does 'e.g.' stand for?

1. AFor example
2. BAnd so on
3. CThat is
4. DNote well

What does 'i.e.' mean?

1. APlease note
2. BFor example
3. CIn addition
4. DThat is

In the NATO phonetic alphabet, which word stands for D?

1. ADavid
2. BDelta
3. CDenver
4. DDog

Which language is mainly spoken in Brazil?

1. AItalian
2. BFrench
3. CPortuguese
4. DSpanish

What does 'bonjour' mean in English?

1. AGoodbye
2. BGood day
3. CPlease
4. DThank you

What do you call a word that means the same as another, like 'big' and 'large'?

1. AAn antonym
2. BA synonym
3. CA homophone
4. DA metaphor

Which language has the word 'gracias' for thank you?

1. ASpanish
2. BPortuguese
3. CFrench
4. DItalian

How many vowels are in the English alphabet, not counting Y?

1. AFive
2. BSeven
3. CFour
4. DSix

Who wrote 'Pride and Prejudice'?

1. AMary Shelley
2. BGeorge Eliot
3. CJane Austen
4. DCharlotte Brontë

Who painted 'The Starry Night'?

1. APaul Cézanne
2. BPablo Picasso
3. CVincent van Gogh
4. DClaude Monet

Which ancient Greek poet is credited with 'The Odyssey'?

1. ASophocles
2. BPlato
3. CVirgil
4. DHomer

Which composer wrote the 'Moonlight Sonata'?

1. AJohann Sebastian Bach
2. BLudwig van Beethoven
3. CWolfgang Amadeus Mozart
4. DFrédéric Chopin

Who wrote 'Don Quixote'?

1. AMiguel de Cervantes
2. BLope de Vega
3. CGabriel García Márquez
4. DDante Alighieri

Which artist painted a famous series of water lilies?

1. AÉdouard Manet
2. BEdgar Degas
3. CClaude Monet
4. DPierre-Auguste Renoir

How many lines are in a sonnet?

1. A14
2. B16
3. C10
4. D12

Who wrote 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'?

1. ARoald Dahl
2. BLewis Carroll
3. CKenneth Grahame
4. DC. S. Lewis

Which Dutch artist painted 'Girl with a Pearl Earring'?

1. AVincent van Gogh
2. BJohannes Vermeer
3. CFrans Hals
4. DRembrandt

In the novel 'Moby-Dick', what kind of animal is Moby Dick?

1. AA giant squid
2. BA sea serpent
3. CA shark
4. DA whale

Who wrote 'Frankenstein'?

1. AMary Shelley
2. BBram Stoker
3. CJane Austen
4. DEmily Brontë

How many keys does a standard piano have?

1. A88
2. B92
3. C76
4. D64

How many strings does a standard violin have?

1. AThree
2. BFive
3. CSix
4. DFour

Which composer wrote 'The Four Seasons'?

1. AGeorge Frideric Handel
2. BAntonio Vivaldi
3. CJohann Sebastian Bach
4. DJoseph Haydn

Who wrote 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'?

1. AH. G. Wells
2. BDaniel Defoe
3. CAlexandre Dumas
4. DJules Verne

Which detective lived at 221B Baker Street?

1. AInspector Morse
2. BSherlock Holmes
3. CMiss Marple
4. DHercule Poirot