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General Knowledge Quizzes


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40 Questions


  1. Which ink once widely used for writing and printing is made from ash or lampblack, mixed with water?
  2. What type of noise refers to a noise that contains all frequencies across the spectrum of audible sound in equal measure?
  3. What word links Libby in Run Fatboy Run to an SI unit?
  4. Which mountain is occasionally known as Mount Godwin-Austen?
  5. Name the former United States secretary of state who was born in Prague?
  6. Which tennis player holds the all-time record of 14 Men's French Open titles?



  7. Name the conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra who Mr. Bean ‘performed’ with at the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony?
  8. What is the name given to the heavy vertically-closing gate typically found in medieval castles?
  9. Who is known for his hit single "Achy Breaky Heart"?
  10. What was launched in the UK on 15 June 1998, when millions were released?
  11. Which author born in 1865, was named after a lake in Staffordshire?
  12. Which of Henry VIII's wives is burried beside him?
  13. The Royal Albert Hall celebrated its sesquicentennial anniversary in 2021. In which year was it opened by Queen Victoria?
  14. Which two European countries joined the Commonwealth in the 1960s?
  15. Which traditional Hindu custom was banned by the British in 1829?
  16. Who won the 1999 Turner Prize, beating the notorious 'bed' by Tracey Emin into second place?
  17. Since November 2001, at which address would you find Madhuri, Ashwin, Sushila, and Sanjeev?
  18. Which sea shanty has the lyrics: "Ho! Ho! and up she rises. Ho! Ho! and up she rises. Ho! Ho! and up she rises, early in the morning"?
  19. The Roman town of Lutetia became which modern-day city?
  20. The La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona was designed by which Catalan architect?
  21. Which of the Baltic State countries is furthest north?
  22. What familiar verb was first coined by the 1966 show Mission Impossible?
  23. What was the name of the puppet gopher who first appeared on Children's BBC between 1985 and 1987?
  24. A 1952 photo of Mickey Mantle sold for 12.6 million dollars at an American auction in 2022. What was this photo on?
  25. A 2015 nationwide ballot saw more than 200,000 people elect which bird as Britain’s national bird?
  26. Gilly flower is an archaic or early Victorian name for which well-known flower?
  27. What type of cloth used for hand metalworking consists of dark granular rock glued to a cloth backing?
  28. "Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to" is a quote from which Christmas film?
  29. The phrase 'warts and all' is said to derive from whose instructions to the painter Sir Peter Lely, when commissioning a portrait?
  30. Who is married to English accountant Hugh O'Leary?
  31. Whose law basically states that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion"?
  32. In which year did Scotland lose to Peru in the FIFA World Cup finals?
  33. Which musical and film is based on the life of Fanny Brice?
  34. In June 2022, which country requested that the United Nations officially recognise it's new name? The request was accepted.
  35. Who played Oscar Wilde in the 1997 film Wilde?
  36. Spider Nugent was which soap character's nephew?
  37. Which planet was discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1781?
  38. What name is shared by the insect Lymantria dispar dispar and the boat that Francis Chichester used to become the first person to single-handedly sail around the world?
  39. Smog, brunch and mockumentary are examples of what type of word?
  40. Where would you always find the iconic button on an authentic Steiff stuffed teddybear?


Answers

  1. India ink
  2. White noise
  3. Newton (actress Thandiwe Newton and the unit newton)
  4. K2
  5. Madeleine Albright
  6. Rafael Nadal (14 titles, as of 2022)
  7. Sir Simon Rattle
  8. Portcullis
  9. Billy Ray Cyrus
  10. The £2 coin
  11. Rudyard Kipling (Rudyard Lake)
  12. Jane Seymour
  13. 1871 (sesquicentennial anniversary is 150 years)
  14. Cyprus (on its independence in 1961), and Malta (in 1964)
  15. Suttee
  16. Steve McQueen
  17. Number 42 (the British television show, The Kumars at No. 42)
  18. Drunken Sailor, (also known as "What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor?")
  19. Paris
  20. Antoni Gaudi
  21. Estonia
  22. Self-destruct
  23. Gordon (Gordon the Gopher)
  24. A baseball card
  25. The robin
  26. Carnation
  27. Emery cloth
  28. Miracle on 34th Street
  29. Oliver Cromwell's
  30. Liz Truss
  31. Parkinson's Law
  32. 1978 (in Argentina)
  33. Funny Girl



  34. Turkey, now known as Turkiye
  35. Stephen Fry
  36. Emily Bishop (Coronation Street)
  37. Uranus
  38. Gipsy Moth
  39. Portmanteau (words combiined into a new word)
  40. In the ear (the Steiff "Button in Ear" tag)