If you’re the person who always pulls a random, obscure fact out of the bag just when everyone else is completely stuck, these 20 questions should be right up your street.
Being the resident trivia buff on your team is great fun until the pressure mounts and all eyes turn to you for the deciding point. It’s one thing having a cracking run on your favourite niche topic, but holding your ground across an entire spread of general knowledge is a whole different kettle of fish.
To test whether you genuinely know your stuff across the board, we’ve thrown together a proper mixed bag covering history, music, science, cinema, literature, maths, and geography. You won’t be able to rely on a single lucky streak here: you’ll need sharp memory, broad recall, and maybe a bit of quick lateral thinking to avoid dropping points. Grab something to write with, keep an honest tally of your answers as you work through, and see if your everyday know-how is enough to bag a perfect 20 out of 20.
1. Who wrote His Dark Materials?
A. Philip Pullman
B. Philip Reeve
C. Salman Rushdie
D. Anthony Horowitz
2. What is the cube root of 64?
A. 21
B. 8
C. 2
D. 4
3. Which country uses the new shekel as its currency?
A. Israel
B. Egypt
C. Turkey
D. Pakistan
4. Who plays Viktor Navorski in the 2004 film The Terminal?
A. Tom Hanks
B. Brad Pitt
C. Tom Cruise
D. George Clooney
5. CH4 is the chemical formula for which gas?
A. Propane
B. Methane
C. Carbon dioxide
D. Ozone
6. Which band released the album The Dark Side of the Moon?
A. Pink Floyd
B. Rush
C. Led Zeppelin
D. Yes
7. How many states are there in Germany?
A. 28
B. 16
C. 20
D. 24
8. Which US sitcom starred Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper?
A. How I Met Your Mother
B. Two and a Half Men
C. Seinfeld
D. New Girl
9. Which Wonder of the Ancient World was located at Ephesus?
A. Temple of Artemis
B. The Colossus
C. Statue of Zeus
D. The Mausoleum
10. According to the Paul Hardcastle song, what was the average age of a combat soldier in Vietnam?
A. Twenty-one
B. Nineteen
C. Twenty
D. Eighteen
11. In physics, what does the L in LHC stand for?
A. Linear
B. Light
C. Large
D. Lepton
12. What nationality is WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange?
A. American
B. Swedish
C. British
D. Australian
13. Which city became the capital of the Mongol Empire under Ögedei Khan?
A. Beijing
B. Xanadu
C. Karakorum
D. Shanghai
14. Which fruit would you add to Pi to make the name of a well-known microcomputer?
A. Mango
B. Raspberry
C. Cherry
D. Apple
15. On what date is VE Day?
A. 7 April
B. 10 July
C. 8 May
D. 9 June
16. Which Roman emperor ruled from AD 81 to 96 and was preceded by his brother?
A. Titus
B. Vitellius
C. Vespasian
D. Domitian
17. According to Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side, where did Holly come from?
A. Tampa
B. Miami
C. Orlando
D. New York
18. What kind of business would you most associate with Rio Tinto?
A. Forestry
B. Mining
C. Oil
D. Power
19. ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ is the first line of which Shakespeare sonnet?
A. Sonnet 18
B. Sonnet 16
C. Sonnet 14
D. Sonnet 12
20. Which actress starred alongside Fred Astaire in films including Top Hat and Swing Time?
A. Judy Garland
B. Ginger Rogers
C. Rita Hayworth
D. Katharine Hepburn
Answers
1. A. Philip Pullman
2. D. 4
3. A. Israel
4. A. Tom Hanks
5. B. Methane
6. A. Pink Floyd
7. B. 16
8. B. Two and a Half Men
9. A. Temple of Artemis
10. B. Nineteen
11. C. Large
12. D. Australian
13. C. Karakorum
14. B. Raspberry
15. C. 8 May
16. D. Domitian
17. B. Miami
18. B. Mining
19. A. Sonnet 18
20. B. Ginger Rogers
How many did you get right? Tell us your score in the comments and see whether you’re still the person everyone wants sitting beside them on quiz night.
