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49 of the best general knowledge quiz questions

Dusty Baxter-Wright
·5-min read
Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

From Cosmopolitan

Whoever does the PR for quizzes has had the best 12 months of their lives. While the coronavirus pandemic is the reason we're all staying indoors (for a third time), virtual quizzes have been a constant since last March, with our diary currently full of Zoom-based commitments.

Admittedly not all of them are quiz-based, and yet, our general knowledge feels like it has to be top notch at all times, in case someone whacks out some questions.

In order to keep those around us safe, we're all confined to our homes for a third time, meaning keeping in touch with friends and family has gone virtual once again. If you, too, are quizzed up to your eyeballs, you might be running low on inspiration for your next online competition.

Maybe you need some creative round ideas, or celeb-based questions. Or maybe you just need a full on, quiz of random facts that has already been written for you. Which is where our round up of the best general knowledge quiz questions come in, which will sort you out for your next video call. No cheating, yeah?

This quiz takes every subject area into consideration and will basically make you feel like you're on The Chase. Expect questions about celebrities, questions about animals, questions about cheese (yes really) and some sporting trivia thrown into the mix, too. Good luck!

The best general knowledge quiz questions

  1. What's the biggest animal in the world?

  2. For one point, put the following Kardashian-Jenners in order of age, oldest to youngest: Khloe, Kylie, Rob, Kourtney, Kendall, Kim, Kris

  3. How many times has Andy Murray won Wimbledon playing singles?

  4. Which country is brie cheese originally from?

  5. In what franchise would you find the character Katniss Everdeen?

  6. What year was Heinz established?

  7. At the time of writing (May 2020), who is fifth in line to the British throne?

  8. What is the capital of Iceland?

  9. Who came second in the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2019?

  10. What year did Margaret Thatcher die?

  11. What does IPA stand for?

  12. Who painted the Mona Lisa?

  13. Which planet is closest to the sun?

  14. What is Queen Elizabeth II's surname?

  15. Who plays Delboy Trotter in Only Fools And Horses?

  16. What is the largest country in the world?

  17. Which fashion designer reportedly had a relationship with Winston Churchill?

  18. How many valves does the heart have?

  19. What is the name of the school in Sex Education?

  20. In Harry Potter, what is the name of The Weasley's house?

  21. Put these Tom Hanks films in chronological order: Catch Me If You Can, Forrest Gump, The Terminal, Bridge Of Spies

  22. Typically, what four ingredients go into a cosmopolitan cocktail? (For one point)

  23. Who has been the First Minister of Wales since December 2018?

  24. Which city had the first ever fashion week?

  25. What nut is in the middle of a Ferrero Rocher?

  26. What's a baby rabbit called?

  27. How many minutes in a game of rugby league?

  28. Typically, what's the strongest muscle in the human body?

  29. Name one landlocked country in Europe

  30. Who did Anne Hathaway play in Les Miserables?

  31. What fruit takes the scientific name Mangifera indica?

  32. What does He stand for on the periodic table?

  33. What does LGBTQ stand for?

  34. What did Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams collectively create?

  35. To a single decimal point, many kilometers in a mile?

  36. Where in England would you find the themepark Dreamland?

  37. What month was Prince George born?

  38. For two points, if all of the states of America were placed in alphabetical order, what would be first and last?

  39. Who is the highest spiritual leader of Tibet?

  40. What is the Papaver rhoeas flower better known as?

  41. Who plays Emily in the hit Netflix show, Emily In Paris?

  42. Which rapper's real name is Dylan Kwabena Mills?

  43. Who is manager of the England football team as of 2020?

  44. For one point, which of these actors is Scottish? Jamie Dornan, Michael Sheen, James McAvoy, Daniel Craig

  45. How many episodes of Scrubs were there? Closest wins the point.

  46. What year was Google images invented, and for a bonus point, what prompted its creation?

  47. What was the most streamed show on Netflix in 2020?

  48. How many Olympic gold medals does Sir Mo Farah have?

  49. How many elements are there in the periodic table?

The best general knowledge quiz answers

  1. The blue whale

  2. Oldest to youngest: Kris, 64, Kourtney, 41, Kim, 39, Khloe, 35, Rob, 33, Kendall, 24, Kylie, 22

  3. Twice - in 2013 against Novak Djokovic and in 2016 against Milos Raonic

  4. France

  5. The Hunger Games

  6. 1869

  7. Prince Louis Of Cambridge

  8. Reykjavík

  9. Netherlands

  10. 2013, on the 8th April

  11. Indian Pale Ale

  12. Leonardo da Vinci

  13. Mercury

  14. Windor. Her full name is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor

  15. David Jason

  16. Russia

  17. Coco Chanel

  18. Four - the mitral, tricuspid, aortic and pulmonic valves

  19. Moordale High

  20. The Burrow

  21. Forrest Gump (1994), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Terminal (2004), Bridge Of Spies (2015)

  22. Fresh lime juice, vodka, cranberry juice, triple sec/cointreau/orange liqueur

  23. Mark Drakeford

  24. New York, in 1943

  25. Hazelnut

  26. A kit

  27. 80 minutes

  28. The masseter - the main jaw muscle

  29. Any of the following 14 countries: Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Vatican City.

  30. Fantine

  31. Mango

  32. Helium

  33. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (or queer)

  34. Twitter

  35. 1.6km

  36. Margate

  37. July

  38. First: Alabama. Last: Wyoming

  39. The Dalai Lama

  40. A poppy!

  41. Lily Collins

  42. Dizzee Rascal

  43. Gareth Southgate

  44. James McAvoy is Scottish. Jamie Dornan is Irish, Michael Sheen is Welsh and Christian Bale is English.

  45. 181 episodes.

  46. July 2001, as a result of mass Google searches in February 2000 when Jennifer Lopez wore a jungle print dress, designed by Donatella Versace, to the Grammy Awards.

  47. The Umbrella Academy season 2, with 43million streams.

  48. Four Olympic gold medals. He first was at the London 2012 Olympic games when he finished the 10,000m in a time of 27:30.42. He won gold the same year for the Men's 5,000m, which he completed in 13:41:66. At the Rio 2016 Olympics, he won another gold medal for the 10,000m, and a fourth gold medal for the 5,000m.

  49. 118 elements

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You have a say, after all, in how you put yourself out there and where the “out there” is. The more discerning you can be about what you offer and where you offer it, the more likely you are to come to any kind of conclusion about the environments and relationships that are affected by your actions. This week, when you reach out, do so directly and candidly. You’ll find that the less wiggle room you leave for interpretation, the less you left to wiggle in uncertainty. Illustration by Stefhany LozanoCancer Sun & Cancer RisingIt’s true that healing isn’t linear. There’s no simple way to mark progress and feel certain that we’re getting “better.” Apparently, certainty is far from guaranteed in almost every arena of our lives. While some might find this daunting, Cancer, you are well equipped to face uncertainty. A crab leaves their old shell and ventures out soft-skinned and courageous, knowing the risk. What is progress for the crab? 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Let it move you toward others. When fear or shame creep in, remind yourself of the power in numbers. Whatever taught you that you were better off alone taught you to fear your own power, too.Illustration by Stefhany LozanoVirgo Sun & Virgo RisingYou’ve been hustling hard to make it to the finish line, but you know more than anyone that the race is not quite over yet. Still, it’s nice to see the finish line. At this point, the pace is entirely up to you. If all you wanted was to know you could finish what you set out to accomplish, then congratulate yourself for your commitment and go ahead and take your leisurely time. On the other hand, if what you set out to do was break a record, or set a new standard for yourself, then full-speed ahead will surely get you there. Perhaps the lesson isn’t in whether or not you can make good on your word to yourself or others. Perhaps the lesson lies in the personal sacrifice you made to keep those promises and what they can teach you about your values.Illustration by Stefhany LozanoLibra Sun & Libra RisingWhat’s undeniable is that the minutiae of our lives is a huge part of our lives. The bills, the errands, the dishes, the animals, the clothing pile on the reading chair. And, while these things might seem like white noise, they contribute to our emotional landscape. When we share that emotional landscape with another person, the way they interact with our minutiae and their own becomes a part of the story — a part of our emotional landscape. Given all this, you can see why it’s valuable to keep the lines of communication going about the small things. How small things can add up and start to weigh heavily on us, how they can change the way we relate to someone else. Quiet resentments are a greater threat to intimacy than conflict could ever be.Illustration by Stefhany LozanoScorpio Sun & Scorpio RisingSometimes, when blood rushes back to an area, the pins and needles rush in, too — what’s proof of life can be quite painful. On the other side of that sensation, however, is relief. Relief that the pain of adjustment is past; relief that you are more fully yourself again, more equipped to do whatever it is that requires as many limbs as you’ve got. It’s not optimism, quite, but it’s something like it — the flow within you harmonising with the flow around you — spring birds on the trees, a raven spotted flying over a city park. If this week finds you showing up to the same situations with a whole new attitude, don’t question it — and don’t let anyone else question it either. Everything has a season and you have nothing to prove.Illustration by Stefhany LozanoSagittarius Sun & Sagittarius RisingWe know that everything is always changing, a lesson that feels all the more evident when you live in a city where old favourite restaurants shutter and new favourite stores open every couple of years. Of course, climate change upends small towns as well, burning down houses, flooding city centres. Change is the only constant thing and, if we allow it, having faith in change can serve as a kind of permission to live through it. If a whole ecosystem is sensitive to one small shift, why should you be surprised when your internal ecosystem reacts in kind? If an ecosystem needs time to figure out how to respond to loss and imbalance on its own timeline, then so do you. If a dry river bank keeps the shape of the river that it once held, it's learning to live with a memory.Illustration by Stefhany LozanoCapricorn Sun & Capricorn RisingIt’s not that you don’t walk the talk. You have and you do — on occasion. It’s just that prerequisites are necessary for most actions, or most actions you take seriously. And, sometimes, you get distracted. Sometimes you get sucked in to the other things that have very little to do with your own ambitions. Prerequisites unattended lead to actions not taken lead to one very frustrated Capricorn. Have heart, sea-goat. When you’re ready to prioritise your ambitions, you’ll have just the right words to express your limits to whoever and whatever tries to steal your time. Besides, you know well enough that the long way round to a destination is a valid way. Illustration by Stefhany LozanoAquarius Sun & Aquarius RisingPretty wild how the more you open yourself up to new opportunities, the more they come your way. It’s almost like challenging internalised beliefs about your own abilities and needs allows you to develop new ones based on trial and error rather than say… defensive self-negating techniques that shield you from disappointment. Part of the process, apparently, is reframing your understanding of risk and reward. This week, congratulate yourself every time you do something that requires faith in yourself, even if you don’t get the results you want. Let your gains be the Bold Brave Bitch muscles you build along the way. Illustration by Stefhany LozanoPisces Sun & Pisces RisingThere are multiple realities, even scientists know that. But, you know it especially, and if you’re in your Pisces-bag then you’re more sensitive than most to things like dreams that show you how it all might have happened differently, a hair-raising sense that someone is beside you, a strange melody that evokes a memory from a past life. Perceiving the various strands of lives and worlds woven with our own is not a gift without burden. While it’s not always imperative for us to keep these strands sorted, confusing one for the other makes difficult decisions all that more confusing to make. Because what we do in this world affects the people we share it with, it’s important to ground any decisions you make now in what you know to be true now, not what could otherwise be true in a world adjacent to this one. Illustration by Stefhany LozanoLike what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?Your March Horoscope Is HereObsessed With Astrology? Thank TikTok — & COVIDHow Important Is Your Roommate's Zodiac Sign?

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