Gimlets, thanes, and a zombie’s birthday – take the Thursday quiz

The quiz master is away, but the moment has been prepared for. You face 15 slightly less topical than usual general knowledge questions, gently laced with the same old in-jokes that are getting longer in the tooth than the tusks of a very old walrus. There are no prizes. It is just for fun. Let us know how you got on in the comments.

The Thursday quiz, No 90

1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: It is Rob Zombie's birthday today. Happy birthday Mr Zombie. But which former Doctor Who recently appeared in Rob Zombie's 2022 movie The Munsters?

   1. Colin Baker

   2. Tom Baker

   3. Sylvester McCoy

   4. Paul McGann

2. HAPPY BIRTHDAY (SLIGHT RETURN): It is also Melanie Jayne Chisholm's birthday today too. You may know her better as Mel C and like the quiz master have very much enjoyed her new year turn with Sam Ryder. But which Spice Girl was she?

   1. Baby spice

   2. Posh spice

   3. Sporty spice

   4. Sparksy spice

3. COCKTAIL O'CLOCK: The Thursday quiz is quite partial to being written while in the pub, which might explain a lot. A gimlet features gin and a cordial of which fruit?

   1. Lime

   2. Lemon

   3. Orange

   4. Pomegranate

4. OTTAWAN'S DISCO POSER: The French duo recorded D-I-S-C-O in 1979. But which C is a river that runs through Cornwall?

   1. River Crab

   2. River Caracal

   3. River Cassowary

   4. River Camel

5. ENSEMBLE CASTS: Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman starred in which NBC sitcom that ran in the US from 1965 to 1970?

   1. Get Smart

   2. I Love Lucy

   3. Bewitched

   4. I Dream Of Jeannie

6. MEDICAL FIRSTS: In 1967 James Hiram Bedford, an American psychology professor at the University of California, was the first person to undergo which medical procedure?

   1. Eye transplant

   2. Heart transplant

   3. Be cryogenically frozen

   4. Kidney transplant

7. DEMOCRATIC FIRSTS: Hattie Wyatt Caraway was the first woman ever elected to serve a full term in the US Senate, having initially taken her place after being appointed as a replacement for her late husband. She won a special election on 12 January 1932. In which state?

   1. Arkansas

   2. Wyoming

   3. Georgia

   4. California

8. HIGHER OR LOWER WITH TONY YEBOAH: This week the Leeds United legend wants to know which of these is the tallest building in Cardiff?

   1. Meridian Gate

   2. Bridge Street Exchange

   3. Llandaff Cathedral

   4. Ianto's Shrine

9. SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT: Which of these is the correct order for the first four studio albums released in the US by Joni Mitchell?

   1. Clouds, Ladies of the Canyon, Blue, Court and Spark

   2. For The Roses, Ladies of the Canyon, Blue, Court and Spark

   3. Song to a Seagull, Clouds, Ladies of the Canyon, Blue

   4. The Hissing of Summer Lawns, Clouds, Ladies of the Canyon, Blue

10. OH HOW TERRIBLY VEXING WITH DIDO: Never mind why Dido sets the flag question, she just does. Which of these best describes the traditional flag of the county of Northumberland in England?

    1. Ermine bend from top left to bottom right on a gold and black field

    2. Eight gold rectangles on a red field; note that the canton (top corner nearest the flagpole) should be gold

    3. A gold cross with a black border on a maroon field with a rose in the centre

    4. A green field semée of acorns with a golden horseshoe in the centre

11. GCSE SCIENCE CORNER: Which of these best describes an alkane?

    1. The main compound found in limestone

    2. A bonding electron that is no longer associated with any one particular atom

    3. Organic compounds that consist entirely of single-bonded carbon and hydrogen atoms

    4. The smallest part of an element which can be recognised as an element

12. MATHS WITH GOTHS: You've seen some great goth boots in the new year sales. They are reduced from £125 to £87.50. What percentage discount is the shop offering?

    1. 20%

    2. 25%

    3. 30%

    4. 35%

13. LIFE WITH THE MACBETHS: That is a 2017 song by Sparks with Rebecca Sjöwall on guest operatic vocals. But what is Macbeth's title when we first meet him in the Shakespeare tragedy?

    1. Thane of Glamis

    2. Thane of Cawdor

    3. Thane of Siward

    4. Thane of Drumnadrochit

14. IT'S A DOG'S LIFE: This is Willow, the official dog of the Guardian Thursday quiz. But what was the name of the alien Remoolian who appeared in the form of a pug dog in the 1997 movie Men In Black?

    1. Frank

    2. Fred

    3. Francis

    4. Fendahl

15. FRIENDS OF DOROTHY: Everybody knows that the main character in L Frank Baum's 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is called Dorothy. But what is her surname, first mentioned in the 1902 stage version of the story written a few years later?

    1. Storm

    2. Gale

    3. Silver

    4. Bush

Solutions

1:C - McCoy, who was the seventh Doctor from 1987 to 1996, appeared as Igor, in a movie that didn't quite capture the imagination in the way that Netflix's Wednesday has reinvigorated the Addams Family franchise., 2:C - For some reason her solo career really took off in Portugal rather than UK, but she remains the only female performer to top the charts in the UK (it says here) as a solo artist, as part of a duo, a quartet and a quintet. She needs to join a trio and complete the set., 3:A - Like all cocktails, the origins of the recipe and name are disputed, and there are variations, but a 1928 recipe describes the gimlet as "gin, and a spot of lime", whereas in the 1950s Raymond Chandler described it as "half gin and half Rose's lime juice and nothing else"., 4:D - It rises on the edge of Bodmin Moor, and the name comes from the Cornish language for 'the crooked one', rather than being any relation to the ships of the desert, or "less-thirsty horses" as the camel has been known on the Guardian website., 5:D - Eden was a 2,000-year-old genie and Hagman was her love interest and incredibly they squeezed 139 episodes out of that format., 6:C - As with all these things, there is some dispute about whether an unnamed woman was frozen earlier, but 12 January has been celebrated as Bedford Day by people who like the idea of keeping things cold for a very long time for no discernible scientific reason., 7:A - Caraway won more 91% of the vote to become the first woman to be elected to the Senate. Rebecca Felton had spent a day as a senator in October 1922., 8:B - The 26-storey high-rise building has mixed residential and retail use. It was "topped out" in 2018 and is 85-metre high (about 164 ancient Sumerian cubits), 9:C - Song to a Seagull was released in 1968. I don't know why you'd sing a song to a gull, they are quite rude and just steal your chips in return. We look forward to people in the comments telling Mitchell there is no such thing as a seagull. Ladies of the Canyon was her first album to chart in the UK, reaching No 8., 10:B - The basic design dates back to the 7th century, but it was first formally adopted in the 1950s. The other descriptions were Norfolk (with the ermine), Northamptonshire (with the rose) and Rutland (with the acorns)., 11:C - They are saturated hydrocarbons that have no double bonds between the carbon atoms., 12:C - That is a 30% discount and, trust us, you are going to look great in them., 13:A - When Macbeth and Banquo meet the three witches, they hail Macbeth as Thane of Glamis and Thane of Cawdor, though he is only the former. Then a messenger arrives and bestows the title of Thane of Cawdor upon him, and the rest, as they say, is bloody intrigue. You can tell by the look on his face that Ron thinks you should have known that., 14:A - Frank the Pug also appeared in the 2002 sequel, the animated series, and the video games, and was originally voiced by Tim Blaney., 15:B - When it is first introduced it is used deliberately as a pun on her character and the way she arrived in Oz. Oh you wag, Mr Baum.

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   We hope you had fun – let us know how you got on in the comments

If you do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers, please feel free to email martin.belam@theguardian.com, but remember the quiz master’s word is final and he is on holiday anyway.