New kittens, new statues and Taylor’s Trump signoff – take the Thursday quiz

Normal service returns for the Thursday quiz. After everybody thoroughly enjoyed the summer’s shorter pre-written themed quizzes around such popular topics as Liz Truss, naughty miniature dachshunds and Pokémon, we are back to 15 questions that mix topical news with a smattering of general knowledge, and more than a hint of silliness. Never happier than when receiving emails complaining that it is “childish”, here is the return of your regular format Thursday quiz …

The Thursday quiz, No 177

1. Who (not pictured) was named last week as the new prime minister of France?

   1. Yaël Braun-Pivet

   2. Michel Barnier

   3. Édouard Philippe

   4. Léon Colbert

2. Also stalking the corridors of power is Keir Starmer's new family kitten (not pictured). What have they called it?

   1. King

   2. Queen

   3. Prince

   4. Lizzie T

3. The retail giant John Lewis is bringing back which catchphrase it first introduced in 1925?

   1. Every little helps

   2. Don't live life without it

   3. Never knowingly undersold

   4. Allons-y!

4. The legendary Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes sadly died last week. What was the name of the band with whom he enjoyed the huge success of the song Mas Que Nada with?

   1. Sérgio Mendes and Brasil '66

   2. Sérgio Mendes and the Tijuana Brass

   3. Sérgio Mendes and the Nouvelle Vague

   4. Sérgio Mendes e o Porco Selvagem

5. There was much hilarity when people revealed a statue that looked like Mrs Doubtfire and then claimed it was actually Queen Elizabeth II. A likely tale. Where?

   1. Cardiff Castle, Wales

   2. Stirling Castle, Scotland

   3. Leeds Castle, England

   4. Antrim Castle Gardens, Northern Ireland

6. Residents of Chongqing in China got a shock this week when it started raining what ...?

   1. Underwear

   2. Jellyfish

   3. Frogs

   4. Very naughty miniature dachshunds

7. The Minecraft movie teaser trailer dropped last week. Which alumnus from Nevermore Academy – ie they were in the Netflix series Wednesday – is appearing in it?

   1. Jenna Ortega, who played Wednesday Addams

   2. Nicola Bryant, who played Perpugilliam Brown

   3. Joy Sunday, who played Bianca Barclay

   4. Emma Myers, who played Enid Sinclair

8. It is Bertie Ahern's birthday today. Lá breithe shona duit, Bertie! When did Ahern first become taoiseach?

   1. 1977

   2. 1987

   3. 1997

   4. 2007

9. It is the anniversary of the 1885 Scottish football match that held the record for 117 years for the highest-scoring club game of all time. What was the score?

   1. Stranraer 26 - 0 Nairn

   2. Arbroath 36 - 0 Bon Accord

   3. Hamilton Academical 46 - 0 Drumnadrochit

   4. East Fife 4 - 5 Forfar

10. The privatisation of Royal Mail remains the gift that keeps on giving. First-class stamps (not pictured) are going up again for the second time this year. How much will a first-class stamp now cost?

    1. £1.65

    2. £1.85

    3. £2.05

    4. £1bn

11. Geography time. Everybody knows Paddington Bear comes from deepest, darkest Peru. Even Willow, the official dog of the Thursday quiz knows that. But where is Peru's capital?

    1. Peru's capital, Lima, is in the north of the country

    2. Peru's capital, Lima, is about halfway down the country

    3. Peru's capital, Lima, is in the south of the country

    4. Peru's capital, Lima, has got lost down the back of the sofa

12. Everybody hates it when the quiz asks you to put people's albums into the correct order, so this is a slightly different twist on that beloved format. Which of these was the first Beatles' album released in the US? It was on the Vee-Jay label

    1. Introducing … the Beatles

    2. Meet the Beatles!

    3. Here come the Beatles!

    4. Well blow me down guv'nor if it ain't the flamin' Beatles!

13. Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris this week. How did she sign off the endorsement?

    1. Marjorie, Willow and Dorothea

    2. Childless cat lady

    3. Becky with the good hair

    4. Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince

14. Which French figure is making a cameo appearance in the Netflix show Emily in Paris?

    1. Vanessa Paradis

    2. Zinedine Zidane

    3. Brigitte Macron

    4. Idéfix

15. What (not pictured) has been discovered again in Norfolk (pictured) after it was believed to have been extinct for 50 years?

    1. A rare dormouse called the Norfolk snuff

    2. A rare moth called the Norfolk snout

    3. A rare bat called the Norfolk squeak

    4. The political acumen of the former Norfolk-based MP Liz Truss

Solutions

1:B - The 73-year-old political veteran replaces Gabriel Attal, 2:C - Prince. All things being equal, what with cats having nine lives, it will probably spend longer in Downing Street than Lizzie T did, 3:C - If you can prove, within seven days of a purchase at John Lewis, that what you bought was cheaper somewhere else, they promise to refund the difference, 4:A - A global hit when it was originally released, the song was used on Nike's groundbreaking World Cup 98 ad, which featured the Brazil squad causing beautiful football chaos while stuck at an airport, 5:D - If there is one thing we've learned in recent years, it is that statues are hard to do, 6:A - Gusts of up to 76mph accompanied a sudden storm, which also lifted everybody's washing off their lines, leading to people in the street being deluged with pants and bras, 7:D - When the trailer dropped a lot of grown-up men on YouTube immediately made videos incredulously complaining the movie skin textures weren't faithfully representing a game aimed at kids, 8:C - Ahern was in office from 1997 until 2008, 9:B - Poor old Bon Accord, they folded seven years later. East Fife 4 Forfar 5 actually happened in 2018 – well, in a penalty shootout anyway. The highest-scoring club match these days is AS Adema 149 - 0 SO l'Emyrne after SO l'Emyrne spent all 90 minutes deliberately scoring own goals as a protest, 10:A - First-class stamp prices increased by 10p to £1.35 in April and from 7 October will cost £1.65, 11:B - Lima is on the coast roughly halfway down Peru. It certainly isn't in the north or the south, or indeed down the back of anybody's sofa, 12:A - Vee-Jay and Capitol Records decided to repackage and change all the early Beatles albums for reasons best known to themselves and there was a stramash about who had the rights. Vee-Jay's Introducing … the Beatles came out in January 1964 some 10 days before Capitol's Meet the Beatles! appeared, 13:B - Taylor's cats are called Meredith Grey, Olivia Benson and Benjamin Button. Remember that, as the Thursday quiz is bound to ask it as a question at some point, 14:C - France's first lady will appear in season four, despite some domestic criticism of the way the show packages and stereotypes life in the gorgeous capital city, 15:B - The Norfolk snout (Nothris verbascella) has reappeared, close to where it was first discovered in 1853

Scores

1. 0 and above.

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

If you really do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers – and can show your working – you can complain about it in the comments below. Why not watch The Last Dinner Party covering Sparks instead, in what was surely a transparent bid to feature in the Thursday quiz again?