Lonely bats, naming spats and advice for Liz Truss – take the Thursday quiz

Thursday is upon us once more, and it is time again to test yourself with our weekly quiz on topical news stories and general knowledge. Fifteen questions await you, liberally laced with the regular in-jokes and stupid answer options that make this not quite your usual news quiz – and long may it stay that way. There are no prizes, but you can let us know how you got on in the comments.

The Thursday quiz, No 195

1. The UK has decided not to call a new submarine (not pictured, because it hasn't been built yet) HMS Agincourt, but instead call it …

   1. HMS Agamemnon

   2. HMS Ajax

   3. HMS Achilles

   4. HMS Derek

2. Talking of underwater things, a German aerospace engineer has set a new world record for living underwater for some reason. How long did he stay there?

   1. 90 days

   2. 120 days

   3. 150 days

   4. 1,057 days

3. Britain’s loneliest bat (not pictured – that is a lot of Mexican bats) may have some company after a female of the rare species – declared extinct in the UK in the 1990s – was discovered. What species?

   1. The greater mouse-eared bat

   2. The greater squirrel-eared bat

   3. The greater fox-eared bat

   4. The greater Dalek-eared bat

4. The rediscovered Edvard Munch (pictured) portrait of Thor Lütken from 1892 has what scene depicted within it?

   1. A group of what appears to be Roman soldiers praying at a shrine

   2. Two embracing, ethereal figures in a mysterious moonlit landscape

   3. An oblique hidden face that reveals itself if you stand side-on to the painting

   4. A troop of escaped macaque monkeys riding 30-50 feral hogs going out on a crime spree together

5. Six riders of which nation's track cycling team were injured when an 89-year-old man drove into them while they were on a training ride?

   1. Germany

   2. Netherlands

   3. Japan

   4. Syldavia

6. Combining his time as Zimbabwe's first prime minister and second president, how long was Robert Mugabe in power for?

   1. 17 years

   2. 27 years

   3. 37 years

   4. 47 years

7. Sticking with Africa, this week's geography topic is Namibia. The home of some spectacular natural views (pictured), when did Namibia gain independence from South Africa?

   1. 1960

   2. 1970

   3. 1980

   4. 1990

8. This is Willow, the official dog of the Guardian Thursday quiz. Remind her of the name of the Chinese AI chatbot that sent US tech shares tumbling this week …

   1. DeepSeek

   2. DeepMind

   3. DeepThought

   4. DeepSparks

9. It is scores on the doors with Swindon’s Diana Dors. This week, the statue wants to ask you about volleyball. You have to win a volleyball set by two clear points, but in the first four sets, what is the minimum number of points you need to win?

   1. 12 points

   2. 15 points

   3. 21 points

   4. 25 points

10. It is Karl-Heinz, and his opening lines. This week, the Thursday quiz imagines the German soccer legend would like to know which Shakespeare play opens: "In sooth I know not why I am so sad. It wearies me, you say it wearies you."

    1. The Tempest

    2. Macbeth

    3. The Merchant of Venice

    4. Henry V

11. Science! Why does the earth have a magnetic field?

    1. Because the Earth's core is magnetic

    2. Because of the moon revolving around the Earth

    3. Because it is induced by the Sun's magnetic field

    4. Because of the collective motion of very naughty miniature dachshunds

12. Today is the anniversary of Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland, coming a cropper when he was executed outside the Banqueting House on Whitehall. But which year?

    1. 1619

    2. 1649

    3. 1689

    4. 1709

13. Which movie has received the most Oscar nominations this year, with 13?

    1. Emilia Pérez

    2. Wicked

    3. The Brutalist

    4. Tinkerbell and the Secret of the Wings

14. Talking of nominations, the Beatles have been nominated for a Brit award. When was the last time that happened?

    1. In 1996 when Free As A Bird was nominated as best single

    2. In 2004 when Let It Be … Naked was nominated as best album

    3. In 1977 when they were nominated for best British pop album, best British pop group and a lifetime achievement award

    4. In 1971 when Let It Be was nominated for best album

15. And finally, it was reported last week that who said a period of silence from Thursday quiz favourite Liz Truss might be helpful?

    1. Reality television hopeful Jacob Rees-Mogg

    2. Disco enthusiast Michael Gove

    3. Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch

    4. Chris Martin of Coldplay (while falling through a trap door)

Solutions

1:C - Retired Royal Navy officer Rr Adm Chris Parry described the name change as 'craven political correctness and ideology gone mad' and former defence secretary Grant Shapps inevitably called it 'woke nonsense'. That is HMS Anson in the picture, 2:B - Rudiger Koch, 59, emerged from his 30 sq metre home under the sea on Friday. His capsule did not have a shower. Imagine the smell of it …, 3:A - For 21 long winters, Britain’s loneliest bat hibernated alone in a disused railway tunnel in Sussex, but now there is hope the two could go on a blind date, 4:B - They are down at the bottom, sort of where Lütken's hand would be. Hands are notoriously hard to paint, ethereal figures less so, 5:A - They were on a training ride in Mallorca. Their injuries were not life-threatening, though they included multiple fractures, 6:C - He was prime minister from 1980 to 1987, then president from 1987 to 2017. He died in 2019, 7:D - Namibia came into being in March 1990, 8:A - It is DeepSeek. Just don't ask it about Tiananmen Square, 9:D - Yes, if a set goes to 24-24 they continue until somebody leads by two points. If it ends up 2 sets each, they play a shorter deciding set, 10:C - Shakespeare certainly wearied the Thursday quiz when it was doing its GCSE English Literature, that is for sure …, 11:A - The Earth's core contains iron and nickel, which is the source of the field, 12:B - He was found guilty on Saturday 27 January 1649 and got the chop on the Tuesday, 13:A - Described by Thursday quiz colleague Peter Bradshaw as 'pretty much the weakest movie on the best picture list'. Ouch, 14:C - They picked up three awards at the inaugural Brits ceremony, which was held to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the invention of the phonograph, 15:C - Members of Badenoch's shadow cabinet briefed that she had addressed the issue after Liz Truss sent a cease and desist letter to Keir Starmer asking him not to say that Truss crashed the economy during her brief stint as prime minister. Badenoch denied using the exact phrase 'shut up' about Truss, who gets annoyed when people say she crashed the economy

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 and are absolutely 100% positive you aren’t attempting to factcheck a joke – you can complain about it in the comments below. Why not watch Woman Driver by The Pill instead?