Someone old, someone new, someone borrowed, someone blue – take the Thursday quiz
Thursday lunchtime? Check. Fifteen questions? Check. General knowledge and topical news trivia with a few jokes and some weird facts along the way? Check. It must be the Thursday quiz! It’s just for fun and there are no prizes, but there are bonus points on offer if you can make the quizmaster laugh in the comments below. Let us know how you get on.
The Thursday quiz, No 9
UK NEWS: The annual Credit Suisse global wealth report this week said that due to the financial crisis caused by the Covid pandemic in 2020, the UK had found itself with how many new “global millionaires” – which it defined as people with assets of more than US$1m?
258
2,580
25,800
258,000
GLOBAL NEWS: 3,000 breeding pairs of little penguins have been wiped out on Maria Island in Australia by the introduction of which animal by conservationists?
Tasmanian devil
Clamping koala
New Guinea singing dog
Crash bandicoot
INTERGALACTIC NEWS: What animals are currently on the International Space Station as part of an experiment to see the impact of space-flight duration on their immune system?
Tardigrades
Squirrel monkeys
Hawaiian baby squid
Tasmanian devils
SOMEONE OLD, SOMEONE NEW: Who is the youngest? Gary Numan, Gary Oldman, Randy Newman or Paul Newman?
Gary Numan
Gary Oldman
Randy Newman
Paul Newman
SOMEONE BORROWED: On Saturday, Gareth Bale will lead Wales out against Denmark in Euro 2020. He's spent this season playing at Tottenham Hotspur – but only on loan. From which club?
Inter Milan
Real Sociedad
Real Madrid
Atlético Madrid
SOMEONE BLUE: In Arrested Development, the character played by David Cross spends some time painted blue in an attempt to join entertainers the Blue Man Group. What is his character’s name?
Tobias Fünke
Hermann Fünke
Gunther Fünke
Fünke Te Fünke
EYE KNOW WHO YOU ARE: Which member of the Star Trek crew is this?
Kirk
Spock
Bones
Scotty
MUSIC: Which female pop star was recently the subject of a documentary which tackled her attempts to regain control of her career and finances from her father? Karen Carpenter, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears or Kate Bush?
Karen Carpenter
Taylor Swift
Britney Spears
Kate Bush
THE NATURAL WORLD: Previously thought to be extinct in the UK, what was discovered living on the rooftop of investment bank Nomura in London?
Small-flowered tongue orchid
The rare breed of Cerion nanus snail
An exotic type of pigeon
Silver-striped hawk-moth
RADIO COMEDY: What year was the first episode of Hancock’s Half Hour aired on BBC radio?
1948
1954
1956
1962
ON THIS DAY: On 24 June 2010 at Wimbledon, John Isner eventually defeated Nicolas Mahut in the longest match in professional tennis history. But what was the final score in the final set?
52-48
66-64
70-68
98-96
LITERATURE FOR KIDS THAT ADULTS SHOULD READ: What is the name of the main character in Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid?
Greg Heffley
Rowley Jefferson
Harry Sullivan
George Kranky
LITERATURE FOR KIDS THAT ADULTS SHOULD READ AGAIN BEFORE HAVING STRONG OPINIONS: Culture warriors got excited last week when they discovered that a plaque dedicated to which author had a note on it about racism in their work. Plot twist – suddenly the answer options are now anagrams …
Lad Ha Lord
Caller Sir Owl
Boned Linty
Ratter Bite Pox
SYNTH-POP!: In the 1980s, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark had not one, but two – TWO! – hits about the same historical figure. Who was she?
Enola Gay
Amelia Earhart
Louise Brooks
Joan of Arc
AND FINALLY: Unesco has recommended which waterfront be removed from the list of world heritage sites after the city ignored its advice on the development of skyscrapers?
Liverpool
Hong Kong
New York
Macau
Solutions
1:D - There’s always good news for somebody in a financial crisis, eh? According to the report, the global wealth gap widened, generating 5.2 million new millionaires as the rich cashed in on surging stock and house prices. The UK was sixth in the list of the countries with the most new millionaires – with that global benchmark of $1m being worth about £716,000 in sterling., 2:A - Living up to their name, the Tasmanian devils were introduced to the island to provide an “insurance population” to protect them from diminishing numbers elsewhere. However, they’ve just munched their way through the rare penguin population. The New Guinea singing dog is related to the dingo, Crash Bandicoot is a videogame star, and if you recognise the name “clamping koala”, that's because it was a position listed in a controversial Norwegian sex manual. Naughty, naughty., 3:C - The Tasmanian devils have caused more than enough havoc in this quiz for one week. Hawaiian baby squid is the answer. They will be returned to Earth and debriefed in July. Israel fired some tardigrades to the moon and managed to crash-land them there, where they possibly escaped and the hardy little things may have survived. The US sent some squirrel monkeys up to Spacelab 3 in the 1980s. They were imaginatively called No 3165 and No 384-80. That’s no Laika as a name, is it?, 4:B - Come on, you must have got this? Gary Oldman being younger than Gary Numan has been knocking around as a school playground joke for donkey’s years, but it is true. Oldman was born on 21 March 1958, and Numan was born as Gary Anthony James Webb on 8 March 1958. Randy Newman is in his 70s, and Paul Newman passed away in 2008. Gary Numan is the best of those four though. His latest album, Intruder, entered the charts at No 2 at the end of last month., 5:C - Bale originally joined Real Madrid from Tottenham for what was then a world record transfer fee of £85.1m in 2013, but eventually fell out of favour at the Spanish club. He is rumoured to be announcing his retirement at the end of Euro 2020., 6:A - Famously a “never-nude”, Tobias sadly never got to complete his dream. Indeed, in the show the Blue Man Group send him a cease and desist notice when he starts running ads for his own one-man Blue Man show. Hermann was in the Munsters and Gunther was in Friends, though neither of them had the surname Fünke. Fünke Te Fünke, of course, appeared in David Bowie's Ashes to Ashes video., 7:C - This is DeForest Kelley playing Dr Leonard “Bones” McCoy of the USS Enterprise. You may have seen the arched eyebrow and jumped for Spock and now be looking again, saying: “That is highly illogical, captain.”, 8:C - The documentary Framing Britney Spears, among other things, covered Britney’s request for her father to be permanently removed from overseeing her personal affairs in the conservatorship that has governed her life since 2008. She appeared in court this week and gave harrowing testimony in connection with the case. Taylor Swift has also been in a recent high-profile contractual dispute. She's currently rerecording her earlier albums so that she is in control of them, rather than the people who bought the rights to the original recordings., 9:A - Serapias parviflora, also known as small-flowered tongue orchid, was found growing in the 11th-floor rooftop garden. It is usually found in the Mediterranean basin and the Atlantic coast of France, Spain and Portugal. It is only the second time the species has been found in the UK. It is unknown whether it has applied for settled status., 10:B - Series one of the show had sixteen episodes and started broadcasting on 2 November 1954. Radio shows continued to be produced until 1959, with the television version of the show beginning in 1956. , 11:C - In total, the match took 11 hours, 5 minutes of play over three days, with a final score of 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(7–9), 7–6(7–3), 70–68. The final set alone was longer than the previous longest ever match at the tournament. The spoilsports at tennis HQ then changed the rules to prevent this kind of exhausting hilarity happening again., 12:A - The book, published in 2007, purports to be the journal of Greg Heffley, “stuck in middle school with a bunch of morons”., 13:C - Yes, it is Enid Blyton, whose books were passionately defended by people who haven’t read them for years. The first major public complaint that the books contained racism was in 1966. The fact that the argument comes round and around again suggests she remains resolutely uncancelled in the ensuing 55 years. The other anagrams were Roald Dahl, Lewis Carroll and Beatrix Potter. And yes, we’re going to have anagrams once a week from now on. Because we can., 14:D - Both Joan of Arc and Maid of Orleans were Top 5 hits in the UK. The band did record a song about silent film actress Louise Brooks called Pandora’s Box, and of course Enola Gay is one of their most famous hits – albeit about the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima. And it is singer Andy McCluskey’s birthday today, too. Happy birthday, Andy! I bet you are all thrilled there is now an occasional SYNTH-POP! round in this quiz. , 15:A - The UN heritage organisation will vote at its 44th annual conference next month on whether to delist the historic port, which was granted Unesco world heritage status in 2004. The recommendation cited local and national government failure to protect Liverpool from the development of skyscrapers at the docks, something Unesco had been warning about since 2017. OMD are from Liverpool, you know. You see, it all hangs together, just about, somehow …
Scores
0 and above.
Don't forget to let us know how you got on in the comments!
15 and above.
Don't forget to let us know how you got on in the comments!
If you 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 quizmaster’s word is always final and just like Dr David Bruce Banner from that 1970s TV show with the sad music, you wouldn’t like him when he was angry.