Stolen paintings, Bayeux copies, and no more flights on Mars – take the Thursday quiz

We gather once more to test our mettle. January may be vanquished, but ahead of you awaits 15 questions with varying degrees of topicality and difficulty. Remember, it is strictly just for fun – there are no prizes. Let us know how you got on in the comments.

The Thursday quiz, No 145

1. The Bayeux Museum has purchased an 1872 reproduction of the famous Bayeux tapestry – despite already having the original one to hand – which used to belong to someone in which band?

   1. The Beatles

   2. Rolling Stones

   3. Led Zeppelin

   4. John Smith and the Common Men

2. Saudi Arabia is to allow non-Muslim diplomats to purchase alcohol in a special shop – the first time it has allowed any sale of alcohol at all since bringing in total prohibition in …

   1. 1932

   2. 1942

   3. 1952

   4. 1962

3. Sport questions are always popular in this quiz. Which two teams will contest Super Bowl LVIII on 11 February?

   1. San Francisco 49ers v Kansas City Chiefs

   2. Detroit Lions v Baltimore Ravens

   3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers v Houston Texans

   4. Minnesota Feral Hogs v Pasadena Miniature Dachshunds

4. Visitors at the Louvre were shocked this week when some people threw some soup on to some glass that was a bit near-ish the Mona Lisa. But in which year was the original Mona Lisa (not pictured) stolen from the Louvre by Vincenzo Peruggia?

   1. 1891

   2. 1901

   3. 1911

   4. 1921

5. One question about every country taking part in the Euro 2024 finals this summer. This week: Denmark. The country is famously pretty flat and Møllehøj is generally considered the highest natural point in European Denmark (excluding overseas territories). How high roughly is it?

   1. 71 metres

   2. 171 metres

   3. 371 metres

   4. 517 metres

6. Every fan of Sapphire & Steel knows "all irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life". Lead can be assigned. Lead has the chemical symbol Pb because it indicates which Latin word … ?

   1. Pubere

   2. Pabulum

   3. Plumbum

   4. Pubcrawlus

7. Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj has released five studio albums. Could you put the first four in the correct order?

   1. Pink Friday, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, Pink Friday 2, Kinks

   2. Pink Friday, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, Pink Machine, Eagles

   3. Pink Friday, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, The Pink Masterplan, Who

   4. Pink Friday, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, The Pinkprint, Queen

8. The Ginza Line (not pictured) is the oldest line in which major city's subway system?

   1. Seoul

   2. Yokohama

   3. Hong Kong

   4. Tokyo

9. Nasa’s Mars helicopter (not pictured) has given up the ghost, bless it, after logging 72 flights over three years on Mars. What is it called?

   1. Ingenuity

   2. Frontios

   3. Enlightenment

   4. Dragonfire

10. It is the anniversary of the creation of the Voice of America radio station. When did it begin?

    1. 1932

    2. 1942

    3. 1952

    4. 1962

11. It would have been Don Everly's birthday today. Was he the elder Everly brother or the younger Everly brother?

    1. Don was the elder Everly brother

    2. Phil was the elder Everly brother

    3. Ron from Sparks was the elder Everly brother

12. The Devon village of Silverton is mourning the loss of a massive old oak tree that fell over (not pictured). Some of it hit the garden of Jan Ross, who she said her life may have been saved because she had just left the garden to …

    1. Take her miniature dachshund, Ruby, out of a walk

    2. Audition for a local community production of Oklahoma!

    3. Attend a book reading club at the local library

    4. Buy a copy of the Guardian

13. This is Willow, the official dog of the Guardian Thursday quiz. She was thrilled to read in the news about Efruz, a four-year-old jack russell terrier who loves going surfing as much as Willow loves buses. But where does Efruz ride the waves?

    1. Peru

    2. Chile

    3. Ecuador

    4. Colombia

14. The US started a diplomatic row with the UK after a scientist there had the temerity to announce that what should go into the perfect cup of tea?

    1. A dash of pepper

    2. A smidgeon of cinnamon

    3. A pinch of salt

    4. Kraft Singles

15. And finally … did Laurence Fox lose his court case where he was suing people for calling him racist on social media?

    1. Yes

    2. No

Solutions

1:B - Yes, for no readily apparent reason, the copy used to belong to Charlie Watts. They do actually have a proper purpose for wanting a copy, as it is based on the earliest photographs of the tapestry, and reveals details of bits which have subsequently become damaged or faded., 2:C - The ban was brought in after a member of the Saudi royal family shot dead a British diplomat in a row that centred on alcohol., 3:A - Egg-chasing but with shoulder pads., 4:C - He kept hold of it for two years, in some sort of attempt to repatriate it to Italy, and sadly nobody had anything to throw soup at in the Louvre for those couple of years., 5:B - It is 171 metres, a pretty similar height to Yding Skovhøj, Ejer Bavnehøj and Lindbjerg, although Yding Skovhøj has a bronze age burial mound on top which makes it slightly taller in total., 6:C - Yes it was plumbum. Val Pringle played Lead in the television version of Sapphire & Steel, 7:D - Queen was her fourth album, presumably a reference to herself rather than to the band. Pink Friday 2 is, confusingly, her fifth album., 8:D - Now known as Line 3 Ginza Line, it is the oldest subway in Asia., 9:A - Originally intended as a short-term tech demo it has flown 14 times farther than planned. It lost contact briefly on its last flight and appears to have damaged its rotors somehow., 10:B - It was during the second world war that it got up and running., 11:A - Isaac Donald "Don" Everly was born in 1937, and his brother Phillip Everly was born in 1939, 12:D - A poetic tribute from Olivia Kennard, who lives locally, was posted on the village’s Facebook page: “That wonderful tree was gentle to the last, just lying down quietly with the minimum of fuss and damage". Just like the quiz master in the corner of the pub after a long night down his local., 13:A - “He loves the sea,” says his owner, Mauro Canella, a surfing instructor at the beach in San Bartolo, a district 30 miles (48.3km) from downtown Lima. Although quite how you find out that a dog loves surfing except for putting it on a board and chucking it into the ocean to see what happens the Thursday quiz doesn't know., 14:C - The sodium ion in salt blocks the chemical mechanism that makes tea taste bitter, says Michelle Francl, who is a professor of chemistry at Bryn Mawr College, and now a national enemy of the British people., 15:A - LOLrence Fox more like amirite etc

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 – feel free to email martin.belam@theguardian.com, but remember the quiz master’s word is final and he is busy watching the new Depeche Mode video.