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General knowledge

50 general knowledge quiz questions

Ten rounds of five, from Around Britain to a proper hard round. This is the free version; the full 100-question quiz, with answer sheets, is the pack.

Questions
50
Rounds
10
Difficulty
Medium & Hard

Round 01 / Geography

Around Britain

  1. In which city would you walk along the Royal Mile?

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    Edinburgh

    It runs between Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

  2. Which English county is known as "the Garden of England"?

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    Kent

  3. What is the name of the great bell inside the Elizabeth Tower at Westminster?

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    Big Ben

    Strictly, Big Ben is the bell, not the tower. The tower was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in 2012.

  4. What is the longest river in the United Kingdom?

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    The River Severn

    Also accept: Severn

    It runs for about 220 miles (354 km) from the Welsh mountains to the Bristol Channel.

  5. What is the largest lake in the UK by surface area?

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    Lough Neagh

    It's in Northern Ireland and covers around 150 square miles.

Round 02 / Science & Nature

Science and nature

  1. How many bones are there in the adult human body?

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    206

    Babies are born with around 300; many fuse together as they grow.

  2. What is the hardest naturally occurring substance?

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    Diamond

  3. What type of animal is a Komodo dragon?

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    A lizard

    Also accept: Lizard, Monitor lizard

    It's the largest living lizard, found on a handful of Indonesian islands.

  4. What is the largest organ of the human body?

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    The skin

    Also accept: Skin

  5. What is the smallest bone in the human body?

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    The stapes

    Also accept: Stirrup

    It's in the middle ear and is about 3mm long.

Round 03 / History

History

  1. In which year did the Titanic sink?

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    1912

    It sank on 15 April 1912, on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.

  2. In which year did the Great Fire of London break out?

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    1666

    It started in a bakery on Pudding Lane.

  3. Which Tudor queen was nicknamed "Bloody Mary"?

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    Mary I

    Also accept: Queen Mary I, Mary Tudor

    The name comes from the Protestants burned during her reign.

  4. In which year did the Berlin Wall fall?

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    1989

  5. Which ancient wonder of the world stood in the Egyptian city of Alexandria?

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    The Lighthouse of Alexandria

    Also accept: The Pharos, Lighthouse

    Also called the Pharos of Alexandria. It was damaged by earthquakes and had fallen by the 15th century.

Round 04 / Geography

Around the world

  1. What is the smallest country in the world by area?

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    Vatican City

    Also accept: The Vatican, Holy See

    It covers less than half a square kilometre, entirely within Rome.

  2. What is the capital city of Canada?

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    Ottawa

  3. Which two countries share the world's longest international border?

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    Canada and the United States

    Also accept: USA and Canada

    It runs for around 5,500 miles (8,891 km).

  4. Mount Kilimanjaro is in which country?

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    Tanzania

  5. In which country would you find the ancient city of Petra?

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    Jordan

    Much of the city was carved directly into pink sandstone cliffs.

Round 05 / Words & books

Words and books

  1. What is a word that reads the same backwards as forwards called?

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    A palindrome

    Also accept: Palindrome

    "Level", "kayak" and "racecar" are all palindromes.

  2. What is the plural of "cactus"?

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    Cacti

    Also accept: Cactuses

    "Cactuses" is also correct, so give the point for either.

  3. Which Shakespeare play contains the line "To be, or not to be"?

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    Hamlet

  4. Who wrote "Nineteen Eighty-Four"?

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    George Orwell

    Also accept: Orwell, Eric Blair

    Orwell was the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair.

  5. Which is the only letter of the alphabet that doesn't appear in the name of any US state?

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    Q

Round 06 / Arts & culture

Arts and culture

  1. Which Andrew Lloyd Webber musical features the song "Memory"?

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    Cats

  2. Which pop star was born Stefani Germanotta?

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    Lady Gaga

  3. Which composer wrote "The Four Seasons"?

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    Antonio Vivaldi

    Also accept: Vivaldi

  4. The Angel of the North stands beside the A1 in which town?

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    Gateshead

    Antony Gormley's steel sculpture was completed in 1998.

  5. Which author created Paddington Bear?

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    Michael Bond

    Paddington first appeared in "A Bear Called Paddington" in 1958.

Round 07 / Sport

Sport

  1. How many players does each netball team have on court?

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    Seven

    Also accept: 7

  2. Which famous horse race is run at Aintree?

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    The Grand National

    Also accept: Grand National

  3. What is the maximum break in snooker without a free ball?

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    147

  4. What is the highest score possible with three darts?

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    180

    Also accept: One hundred and eighty

    Three treble 20s.

  5. Which country won the first ever football World Cup, in 1930?

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    Uruguay

    They beat Argentina 4–2 in the final, in Montevideo.

Round 08 / Food & Drink

Food and drink

  1. Which nut is the main ingredient of marzipan?

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    Almond

    Also accept: Almonds

  2. Which spirit is used to make a mojito?

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    Rum

    Also accept: White rum

    White rum, with lime, mint, sugar and soda water.

  3. Which type of pastry is used to make profiteroles?

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    Choux pastry

    Also accept: Choux

  4. What is a Bramley?

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    A variety of cooking apple

    Also accept: An apple, Apple

    The original Bramley tree was grown from a pip in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, in 1809.

  5. Which spice, made from the stigmas of a crocus, is the most expensive by weight?

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    Saffron

Round 09 / General Knowledge

Mixed bag

  1. What is the only mammal capable of true flight?

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    The bat

    Also accept: Bat, Bats

  2. What is the capital city of New Zealand?

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    Wellington

    Auckland is the biggest city, but Wellington has been the capital since 1865.

  3. Which is the only continent with no permanent human residents?

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    Antarctica

    Scientists live there, but only temporarily.

  4. Which chemical element has the atomic number 1?

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    Hydrogen

  5. What is the chemical symbol for gold?

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    Au

    From the Latin "aurum".

Round 10 / No conferring

The hard round

  1. In which year was the NHS founded?

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    1948

    It launched on 5 July 1948.

  2. What is the longest bone in the human body?

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    The femur

    Also accept: Femur, Thigh bone

    The thigh bone.

  3. How many hearts does an octopus have?

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    Three

    Also accept: 3

  4. What is the chemical symbol for sodium?

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    Na

    From the Latin "natrium".

  5. How many sides does a dodecagon have?

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    Twelve

    Also accept: 12

Free version vs full version

Free version · this page

Questions and answers only

50 questions to play or host

  • Every question and answer on this page
  • Play along with automatic marking
  • Present on screen, copy or print
  • No host pack or team answer sheets
  • No picture round or tie-breakers
  • Anyone can look these questions up

How to run it

  1. Read each question twice, slowly. The second read is where the table that wasn't listening catches up.
  2. Do the answers at the end of each round, not at the end of the night. People remember why they got it wrong.
  3. Accept close answers. Each answer lists the alternatives we'd give the point for, like "stirrup" for the stapes.
  4. Keep the hard round for last and double its points if the scores are close. It keeps every table in it.
  5. Have a tie-breaker ready: closest guess wins. "How many steps are there up the Elizabeth Tower?" (334).