Tag Archives: quiz

memes, science, words

April Quiz Questions

Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As always, they’re designed to be difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so have a bit of fun.

Geography

  1. In what country would you find Mount Kilimanjaro?
  2. What is the largest desert in Asia?
  3. Which river flows through the Grand Canyon?
  4. Which country bordering India measures it’s success in terms of “gross national happiness”?
  5. Which country makes up more than half the western coastline of South America?
  6. There’s a town in the Peloponnese region of Greece with a namesake food item known for its purple colour and smooth meaty texture. What is this fruit?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

memes, words

March Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to this month’s six quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.

Language

  1. The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States, but in this context, bald doesn’t mean hairless. The bald part of the bird’s name comes from an Old English word meaning what? White
  2. What is the study of mushrooms called? Mycology
  3. Where would you find together a verso and a recto? In a book (left and right pages)
  4. In medieval times armies had a simple yet effective weapon to impede the advance of enemy cavalry or infantry. It was typically made of metal and had four sharp points arranged so that one point always faced upward when thrown on the ground. What was it called? Caltrop
  5. “Width”, “wagon”, “stand” and “leader” can all follow which word to make new words?  Band
  6. Which commonly used word in the English language originates from the religious saying, God be with ye? Goodbye

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2024.

memes, words

March Quiz Questions

Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As always, they’re designed to be difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so have a bit of fun.

Language

  1. The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States, but in this context, bald doesn’t mean hairless. The bald part of the bird’s name comes from an Old English word meaning what?
  2. What is the study of mushrooms called?
  3. Where would you find together a verso and a recto?
  4. In medieval times armies had a simple yet effective weapon to impede the advance of enemy cavalry or infantry. It was typically made of metal and had four sharp points arranged so that one point always faced upward when thrown on the ground. What was it called?
  5. “Width”, “wagon”, “stand” and “leader” can all follow which word to make new words?
  6. Which commonly used word in the English language originates from the religious saying, God be with ye?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

medical, memes

February Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to this month’s six quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.

Medicine

  1. What is dermatophobia the fear of? Skin disease
  2. How many teeth do adult humans have? 32
  3. In 2015, which country started thanking people via text message when their donated blood was used? Sweden
  4. An absence of the SRY gene means what for a human being? It means the human is a female. The presence of the sex-determining region Y (SRY) gene is the specific factor which leads to maleness in mammals
  5. In which part of the body would you find the atlas and axis bones? Neck
  6. First developed by John Salk, the vaccine for which illness was first tested in 1952? Poliomyelitis

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2024.

medical, memes

February Quiz Questions

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Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As always, they’re designed to be difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so have a bit of fun.

Medicine

  1. What is dermatophobia the fear of?
  2. How many teeth do adult humans have?
  3. In 2015, which country started thanking people via text message when their donated blood was used?
  4. An absence of the SRY gene means what for a human being?
  5. In which part of the body would you find the atlas and axis bones?
  6. First developed by John Salk, the vaccine for which illness was first tested in 1952?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

memes

January Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to this month’s six quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.

General Knowledge (1)

  1. What type of clothing is a Glengarry? Hat or bonnet
  2. Which country features a shipwreck on its national flag? Bermuda
  3. Which two months of the year are named for mortal men? July and August
  4. Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire is famous for which two foods? Stilton Cheese, Melton Mowbray Pork Pie
  5. Name the type of rigid airship, first flown commercially in 1910, and carrying many thousands of fare-paying passengers before WWI? Zeppelin
  6. Benjamin Disraeli once described William Ewart Gladstone as “A sophistical rhetorician, _____ with the exuberance of his own verbosity”. What is the missing word? Inebriated

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2024.

amusements

Annual Impossible Exam 2024: the Answers

Way back on Christmas Eve I posted a link to this year’s King William’s College General Knowledge Paper 2024-25.

As always it was obscure and fiendishly hard.

Today the Guardian have published the answers.

I’ve not yet totted up exactly how well I didn’t do, but I doubt I have more than a handful of correct answers! Did anyone manage to get into double figures without internet searches?

memes

January Quiz Questions

Again this year, each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As always, they’re designed to be difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so have a bit of fun.

General Knowledge (1)

  1. What type of clothing is a Glengarry?
  2. Which country features a shipwreck on its national flag?
  3. Which two months of the year are named for mortal men?
  4. Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire is famous for which two foods?
  5. Name the type of rigid airship, first flown commercially in 1910, and carrying many thousands of fare-paying passengers before WWI?
  6. Benjamin Disraeli once described William Ewart Gladstone as “A sophistical rhetorician, _____ with the exuberance of his own verbosity”. What is the missing word?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

amusements

Annual Impossible Exam 2024

As is traditional, once again we bring you this year’s King William’s College General Knowledge Paper 2024-25.

For over a century the College has set an annual general knowledge test, known as the General Knowledge Paper. The pupils sit the test twice: once unseen on the day before the Christmas holidays, and again when they return to school in the New Year – after spending the holiday researching the answers. The test used to be mandatory but these days participation is voluntary.

The quiz is well known to be highly difficult, a common score being just two correct answers from the list of several hundred. The best scores are around 12% for the unseen test and about 70% for the second attempt – and of course the average scores are going to be very much lower than this.

The quiz is always introduced with the Latin motto Scire ubi aliquid invenire possis, ea demum maxima pars eruditionis est, “To know where you can find anything is, after all, the greatest part of erudition” – something my father always impressed on me as “Education is not knowing, it is knowing where to find out”.

You can find this year’s GKP on the King William’s College website at https://kwc.im/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GKP_2024_25.pdf.

I’ve not yet tried this year’s test myself, but unseen I don’t normally have many more clues that the KWC pupils!

Enjoy your Christmas!

amusements, memes

December Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to this month’s five quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.

Christmas

  1. In what country did Silent Night originate?  Austria
  2. In what country did the custom of putting up a Christmas tree originate?  Germany
  3. What plant based Christmas tradition did servants in 18th and 19th century England popularize?  Kissing under the mistletoe
  4. How many wise men does the bible say visited the baby Jesus?  It doesn’t mention a number.
  5. In which European country was the original St Nicholas born?  Turkey

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2023.