Tag Archives: quiz

February Quiz Questions

Each month we’re posing five pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As before, they’re not difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so hopefully you’ll learn something new, as well as having a bit of fun.

Medicine

  1. Where in the human body would you find the medulla oblongata?
  2. If you have cryophobia, what are you afraid of?
  3. What is the largest organ of the human body?
  4. Which is the only body part that is fully grown from birth?
  5. Where is the strongest human muscle located?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

January 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.

Music

  1. Queen guitarist Brian May is also an expert in what scientific field?  Astrophysics
  2. What is the correct name for a metallophone with tuned keys?  Glockenspiel
  3. Which German composer wrote the famous composition Ode to Joy which is the official anthem of the European Union?  Beethoven
  4. In Tudor times, which English composer and Gentleman of the Chapel Royal was repeatedly fined for recusancy?  William Byrd
  5. Peter and the Wolf is described as a “symphonic fairy tale for children”. Who composed it?  Sergei Prokofiev

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2023.

January Quiz Questions

Again this year, each month we’re posing five pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As before, they’re not difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so hopefully you’ll learn something new, as well as having a bit of fun.

Music

  1. Queen guitarist Brian May is also an expert in what scientific field?
  2. What is the correct name for a metallophone with tuned keys?
  3. Which German composer wrote the famous composition Ode to Joy which is the official anthem of the European Union?
  4. In Tudor times, which English composer and Gentleman of the Chapel Royal was repeatedly fined for recusancy?
  5. Peter and the Wolf is described as a “symphonic fairy tale for children”. Who composed it?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

Annual Impossible Exam

As is traditional, once again we bring you this year’s King William’s College General Knowledge Paper 2023-24.

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/2023/12/General-Knowledge-Paper-2023-2024-Questions.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!

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.

December Quiz Questions: 17th Century England

  1. Who is celebrated for having failed to blow up the King in 1605? Guy Fawkes
  2. What was given to King Charles II in 1661 and abandoned by the British in 1684? Tangier
  3. Who succeeded Oliver Cromwell? His son Richard Cromwell
  4. For what is Nell Gwyn famous? As an actress and long-time mistress of King Charles II
  5. How many monarchs reigned over England in 17th century? Seven: Elizabeth I, James I, Charles I, Charles II, James II, William & Mary

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2022.

December Quiz Questions

Again this year we’re beginning each month with five pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. They’re not difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers, so hopefully you’ll learn something new, as well as have a bit of fun.

December Quiz Questions: 17th Century England

  1. Who is celebrated for having failed to blow up the King in 1605?
  2. What was given to King Charles II in 1661 and abandoned by the British in 1684?
  3. Who succeeded Oliver Cromwell?
  4. For what is Nell Gwyn famous?
  5. How many monarchs reigned over England in 17th century?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

November 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.

November Quiz Questions: Chemical Science

  1. Verdigris, is a green pigment mainly comprising salts of which metal? Copper
  2. Friedrich Kekulé is credited with figuring out the correct structure of which chemical? Benzene
  3. What is the heaviest naturally occurring element? Plutonium
  4. William Perkin is famous for what? Synthesis of the first artificial purple dye, mauvine (aka. aniline purple), in 1856
  5. What is the pH of pure water? 7.0

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2022.

November Quiz Questions

Again this year we’re beginning each month with five pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. They’re not difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers, so hopefully you’ll learn something new, as well as have a bit of fun.

November Quiz Questions: Chemical Science

  1. Verdigris, is a green pigment mainly comprising salts of which metal?
  2. Friedrich Kekulé is credited with figuring out the correct structure of which chemical?
  3. What is the heaviest naturally occurring element?
  4. William Perkin is famous for what?
  5. What is the pH of pure water?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.