BBC Trivia
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41 free BBC trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
The BBC began in 1922 as a company owned by wireless-set makers and became a royal-chartered corporation in 1927 under John Reith, whose instruction to inform, educate and entertain still defines it. A century on it runs the World Service, the Proms, five orchestras and the longest-running children's show on earth. This quiz covers the history, the radio and television landmarks, and the things only the British would know: the six pips, the Shipping Forecast's 31 sea areas, Bubbles the clown on Test Card F, and why Doctor Who started 80 seconds late. Every answer is sourced and explained.
30 of 41 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which kind of firms set up the British Broadcasting Company in 1922?
Wireless manufacturers
Wireless manufacturers, and the new company took over Marconi's London station, 2LO, to begin its daily broadcasts.
Q 02Who was the BBC's first director general?
John Reith
John Reith, a 33-year-old Scottish engineer when hired, who went on to champion the BBC's independence from commercial and political influence.
Q 03Which motto appears on the BBC's coat of arms?
Nation shall speak peace unto Nation
Nation shall speak peace unto Nation, words most likely inspired by the Bible's promise that 'nation shall not lift up sword against nation'.
Q 04What is the name of the BBC's headquarters building in Portland Place?
Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House, where a German bomb exploded in October 1940 in the middle of the nine o'clock news, and the newsreader carried on.
Q 05Which weekly listings magazine did the BBC launch in 1923?
Radio Times
Radio Times: newspapers, afraid radio would eat into their sales, had refused to print the BBC's programme listings.
Q 06As of 2025, how is the BBC's work principally funded?
A television licence fee
A television licence fee, yet that licence is needed even to watch BBC iPlayer on a laptop or phone.
Q 07The BBC's regular television service launched in 1936 from which London venue?
Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace, and the rays on Haringey's coat of arms also recall the television broadcasts made from it.
Q 08A power cut blacked out BBC2's 1964 launch night, so which children's show became its first programme?
Play School
Play School, shown the next morning once power returned after a fire at Battersea Power Station had wrecked the opening night.
Q 09Which station's easy-listening half came from the 1967 split of the Light Programme?
Radio 2
Radio 2: in its early years it shared many programmes with Radio 1, so much of the old Light Programme's output carried on as before.
Q 10Radio 1 was launched in 1967 to answer demand created by what?
Pirate broadcasters
Pirate broadcasters such as Radio Caroline, which Parliament had just outlawed, leaving young listeners hungry for pop.
Q 11Who was the first DJ to broadcast on Radio 1?
Tony Blackburn
Tony Blackburn, who launched the station at 7am with the words 'welcome to the exciting new sound of Radio 1'.
Q 12Which band's record was the first played in full on Radio 1?
The Move
The Move, whose 'Flowers in the Rain' royalties were ordered to charity after a promotional postcard libelled Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
Q 13What was the BBC's teletext service, launched in 1974?
Ceefax
Ceefax, which BBC engineers first designed to carry subtitles for deaf viewers before it grew into news, weather and sport.
Q 21The Archers is set in which fictional village?
Ambridge
Ambridge, and the soap began partly to teach farmers good agricultural practice after the Second World War.
Q 22Who presented Match of the Day from 1999 to 2025?
Gary Lineker
Gary Lineker: when the BBC took him off air over a 2023 tweet, fellow pundits and commentators backed him by refusing to work.
Q 23Who devised and first presented Desert Island Discs in 1942?
Roy Plomley
Roy Plomley, who had the idea at home in 1941 and pitched it in a letter to the BBC's Leslie Perowne.
Q 14Which BBC weatherman told viewers not to worry about a hurricane, hours before the Great Storm of 1987?
Michael Fish
Michael Fish: that night, winds gusting up to 100mph blew down about 15 million trees.
Q 15On Test Card F, Carole Hersee is playing which game with a clown doll?
Noughts and crosses
Noughts and crosses: the card was developed by her father, BBC engineer George Hersee, who photographed his own daughters for it.
Q 16What is the name of the clown doll on Test Card F?
Bubbles
Bubbles: if a set's colour signal lagged behind, his yellow buttons turned white, so the clown doubled as a fault check.
Q 17Which company built the BBC Micro for the Computer Literacy Project?
Acorn Computers
Acorn Computers won the contract with a rapidly prototyped machine called the Proton, which was then renamed the BBC Micro.
Q 18Which gentle instrumental plays on BBC Radio 4 just before the late-night Shipping Forecast?
Sailing By
Sailing By, a slow waltz by Ronald Binge whose repetitive tune helps sailors tuning in to find the station.
Q 19What was the name of Blue Peter's first pet dog?
Petra
Petra, though she was a stand-in: the first puppy died after one appearance, and the team quietly bought a lookalike that viewers named.
Q 20What does Blue Peter famously award viewers for an outstanding achievement?
A badge
A badge, which gets its holder free entry to many British attractions, particularly museums featured on the show.
Q 24Which bandaged bear is the mascot of BBC Children in Need?
Pudsey
Pudsey, dreamed up in 1985 by a BBC designer who had only been asked to smarten up the appeal's logo.
Q 25Who hosted the Children in Need telethon for 35 years?
Terry Wogan
Terry Wogan, and after his death in 2016 the BBC renamed its Western House building Wogan House in his memory.
Q 26MediaCityUK, the BBC's northern base, sits mainly in which town?
Salford
Salford: built on the old Manchester docks, it took BBC departments including Sport and children's programmes out of London.
Q 27EastEnders is set in which fictional London borough?
Walford
Walford, whose made-up E20 postcode became real in 2011, when Royal Mail gave it to London's Olympic Park.
Q 28Which 1992 film lends half its name to the BBC's celebrity dance contest?
Strictly Ballroom
Strictly Ballroom: the show's format was then sold abroad, and in America it became Dancing with the Stars.
Q 29Panorama's 1957 April Fools' hoax showed Swiss farmers harvesting what?
Spaghetti
Richard Dimbleby's sober narration helped; viewers rang in asking how to grow their own spaghetti tree.
Q 30The BBC Proms are held predominantly in which venue?
Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall: the Proms moved there after their original home, the Queen's Hall, was destroyed in the Blitz in 1941.