Q 01/05

Which Devon port, where Drake reputedly finished his bowls before the Armada, did the Mayflower finally leave in 1620?

A) Plymouth

B) Falmouth

C) Dartmouth

D) Exmouth

Answer · why

A) Plymouth

Plymouth's Mayflower Steps in Sutton Pool mark the Pilgrim Fathers' 1620 departure, and the Hoe is where the 1588 bowls legend is set.

Q 02/05

Which English city, home to Cadbury's Bournville factory since 1879, has more miles of canal than Venice?

A) Manchester

B) Birmingham

C) Nottingham

D) Leicester

Answer · why

B) Birmingham

Birmingham's canals are less prominent than Venice's because few buildings are reached by water, and the city also bred Black Sabbath and Judas Priest...

Q 03/05

In which city's Eagle pub did Francis Crick announce in 1953 that he and Watson had found 'the secret of life'?

A) London

B) Manchester

C) Cambridge

D) Edinburgh

Answer · why

C) Cambridge

Cambridge heard the news on 28 February 1953, two years after the town was finally granted city status — it has no cathedral, normally a prerequisite.

Q 04/05

Which new town of 1967, famous for roundabouts and Concrete Cows, contains the codebreaking estate Bletchley Park?

A) Stevenage

B) Milton Keynes

C) Telford

D) Peterborough

Answer · why

B) Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes only won city status in 2022 after failing in 2000, 2002 and 2012, and its MK Dons began life as Wimbledon F.C., which moved to the town...

Q 05/05

In which city did protesters topple a statue of slave trader Edward Colston and push it into the harbour in June 2020?

A) Liverpool

B) Bristol

C) Glasgow

D) Lancaster

Answer · why

B) Bristol

Bristol's Colston statue went into the harbour on 7 June 2020 after a decade of argument over a plaque that ignored his role in the Royal African Comp...