Q 01/05

Which rank of the British peerage sits directly above a baron and directly below an earl?

A) Marquess

B) Viscount

C) Baronet

D) Knight

Answer · why

B) Viscount

Viscount is the fourth of the five peerage ranks. It was first granted in England in 1440, about a century after the first dukedom.

Q 02/05

Lesser British peers are addressed as 'My Lord'; which form of address is used for a duke instead?

A) Your Grace

B) Your Highness

C) Your Excellency

D) Your Honour

Answer · why

A) Your Grace

Your Grace is a style shared with duchesses and archbishops. Peers of the four lower ranks are commonly just 'Lord', which is why a duke is never mere...

Q 03/05

Which lunchtime food is named after an 18th-century English earl said to have eaten it while gambling?

A) The Scotch egg

B) The pork pie

C) The sandwich

D) The pasty

Answer · why

C) The sandwich

The sandwich honours the 4th Earl of Sandwich. The story goes that meat between slices of bread let him keep playing without a fork or greasy cards.

Q 04/05

Which founding document forbids the United States from granting anyone a title of nobility?

A) The Bill of Rights

B) The Federalist Papers

C) The Mayflower Compact

D) The Constitution

Answer · why

D) The Constitution

The Constitution bans it in Article I, in the same clause that stops officials accepting gifts or titles from foreign kings without the consent of Con...

Q 05/05

Which rainy-day footwear takes its name from the British duke who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo?

A) Wellingtons

B) Galoshes

C) Brogues

D) Espadrilles

Answer · why

A) Wellingtons

Wellingtons began as the duke's own design. He told his London shoemaker to modify the tasselled Hessian boot worn by soldiers of the day.