Q 01/05

Robert Burns was born in which Ayrshire village, near the town of Ayr?

A) Alloway

B) Maybole

C) Dalrymple

D) Kirkoswald

Answer · why

A) Alloway

Alloway: Burns later set the witches' dance of 'Tam o' Shanter' in the village's ruined old kirk, where his father lies buried.

Q 02/05

Burns Night is celebrated every year on which date?

A) 30 November

B) 21 July

C) 25 January

D) 1 January

Answer · why

C) 25 January

It marks his birthday and is more widely observed in Scotland than St Andrew's Day, the official national day.

Q 03/05

Which woman, a Kirkoswald tenant farmer's daughter, was Robert Burns's mother?

A) Agnes Broun

B) Jean Armour

C) Frances Dunlop

D) Isabella Begg

Answer · why

A) Agnes Broun

Agnes Broun's household included an old woman whose tales of ghosts, fairies and witches, Burns said, cultivated the seeds of his poetry.

Q 04/05

The cottage where Burns was born was built by his father in 1757 from what materials?

A) Granite and slate

B) Clay and thatch

C) Timber and turf

D) Brick and tile

Answer · why

B) Clay and thatch

Clay and thatch: after the family moved out, the cottage became an ale house, and it stayed one until trustees bought and restored it in 1881.

Q 05/05

In 1780 Burns and his brother Gilbert founded a debating society in their local village known as what?

A) The Speculative Society

B) The Tarbolton Bachelors' Club

C) The Ayr Literary Society

D) The Crochallan Fencibles

Answer · why

B) The Tarbolton Bachelors' Club

The Tarbolton Bachelors' Club made Burns its first president, and one early debate asked whether a poor farmer should marry a rich plain girl or a cha...