Q 01/05

Robert Burns was born in 1759 in which Ayrshire village, two miles south of Ayr?

A) Alloway

B) Mauchline

C) Tarbolton

D) Kirkoswald

Answer · why

A) Alloway

His birthplace cottage now anchors the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum.

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

Burns's father William Burnes was a tenant farmer originally from Dunnottar; what was his mother's name?

A) Agnes Broun

B) Jean Armour

C) Mary Campbell

D) Elizabeth Paton

Answer · why

A) Agnes Broun

Robert was the eldest of their seven children.

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

It later spent a spell as a pub before the National Trust for Scotland restored it.

Q 05/05

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

A) The Mauchline Belles

B) The Tarbolton Bachelors' Club

C) The Ayr Literary Society

D) The Crochallan Fencibles

Answer · why

B) The Tarbolton Bachelors' Club

He had joined a country dancing school the year before, to his father's disapproval.