Q 01/05

What is the capital city of Australia?

A) Canberra

B) Brisbane

C) Sydney

D) Melbourne

Answer · why

A) Canberra

Canberra: the constitution put the capital in New South Wales but at least 100 miles from Sydney, so a new city was built, and Parliament sat in Melbo...

Q 02/05

Which African country has more ancient pyramids than Egypt?

A) Ethiopia

B) Sudan

C) Morocco

D) Tunisia

Answer · why

B) Sudan

Sudan: the kings of Kush, who ruled Egypt for a time as its 25th Dynasty, took up pyramid building at home, and their kingdom went on to raise more th...

Q 03/05

How well does NASA say the naked eye can see the Great Wall from orbit?

A) Unmistakably, even from the Moon

B) Clearly, as an unbroken line

C) Barely, and only in near-perfect conditions

D) Only after dark, when floodlit

Answer · why

C) Barely, and only in near-perfect conditions

Barely, and only in near-perfect conditions: the wall is built of local materials that match the land around it, and Yang Liwei, China's first astrona...

Q 04/05

Where does the image of Vikings wearing horned helmets mostly come from?

A) Excavated Norse graves

B) Viking Age sagas

C) Bayeux Tapestry embroidery scenes

D) 19th-century opera costumes

Answer · why

D) 19th-century opera costumes

19th-century opera costumes: designer Carl Emil Doepler put horns on the helmets when Wagner's Ring cycle was staged in the 1870s, and the look stuck,...

Q 05/05

Botanically speaking, the peanut is what kind of plant?

A) A legume

B) A tuber

C) A grass

D) A tree nut

Answer · why

A) A legume

A legume, in the same family as peas and beans: once a peanut flower is fertilised, a stalk called a peg grows down into the soil, and the pod ripens ...