Hot dog, jumping frogs, and beef jerky – take the Thursday quiz
It is Thursday, and so once again time to rub the tummy of our weekly Thursday quiz! 15 questions on general knowledge and topical news trivia – with a few jokes thrown in. It is just for fun and there are no prizes, but let us know how you get on in the comments below.
The Thursday quiz, No 8
COMPARATIVELY SPEAKING: Welcome to this week's Thursday quiz which is 100% guaranteed Euro 2020 free. So to start, which of these lines on the London Underground is the oldest?
Metropolitan line
Northern line
Piccadilly line
Victoria line
UK NEWS: Last week US president Joe Biden and UK prime minister Boris Johnson were meant to be visiting a lovely Cornwall beauty spot – but, as many British holidaymakers may have experienced in that gorgeous part of the world, the weather had other ideas. Where had they been intending to go?
Tintagel Castle
The Jamaica Inn
St Michael’s Mount
Porthcurno Beach
GLOBAL NEWS: After the Cornwall trip and a visit to Brussels to meet with Nato, Joe Biden then headed to his first summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin in which European city?
Milan
Geneva
Lille
Lucerne
SPACE: This stunning image is the first ever picture of a black hole. When was it first shown to the world?
2017
2018
2019
2020
EYE KNOW WHO YOU ARE: Which Spice Girl is this?
Victoria Beckham
Geri Halliwell
Emma Bunton
Melanie Chisholm
HOT DOG: A Pekingese was awarded best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show this week. What hot food stuff was he named after?
Wasabi
Cau-Cau
Kimchi
Otak-Otak
JUMPING FROG: How many times its own body length can a tree frog jump?
5
10
15
50
AND BEEF JERKY: The type of dried meat similar to beef jerky known as "biltong" originates from where?
Argentina
South Africa
Malaysia
Australia
SPORT: A Euro 2020 free quiz, yes. Sport free? No. So who won the Women's French Open Tennis on Saturday? She is just out of shot, kissing the trophy against the scenic Paris backdrop.
Barbora Krejčíková
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Tamara Zidanšek
Maria Sakkari
MUSIC: Which of these artists had the bestselling album by a woman in the UK in 1985? Madonna, Alison Moyet, Tina Turner or Kate Bush?
Madonna
Alison Moyet
Tina Turner
Kate Bush
KINGS & QUEENS: Which future English king did George Washington plot to have kidnapped from New York in 1782?
George III
George IV
William IV
Edward VII
RESCUE OPERATION: Artist Antony Gormley helped an operation this week to exhume and reset some of the statues that make up his art installation, Another Place, that had sunk into the sand of which beach?
Crosby
Ainsdale
Chesil
Bude
ON THIS DAY: No need for a hidden Doctor Who reference in this week's quiz, as it is Jodie Whittaker's birthday today. But what was the name of the drama she featured in alongside fellow Doctor Who David Tennant?
Casanova
Trust Me
Broadchurch
The Smoke
HONESTY BOX: Which White House press secretary turned Fox News contributor said this week that they never lied as part of that job? Kayleigh McEnany, Sarah Sanders, Anthony Scaramucci or Sean Spicer?
Kayleigh McEnany
Sarah Sanders
Anthony Scaramucci
Sean Spicer
AND FINALLY: That "hot dog, jumping frog, and beef jerky" headline. It is a terrible pun on the lyrics of which hit single by Prefab Sprout?
Cars and Girls
The King of Rock 'N' Roll
Looking for Atlantis
We Let The Stars Go
Solutions
1:A - The Metropolitan Line was opened first. in 1863 you could ride between Paddington and Farringdon. The forerunner of the Northern line, known as the City and South London Railway, opened in 1890. The Piccadilly line opened in 1906, while the Victoria line was a much later addition in 1968, and is the best line., 2:C - St Michael’s Mount is a stunning castle on a tidal island just off the south coast, but it was too drizzly to get there. Tintagel Castle is said to be where King Arthur was conceived, and Porthcurno Beach has a reputation for being one of the most romantic beaches in the UK. The Jamaica Inn was used by smugglers back in the Poldark times, and is reputed to be highly haunted, which would have been ideal for the "spooks" accompanying the leaders., 3:B - The president of the Swiss Confederation, Guy Parmelin, pointedly welcomed the commanders-in-chief of two of the biggest nuclear arsenals on the planet to "the city of peace"., 4:C - Doesn't time fly when you are in the middle of a global pandemic? It might feel like a lifetime ago, but the picture was only released just over two years ago in April 2019. The author of this quiz received several complaints at the time for jokingly referring to it as "slightly underwhelming" in an article. Sorry black hole photographers., 5:C - It's Baby Spice, who, horrifyingly for those of us who remember the Spice Girls like it was yesterday, is now aged 45. You chose Geri, didn't you?, 6:A - Wasabi clinched the prestigious prize, notching a fifth victory for the unmistakable toy breed. A whippet named Bourbon was named runner-up., 7:D - It is all relative, but according to both Mike on the Amphibian Life website and the Frogs Are Green society, the smallest species of tree frog can jump an improbable fifty times their body length. This is the equivalent, we are reliably informed, of a human being jumping the entire length of an NFL pitch from a standing start. Why would you do that though?, 8:B - It is probably fairer to say it originated across southern Africa rather than exactly in South Africa, but "biltong" takes its name from the Dutch bil ("buttock") and tong ("strip" or "tongue"), and it was a way of preserving meat popularised by Dutch colonialists., 9:A - The final four at the tournament were heavily skewed towards players from eastern Europe – each of the options was a semi-finalist – but the 25-year-old Czech Barbora Krejčíková emerged triumphant to win her first major grand slam tournament., 10:A - Like A Virgin was the third bestselling album overall that year (behind Dire Straits and Phil Collins). Alison Moyet's Alf was the eleventh best selling album, edging out our Kate who was at number 14 with the sublime Hounds Of Love album. Tina Turner's Private Dancer was 16th, and unlike the others, never hit the number one spot., 11:C - William was stationed in New York during the American War of Independence, and the future US president Washington gave Colonel Matthias Ogden written permission for "surprising in their quarters and bringing off the Prince William Henry" which sounds a bit rude these days., 12:A - One hundred cast-iron statues modelled on Gormley were installed in 2005. Rescuing and resetting some of the 650kg figures was not easy. Some of the GPS coordinates marking the spots where the statues were supposed to be were wrong, and the team had to deploy a metal detector to find them again, making them the first people ever to turn up useful finds on a beach., 13:C - Current Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall wrote the acclaimed crime drama, which also featured Arthur Darvill among its various Doctor Who alumni. , 14:A - McEnany said of her first steps in the role: “And then there was the question, ‘Will you ever lie to us?’, and I said without hesitation, ‘No’, and I never did, as a woman of faith. As a mother of baby Blake, as a person who meticulously prepared at some of the world’s hardest institutions, I never lied. I sourced my information, but that will never stop the press from calling you a liar.”, 15:B - It was the only top ten hit that the critically acclaimed but chart-shy combo had. Hot dog, jumping frog, Albuquerque was how the original lyric went. No, we've no idea why either.
Scores
0 and above.
Thank you for doing the quiz and do let us know how you got on in the comments!
10 and above.
Thank you for doing the quiz and do let us know how you got on in the comments!
If you do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers, please feel free to email martin.belam@theguardian.com but remember, the quizmaster’s word is always final and also he’s going to be busy watching Ukraine – North Macedonia at 2pm so you probably won’t get a reply for ages.