New cities, new statues and Stevie Nicks – take the Thursday quiz

Doffing its proverbial cap in your general direction, it is the Thursday quiz. Some general knowledge, some topical news, some spectacularly repetitive in-jokes all await you. It is just for fun. There are no prizes. But do let us know how you get on in the comments.

The Thursday quiz, No 57

1. FAIR DINKUM: Australia has a new prime minister. What is his name?

   1. Jim Chalmers

   2. Anthony Albanese

   3. Richard Marles

   4. Bob Katter

2. THEME FOR GREAT CITIES: Eight new cities have been declared in the UK in time for the Queen's platinum jubilee. Which of these was NOT one of them?

   1. Doncaster

   2. Milton Keynes

   3. Dunfermline

   4. Cheltenham

3. A GOOD WALK SPOILED: Which US golfer (not pictured) won the 2022 US PGA Championship at the weekend?

   1. Will Zalatoris

   2. Justin Thomas

   3. Cameron Young

   4. Canton Everett Delaware III

4. FIBONACCI NUMBERS: First described in Indian mathematics, and forming a sequence where each number is the sum of the two preceding ones, F₁₄ is 377. But what is 377 in Roman numerals?

   1. CCCLXXVII

   2. LMXXVII

   3. DLXXVII

   4. CMXVII

5. LIFE FINDS A WAY: Lyme Regis has unveiled a statue of which famous paleontologist (not pictured)?

   1. Mary Dawson

   2. Angela Milner

   3. Mary Anning

   4. Julia Heathcote Anderson

6. FACES IN THE NEWS: Which European politician is this?

   1. Sweden's prime minister Magdalena Andersson

   2. Finland's prime minister Sanna Marin

   3. Denmark's prime minister Mette Frederiksen

   4. Estonia's prime minister Kaja Kallas

7. GIRL FROM GERMANY: That is a 1973 Sparks song where they praise the country's 'splendid castles and fine cuisine'. But that's not important right now. Who ordered the construction of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, which began in 1788?

   1. King of Bavaria, Ludwig II

   2. King of Württemberg, Charles I

   3. King of Saxony, George II

   4. King of Prussia, Frederick William II

8. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU: Who is reprising his role as Anakin Skywalker (not pictured) after a gap of some 17 years in the new Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi?

   1. Ewan McGregor

   2. Joel Edgerton

   3. Hayden Christensen

   4. Samuel L Jackson

9. GCSE SCIENCE CORNER: When an atom loses one or more electrons, what does it become?

   1. A positive ion

   2. A negative ion

   3. A new isotope

   4. An alloy

10. WE'VE ALL DONE IT: The BBC had to apologise this week after some text a trainee was typing into a system appeared live on screen by mistake. What did the BBC News channel inform readers?

    1. Peter Piper picked a peck

    2. Oasis to reform for Queen's jubilee

    3. Donkey stuck up tree

    4. Manchester United are rubbish

11. LITERATURE: Who wrote the post-apocalyptic novel the Death of Grass, which describes the unfolding catastrophe of a virus causing all grass including wheat and rice to die out? It was published in the US as No Blade of Grass

    1. Aldous Huxley

    2. John Christopher

    3. Isaac Asimov

    4. John Wyndham

12. WHY THE LONG FACE?: When was Dressage first introduced as an Olympic sport?

    1. 1900 in Paris

    2. 1912 in Stockholm

    3. 1936 in Berlin

    4. 1948 in London

13. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: It is Stevie Nicks' birthday today. Happy birthday, Stevie! She was a vital part of the success of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album. But what was the name of the first Fleetwood Mac album she appeared on?

    1. Fleetwood Mac

    2. Mystery to Me

    3. Behind The Mask

    4. Heroes Are Hard to Find

14. ALLONS-Y: Wikivoyage lists 23 locations visited by fictional Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, none of them by hot air balloon. No 17 is Fort Kearny, Nebraska, US. It is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. But which US river does it sit next to?

    1. Republican River

    2. Platte River

    3. Missouri River

    4. Dismal River

15. MUSIC: Who had a massive international hit in the early 1980s with a song called the Safety Dance?

    1. Midnight Oil

    2. Men Without Hats

    3. Mental As Anything

    4. Kate Bush

Solutions

1:B - It is Albanese. Both Marles and Chalmers are in his new government. Bob Katter is very much too preoccupied with crocodiles to take the top job, 2:D - The full list was Colchester, Doncaster and Milton Keynes in England, Dunfermline in Scotland, Bangor in Northern Ireland and Wrexham in Wales alongside Stanley in the Falklands and Douglas in the Isle of Man, 3:B - Thomas won his second PGA title in a paly-off against Zalatoris, after a catastrophic final hole by Mito Pereira sealed an implosion when he had appeared to have victory in his grasp, 4:A - That is three hundreds, one fifty, two tens, a five and two ones, 5:C - Anning was born in 1799 and earned her living in Lyme Regis, digging fossils from the cliffs and selling them to collectors and museums. As well as the ichthyosaur, her finds include the first complete plesiosaur skeleton and the first pterosaur found in Britain, 6:A - Andersson has been prime minister of Sweden and leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party since 2021. She visited the White House last week as part of Sweden's move to join Nato, 7:D - You might not be too hot on your German monarchs, but you might have known that Berlin was in Prussia. You can definitely tell by his face that Ron from Sparks thinks you should have known that, 8:C - After a not entirely popular stint playing young Anakin Skywalker as a bratty teenager before *SPOILERS* turning into Darth Vader, Christensen is back for more, as are Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi) and Joel Edgerton (Owen Lars), 9:A - Electrons carry a negative charge of about 1.602176634 × 10^19 coulomb. Or the equivalent of around seventy ancient Sumerian cubits, 10:D - You can insert your own 'proud founding member club of the European Super League™' punchline here. It was actually letting a trainee type into a system by mistake that accidentally started the Thursday quiz, 11:B - His real name was Sam Youd, and he also wrote The Possessors, and the young-adult novel series The Tripods, whose third series must be due on the BBC any day now, 12:B - There were equestrian events at the 1900 Paris Olympics, but not dressage. After an absence of twelve years horses again competed for Olympic medals in 1912, including the first dressage competition, which Carl Bonde won riding Emperor for Sweden, 13:A - It was excitingly called Fleetwood Mac. Not only that, it was the second time that Fleetwood Mac had released an album just titled Fleetwood Mac. At least they put a bit more imagination into the music, 14:B - Fort Kearny is a now disused military outpost on the river that Fogg passes through on train. Both Republican River and Dismal River are real places, the latter now very firmly on the quiz master's list of places to go just for the photo opportunity with the signs, 15:B - Ivan Doroschuk, Colin Doroschuk and Sho Murray originally formed the band in Montreal, Quebec. The Safety Dance was a worldwide smash in 1982, and they were supposed to be celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the album it was taken from, Rhythm of Youth, at a gig in Islington tonight which the quiz master was going to, but it has been cancelled :-(

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   We hope you had fun – let us know how you got on in the comments!

• If you 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 he can dance if he wants to, he can leave your friends behind.