Space heroes, dictator art and cartoon toy horses – take the Thursday quiz

Fifteen questions on general knowledge and topical trivia plus a few jokes every Thursday – how will you fare?

As these introductory blurbs get increasingly laboured and half-hearted, it is time once again to gather for the rituals of the Thursday quiz. Face the 15 vaguely topical and general knowledge questions. Sigh as you ponder if Kate Bush will ever be a correct answer. Cower under the withering gaze of Ron from Sparks. And seek out a hidden reference to Doctor Who in the incorrect answers. There are no prizes, but let us know how you got on in the comments.

The Thursday quiz, No 56

1. EUROVISION IS BRILLIANT: Kalush Orchestra won the Eurovision song contest for Ukraine, but what was the name of their song?

   1. Jovanka

   2. Kateryna

   3. Anastasiya

   4. Stefania

2. SPACE (WO)MAN: Sam Ryder came second at Eurovision with his song Space Man. But what was the name of the first British woman in space?

   1. Sally Ride

   2. Helen Sharman

   3. Jan Davis

   4. Eileen Collins

3. SCIENCE CORNER: While we are talking about space, scientists have produced the very first image of the black hole that lurks at the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way. But what is the black hole called?

   1. Sagittarius A*

   2. Capricorn A*

   3. Rassilon A*

   4. Aquarius A*

4. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: A different type of star. It is Grace Jones' birthday today. Happy birthday, Grace! But where was she born?

   1. Barbados

   2. Jamaica

   3. Puerto Rico

   4. Montserrat

5. ON THIS DAY: On 19 May 1499, Catherine of Aragon got married for the first time. Who to?

   1. Marcel of Rouen

   2. Henry, Duke of Cornwall

   3. Henry VIII, King of England

   4. Arthur, Prince of Wales

6. PREMIER MINISTRE: France has a new prime minister, the first woman to hold the role for more than thirty years. Who is she?

   1. Édith Cresson

   2. Delphine Gény-Stephann

   3. Marisol Touraine

   4. Élisabeth Borne

7. THAT'S NO YOLK: A statue of Margaret Thatcher was pelted with eggs within hours of being unveiled. But where is it?

   1. Grantham, where she was born

   2. Oxford, where she studied

   3. Colchester, where she worked as a research chemist

   4. Finchley, where she was MP

8. DICTATOR'S SON: That is a 2015 song by Sparks and Franz Ferdinand where he is 'learning the family trade'. But that's not important right now. A painting spotted in the background of Imelda Marcos' home appeared to be a 'missing' work by which artist?

   1. Matisse

   2. Kahlo

   3. Picasso

   4. Van Clomp

9. FIBONACCI NUMBERS: First described in Indian mathematics, and forming a sequence where each number is the sum of the two preceding ones, F₁₃ is 233. But which of these sums is equal to 233?

   1. 193 + 5 x 8 =

   2. 193 + 8 x 5 =

   3. 116 x 2 + 1 =

   4. All of the above

10. ENSEMBLE CASTS: Kang Sae-byeok was 067, Cho Sang-woo was 218 and the old man Oh Il-nam was 001. But in Squid Game, what number was Seong Gi-hun, the first player we met on the outside world, played by Lee Jung-jae (pictured)?

    1. 356

    2. 456

    3. 465

    4. 546

11. LITERATURE: What is the name of Elizabeth Strout's book that won the Pulitzer prize for fiction in 2009?

    1. Olive Kitteridge

    2. The Plague of Doves

    3. Abide with Me

    4. My Name Is Lucy Barton

12. WHY THE LONG FACE?: What is the name of Woody and Jessie's horse introduced in the movie Toy Story 2?

    1. Billyboy

    2. Butler

    3. Belljar

    4. Bullseye

13. ALLONS-Y: Wiki Voyage 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 16 is Medicine Bow, Wyoming, US. But what was the nickname of the famous dinosaur skeleton unearthed nearby?

    1. Dippy

    2. Twinky

    3. Dave

    4. Big Al

14. THE BEAUTIFUL GAME: Founding members of the European Super League Liverpool won the FA Cup final at the weekend. But when was the first FA Cup final?

    1. 1862 - 160 years ago

    2. 1872 – 150 years ago

    3. 1892 - 130 years ago

    4. 1897 - 125 years ago

15. UVAVU AND ERANU: Vic Reeves has been exhibiting his bird paintings in London, but under his real name. What is the name he is using for the exhibtion?

    1. Jim Moir

    2. Chris Sievey

    3. Andrew Dawson

    4. Kate Bush

Solutions

1:D - The song was dedicated to mothers in Ukraine. Kalush Orchestra featured Ihor Didenchuk who had also been at Eurovision last year as part of Go_A, who really should have won with their track Shum in 2021, 2:B - Helen went up to the Mir space station in 1991 to become the first British citizen in space, 3:A - 'It’s another doughnut', said Dr Ziri Younsi part of the team behind the photograph, 'but it’s our doughnut'. Incidentally the quiz master has never received as many emails of complaint as he did when jokingly referring on the Guardian website to the very first image of a black hole as visually a bit underwhelming , 4:B - She was born in Spanish Town, St. Catherine in 1948. She did have a massive hit too with My Jamaican Guy which might have been a clue, 5:D - According to some sources she married Arthur, Prince of Wales by proxy when the pair were 13 and 12 respectively in 1499. They later met for the first time in November 1501, and were married in person ten days later. Arthur died within months, and Catherine of Aragon went on to marry his younger brother Henry VIII. Henry, Duke of Cornwall was their short-lived son, who was born 1 January 1511, 6:D - 'I dedicate this nomination to all the little girls in France, to tell them, follow your dreams,' Borne said while taking office. 'Nothing should stop the fight for women’s place in our society' , 7:A - The statue, made by the sculptor Douglas Jennings, was originally intended to stand close to parliament but it was rejected by Westminster council in 2018, 8:C - When Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr visited his mum for a post-election photo opportunity, it appeared that Femme Couchée VI was hanging on the wall. It was targeted for seizure by anti-corruption authorities in 2014. You can tell by his face that Ron from Sparks thinks they should have turned that over, 9:D - It is all of them. Order of operations means that you do multiplication before addition, and commutativity means that both 5 x 8 and 8 x 5 are equal to forty. Thus forty plus 193 is equal to 233 in answers A and B, 10:B - He was the player with the highest number, player number 456, 11:A - Set in the coastal town of Crosby, Maine, it takes the form of 13 short stories that are interrelated. Strout published a sequel, Olive, Again in 2019, 12:D - It was Bullseye. Curiously unlike all the other main character toys he cannot speak, and just makes authentic neighing sounds, raising some in-universe continuity issues about how come the dinosaur can talk then?, 13:A - It was the famous Diplodocus skeleton known as Dippy which is on display in the Carnagie Museum. The version that stood for years in London's Natural History Museum is a cast of the same specimen. And yes, Twinky, Dave and Big Al are all nicknames of dinosaur skeletons on display in US museums , 14:B - It wasn't the 150th cup final because there have been breaks due to wars, but it was 150 years since Wanderers beat Royal Engineers at Kennington Oval, 15:A - Reeves was named James Roderick Moir at birth, using the nickname Jim before inventing his stage persona as Vic Reeves. Chris Sievey is the real name of Frank Sidebottom. Andy Dawson does a podcast with Bob Mortimer. Kate Bush is a Thursday quiz legend

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   We hope you had fun – 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 quiz master’s word is always final, and you wouldn’t enjoy being fired into a black hole.