Weekly Quiz #1
A free weekly 20-question general knowledge quiz
Welcome to the first Weekly Quiz!
As I said in my Welcome Post, my aim is to write questions that are interesting and that could conceivably come up in future quizzes, across a wide range of difficulties and topics. That includes a mix of new stuff, traditional quiz topic areas, the “I should know this but I don’t” type questions, and more. I hope there’s something for everyone. Above all, I hope you enjoy and get some value out of Quiz Notes. If it helps you learn something, improve more effectively, or just enjoy quizzing more, then that will make me very happy. Enjoy.
Questions
In The News
Each week I’ll include a few questions about recent events that are likely to come up in some way soon in the world of quiz. I personally find it helpful, as they’re frustrating to miss in quizzes. We’re all busy and can’t keep across everything.
Taylor Swift’s latest album was released on October 3. What is it called? Track titles include The Fate of Ophelia, Elizabeth Taylor, Father Figure (which interpolates George Michael’s song of the same name), and the title track, which also features Sabrina Carpenter.
The sixth book to feature professor of symbology Robert Langdon, The Secret of Secrets is the latest mystery thriller by which American author?
Last week, the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Minnesota Vikings 24-21 in front of over 74,000 fans in Croke Park. This marked the NFL’s first ever regular season match in which country?
Which animated film that follows rival musical groups Huntr/x and the Saja Boys recently became the most-watched original title of all time on Netflix?
Which Chinese fast-fashion retailer plans to open its first bricks-and-mortar shops in France in November? Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo criticised the move, saying it runs counter to the ambitions of the city to support responsible and sustainable local commerce.
The second version of which text-to-video generation model was released by OpenAI last week? It is named after the Japanese word for ‘sky’ to indicate its “limitless creative potential”.
“The director, at the height of his powers, delivers a startling, present-day American epic, with Leonardo DiCaprio as a washed-up radical and doting dad.” This line in the New York Times describes which 2025 film from director Paul Thomas Anderson?
Mixed Bag
The gastrocnemius muscle is the largest muscle in which part of the human body? It takes its name, via Latin, from the Greek for ‘stomach’ and ‘leg’.
In 1953, a French newspaper published a deathbed confession from a Parisian roofer claiming he had murdered which French writer in 1902 by blocking his chimney, leading to carbon monoxide poisoning? Four years before his death, the writer published the open letter J’Accuse…!, accusing the French government of antisemitism and miscarriage of justice in response to the Dreyfus affair.
The best-selling album of all time in Germany is the soundtrack to which 1987 film? The album includes the track She’s Like the Wind, sung by Patrick Swayze.
By word count, which of the gospels is the longest book in the New Testament of the Bible?
Challenger Deep at the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean is fairly well-known as the deepest point in the ocean. It is named after British Royal Navy survey ships HMS Challenger and HMS Challenger II. But what is the deepest point of the Atlantic Ocean? It is also named after a ship, a USS Navy Omaha-class light cruiser that recorded echo soundings of the area.
The amino-acid tryptophan and the Periodic Table element tungsten are both represented by which single letter?
In 1903, Maurice Garin became the first winner of what annual sporting competition? He won again in 1904, but was subsequently stripped of the title and disqualified for cheating, alongside eight others.
Which author (b. 1942) had an early job translating romance novels from English to Spanish, but was fired for making unauthorised changes to dialogue and plot points to make the heroines seem more intelligent?
Pictures
Who is this comedian? Known for his clean comedy and deadpan delivery, he was the highest-grossing stand-up comic in 2024, and he hosted the 2025 Primetime Emmy Awards.
This is Melanie Perkins, the co-founder and CEO of which Australian online graphic design company, valued this year at US$42 billion?
What is this Pokémon called? A fan and merchandise favourite, it is known for singing a lullaby that puts opponents to sleep, and it has also appeared as a playable character in every entry of the Super Smash Bros. series of video games.
This is Vinicunca, also called the Rainbow Mountain and the Mountain of Seven Colours. In which country can it be found?
This scene from the 2013 Disney film Frozen shows Anna strike a pose mirroring which Rococo painting by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, which can be seen behind her?
And that’s it for the first weekly quiz! I hope you enjoyed it.
Answers
I’ll include a little bit of extra info with the answers. I find this extra detail helps me anchor the relevant information in the question in richer context, and thus helps me remember answers that I missed when they come up next time.
The Life of a Showgirl. Her latest album sees her reunite with producers Max Martin and Shellback for the first time since Reputation (2017). Reviews so far are mixed, and the lyrics of one track, Wood, provide more information about Travis Kelce than I wanted to know.
Dan Brown. This time our favourite symbology (huh?) professor is in Prague exploring the nature of consciousness.
Ireland. They will also play their first ever regular season match in Spain in November.
Kpop Demon Hunters. This phenomenon of a film is very popular in our household at the moment, as is the soundtrack, the first film soundtrack to have four songs in the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100. ♫ Gonna be, gonna be Golden… ♫
SHEIN. Whether pronounced ‘she-in’, ‘sheen’ or ‘shine’, it is one of a handful of hectocorns - private companies valued at over $100 billion.
Sora. Sora 2 launched last week, initially invite-only and limited to US and Canada.
One Battle After Another. Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. I look forward to watching it.
The calf. It does kind of look like a stomach on your leg.
Émile Zola. Zola was nominated for the first and second Nobel Prizes in Literature in 1901 and 1902 before he died.
Dirty Dancing. It was the most attended Hollywood film in both East and West Germany in the 1980s.
Luke. It is the longest in the New Testament, but only 12th longest overall. The longest book overall by number of verses or chapters is Psalms, but it’s only third-longest by word count, behind Jeremiah and Genesis.
The Milwaukee Deep. It is the deepest part of the Puerto Rico Trench, named after the USS Milwaukee, which itself was named for the city in Wisconsin.
W. Tungsten’s use of W comes from its German name, wolfram. Tryptophan was assigned W because its double ring is visually “associated with bulky letter W”.
The Tour de France. The 1904 race sounds bizarre and full of misbehaviour by riders and spectators. Accusations include riding in or being pulled by cars, taking trains, and spreading tacks on the road to puncture rivals’ tyres. Fans allegedly cut down trees to delay riders and beat up others at night. Records of exactly what happened to lead to disqualification were lost in 1940.
Isabel Allende. A few years later while she was working as a journalist, she interviewed Pablo Neruda, who told her she’d be a better novelist. She said later, “I think he saw that I was a liar. As a journalist I could not be objective. I would make up stories.”
Nate Bargatze. He has also released a book this year, called Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind. From the introduction: “Well, the thing is, whenever people talk to me, they always speak real slow. They pause after each word, like I’m not all there. Like I can’t follow. And it’s all because I got these big dumb eyes.”
Canva. The platform provides lots of templates and uses a drag-and-drop interface, useful for design noobs like me.
Jigglypuff. Its Japanese name, Purin, apparently derives from the loanword for custard or pudding.
Peru. Its colours come from different layers of sedimentary mineral deposits over time.
The Swing. Fragonard’s best-known work and one of the most well-known of the Rococo period.