Weekly Quiz #10
A free weekly 20-question general knowledge quiz
Welcome to the tenth weekly quiz!
I’m heading home today from Manila, where the Asia-Pacific Quizzing Championships were held yesterday. It was a fantastic event, and it was wonderful to see and meet in person many quizzers who I’ve quizzed with and against online. More info to come later, but for now, here is this week’s quiz!
Questions
In the news
“Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Japan with his partner and joined my wife and me for lunch…” Which singer, one of the best-selling artists in history, was referenced as Trudeau’s partner in this tweet from former Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida last week?
Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley star as William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway in which 2025 film, based on an award-winning 2020 novel by Maggie O’Farrell?
“[L]ook on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else,” is a line from the 1966 play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, by which Czech-born British playwright who died in late November?
Which streaming service announced last Friday that they had reached an agreement to purchase Warner Bros. in a deal worth over $80 billion?
Last week, which Buffalo Bills quarterback broke the all-time record for most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback?
On Friday, Donald Trump was awarded an inaugural annual Peace Prize by which organisation, in recognition of “exceptional actions for peace and unity”?
Name either of the two players set to take part in a Battle of the Sexes exhibition tennis match in Dubai in late December this year. One is a four-time grand slam winner, and one has made one grand slam final, Wimbledon in 2022.
Mixed bag
Stick Man, Zog, Tabby McTat, and the Gruffalo are characters created by which English author and former Children’s Laureate?
The QR in “QR code” stands for which two words?
According to Hesiod’s Theogony, the mythical Ancient Greek winged horse Pegasus sprang from the blood of which other figure when she was slain by Perseus?
The United Arab Emirates is a semi-constitutional monarchy made up of seven emirates, two of which are Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Name any one of the remaining five emirates.
Used in the skincare and anti-ageing industries, retinol is a form of which vitamin?
As the Fosbury Flop revolutionised high jump in the 1960s, the O’Brien Glide similarly revolutionised which field event in the 1950s? The technique involved a long, gliding motion across the circle to build speed before the release, rather than the traditional shorter hop and turn.
As the name suggests, a chryselephantine sculpture is made from which two materials? A prominent example was the statue of Zeus at Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Which Italian composer (1792-1868) retired from large-scale composing aged 37, at the height of his popularity? Among his 39 operas are Semiramide (1823), The Thieving Magpie (1817), and The Barber of Seville (1816).
Pictures
Henri-Paul Motte’s 1881 painting The Siege of La Rochelle depicts which French statesman and religious figure, who also appears in Alexandre Dumas’s 1844 novel The Three Musketeers?
Seen below, the Bund is a historic waterfront area in which large Asian city?
This scene from a 2003 film shows Hilary Duff playing two roles: an Italian singer called Isabella, and which titular American teenager, who she portrayed in 65 episodes of a Disney Channel TV series?
This is the cover of the 1979 album Unknown Pleasures, the debut album by which English band?
Native to Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and the arid areas in Pakistan and India, which wild cat is depicted below?
And that’s this week’s quiz! I hope you enjoyed it.
Answers
Katy Perry. Perry and Trudeau are “Instagram official” after posting photos of their time together in Japan.
Hamnet. The Chloe Zhao-directed film follows the pair’s grief surrounding the death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet. It’s been very well received, and a review in Rolling Stone says people “will be talking about Jessie Buckley’s performance for years.” I’m keen to see it, but given I teared up watching the trailer and still haven’t been able to bring myself to read the book, I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it through it. We shall see!
Tom Stoppard. Alongside his many wonderful plays, Stoppard also wrote screenplays, including co-writing Shakespeare in Love (1998), for which he won the Best Original Screenplay Academy Award.
Netflix. The deal includes the film and television studios HBO and HBO Max.
Josh Allen. It continues a great 2025 for Allen professionally and personally, after winning the 2024 MVP award in February and marrying actress and singer Hailee Steinfeld in May.
FIFA. FIFA president Gianni Infantino presented Trump with the award in Washington D.C. at the draw for the 2026 World Cup. Human Rights Watch claimed that it requested a list of the nominees, the judges, the criteria and the selection process from FIFA, and has received no response.
Aryna Sabalenka or Nick Kyrgios. In something of a remake of the Billie Jean King-Bobby Riggs match in 1973, Sabalenka, who is the current world number one, will play Kyrgios, who has barely been playing lately and is currently ranked in the 600s. Former doubles grand slam winner Rennae Stubbs said of the match, “What’s in this for women’s tennis? If Sabalenka wins, she beats a man who is unfit and has been a total irrelevance for a number of years. If Kyrgios wins, he and others of the same mind will claim it legitimises everything he’s already spewing out.”
Julia Donaldson. In January 2025, Donaldson became the UK’s best-selling author by lifetime book sales, surpassing J.K. Rowling.
Quick-response. The QR code was invented in 1994 in Japan, originally for labelling automobile parts. Compared to a standard barcode, a QR code provides faster reading of the image and greater data-storage capacity.
Medusa. One of three Gorgons, Medusa was mortal, unlike her sisters Stheno and Euryale.
Ajman, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain, or Fujairah. Sharjah is the third-largest emirate by area and the third-largest city in the UAE by population. It is also the only one to border all six other emirates.
Vitamin A. Retinol is used in acne treatments as well as serums and creams that reduce wrinkles and fine lines in the skin.
Shot put. O’Brien won gold in the event at the 1952 and 1956 Olympics. Using his technique, he broke the world record 17 times in his career.
Gold and Ivory. The chrys- derives from the Ancient Greek for gold, which can be seen in the English word chrysanthemum (literally “gold flower”), and the elephantine comes from the Ancient Greek for ivory.
Gioachino Rossini. Rossini’s withdrawal has been a frequent source of speculation, with poet Heinrich Heine suggesting he “fulfilled his mission” and could not surpass his “unsurpassable” existing achievements. It’s likely that exhaustion and bouts of poor physical and mental health were contributors to his decision.
Cardinal Richelieu (born Armand Jean du Plessis). Cardinal Richelieu, also known as the Red Eminence, was a key advisor to King Louis XIII until his death in 1642.
Shanghai. Situated on the western bank of the Huangpu River, the Bund is a protected historical district that was formerly part of the Shanghai International Settlement from 1863-1943.
Lizzie McGuire. The film follows Lizzie and her classmates on a graduation trip to Rome, where she is mistaken for an Italian pop star and ends up performing on stage in her place.
Joy Division. The image is a graphical representation of the radio waves from a pulsar, CP1919.
Caracal. The name caracal is derived from the Turkish for “black ears”.