Weekly Quiz #8
A free weekly 20-question general knowledge quiz
Welcome to the eighth weekly quiz!
As always, we’re aiming for interesting questions that could come up in future quizzes across a range of difficulties and topic areas: new stuff, traditional quiz areas, “I should know this but I don’t” questions. Enjoy.
Questions
In the news
Each week I 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.
Which Australian scored the only century in last week’s Ashes Test in Perth, the shortest Ashes Test since 1888?
This week saw the release of 100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life, an autobiographical collection by which actor, who is due to turn 100 in December?
What two-word subtitle follows Wicked in the title of the sequel film adaptation premiering this month? The film shares its subtitle with the name of the penultimate song in the musical, a farewell duet between Elphaba and Glinda.
After a narrow election victory over Geert Wilders’s far-right Party for Freedom, D66’s 38-year-old leader Rob Jetten is on course to become the youngest ever prime minister of which European country?
Starring Matthew Macfadyen as Charles Guiteau, the four-part historical miniseries Death By Lightning centres on the assassination of which US president?
Defined as, “involving or relating to a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a character in a book, film, TV series, etc., or an artificial intelligence,” what ten-letter word was named Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of the Year last week?
A 1914-16 oil painting titled Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer last week became the second most expensive work of art sold at auction, selling for US$236.4 million. It was painted by which Austrian artist, who also painted two portraits of Adele Bloch-Bauer?
Which New Zealand band, known for hits such as I See Red (1978) and I Got You (1980), has announced their first reunion in 16 years, with a planned concert tour in 2026?
Mixed bag
The 2028 Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles. Which city will host the 2032 Summer Olympics?
Voted the World’s Best Restaurant in 2025, Maido is a Nikkei cuisine fusion restaurant in which South American country?
“From _______ in the Baltic, to ______ in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.” Name either city mentioned in this line from Winston Churchill’s 1946 ‘Iron Curtain’ speech. One is in Poland, the other in Italy.
Which Australian director’s films include Dead Poets Society (1989), The Truman Show (1998) and Master and Commander (2003)?
Two elements of the Periodic Table were named after people who were still alive at the time of the element’s naming: element 106 for an American nuclear chemist, and element 118 for a Russian-Armenian nuclear physicist. Name either.
The Taklamakan Desert, Mount Tai, and the Pearl River can all be found in which country?
On Rolling Stone’s 2023 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Blue (1971) is listed at #3, and Kind of Blue (1959) is listed at #31. Name the artist of either album.
Pictures
Often considered the most photographed hotel in the world, the Château Frontenac is in which Canadian city?
Who is this 24-year-old American actress? She played Hawkgirl in the 2025 film Superman, the main role of Dina in Season 2 of The Last of Us, and the titular explorer in the 2019 film Dora and the Lost City of Gold.
This scene shows which titular squirrel and moose from an animated TV series that originally aired between 1959 and 1964?
Fine Wind, Clear Morning is one of a series 36 woodblock prints depicting views of Mount Fuji by which Japanese artist? The most famous print in the series is The Great Wave off Kanagawa.
This is an image of which small canine native to the deserts of North Africa? It is known for its unusually large ears, which help dissipate heat and listen for underground prey.
And that’s this week’s quiz! I hope you enjoyed it.
Answers
I 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.
Travis Head. The Test match was wrapped up within two days, only the sixth time in history. Head reached his century from 69 balls, the equal sixth fastest Test century of all time, and the equal fastest from an opening batsman.
Dick van Dyke. Despite the title, the book has fewer than 100 “rules”, including “Figure Out Who You Aren’t”, “Read the Fine Print”, “Learn a New Way to Fall”, and “Tolerate and Cherish Your Little Brother”.
For Good. Wicked: For Good adapts the second act of Stephen Schwartz’s musical. Director John M. Chu said of the title, “Who wants a movie called ‘Wicked: Part Two’? On the script, it always said, ‘For Good'‘, and so it was just a point of like, ‘Do we really want to call this “Part Two”?’ And nobody wants that.”
The Netherlands. Jetten’s centrist D66 party tied with Wilders’s party for the number of seats won and received about 30,000 more votes, meaning Jetten will become prime minister if he is able to form a new government. If he can, he will become the first openly gay leader of the world’s first country to legalise same-sex marriage.
James Garfield. Alongside Macfadyen, the series features Michael Shannon as James Garfield, Betty Gilpin as first lady Lucretia, and Nick Offerman as vice president Chester A. Arthur, who assumed the presidency after Garfield’s death.
Parasocial. Cambridge Dictionary said that the word of the year was driven by increasing “interest in one-sided parasocial relationships that people form with celebrities, influencers and AI chatbots”.
Gustav Klimt. The life-size portrait was looted by the Nazis and nearly destroyed by fire during World War II, and was later owned by the son of Estée Lauder.
Split Enz. The group, who was inducted into Australia’s ARIA Hall of Fame in 2005, has eight songs listed in the APRA Top 100 New Zealand Songs of All Time, more than any other band.
Brisbane. Brisbane were the first ever sole official bidder for an Olympic Games.
Peru. Peru has the second largest ethnic Japanese population in South America after Brazil. Nikkei cuisine combines Japanese and Peruvian elements and is popular internationally, also a signature of chef Nobu Matsushita.
Stettin (Szczecin) or Trieste. “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.” Stettin, near the border with Germany, was the birthplace of Russian empress Catherine the Great. Trieste is about 8km from the border with Slovenia and 30km from Croatia.
Peter Weir. Weir has been nominated four times for Best Director, once for Best Picture, and once for Best Original Screenplay. He also directed the Australian classics Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and Gallipoli (1981).
Seaborgium or Oganesson. Seaborgium was named after American Chemistry Nobel laureate Glenn T. Seaborg, who was the principal co-discoverer of ten transuranic elements (94-102, and 106, which was named seaborgium in his honour). Yuri Oganessian’s work contributed to the discovery of elements 107-112, and his “hot fusion” technique helped lead to discovery of elements 113-118, the last of which was named in his honour.
China. The Taklamakan Desert is the 16th largest desert in the world, slightly smaller than the area of Germany(!). Mount Tai is the highest point in Shandong Province, and one of China’s historically and culturally significant Five Great Mountains. The Pearl River system is China’s third longest after the Yangtze and the Yellow.
Joni Mitchell or Miles Davis. Joni Mitchell’s Blue has been described as “the quintessential confessional singer/songwriter album”, and “possibly the most gutting break-up album ever made.” Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue has been described as a “defining moment of twentieth century music” and “a record generally considered the definitive jazz album”.
Quebec City. During World War II, the hotel saw two conferences (1943, 1944) where Allied leaders, including Churchill, FDR, and Canadian PM William Lyon McKenzie King, met to discuss strategy. Hitchcock also filmed portions of I Confess at the hotel.
Isabella Merced (or Moner). Merced also starred in the 2024 John Green adaptation Turtles All the Way Down, and had main roles in Alien: Romulus and Madame Web.
Rocky and Bullwinkle. Officially The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, the show followed the adventures of the two title characters and the scheming villainous spies, Borus Badenov and Natasha Fatale.
Hokusai (Katsushika Hokusai). Hokusai is best known for woodblock art of the ukiyo-e genre, which translates as “pictures of the floating world”. His work also influenced 19th century European art, particularly the Impressionist painters and composer Claude Debussy.
Fennec fox. The smallest fox species, the fennec fox is the national animal of Algeria and also serves as the nickname for the national football team (Les Fennecs).
