A Bali ban, a new Duke, and the loveliest Greek island – take the Thursday quiz

View from Panagia Kyra Psili monastery on Kalymnos. But which Greek island is the very best? Photograph: Hercules Milas/Alamy

One step closer to the magic 100th edition of the Thursday quiz, today you face the usual ramshackle arrangement of vaguely topical questions with a bit of general knowledge thrown in. There are no prizes. It is just for fun. Let us know how you got on in the comments, where you can earn bonus points by being funny or spotting oblique references to Doctor Who, or lose points for pedantry. Enjoy!

The Thursday quiz, No 99

1. 

   THE GIRL IS CRYING IN HER LATTE: Having lots and lots of questions connected to Sparks last week was hugely popular in the comments. So we go on. The Girl is Crying in her Latte is the new single by Sparks. According to the International Coffee Organisation, which country exports the most coffee?

   1. India

   2. Colombia

   3. Brazil

   4. Vietnam

2. 

   IT'S ALL GREEK TO ME: The Which? travel survey delivered its verdict on Greek islands last week. Which did it say was the best island?

   1. Crete

   2. Kefalonia

   3. Mykonos

   4. Meglos

3. 

   WHAT A BALI NUISANCE: Talking of islands, Bali is intending to ban what, citing the nuisance value?

   1. Jetskis, which have been disturbing marine life

   2. Tourists from hiring motorbikes

   3. Happy hours in bars

   4. 30-50 feral hogs

4. 

   THE VINYL COUNTDOWN: Talking of nuisances, which metal band have bought a vinyl pressing plant in Virginia?

   1. Metallica

   2. Slayer

   3. Anthrax

   4. Slipknot

5. 

   ALL THE KING'S MEN: Who has King Charles III named as the new Duke of Edinburgh?

   1. Prince Edward

   2. Prince Andrew

   3. Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence

   4. Prince Harry

6. 

   SECOND CLASS: Talking of the King, in the UK Royal Mail is to issue the first set of stamps bearing King Charles’s silhouette. What else is going to be on them?

   1. The nation’s favourite small mammals

   2. The nation’s favourite birds

   3. The nation’s favourite flowers

   4. The nation’s favourite members of the cast of Hollyoaks

7. 

   LAST ORDERS: A group of property developers have been ordered to rebuild a Grade II-listed pub, the Punch Bowl Inn, that they demolished without permission. Where?

   1. Broadbottom, Greater Manchester

   2. Dawlish, Devon

   3. Keswick, Cumbria

   4. Hurst Green, Lancashire

8. 

   HAPPY BIRTHDAY: It is Jens Stoltenberg's birthday today. Gratulerer med dagen, Jens! What is his job title?

   1. Director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency

   2. United Nations high commissioner for refugees

   3. Secretary general of Nato

   4. High representative of the European Union for foreign affairs

9. 

   THE LEFTWING ECONOMIC ESTABLISHMENT WITH LIZ TRUSS: A business which operates in the tertiary sector does what?

   1. Assembles components

   2. Extracts raw materials

   3. Produces services

   4. Is run as a communist endeavour by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov in order to undermine government economic policy by failing to have confidence in a dynamic tax-cutting programme for high earners

10. 

    A LONG, LONG TIME AGO: Justinian I (not pictured) laid the foundation stone for the Hagia Sophia. Where?

    1. Dalmatia

    2. Damascus

    3. Ravenna

    4. Constantinople

11. 

    IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE: Nasa has been tracking asteroid 2023 DW, and the European Space Agency says it has a chance of striking the planet Earth and ruining what …?

    1. Valentine’s Day in 2046

    2. Christmas Day in 2049

    3. New Year's Eve in 2052

    4. World Book Day in 2055

12. 

    IT'S A DOG'S LIFE: This is Willow, the official dog of the Guardian Thursday quiz. She was dismayed to hear that a city in Canada had put up a sign demanding no barking in a dog park. Where?

    1. Ottawa

    2. Vancouver

    3. Winnipeg

    4. Toronto

13. 

    GCSE SCIENCE CORNER BUT SUDDENLY WITH TIMOTHY LEARY: Acid rain isn't the kind of acid that Timothy Leary was associated with, but what, according to GCSE examiners Edexcel, is "the main pollutant that causes acid rain"?

    1. Carbon monoxide

    2. Carbon dioxide

    3. Sulfur dioxide

    4. Dilithium crystals

14. 

    HIGHER OR LOWER WITH TONY YEBOAH: Which of these cities in Brazil is the most northerly?

    1. São Paulo

    2. Rio de Janeiro

    3. Brasília

    4. Belém

15. 

    I WROTE A SONG: Who will be representing the United Kingdom at the Eurovision song contest in Liverpool in May?

    1. Mimi Webb

    2. Eliza Rose

    3. Mae Muller

    4. Kate Bush

Solutions

1:C - Brazil exports the most coffee, with Vietnam in second place. The International Coffee Organization was established in 1963 when the first International Coffee Agreement (ICA) entered into force. Who knew there was an International Coffee Organization? Not the Thursday quiz, for sure. But by the look on his face, you can tell Ron probably did, 2:B - Kefalonia, the largest of the Ionian islands, scored for its abundant sandy beaches, scenery uninterrupted by high-rise buildings and access to much-sought-after solitude. The setting for Louis de Bernières’ novel Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and a major location for the 2001 film starring Nicolas Cage and Penélope Cruz, it was the only island to score five stars in the peace and quiet category, gaining an overall 85%, 3:B - The Indonesian island of Bali plans to ban tourists from renting motorbikes after a series of incidents in which foreigners have violated traffic rules. Bali’s governor, Wayan Koster, said that under changes to be imposed this year, foreigners would only be allowed to drive cars rented from travel agents. Because nobody ever misbehaves in cars, 4:A - Metallica sell more vinyl than most acts: without releasing a new album, they sold 387,000 copies of albums from their catalogue in the format in 2022, making them the sixth highest vinyl-selling act in the US that year, and they've now bought the pressing plant that manufactures them, 5:A - King Charles has conferred the title of Duke of Edinburgh on his youngest brother, the Earl of Wessex, on the occasion of his 59th birthday, honouring the wishes of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. The title will be held for the lifetime of Prince Edward and means his son, Viscount Severn, now becomes Earl of Wessex, 6:C - The image of the king’s uncrowned profile, in silver and facing to the right, features on a collection of 10 stamps with images including the sweet pea, the sunflower and the purple iris. A presentation pack of the 10 stamps goes on general sale from 23 March and are priced at £10.40. The stamps also mark a significant milestone in British philatelic history as they are the first change of silhouette since 1968, 7:D - Last year, a trial at Burnley magistrates court found five people guilty of the illegal demolition of the pub, which was built in the 1700s and was well known for its association with the famous highwaymen Dick Turpin and Ned King. King was executed in 1741 and his ghost was said to haunt the pub. Wooooooooooooooo!, 8:C - The Norwegian politician has been serving as the 13th secretary general of Nato since 2014, and before that he had two stints as prime minister of Norway, 9:C - Extracting raw materials is the primary sector, assembling components is the secondary sector, and services is the tertiary sector. Incidentally, someone asked in the comments last week if Liz Truss has now featured as a regular in the quiz for longer than she was prime minister. The answer, not quite yet, 10:D - It was the site of a church from 360 AD until 1453, and then after the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire it served as a mosque until 1935. It was a museum until 2020, when it was once more put into service as a mosque. Justinian I laid the foundation stone for the present building in 532, which at the time became the largest indoor space built in Europe, 11:A - While parents obliged to dress their little darlings up each year might lament the answer isn't World Book Day in 2055, the European Space Agency discovered 2023 DW on 26 February and has estimated it has a 1-in-607 chance of affecting Earth. The agency also predicted the asteroid could potentially hit on 14 February 2046. Worryingly, this would also potentially endanger the Guardian Thursday quiz #1,291., 12:D - Visitors to a city dog park were taken aback by a sign asking for quiet. “Due to the closeness of the area residents, do not allow your dogs to bark and disturb the neighbourhood. Excessive barking will not be tolerated,” the sign said. Owners described the warning as “lunacy”, and questioned what would qualify as “excessive” barking. Willow, like most dachshunds, knows exactly what excessive barking is, 13:C - Just to be 100% clear, this question was "how do GCSE examiners expect children in some parts of the UK to answer this question", and they expect the answer sulfur dioxide, and they expect it to be spelled that way. We'll have no truck in the comments about the spelling or "well, actually, the science is a bit more complicated than that", 14:D - It was initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará – in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará – and the city was founded by the Portuguese and was the first European colony on the Amazon, 15:C - The 25-year-old will perform her track I Wrote a Song at the competition in May. Muller has previously supported Little Mix on their 2019 stadium tour and scored a Top 10 US chart hit with her platinum selling single Better Days. In 2022, she was nominated at the MTV EMAs and VMAs. Her music has been streamed millions of times on YouTube and reached over 2bn streams and 5.5m monthly listeners on Spotify.

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 quiz master’s word is final and you’ll only get a slightly snotty reply.