A soap queen, a punk icon and long-lost journals – take the Thursday quiz

June Brown as EastEnders busy-body Dot Cotton. Photograph: Derek Cox/PA

It might not be nearly as long-running as punk music or EastEnders, but this week we reach another glorious milestone as the Thursday quiz celebrates its golden jubilee, and unlike soap operas, our viewing figures keep going up. You will face 15 general knowledge and vaguely topical questions, and there is a hidden Doctor Who reference in the wrong answers for you to spot for a bonus point. There are no prizes, but let us know how you got on in the comments.

The Thursday quiz, No 50

1. 

   THE NUMBER ONE SONG IN HEAVEN: That's a 1979 song by Sparks, and 'Gabriel plays it, God how he plays it'. But that's not important right now. Which of these numbers is the mathematical representation of the 'golden ratio'?

   1. 1.314159265

   2. 1.531090526

   3. 1.618033988

   4. 1.811805533

2. 

   POSTMAN PAT PRICE RISES: The price of a first-class stamp in the UK increased by 10p to 95p from Monday. Second-class stamps increased by 2p – to how much?

   1. 58p

   2. 61p

   3. 68p

   4. 71p

3. 

   YOU CANNOT SMOKE ON TV THESE DAYS: We lost the incomparable June Brown this week – here she is pictured in ITV's 1969 television play Gentle to Nora. But which year did she first appear as Dot Cotton in EastEnders?

   1. 1984

   2. 1985

   3. 1986

   4. 1987

4. 

   PUNK GODDESS: We also lost Pamela Rooke, the fashion icon and major force in the 1970s punk scene. What geographically-based name was she better known as?

   1. Jordan

   2. Florence

   3. Romana

   4. Chelsea

5. 

   WORLD CUP DRAW: Last week it was the draw for the 2022 Fifa World Cup, which is to be held in the footballing hotbed of Qatar, after a host-bidding process that was 100% transparent and totally honest. Which of these teams did NOT end up drawn into the same group as England?

   1. USA

   2. Iran

   3. Scotland

   4. Italy

6. 

   ENSEMBLE CASTS: Released 50 years ago, which iconic movie featured Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates and Warren Clarke?

   1. A Clockwork Orange

   2. Dirty Harry

   3. The French Connection

   4. The Last Picture Show

7. 

   SCIENCE CORNER: Hundreds of adults and children with type 1 diabetes in England have been fitted with an artificial WHAT that experts say could become the 'holy grail' for managing the disease?

   1. Spleen

   2. Pancreas

   3. Liver

   4. Kidney

8. 

   FLAMIN-GO!: A flamingo that escaped a zoo in Kansas 17 years ago has been spotted alive and well in Texas. But what was his name?

   1. Legs Eleven

   2. Pinkie Pop

   3. Bruce

   4. Pink Floyd

9. 

   ROAD SIGNS AROUND THE WORLD: This road sign from parts of Canada means what?

   1. Pedestrian crossing during the day

   2. Area of outstanding natural beauty

   3. Crosswalk with flashing lights ahead

   4. Pedestrians must wear sunscreen

10. 

    ART FOR ART'S SAKE: Andy Warhol was famous for his production line approach to pop art. But where was he born?

    1. Pittsburgh

    2. New York

    3. Seattle

    4. Portland

11. 

    SHHHHHHHHHH: Cambridge University library is rejoicing after two stolen journals were returned in a pink gift bag alongside a ‘happy Easter’ note addressed to the librarian. Whose journals were they?

    1. Isaac Newton

    2. Michael Faraday

    3. Oliver Cromwell

    4. Charles Darwin

12. 

    GEOGRAPHY: The town of Carrickfergus – you can see the castle and statue of William III here – sits on which of these bodies of water in Northern Ireland?

    1. Lough Melvin

    2. Lough Erne

    3. Lough Neagh

    4. Belfast Lough

13. FIBONACCI NUMBERS: First described in Indian mathematics, and forming a sequence where each number is the sum of the two preceding ones, F₇ is 13. But which of these words describes extreme fear of 13 being an unlucky number?

    1. Tonitrophobia

    2. Tetraphobia

    3. Triskaidekaphobia

    4. Trichophobia

14. ALLONS-Y: The website Wikivoyage lists 23 locations visited by fictional Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne's novel Around the World in Eighty Days. No 10 is Singapore. The city-state hosted the first ever floodlit F1 night-time grand prix. When?

    1. 2001

    2. 2008

    3. 2011

    4. 2018

15. 

    MUSIC: In 2015, who collaborated with psychedelic rock band The Flaming Lips on an album named after herself and 'Her Dead Petz'?

    1. Miley Cyrus

    2. Billie Eilish

    3. Suzanne Vega

    4. Kate Bush

Solutions

1:C - In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities, although that doesn't quite explain to me how it means 1.618033988, but there you go. You can tell by the look on Ron's face that he thinks both you and I should have known that, 2:C - Second-class stamps have increased by 2p to 68p. The Royal Mail said there had been a long-term decline in letter usage, coupled with rising inflation. Letter volumes have fallen by more than 60% since their peak in 2004-05. Postman Pat's faithful black-and-white cat is still called Jess, though, 3:B - Although often thought of as part of the original EastEnders ensemble, Brown made her debut as Dot Cotton in episode 40 of the soap opera, which was broadcast on 4 July 1985. She made her final appearance in episode 6,065 in January 2020, 4:A - With her highly imaginative make-up and clothing, Rooke was a linchpin of the London scene that produced the Sex Pistols, Vivienne Westwood and more; her daring fashion sense helped to coalesce punk’s aesthetic of leather, rubber, slashed fabric, partial nudity and other provocative styling, 5:D - It was Italy, because despite beating England at Wembley last year on penalties to claim the UEFA European Championship, Italy have failed to qualify for their second consecutive World Cup. Scotland are not assured of a place – they face a play-off semi-final against Ukraine scheduled for June, followed by the winners of that match playing Wales to determine who gets the last European slot for 2022, which will see them join Group B and face England in their final group game, 6:A - Malcolm McDowell of course was Alex DeLarge, the most recognisable character from the film of the novel that gave us The Heaven Seventeen as a fictional pop band that inspired the real-life Heaven 17, 7:B - An artificial pancreas worn next to the body that continually monitors blood glucose levels and automatically adjusts insulin delivered via a pump is being tested in 30 NHS diabetes centres, 8:D - Also known as No 492 – the number on the ring on his legs – the successful escapee was named after the British band and made true on the lyrics: 'Come in here, dear boy, have a cigar, you're gonna go far, you're gonna fly', 9:C - That sun symbol is meant to represent a flashing light apparently. If there is one thing the sun doesn't do, it is flash, 10:A - He was born in 1928 in in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to parents who had emigrated from Miková in modern-day Slovakia, 11:D - One of the notebooks contains Darwin‘s seminal 1837 Tree of Life sketch. The items were found to be missing in 2001, but at the time staff believed they may have been mis-shelved. A Cambridgeshire constabulary spokesperson said: 'Our investigation remains open', 12:D - Carrickfergus is on the north bank of the Belfast Lough, as the River Lagan empties out into the Irish Sea. Belfast Lough was in fact known at some point in the past as Carrickfergus Bay, but the name switched as Belfast began to become a more important urban centre than Carrickfergus, 13:C - The term was first used in the early 20th century and indicates fear or avoidance of the number 13. Paraskevidekatriaphobia is fear of specifically Friday the 13th. The others are fear of thunder (tonitrophobia), fear of the number four (tetraphobia) and fear of something stopping your hair growing (trichophobia), 14:B - It was won by Fernando Alonso for the Renault team but is notable for the fact that they had ordered his teammate, Nelson Piquet Jr, to deliberately crash on lap 14, bringing out the safety car after Alonso's pit stop, in effect handing him the race, 15:A - It was her fifth studio album and also featured collaborations with Mike Will Made It, Oren Yoel and Big Sean

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 [cue dramatic EastEnders cliffhanger drums …]