AI in exams, a wandering walrus, and has a cat been to space? – take the Thursday quiz

Both cats and David Bowie feature in the quiz this week – and this kitten has his eyes! Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

March madness is a basketball competition in the US, but with the Thursday quiz you get zany wacky madness every single time, regardless of whether it is March or not. Which apparently it is. So thrill to 15 questions about general knowledge or topical news! Swoon at the regular inclusion of Ron from Sparks! Tremble with excitement at spotting hidden references to Doctor Who that will earn you bonus points! Be amazed that this continues to be published at all! There are no prizes, but let us know how you got on in the comments.

The Thursday quiz, No 97

1. 

   LET THEM EAT SEASONAL PRODUCE: British environment secretary Thérèse Coffey caused a furore in parliament by suggesting that instead of the imported tomatoes that they currently can't find in supermarkets, British people should be eating what?

   1. Parsnips

   2. Swedes

   3. Turnips

   4. 30-50 feral hogs

2. 

   STARMAN: David Bowie's archive is being donated to which museum?

   1. MoMA in New York, the city where he lived for many years until his death

   2. The V&A Museum in London, the city where he was born

   3. Berlinische Galerie in Berlin, the city where he recorded some of his greatest work

   4. Discover Bucks Museum in Aylesbury, the town where he first debuted songs from his Ziggy Stardust album

3. 

   GOO GOO G'JOOB: Thusday quiz favourite Thor the walrus has been spotted again. Which country is he visiting now?

   1. Iceland

   2. Norway

   3. Faroe Islands

   4. Denmark

4. 

   A BIG SURPRISE: That is a 1977 Sparks song where they ask for "a really big surprise tonight". There was a surprise at the football match between Besiktas and Antalyaspor at the weekend when it was halted after four minutes and 17 seconds as fans threw what on to the pitch?

   1. Eggs

   2. Ping pong balls

   3. Tomatoes

   4. Toys

5. 

   WE DIG REPETITION: Repetition was a classic song from the Fall's early years. But California man Jeff Reitz has set a Guinness World Record for doing what consecutively for 2,995 days?

   1. Visiting Disneyland

   2. Eating a Christmas dinner

   3. Running a half-marathon

   4. Writing an email complaining about the Guardian's Thursday quiz containing Pokémon questions

6. 

   GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL: 27 February was Pokémon Day! Which region were the first Pokémon discovered in when the franchise was introduced by the original Japanese release of Pokémon Red and Green back in 1996?

   1. Johto

   2. Alola

   3. Kanto

   4. Galar

7. 

   EXAMS BUT WRITTEN BY AN AI: ChatGPT may have infuriated people last week with its inability to write an unambiguous physics question in this quiz, but its output is now going to be allowed in what type of qualification?

   1. Diploma of Secondary Education in Hong Kong

   2. The International Baccalaureate

   3. The Higher in Scotland

   4. NVQ IT, Computing, Telecommunications in England and Wales

8. 

   IT'S A DOG'S LIFE: This is Willow, the official dog of the Guardian's Thursday quiz. She knows that dogs have been to space, but she doesn't think any cats have been to space. Have they?

   1. At least one cat has been in space – the French sent Félicette to space in 1963

   2. Nobody has sent cats into space – unlike dogs and chimpanzees, cats are very difficult to train and are unpredictable in confined spaces.

9. 

   NOSTALGIA WON'T PAY THE BILLS: The Calais factory which was the last one dedicated to manufacturing a children's toy popular in the 1960s and 1970s is to close. What did it make?

   1. Meccano

   2. Subbuteo

   3. Play-Doh

   4. Spirograph

10. 

    GCSE BIOLOGY CORNER: Which of the following is an enzyme in human saliva that breaks down food?

    1. Dentine

    2. Protease

    3. Foamasi

    4. Amylase

11. 

    MATHS WITH GOTHS: If the circumference of a circle of goths dancing to All About Eve in a night club is 30 ancient Sumerian cubits, which of these values would roughly be the radius?

    1. 4.78

    2. 5.78

    3. 6.78

    4. 7.78

12. 

    THE LEFTWING ECONOMIC ESTABLISHMENT WITH LIZ TRUSS: What is the address of the headquarters of His Majesty's Treasury in London?

    1. 100 Parliament Street

    2. 1 Horse Guards Road

    3. 2 Marsham Street

    4. Traitors' Gate

13. 

    WE ARE NOT AMUSED: On 2 March 1882 Roderick Maclean tried to assassinate Queen Victoria. What reason do some sources – including the Guardian – give for his actions?

    1. He had lost a bet at a game of cards in a gentlemen's club and had been told to make the attempt as his forfeit

    2. He was unhappy with a horse he had purchased from the royal estate in Balmoral

    3. He was offended by the monarch's curt reply to the poems he had sent her

    4. He believed he was the true son of Redvers Fenn-Cooper, and thus rightfully the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and consequently entitled to the crown

14. 

    LITERATURE (SOMETIMES WITH RUDE BITS IN IT): Which of these D H Lawrence novels was published in the UK first?

    1. Lady Chatterley's Lover

    2. The Rainbow

    3. Women In Love

    4. Sons and Lovers

15. 

    NATIONAL POP SERVICE: Which singer visited their local NHS hospital on Friday and paid for a day of scans for patients to help reduce waiting lists?

    1. Rod Stewart

    2. Ed Sheeran

    3. Harry Styles

    4. Kate Bush

Solutions

1:C - In a debate on UK food shortages in parliament, Coffey said: "It is important to make sure that we cherish our specialisms in this country. Many people would be eating turnips right now rather than thinking necessarily about lettuce, tomatoes and similar.", 2:B - The enormous cache of more than 80,000 items – including handwritten lyrics, instruments, costumes, set designs, letters and album artwork – spanning more than six decades will be held in a special centre being created in east London called the David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts. He did debut songs from the Ziggy Stardust album in Aylesbury, but the town is now chiefly known in Thursday quiz circles as the location where the quiz master last broke an ankle., 3:A - The arctic mammal appeared in Hampshire in December before spending new year in Scarborough and then heading 70 miles further north to the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club in Blyth. Since then, there has been little news about Thor’s movements, but sightings of him were reported on Friday in Breiðdalsvík, Iceland, about 850 miles (1,360km / ~3m cubits) from Blyth. There was no indication of whether he gave Iceland a similar aroused display as he had in England., 4:D - Besiktas fans threw thousands of stuffed toys on to the pitch during Sunday’s match against Antalyaspor to donate to children affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and neighbouring Syria. The Turkish Super Lig game was paused after four minutes and 17 seconds to allow fans to throw the gifts on to the pitch. The earthquake first struck Turkey at 04.17am local time on 6 February., 5:A - Reitz’s fascination with Disney drove him to visit the company’s world-famous theme park in Anaheim, California, daily for eight years, three months and 13 days. The streak started in 2012 when he was unemployed and was gifted an annual pass so he could leave his house, exercise and break up the monotony of job hunting., 6:C - Kanto is the setting of the first generation of games, with Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle as the starter Pokémon. Johto was the second region to be added. Alola is loosely based on Hawaii, and Galar is loosely based on the UK. But with Pokémon in them., 7:B - The IB, which offers an alternative qualification to A-levels and Highers and is taken by thousands of children every year in the UK at more than 120 schools, said students could use the chatbot but must be clear when they were quoting its responses. Asked to comment on the development, ChatGPT told the Guardian's Thursday quiz "As an AI language model, I am not aware of any specific policy changes related to the International Baccalaureate (IB) program regarding the use of AI-generated text in essays or other academic assignments. However, it is important to note that any academic institution or organization should have clear guidelines on the use of technology and ensure that students are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged by its use." , 8:A - The French did sent Félicette into space in 1963 aboard a Veronique rocket which blasted off from Algeria. Unlike several of the dogs who left earth, Félicette was returned safely. She was only in space for about five minutes and her capsule didn't have a window so she didn't even get to see it, making for a rubbish anecdote., 9:A - The Canadian company that owns Meccano has said the plant at Calais will close at the beginning of 2024, putting 51 people out of work. It blamed the soaring cost of raw materials and “a lack of competitiveness” for the closure. Spin Master, which bought the brand in 2013, said Meccano toys would continue to be produced by its “network of partners in Europe, Asia and Latin America”., 10:D - Amylase is produced in both the mouth and the pancreas, and it catalyses the hydrolysis of starch into sugars. Handy., 11:A - Using the formula C=2πr, a radius of 4.78 ancient Sumerian cubits would give a circumference of about 30.03363 ancient Sumerian cubits, 12:B - The treasury has its roots as an institution dating back to the time of the Norman Conquest, and according to the government's own website, new office accommodation for the Treasury at 1 Horse Guards Road, Whitehall, was opened by Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve Board on 25 September 2002. The increased space available in the new building enabled all Treasury staff to work in the same building for the first time in over 50 years. 2 Marsham Street is the address of the home office. 100 Parliament Street was the address of the recently reorganised DCMS., 13:C - The quiz master must confess that this is on the Wikipedia page about the man, and in the standfirst of a Guardian article about the event, but he has not found much other evidence to back the assertion up. However, it has made him laugh a lot. And that is surely half the point of the Thursday quiz?, 14:D - Sons and Lovers was published in 1913, with The Rainbow following two years later. Women In Love appeared in 1920. Lady Chatterley's Lover was first published privately in 1928, and only became properly available in the UK in 1960. D H Lawrence died in Vence, aged 44, on 2 March 1930., 15:A - Stewart’s donation covered a day of scans for patients at Princess Alexandra hospital in Harlow, Essex, which were carried out at private healthcare firm InHealth’s mobile MRI scanning unit. Stephanie Lawton, chief operating officer at the hospital, said his move would help reduce their waiting list by about 10%, or about 20 patients. Stewart has previously been a Conservative supporter but during a recent radio show he said “the government should stand down now and give the Labour party a go”.

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 it has been scientifically proven that 99% of the email he receives about the quiz are people fact-checking jokes.