Honours, abdications and fireworks in the sky – take the Thursday quiz

Children play as fireworks light up Copacabana Beach during New Year celebrations in Rio de Janeiro. Will you light up the Thursday quiz this week? Photograph: Bruna Prado/AP

A new year. A time for change. A time for excitement. A time for optimism. A time for fireworks. And alas, a time for the same old tired bobbins of the Thursday quiz to shove itself in your face for the 141st occasion. Fifteen questions of varying degrees of topicality and obscurity, bundled in with some jokes and a picture of a dog. What could go wrong? There are no prizes, but let us know how you got on in the comments!

The Thursday quiz, No 141

1. 

   This is Willow, the official dog of the Guardian Thursday quiz, who genuinely did not bark once at fireworks on New Year's Eve while the quiz master was doing the live blog. Good girl. But what is generally agreed to be the first recorded occasion in the UK when there was a firework display?

   1. The wedding of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York in 1486

   2. The birth of Henry VIII's son Edward VI in 1537

   3. The coronation of William III (William II of Scotland) in 1689

   4. To mark royal assent of the English parliament's Union with Scotland Act in 1706

2. 

   Queen Margrethe II of Denmark surprised everybody on New Year's Eve, especially if they were doing a live blog, by announcing she would abdicate, in favour of who?

   1. Crown Prince Christian

   2. Crown Prince Joachim

   3. Crown Prince Frederik

   4. Crown Prince Meglos

3. 

   Talking of princes and Denmark, hot priest actor Andrew Scott (not pictured, that is Yorick obviously) revealed that in 2017 he stopped Hamlet's most famous soliloquy after what happened in the audience?

   1. An audience member sitting in the front row fainted

   2. A couple were spotted performing a sex act in the back row

   3. An audience member took out a laptop to send emails

   4. Someone stood up and shouted: "You are Lobby Lud, and I claim my five pounds!"

4. 

   There have been fireworks at the PDC world darts in London too, where the main story has been the rise of allegedly 16-year-old who?

   1. Sammy Smallton

   2. Joel Junior

   3. Steve Slight

   4. Luke Littler

5. 

   On 4 January 1958, the little Soviet Union satellite that could, Sputnik 1, fell back to earth. How long had it been in orbit?

   1. 32 days

   2. 52 days

   3. 72 days

   4. 92 days

6. 

   British army medical officer Capt Harpreet Chandi (not pictured) claims to have set a new world record doing what?

   1. Becoming the fastest woman to ski solo across Antarctica

   2. Becoming the fastest woman to climb Mount Everest

   3. Becoming the fastest woman to swim the Channel

   4. Becoming the fastest woman to shoot 30-50 feral hogs in rural America

7. 

   The Conservative-led government of the UK privatised the Royal Mail in 2013. Ten years later, in how many of areas of the country was the Royal Mail successfully reaching its target for first class mail delivery?

   1. 100%

   2. 64%

   3. 23%

   4. 0%

8. 

   One question about every country taking part in the Euro 2024 finals this summer. This week: Austria. Who is the the current chancellor of the Republic of Austria?

   1. Count Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust

   2. Karl Nehammer

   3. Sebastian Kurz

   4. Prince Wenzel Anton of Kaunitz-Rietberg

9. 

   Alaska and Hawaii are the two most recent states to have been admitted to the USA. In which year?

   1. 1959

   2. 1949

   3. 1939

   4. 1929

10. 

    When iron oxide is heated with carbon (not pictured), iron is produced, but what happens to the iron oxide during this reaction?

    1. The iron oxide is oxidised

    2. The iron oxide is neutralised

    3. The iron oxide is reduced

    4. The iron oxide has a long hard think about what it has done

11. 

    Which of these is often given as the name of the main character in the 1892 two-act classical ballet The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, first choreographed with Marius Petipa?

    1. Amy

    2. Clara

    3. Ruby

    4. Donna

12. 

    It is the anniversary of the birth of Isaac Newton. Happy birthday, Isaac! It is a true or false question – did Isaac Newton briefly serve as an MP on two separate occasions?

    1. True

    2. False

13. 

    Can you put Taylor Swift's first four albums into the correct order?

    1. Taylor Swift, Speak Now, Red, Fearless

    2. Taylor Swift, Speak Now, Red, 1989

    3. Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, 1989

    4. Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red

14. 

    A freedom of information request by the SNP revealed that how much champagne was ordered at events and bought from the gift shop at the House of Lords last year?

    1. 589 bottles amounting to £32,396

    2. 1,089 bottles amounting to £60,986

    3. 1,589 bottles amounting to £88,987

    4. 2,089 bottles amounting to £116,988

15. 

    Talking of champagne moments, Thusday quiz favourite Liz Truss (pictured, with halo) got to put people in the House of Lords in her resignation honours list to mark her 49 triumphant days in Downing Street. How many people did Truss give the power to help make UK legislation for life?

    1. One

    2. Three

    3. Five

    4. Seven

Solutions

1:A - The quiz suspects that the people putting on the display presumably tried some out first somewhere to see if they worked, but history doesn't record that. History also doesn't record whether the local Facebook groups near the wedding at the time were immediately flooded with angry messages about teenagers having fun and what about my pet., 2:C - The 55-year-old eldest son of Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik is set to take over on 14 January, the 52nd anniversary of the queen's accession., 3:C - Scott was speaking on a podcast this week when he recounted the tale. Yes, the quiz knows that the 'To be or not to be' soliloquy is in a different act of the play from the bit with Yorick's skull in it, but then the joke picture doesn't work., 4:D - The average age of a world champion in the PDC era had been 38, but Littler's apparent 16 years should inevitably drag that down over the next few championships., 5:D - It was launched from what is now known as the Baikonur Cosmodrome and managed 1,440 orbits before its batteries ran out and then eventually mavity had its wicked way., 6:A - Chandi left the Hercules inlet on the Ronne ice shelf on 26 November and arrived at the south pole at 2.24am UK time on Thursday 28 December, which seems like an extreme way of avoiding having to go to the in-laws for Christmas but there you go. For the benefit of younger and overseas readers, that picture is of Roy Castle who used to present a TV programme all about world records., 7:D - Zero. Nada. Zilch. Zip. Royal Mail has not hit its letter targets for more than three years. It has now failed to hit its first-class delivery target in every postal area in the UK for five consecutive quarters. The price of a first class stamp has more than doubled in the past 10 years from 60p to £1.25., 8:B - It hasn't been princes or counts for donkey's years. Sebastian Kurz has had two goes at it, but Nehammer has been in the role since December 2021., 9:A - Alaska joined in January and Hawaii in August. To date, Hawaii is the last of the 50 states to be admitted., 10:C - Reduction is a chemical reaction that involves the gaining of electrons by one of the atoms involved in the reaction between two chemicals. In this case you end up with solid iron and the gas carbon dioxide., 11:B - Depending on the version she can also sometimes be known as Marie or Masha., 12:A - It is true. In 1689 and in 1701 he represented the constituency of Cambridge University at Westminster., 13:D - Her first four albums were released between 2006 and 2012 and have sold squillions., 14:C - The SNP has no representatives in the House of Lords because of its opposition to the unelected second chamber. “Voters will be fizzing to hear that, while they were struggling to balance household finances and pay for basics like groceries and energy, unelected Lords were glugging back champagne,” said Tommy Sheppard, the SNP MP for Edinburgh East., 15:B - To put that in context, that is one new lawmaker for life created every 16.333 days that Truss was in office. If she had been in power as long as Margaret Thatcher (about 4,300 days), at that rate she would have created 263 new life peers. What a ridiculous way to run a country.

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   Happy New year! We hope you had fun – let us know how you got on in the comments!

If you really do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers – and can show your working – feel free to email martin.belam@theguardian.com, but remember the quiz master’s word is final and he is probably busy tracking down his favourite stranger.