Lunar woes, returning gongs and a Welsh rugby legend – take the Thursday quiz

It seems like the lunar lander launched this week will not be reaching the moon – but will you hit the heights in the Thursday quiz? Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

We are barely a few days away from people starting to peddle the “blue Monday” hokum about the most miserable day of the year, so ignore that and concentrate instead on “quiz Thursday”. Fifteen questions with varying degrees of topicality, obscurity and political point-scoring await you. Remember, it is strictly for fun and there are no prizes. Let us know how you get on in the comments!

The Thursday quiz, No 142

1. 

   Who is the new French prime minister (not pictured)?

   1. Bruno Le Maire

   2. Léon Colbert

   3. Gabriel Attal

   4. Gérald Darmanin

2. 

   Russell Crowe has claimed that he is a direct descendant of who?

   1. Simon Fraser, the acting-lieutenant who led the mutiny on the Bounty

   2. Simon Fraser, the first actor recorded to have played the role of Hamlet

   3. Simon Fraser, the pirate better known as Captain Blackbeard

   4. Simon Fraser, the last man to be executed by beheading in England

3. 

   The BFI in London (not pictured, that's the lovely Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds) has put a blanket trigger warning on a season of films that include movies from which popular franchise?

   1. Star Wars

   2. James Bond

   3. Despicable Me

   4. Pirates of the Caribbean

4. 

   United Launch Alliance put its Vulcan Centaur rocket (pictured) into space this week, and part of the mission was to try to send a lunar lander on its way. What is the name of the Astrobotic lunar lander that it was carrying, which will sadly never reach the moon?

   1. Peregrine

   2. Merlin

   3. Falcon

   4. Osprey

5. 

   Talking of space, what have scientists recently discovered is almost the same blue colour as Uranus?

   1. A frozen methane sea on the moon Titan

   2. The surface of Halley's Comet

   3. The planet Neptune

   4. The dwarf planet Sedna

6. 

   Despite it being in the news for years, now there has been a high-profile ITV drama about it, Rishi Sunak seems almost poised to act at some point soon probably over the Post Office IT scandal in the UK. Which tech provider (pictured) developed the Horizon IT system, installed in the late 1990s?

   1. Oracle

   2. Fujitsu

   3. SAP

   4. Del Boy and Rodney from Trotters Independent Traders

7. 

   Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells has sheepishly handed back her CBE mere years after the Post Office Horizon IT scandal broke. Which Conservative prime minister was in power when she was awarded the CBE?

   1. David Cameron

   2. Theresa May

   3. Boris Johnson

   4. Liz Truss

   5. Rishi Sunak

8. 

   Who has the Conservative party chosen as its candidate for the Wellingborough byelection to replace disgraced former MP Peter Bone?

   1. Peter Bone's daughter

   2. Peter Bone's partner

   3. Peter Bone's sister

   4. Peter Bone's very naughty miniature dachshund

9. 

   One question about every country taking part in the Euro 2024 finals this summer. This week: Belgium. Which of these Belgian cities is farthest north?

   1. Bruges

   2. Ghent

   3. Brussels

   4. Liège

10. 

    The first episode of Friends is officially known as The Pilot, but what is it more commonly known as …

    1. The One with the Monkey

    2. The One Where Rachel Finds Out

    3. The One Where Monica Gets a Roommate

    4. The One with Ron from Sparks

11. 

    When did the Arthur Miller play Death of a Salesman premiere?

    1. 1939

    2. 1949

    3. 1959

    4. 1969

12. 

    The world of rugby union, and in particular Wales, is mourning the death of the great full-back from the legendary 1970s Welsh team, JPR Williams. But what did the JPR stand for?

    1. John Peter Rhys

    2. John Paul Rhyan

    3. John Peter Rhodri

    4. John Paul Rhett

13. 

    The UK's parliament in Westminster very rarely sits on a Saturday these days. The last time was in 2019 to discuss Brexit shenanigans. What caused the Saturday sitting before that?

    1. Falklands war

    2. The Suez crisis

    3. The outbreak of the second world war

    4. The 30-50 feral hogs crisis

14. 

    A tribute concert to Sinéad O’Connor and Shane MacGowan has been announced for March. Where will it take place?

    1. New York

    2. Dublin

    3. London

    4. Rome

15. 

    This is Willow, the official dog of the Guardian Thursday quiz. She knows you were expecting a question about the shed-tidying mouse. She also knows you weren't expecting it to be: what is the Latin name for a house mouse native to the UK?

    1. Myodes glareolus

    2. Micromys minutus

    3. Mus musculus

    4. Romanes eunt domus

Solutions

1:C - He has become France’s youngest prime minister at 34, meaning France's prime minister and president, the UK's prime minister and the new Doctor Who are all younger than the quiz master, and he doesn't appreciate that one bit., 2:D - The New Zealand-born actor said research into his ancestry had revealed he was related to Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, who was executed aged 80 in 1747 at the Tower of London for high treason., 3:B - The warning states the films may “contain language, images or other content that reflect views prevalent in its time, but will cause offence today (as they did then). The titles are included here for historical, cultural or aesthetic reasons and these views are in no way endorsed by the BFI or its partners.", 4:A - The Peregrine 1 lander was due to reach the moon on the 23 February. It has sprung a fuel leak so doesn't have enough oomph to reach the moon, thanks in part to mavity. "Space is hard," said a Nasa spokesperson, in something of an understatement., 5:C - Everyone seemed to think Neptune was a much darker blue but scientists have now concluded they look about the same. That is a lovely infrared image of the rings around Uranus from the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, by the way., 6:B - One of the bugs apparently was that if the screen froze and you pressed a particular key again, it would count it as two transactions without telling you, then the auditors would assume you'd made off with the money for the second one. You've had some right cowboys in there, mate., 7:B - Vennells got her antiquated gong in 2019 for "services to the Post Office and to charity". Clowns all round., 8:B - Helen Harrison, who serves as a councillor on North Northamptonshire council, will be the Tory candidate for the Northamptonshire seat of Wellingborough. Bone was recalled after the parliamentary watchdog found he had broken the MPs’ code of conduct on four counts of bullying and one of sexual misconduct., 9:A - It is lovely Bruges, which is much nearer to the coast than any of the other cities on the list., 10:C - People also call it The One Where It All Began and The First One. Make your mind up, people., 11:B - Its initial Broadway run exceeded 700 performances., 12:A - He was born John Peter Rhys Williams in 1949, played 55 times for his country and also made eight Test appearances for the British and Irish Lions. He was a pivotal member of the Wales side that won three Five Nations grand slams in eight seasons between 1971 and 1978., 13:A - An emergency Saturday sitting was called for the House of Commons and House of Lords on Saturday 3 April 1982 after Argentinian troops landed on the Falklands. Both Houses sat on a Saturday for the first time since the Suez crisis more than 25 years earlier. You can insert your own Javier Milei punchline here., 14:A - Cat Power, David Gray, Dropkick Murphys and Glen Hansard are among the artists due to perform at the concert, which will be held just after St Patrick’s Day at Carnegie Hall in New York City., 15:C - Distinguishing features: very large eyes, long tail, very large ears, pointed snout, likes tidying up sheds in Wales, doesn't bark at literally anything that moves.

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   We hope you had fun – unless you are one of the cowboys, clowns or donkeys mentioned along the way

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 can’t stop listening to Veronica Mars by Blondshell.