Name changes, fashion queens, and a king’s recipe – take the Thursday quiz

Mary Quant in 1996 – but where was she born? Photograph: Jane Bown/The Observer

Congratulations to those of you who have slogged through two years’ worth of Thursday quizzes now, not least the quiz master who has written more than 1,500 questions and only made mistakes and typos in around half of them. Today, as ever, you face 15 questions on recent news and general knowledge, and for some reason lots of them are about geography. There are bonus points available in the comments if you can spot references to Doctor Who, but beware, you can lose points for needless quibbling.

The Thursday quiz, No 104

1. 

   NID YW CYMRU AR WERTH: The beautiful Brecon Beacons are in the future to be known by their name in Welsh. Which is?

   1. Blaidd Drwg

   2. Blaned Neifion

   3. Bannau Brycheiniog

   4. Dawns y Blaned Dirion

2. 

   HERE IN MY CAR: The quiz master went to see Gary Numan's 998th career show last week at Camden's Electric Ballroom. But which model of car will be allowed to self-drive on motorways in the UK, provided drivers keep their eyes on the road?

   1. Ford’s Mustang Mach-E

   2. Mercedes EQS

   3. Nissan Leaf

   4. Bessie

3. 

   PER ARDUA AD ASTRA: The European Space Agency launched its latest mission, which is expected to reach Jupiter in 2031. What is the probe called?

   1. Jupiter Ionosphere Mission, or Jim

   2. Jupiter and Neptune Explorer, or Jane

   3. Jupiter Upper Magnetosphere Probe, or Jump

   4. Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or Juice

4. 

   HORSES FOR COURSES: The Grand National was delayed at the weekend by animal rights protesters angry about the way the horses are treated. Who won the race once it got going?

   1. Corach Rambler

   2. Sir Gilles Estram

   3. Mister Coffey

   4. Minella Trump

5. 

   BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD: It is the anniversary of the death of Dracula writer Bram Stoker (not pictured) today. Where was he born?

   1. Harrogate, England

   2. Edinburgh, Scotland

   3. Fishguard, Wales

   4. Dublin, Ireland

6. 

   WOMEN'S WORLD CUP 2023: The Fifa Women's World Cup starts in July. So shall we have a Thursday quiz question about each one of the 32 countries competing before then? Yes, we shall. Which of these describes Zambia's flag?

   1. Green with an orange-coloured African fish eagle in flight over a rectangular block of three vertical stripes, coloured, from left to right: red, black and orange

   2. A horizontal tricolour of teal, white-edged black and yellow with the red isosceles triangle based on the hoist-side bearing the yellow five-pointed star that bears a Kalashnikov rifle with the bayonet attached to the barrel crossed by a farming mattock superimposed on an open book

   3. Two horizontal bands of red and black with a gold emblem in the centre consisting of a five pointed-star within a half-gear wheel crossed by a machete

   4. A red field with a green pentagram in the centre

7. 

   WOMEN'S WORLD CUP 2023: As well as Zambia, Panama will feature in the World Cup. What is the capital of Panama?

   1. Atrios

   2. Ancón

   3. Las Tablas

   4. Panama City

8. 

   MATHS WITH SUNAK: Rishi Sunak wants all pupils to study some form of maths up to the age of 18. For how many years in a row has the UK's government failed to meet its own recruitment target for trainee maths teachers?

   1. Three years

   2. Six years

   3. Nine years

   4. More than a decade

9. 

   IT'S A DOG'S LIFE: This is Willow, the official dog of the Guardian's Thursday quiz. She is thinking about eating the lovely special official coronation recipe announced by King Charles and Camilla. What is it?

   1. A coronation quiche featuring spinach, broad beans, cheese and tarragon

   2. A coronation sandwich featuring beef with a lemon and chive mayonnaise

   3. A coronation ratatouille featuring aubergines, courgettes and chicken

   4. A coronation sausage featuring pork, apple, garlic and paprika

10. 

    SHE'S IN FASHION: We lost wonderful fashion designer Mary Quant. She is often credited with popularising the mini-skirt and helping usher in the swinging sixties. But where was she born?

    1. Harrogate, Yorkshire

    2. Blackheath, London

    3. Cannock, Staffordshire

    4. Hoylake, Merseyside

11. 

    PHOTOGRAPHIC: German artist Boris Eldagsen has refused his prestigious Sony world photography award. Why?

    1. In protest at sponsor Sony's use of rare earth metals in its electronics products

    2. He wanted the award to go to Ukrainian war photography to raise awareness

    3. His winning photograph had been submitted on his behalf by his mother without permission

    4. He admitted the photograph had been generated by artificial intelligence

12. 

    GCSE SCIENCE CORNER WRITTEN BY GOOGLE'S BARD AI: "Can you write a multiple choice question about physics pitched at GCSE-level students?" we asked, and it said: "A ball is thrown vertically upwards from the ground. The ball reaches a maximum height of 5 metres. Which of the following statements is true about the ball's acceleration at the top of its flight?". What answer did the AI give?

    1. The AI said "The ball's acceleration is zero"

    2. The AI said "The ball's acceleration is negative"

    3. The AI said "The ball's acceleration is positive"

    4. The AI said "The ball's acceleration cannot be determined from the information given"

13. 

    IT'S EDUCATIONAL: That is a 2000 Sparks song in which it says "tell me everything you know". Joe Biden provided an educational moment for the world when he confused the Black and Tans for who?

    1. Black Beauty

    2. Black Panther

    3. Black Sabbath

    4. All Blacks

14. 

    CHECK THE GUY'S TRACK RECORD: The Orient Express run by VSOE is ending the UK leg of its route because of Brexit paperwork faffage. But what was the original famous Orient Express route introduced by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits from 1883?

    1. Berlin – Khartoum

    2. Venice – Alexandria

    3. Milan – Ankara

    4. Paris – Istanbul

15. 

    EACH TO THEIR OWN: Beatriz Flamini appears to have set a new world record for living alone in a cave. The Thursday quiz was tempted to just set the question: "Why?", but what we want to know is: how long was she in there?

    1. 100 days

    2. 365 days

    3. 500 days

    4. 1057 days

Solutions

1:C - From Monday the Brecon Beacons national park is dropping its English language name and scrapping its logo of a fiery greenhouse gas-emitting beacon as it launches a plan designed to tackle issues in the park created by the climate and biodiversity emergencies. The park in southern Wales is to be known as Bannau Brycheiniog – pronounced Ban-eye Bruck-ein-iog – national park or, informally, the Bannau., 2:A - The BlueCruise system, an £18-a-month subscription add-on to the £50,000 electric car, uses radars and cameras to track road markings and other vehicles, and an infrared camera in the car to ensure the driver’s eyes remain on the road ahead. It doesn't feel safest of all to the quiz master., 3:D - It embarked on an eight-year voyage to survey a trio of Jovian moons where life may once have gained a foothold. While Europa, Callisto and Ganymede are frigid, ice-covered moons three-quarters of a billion kilometres from the sun, previous missions have found evidence for vast liquid water oceans beneath their surfaces, raising the tantalising prospect that living organisms might eke out an existence on the distant worlds., 4:A - The delay led to television commentators and experts talking for 20 minutes about how the protesters didn't understand how well the horses were looked after, sometimes even better than some of the people in this country, one said. Once the race started, Hill Sixteen sustained an injury at the first fence, becoming the third fatality of the three-day Aintree meet this year, and the fourth fatality in the Grand National itself in the last three years., 5:D - Stoker was born in 1847 in Clontarf, Dublin, and died on 20 April 1912 in Pimlico, London, at the age of 64., 6:A - Green stands for the nation's lush flora, red for the nation's struggle for freedom, black for the Zambian people, and orange for the land's natural resources and mineral wealth. Additionally, the eagle flying above the coloured stripes is intended to represent the people's ability to rise above the nation's problems, apparently., 7:D - Founded in the 1500s by Spanish invaders, the city has a population of nearly 2 million and sits at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the district of Panama, in Panama province., 8:D - About one in eight maths lessons (12%) are taught by someone without a maths degree, and almost half of all secondary schools are having to use non-specialist teachers for maths. The shortage in maths teachers is partly because the government has failed to meet its own recruitment targets for trainee maths teachers every year for more than a decade, despite the target being cut significantly. Something doesn't add up there., 9:A - The “coronation quiche” has been personally chosen by the king and Camilla, the Queen Consort, in the hope it will be a centrepiece to many a coronation “Big Lunch” at street parties and community events on 6 May., 10:B - Quant was born in London in 1930 to teacher parents from Wales. She studied illustration at Goldsmiths University in London and completed an apprenticeship with the milliner Erik of Brook Street. She began working in fashion proper in 1955, when she opened the King's Road store Bazaar with her husband, Alexander Plunket Greene. The store soon became a hangout for the young and fashionable, with crowds forming outside the door., 11:D - In a statement on his website, Eldagsen said he “applied as a cheeky monkey” to find out if competitions would be prepared for AI images to enter. “They are not,” he added. Neither, as we have established, are the Thursday quiz crowd ready for AI-written questions. Talking of which …, 12:A - The AI explained: "The correct answer is (A). The ball's acceleration is zero at the top of its flight because it is neither moving upwards nor downwards. The ball's velocity is zero at the top of its flight, and the acceleration is equal to the rate of change of velocity. Since the velocity is zero, the acceleration must also be zero". Gravity, and all of the maths and physics experts currently emailing the quiz master about this question, might have something to say about that., 13:D - The US president made the slip during a speech in a pub in Ireland. Biden was thanking Rob Kearney, a distant cousin who played in an Irish rugby team that beat New Zealand, for the tie he was wearing. “This was given to me by one of these guys, right here. He was a hell of a rugby player. He beat the hell out of the Black and Tans." Ireland’s rugby team won a famous victory against the All Blacks at Soldier Field in Chicago in 2016. The British military force known as the Black and Tans terrorised Ireland., 14:D - From 1883 the Orient Express operated between Paris and Istanbul, making the trip in three nights, and doing it three times per week in each direction, deploying some of the first sleeping and dining cars for long-distance train travel in Europe., 15:C - “I was expecting to come out and have a shower,” she told the room full of reporters after emerging. “I wasn’t expecting there to be so much interest." The elite sportswoman and extreme mountaineer entered the cave outside Granada on Saturday 20 November 2021, meaning she has possibly missed as many as 71 Thursday quizzes.

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 don’t want to be sent down a cave for a long period of self-reflection about what you’ve done.