Thursday news quiz: A speeding car, a police faux pas and an app that’s gone too far?

This little dormouse has some questions for you. Photograph: Ovia Images/Alamy

On this day in 1888, the mechanical mastermind John Logie Baird was born in Dunbartonshire. He was the pioneering inventor who first beamed a recognisable image across a room, giving the world the very first working television. Without his early experiments with biscuit tins, darning needles and bicycle lenses, half of the questions the Thursday quiz has asked would never have been possible. So tune in, turn up your mental brightness, and test your frequency with these 15 questions. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 260

1. 

   Unfortunately, the invention of the television also gave us Donald Trump (not pictured). His media company – which owns the Truth Social platform the US president uses – posted a loss of how much in the second quarter of this year?

   1. $38m

   2. $138m

   3. $238m

   4. $338m

2. 

   What is the name of the typhoon that has been causing havoc in China?

   1. Typhoon Dragonfish

   2. Typhoon Dolphin

   3. Typhoon Dugong

   4. Typhoon Derek

3. 

   Which dating app is dropping its famous feature that only women can initiate a conversation on it?

   1. Bumble

   2. Feeld

   3. Hinge

   4. Ghoster

4. 

   The British driver Andy Green reached 406.320mph (653.908km/h) in a car powered by two hydrogen internal combustion engines (not pictured, that's Herbie), setting a new land speed record. Where?

   1. Hakskeen Pan, South Africa

   2. Black Rock Desert, Nevada

   3. Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah

   4. Pendine Sands, Wales

5. 

   Send Derren Brown today's collective noun. Use your psychic powers to let him know what, according to Grammar Monster, is the collective noun for herons?

   1. A settlement

   2. A scythe

   3. A stealth

   4. A siege

6. 

   Revelations that a "body" found inside a suitcase was actually a sex doll were rather embarrassing for police where?

   1. New South Wales, Australia

   2. New England, US

   3. Canterbury, New Zealand

   4. Klow, Syldavia

7. 

   Back to the president of the US (not pictured). Donald Trump was apparently snuck off Air Force One because of a security threat, leaving White House staff and the press pack somewhat uncomfortably ignorant that they were on a flight subject to a "credible" threat. Where was Air Force One flying from?

   1. Budapest

   2. Athens

   3. Rome

   4. Ankara

8. 

   This week's actual guest canines are, from left to right, Cranachan, Poppy and Fergus, courtesy of Thursday quizzer John Christiansen. Tell them who won the Tour de France Femmes.

   1. Antonia Niedermaier (Ger)

   2. Tegan Jovanka (Aus)

   3. Demi Vollering (Ned)

   4. Dominika Włodarczyk (Pol)

9. 

   What is the name of the Game of Thrones play being performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Stratford theatre in England?

   1. Game of Thrones: Winter's Promise

   2. Game of Thrones: The Mad King

   3. Game of Thrones: The Dragon's Fall

   4. Game of Thrones: The One With the Swords, Horses and the Bonking

10. 

    Which music service has said it will add a label "AI persona" to distinguish AI artists from real people?

    1. Spotify

    2. Apple Music

    3. Deezer

    4. Napster

11. 

    The Brazilian footballer Jacy Maranhão went viral last week after what happened when he scored a goal?

    1. He got tangled in the net after sliding into the goal to celebrate and had to be cut free

    2. He dropped his shorts to reveal a sponsor's advertising slogan inked on to his buttocks

    3. He jumped excitedly into the crowd to celebrate only to realise he'd jumped into the other team's fans

    4. He jumped over the advertising boards only to fall down a hole in the ground

12. 

    It is Janet Yellen's birthday today. Happy birthday Janet! Money, money, money. In 2014 she became the first woman to hold which position?

    1. President of the European Central Bank

    2. Chair of the Federal Reserve

    3. Managing director of the International Monetary Fund

    4. President of the World Bank

13. 

    The Thursday quiz remembers Keith Chegwin fondly, so here is Cheggers plays population! According to the 2026 CIA World Factbook, what is the population of Poland?

    1. 28.7 million people

    2. 38.7 million people

    3. 48.7 million people

    4. 58.7 million people

14. 

    On this day with Brian May! And his badger! 13 August is the anniversary of the French king Louis XIII appointing Cardinal Richelieu as prime minister. The Thursday quiz imagines Queen's legendary guitarist wants you to tell him – and his badger – in which year …

    1. 1324

    2. 1424

    3. 1524

    4. 1624

15. 

    And finally … a high school football player in Arkansas discovered what in his helmet during practice?

    1. A small swarm of increasingly annoyed fire ants

    2. A striped bark scorpion with a nasty sting

    3. A 2ft venomous cottonmouth viper

    4. A very naughty miniature dachshund

Solutions

1:C - Oh dear, how sad, never mind, 2:B - Although the storm has been downgraded to a tropical depression, Beijing was still expecting a third of its annual rainfall in 24 hours, which sounds … a lot, 3:A - The move is designed to generate more interaction, although the Thursday quiz suspects that interaction will be mostly men going "Yeah, maybe?" to any woman between the ages of 18 and 65 on the app, 4:C - Green is also the only person to have bothered to break the sound barrier in a car, 5:D - It is indeed, according to Grammar Monster, a siege of herons. Odds Bodkins!, 6:A - In fairness to the officers involved, it is claimed that as soon as they suspected it was a body they stopped inspecting it while waiting for forensics teams to arrive and gather evidence. Even though, still, come on, 7:D - The flight was headed to the UK, 8:C - It was her second title, and she had also already won the Giro d'Italia Women this year too, 9:B - It covers a period of time in Westeros several years before the start of the TV series with the disappointing ending, 10:A - They still haven't come up with a plan to deal with Coldplay's popularity though, 11:D - Fortunately he wasn't too badly hurt, but to add insult to injury VAR subsequently disallowed the goal, 12:B - She was. She was also the first woman to be the US secretary of the treasury, 13:B - That is according to the archived internet version of the 2026 CIA World Factbook, which has been discontinued by the Trump administration, 14:D - Yes, Richelieu was a 17th-century menace, on his way to becoming the main antagonist of the Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds cartoon, 15:C - Nobody was hurt and the snake was released to terrorise again

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   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 and are absolutely 100% positive you aren’t attempting to factcheck a joke – you can complain about it in the comments below. Or why not watch Better for the Worse by Lucia & The Best Boys instead?

Better for the Worse by Lucia & The Best Boys