Thursday news quiz: exposed bodies, racy stories, and children winning at chess

These chess pieces have some questions for you. Photograph: Look/Alamy

The Thursday quiz was all set to ask a question about Javier Milei’s improbable claim that US Democrats were financing an anti-Argentina campaign at the recent Fifa men’s World Cup. However, the quiz cannot work out how US lawmakers managed to ensure the Argentinian side had not a single effort on goal in 90 minutes during the final, which is really what did for them more than anything. Never mind, 15 questions have still been rustled up on topical news, popular culture and general knowledge. There are no prizes, but tell us how you got on in the comments. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 258

1. 

   Gunther von Hagens was definitely an odd one, eh? He died this week. What was the name of the process he used to display real human bodies at Body Worlds?

   1. Resinification

   2. Polymerisation

   3. Plastination

   4. Gosportification

2. 

   The protest movement against Narendra Modi's government (pictured – well, him, not the whole government) in India that sprang from criticism of leaked exam papers includes the name of which insect?

   1. Locust

   2. Cockroach

   3. Earwig

   4. Firefly

3. 

   Bodhana Sivanandan has set a new record by becoming the youngest girl ever to defeat a grandmaster rated over 2600 at chess. How old is she?

   1. 7

   2. 9

   3. 11

   4. 13¾

4. 

   Donald Trump (not pictured) has ordered signs to be put up outside which institution to accuse it of inaccuracy?

   1. The Smithsonian National Museum of American History

   2. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

   3. The Library of Congress

   4. Four Seasons Total Landscaping

5. 

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

   1. A watch of nightingales

   2. A chorus of nightingales

   3. An abundance of nightingales

   4. A scrumpy of nightingales

6. 

   A newly transcribed short story by which crucial figure in the course of the second world war has been described as 'racy' and a glimpse of their 'playful, funny, cheeky' side?

   1. J Robert Oppenheimer

   2. Arthur 'Bomber' Harris

   3. Vera Lynn

   4. Alan Turing

7. 

   The French navy (not pictured) apparently fired warning shots near which British politician while they were showboating out in the Channel?

   1. Suella Braverman

   2. Liz Truss

   3. Rupert Lowe

   4. Chris Philp

8. 

   This week's guest canines are (L-R, the quiz thinks) Zoli, Charlie and Titch (via reader Day P). Remind them which pop star is curating this year's London literature festival …

   1. Dua Lipa

   2. Nadine Shah

   3. Chappell Roan

   4. Ron from Sparks

9. 

   Saturday’s otherwise obscure Division Two match between Saltburn 2nd XI and Norton 2nd XI in the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League has gone viral after what happened?

   1. The match was delayed for 45 minutes after the umpire got involved in a heated parking dispute with a local council enforcement offical

   2. The final few overs were played with a tennis ball painted red after every single cricket ball Saltburn owned had been hit irretrievably into a small brook adjacent to the boundary

   3. A fielder apparently clicked his fingers to mimic the sound of the ball clipping the edge of the bat, leading to a dismissal

   4. 30-50 feral hogs invaded the pitch and starting digging up the wicket looking for truffles

10. 

    A Charli xcx portrait (pictured) has been added to the National Portrait Gallery's collection, the week her new album is released. What is the album called?

    1. Music, Fashion, Film

    2. Songs, Clothes, Cinema

    3. Tunes, Threads, Movies

    4. Violence, Religion, Injustice and Death

11. 

    The classicist whose 2017 translation of Homer's The Odyssey was praised by Christopher Nolan has in turn said she would have been ashamed to have written his movie version of it. That's nice, eh? She shares her name with an American actor. What is it?

    1. Laura Allen

    2. Emily Wilson

    3. Elizabeth Shaw

    4. Amy Adams

12. 

    The Thursday quiz was saddened to lose Bill Oddie. What was the name of The Goodies' biggest hit single in the UK?

    1. Funky Gibbon

    2. Far-out Macaque

    3. Groovy Gorilla

    4. Cheeky Chimpanzee

    5. Boogie-boy Bonobo

    6. Dangerous Mandrill

    7. Radical Marmoset

13. 

    Bill Oddie would have been delighted that what is being reintroduced to Willington Wetlands in Derbyshire?

    1. The spoonbill

    2. The stork

    3. The common crane

    4. The dodo

14. 

    On this day with Brian May! And his badger! 30 July is the anniversary of the FIRST defenestration of Prague. Out you go! The Thursday quiz imagines Queen's legendary guitarist wants you to tell him – and his badger – in which year …

    1. 1319

    2. 1419

    3. 1519

    4. 1619

15. 

    A New York school district has walked back plans to introduce what at Salamanca high school after the proposal sparked a backlash from educators and community members?

    1. Corporate sponsorship of specific classes

    2. A humanoid robot

    3. Mandatory VR headsets

    4. A very naughty miniature dachshund

Solutions

1:C - Definitely a slow day in the lab when you suddenly think: 'Oh, I know, I'll fill this corpse with plastic and see what happens', 2:B - India’s chief justice had called unemployed young Indians 'cockroaches', and so the movement co-opted it, 3:C - The Thursday quiz doesn't really understand chess rankings, but the Harrow schoolgirl has eclipsed Judit Polgár’s mark to become the youngest girl ever to defeat a grandmaster rated above 2600, 4:A - Surely one of the most thick-skinned things anybody could ever order, 5:A - It is indeed, according to Grammar Monster, a watch of nightingales. Odds Bodkins!, 6:D - The University of Cambridge English literature professor Sarah Dillon has transcribed and studied a little-known short story that Turing wrote, and it is quite the page-turner, 7:D - The French said they were carrying out a training exercise, which Philp appeared to dismiss as poppycock, 8:A - She will be interviewing Zadie Smith as part of the event, 9:C - Naughty, naughty. The incident has been dubbed 'Clicky Ponting', 10:A - And it slaps, as the kids probably say these days, 11:B - In an evisceration worthy of a one-star review, she went on to say the film 'has nothing convincing to say. [It] lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth. The film’s vision is too confused, its characters too underdeveloped. Its narrative structure is gimmicky. The writing is abysmal. There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible'. Well that is him told, for sure., 12:A - As the song says, dogs are always howlin', cats are always yowlin', but gibbons only like to sing and dance, 13:B - A trio of juvenile white storks have just arrived at their new home in Willington Wetlands in Derbyshire and conservationists are hopeful that their presence will kickstart the return of the birds to the Midlands after an absence of more than 600 years, 14:B - If the Thursday quiz had a penny for every time the good citizens of Prague had decided to yeet someone out of a high window during some kind of riot, it would only have three pennies, but that still seems a lot of times for such an event to happen in one city, 15:B - The initial announcement promised the 'deployment of a Realbotix M-Series humanoid robot, which uses natural conversation, facial expressions and real-time interaction to create engaging, hands-on learning experiences'. In fairness, the Thursday quiz remembers some actual human teachers in the 1980s who couldn't manage that, but that is another story

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. Why not watch We Take Things for Granted by Sarathy Korwar instead?

We Take Things For Granted by Sarathy Korwar