Thursday news quiz: Liz is absurd, Apu finds words and a bloke steals a bird

1. 

   Which province of Canada held a referendum this week on whether it should have a binding referendum on declaring independence from the country?

   1. Ontario

   2. New Brunswick

   3. Nova Scotia

   4. Alberta

2. 

   Archaeologists believe they have solved the mystery of whose bones were buried in a Roman sarcophagus unearthed at Westminster Abbey. Who was it?

   1. A 9th-century Mercian princess

   2. An 11th-century abbot

   3. Centurion Valerius Amandinus

   4. 30-50 feral hogs

3. 

   Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's film about Elizabeth Holmes (pictured) had the biggest documentary debut since 2004 in North America, taking in $15m. What is it called?

   1. One Single Drop

   2. You Can See Everything

   3. Bad Blood

   4. Would You Like To Invest Heavily Because I Have A Bridge I'd Like To Sell You

4. 

   The Thursday quiz loves trains and saw this lovely steam locomotive in Leicester the other day. But which city in the north of England is to get a brand new station as part of the Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme?

   1. Royston Vasey

   2. Halifax

   3. York

   4. Bradford

5. 

   Japan (pictured) has launched a space mission to gather rocks from which moon of Mars (also pictured)?

   1. Phobos

   2. Deimos

   3. Anteros

   4. Derek

6. 

   A man has been found guilty of animal cruelty after he stole a 27-year-old flamingo from its enclosure at a Las Vegas hotel. What is the bird's name?

   1. Petal

   2. Peachy

   3. Pinky

   4. Peggy

7. 

   Send Derren Brown today's collective noun. Use your psychic powers to let him know what, according to Grammar Monster, the collective noun for jaguars is (the animal, not the car).

   1. A stalk

   2. A prowl

   3. A slink

   4. A confusion

8. 

   This week's guest canine is Spanner, who the Thursday quiz met in Crouch End. She wants to know the name of the silly bomb-sniffing dog in Utah who accidentally broke several bones when he inexplicably leapt over the side of an overpass while out on a mission?

   1. Anton

   2. Craig

   3. Len

   4. Bruno

9. 

   It is Jeff Goldblum's birthday today. Happy birthday, Jeff! Jurassic Park! What's the name of his character in the dinosaur-infused franchise?

   1. David Levinson

   2. Fitz Kreiner

   3. Seth Brundle

   4. Ian Malcolm

10. 

    Apu has his voice back on The Simpsons. Who now voices the character?

    1. Utkarsh Ambudkar

    2. Karan Soni

    3. Kunal Nayyar

    4. Sunil Malhotra

11. 

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

    1. 27.7 million

    2. 47.7 million

    3. 67.7 million

    4. 87.7 million

12. 

    England's lady egg chasers (pictured in training) lost their first rugby union match after four years and 41 games unbeaten. Who bested them?

    1. Australia

    2. New Zealand

    3. Canada

    4. South Africa

13. 

    A bear in California's Mono county wandered into where to raid the staff snacks and check out the new releases?

    1. A library

    2. A record store

    3. A video game store

    4. A book store

14. 

    On this day with Brian May! And his badger! 22 October is the anniversary of a war fought between Britain and Spain from 1739 to 1748, mostly in the Caribbean. The Thursday quiz imagines Queen's legendary guitarist wants you to tell him – and his badger – what it was called.

    1. The war of the stray dog

    2. The war of the bucket

    3. The war of Jenkins' ear

    4. The lobster war

15. 

    The Thursday quiz regrets to inform you that Liz Truss is at it again, with a new book. What is it called?

    1. Inside Job

    2. Bank Job

    3. One-Woman Job

    4. Hack Job

16. 

    Bonus question: There is a new Doctor Who story that features a dachshund on the cover, and the writer, Jez Fielder, has posed you this question: In Anton Chekhov’s The Lady with the Little Dog, the lady’s dog is never named. Big Finish’s latest Doctor Who audio drama, The Beasts of Sakhalin Island, gives Chekhov a dog and finally supplies a name, the same as the lady herself. What is it?

    1. Katerina

    2. Natasha

    3. Anna

    4. Sonya

Solutions

1:D - Albertans roundly rejected the idea, 2:B - First discovered in 1820 and inscribed to Valerius Amandinus, the artefact had clearly been reused at a later date. Carbon dating suggests the bones belong to either Ælfwig, who died in about 1020, or Wulfnoth who died in about 1049, and had the slightly less silly name, 3:B - It was the biggest opening weekend for a documentary in North America since Fahrenheit 9/11, 4:D - It will be built on the current Bradford Interchange site and will allow through trains between Leeds and Manchester, 5:A - Phobos is the biggest of the potato-shaped objects whizzing around Mars, the only planet in the solar system known to be entirely populated by robots, 6:B - Peachy was mostly unharmed but is more anxious and nervous when being evaluated, its vet said. Mitchell Fairbarn faces up to four years in prison for the felony, 7:B - It is indeed a prowl of jaguars. Jaguars, however, are solitary animals, so it's a collective noun you're unlikely to ever use. Odds Bodkins!, 8:D - Bruno was airlifted with two broken legs and a broken jaw but has now left doggy hospital and will be fine, if a little bit embarrassed, 9:D - Of course it is, 10:D - Apu was originally voiced by the actor Hank Azaria, who – along with the producers of the show – was criticised for the stereotypical and racist portrayal of the character, who has consequently been silent for the past eight years, 11:B - That is according to the archived internet version of the 2026 CIA World Factbook, which has been discontinued by the Trump administration, 12:C - The test made history with a record North American crowd for a women’s rugby game with 18,621 people in the stands. Canada won 24-21, 13:A - It didn't take any books out, but it did eat a lot of snacks, 14:C - The name derives from Robert Jenkins, a British sea captain whose ear was allegedly severed by the Spanish some years before, 15:B - Apparently it explains – again – how Liz Truss was right and everybody else in the world was wrong when the panic that ensued after her disastrous mini-budget put people's mortgages up and led to her defenestration, 16:C - The story features Tim Treloar as the third Doctor, Katy Manning as his companion, Jo Jones nee Grant, and Joe Eyre as Anton Chekhov. Chekov's short story The Lady with the Little Dog was published in 1899, and Vladimir Nabokov considered it to be one of the greatest ever written

Scores

1. 0 and above.

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