The fates have conspired to strike a vicious blow against the Thursday quiz, but despite being incapacitated, the quiz master has bravely mustered the strength from his sickbed to write 15 general knowledge and vaguely topical questions for your entertainment. There will be Kate Bush. There will be hidden references to Doctor Who. There will be jokes that people will then fact-check in the comments for some reason. There are no prizes, but let us know how you got on.

The Thursday quiz, No 72

1.THANK YOU BILL: We lost the lovely BBC Breakfast and Classic FM presenter Bill Turnbull last week. But what was the name of the book he published about one of his hobbies?

2.DEAD LETTER OFFICE: Which music star has decided after many years to sue the FBI to see the contents of the files kept about them?

3.I’M SORRY DAVE I’M AFRAID I CAN’T DO THAT: Which country’s digital minister is trying to eliminate the floppy discs that are still required for 1,900 government-related procedures such as submitting applications and other documents?

4.BORK, BORK, BORK!: The Swedish prime minister sent congratulations to the wrong Liz Truss on Twitter, and my how we all laughed at this mistaken identity. Who is Sweden’s prime minister?

5.ON THIS DAY: 8 September 1504 is often given as the date the Renaissance sculpture masterpiece David was unveiled to the public outside the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Who sculpted it?

6.WE MISS YOU, GARY: It would have been the birthday of the much-loved and much-missed Welsh footballer Gary Speed today. With which team did he win the English First Division championship in 1991–92?

7.HEY! LUCIANI: Immortalised in the song Hey! Luciani by the Fall, and recently beatified by Pope Francis, for how long was John Paul I the pope in 1978?

8.GCSE SCIENCE WITH STEVIE NICKS: Gold Dust Woman was written and sung by Stevie on Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album. But what is the atomic number of gold?

9.THE VINYL COUNTDOWN: What does the EMI stand for in the name of the record label EMI?

10.1966 AND ALL THAT: A series of questions that aren’t about football leading up to the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar, a country that David Beckham has described as “perfection”. The 1974 Fifa World Cup was held in West Germany. But with Berlin divided, what was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990?

11.WEIRD WORDS: Which of these words, according to the Collins dictionary online, means ‘an ornament at the top of a piece of furniture’

12.TAMMY’S TEASER: Tammy Wynette had a hit single with D-I-V-O-R-C-E in 1968. But which O was in the Wombles ?

13.IT’S ALL GREEK TO ME: Nasa has been trying to launch its Artemis mission. But in Greek mythology, who was the father of the goddess Artemis?

14.IT’S ALL GREEK TO ME (SLIGHT RETURN): The Tunnel of Eupalinos is considered one of the great achievements of ancient engineering. On which Greek island is it?

15.IT IS TOO EARLY FOR ALL THAT XMAS NONSENSE: Who (not pictured) this week announced they would be releasing their first dedicated Christmas album in nearly two decades?

  • If you think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers, please feel free to email [email protected], but remember the quizmaster’s word is final, and genuinely he is off work with a fractured ankle so he won’t care.


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