50 hard quiz questions and answers

Fifty of our toughest questions in five mixed rounds. If you get more than half, you should be on a quiz team. Tap Show answer to check each one.

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Round 1: Round one

Which American architect invented the word game that became Scrabble?
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Alfred Butts
Which Italian term, from the word for 'smoke', describes Leonardo's soft, hazy blending between tones?
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Sfumato
Which British toy company made Action Man under licence from 1966?
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Palitoy
At which battle of 1514 did the Ottoman sultan Selim I defeat the Safavid Shah Ismail I?
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Battle of Chaldiran
Who became the first President of Ireland in 1938?
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Douglas Hyde
Which East German official's mistaken announcement at a press conference on 9 November 1989 led to the opening of the Berlin Wall?
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Gunter Schabowski
Which city, captured by the Jurchens in 1127, was the capital of the Northern Song dynasty?
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Kaifeng
Which plant-eating dinosaur from Mongolia had hand claws more than half a metre long and a name meaning 'scythe lizard'?
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Therizinosaurus
Which number is known as the Hardy-Ramanujan number?
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1729
Which English writer's 1845 book Modern Cookery introduced the now-universal practice of listing a recipe's ingredients?
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Eliza Acton

Round 2: Round two

What was the name of Walt Disney's early animation studio in Kansas City, which went bankrupt in 1923?
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Laugh-O-Gram Studio
What is the highest mountain in Antarctica?
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Mount Vinson
Who composed the score for the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia?
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Maurice Jarre
The first rugby union international, between Scotland and England in 1871, was played at which ground?
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Raeburn Place
In which sport might you take part in a 'bonspiel'?
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Curling
In what year was the television licence first introduced in the UK?
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1946
What is the name of the upper house of Russia's Federal Assembly?
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Federation Council
Which constellation, known as the Serpent Bearer, lies on the ecliptic between Scorpius and Sagittarius?
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Ophiuchus
Galena is the main ore of which metal?
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Lead
The Disney boat ride It's a Small World was first created for which 1964 event?
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The New York World's Fair

Round 3: Round three

Which band released the 1990 single 'Right Here, Right Now'?
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Jesus Jones
What are the small breathing holes along the sides of an insect's body called?
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Spiracles
Which collective noun, also meaning to swell up, is used for a group of hippopotamuses?
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Bloat
The name Tesco combines the initials of tea supplier T. E. Stockwell with the first letters of which founder's surname?
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Cohen
Which mountain range in Central Asia has a name meaning 'Celestial Mountains'?
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Tian Shan
Which Australian lock and captain of the 1990s was nicknamed 'Nobody', because nobody's perfect?
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John Eales
Which Prime Minister of India took office in 1964 after Nehru's death and led the country during the 1965 war with Pakistan?
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Lal Bahadur Shastri
Aston Martin was co-founded in 1913 by Robert Bamford and which other man?
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Lionel Martin
What was Elvis Presley's first single for Sun Records, released in 1954?
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That's All Right
Which French writer wrote The Physiology of Taste, published in 1825?
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Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Round 4: Round four

What Latin name is given to the rule of logic 'If P then Q; Q is false; therefore P is false'?
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Modus tollens
Which actress played the hairnet-wearing Ena Sharples when Coronation Street began in 1960?
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Violet Carson
In 2017, Australia beat which country 6–0 in the Rugby League World Cup final in Brisbane?
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England
In the classic French kitchen brigade, which chef is responsible for sauces?
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Saucier
Who sang You Know My Name, the theme from the 2006 Bond film Casino Royale?
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Chris Cornell
Under what name was the publisher now known as Marvel founded in 1939?
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Timely Comics
Which 1699 treaty marked the first major loss of Ottoman territory in Europe, to the Habsburgs and their allies?
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Treaty of Karlowitz
Which battle of the 630s, fought in Iraq, was a decisive Arab victory over the Sasanian Persians?
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Battle of al-Qadisiyyah
Which country did England beat in the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup final in Paris?
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Canada
What name is given to the knee-length robe worn by men as the national dress of Bhutan?
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Gho

Round 5: Round five

Which lavish Surrey palace, whose name suggested nothing could equal it, did Henry VIII begin building in 1538?
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Nonsuch Palace
Which brothers founded the British games company Codemasters in 1986?
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Richard and David Darling
What was the name of the rod around which ancient Spartans wrapped a strip of leather or parchment to send secret messages?
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Scytale
At which Lincolnshire manor house was Isaac Newton born in 1642?
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Woolsthorpe Manor
What name is given to the sequence 2, 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18?
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Lucas numbers
Which Haverfordwest-born painter, sister of Augustus, lived in France and modelled for the sculptor Rodin?
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Gwen John
Which Neolithic stone circle on Orkney Mainland stands close to the Stones of Stenness?
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Ring of Brodgar
Which Swedish diplomat saved thousands of Jews in Budapest in 1944?
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Raoul Wallenberg
Which French marshal, called 'the bravest of the brave' by Napoleon, led the cavalry charges at Waterloo?
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Michel Ney
Since 2001, Wimbledon's courts have been sown with 100% of which type of grass?
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Perennial ryegrass

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