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The Thursday quiz was listening to Hello by The Beloved the other day, in the hope of asking a question such as “how many people mentioned in the song are still alive” and getting the in-joke answer 30-50. But it soon realised it was going to be quibbles all the way down. Leslie Crowther? Died in 1996. Kym Mazelle? Still very much with us. But Zippy? Well, Roy Skelton, who voiced him (and the Daleks) died in 2011. But is Zippy dead? Or was Zippy ever alive? What about the LSO? Presumably some of the people playing in the LSO at the time the single came out in 1990 have subsequently passed. But does that count? Anyway, one thing we can all agree on, that was certainly some words to bulk out this article page so it gets indexed by search engines. On with the quiz … 15 questions, no prizes, have fun!
The Thursday quiz, No 211
- 1.Who won Eurovision 2025?
- 2.Pending legal action, who (not pictured – that is just someone happy with the result) won Romania's presidential election rerun at the weekend?
- 3.Authorities in Greece are taking action after which company put on a drone display (not pictured – that is the moon) over the Acropolis?
- 4.Researchers have claimed the usage in English books of which of these punctuation marks has plummeted by almost half in two decades?
- 5.A court in Italy has told descendants of the country's last monarch (pictured, right) to do one after they tried to claim they should own the crown jewels. What was the name of Italy's last king, who abdicated in 1946?
- 6.Here is Karl-Heinz with his opening lines. This week the Thursday quiz imagines the German soccer legend would like you to point out which of these is the opening line to Down In The Tube Station At Midnight by The Jam …
- 7.This is Willow, the official dog of the Thursday quiz, and she has got this week's geography question, which is about Mauritania. Whereabouts in Africa is Mauritania?
- 8.This is Diego, an incredibly charismatic guest floof that the quiz master met on the tube last week while drunk. The quiz master was drunk, not the dog, to be clear. Diego knows the Who seem to keep firing Zak Starkey, bless him, but Diego wants to know who was the Who's drummer during their pomp?
- 9.Here is farther or nearer with Geordie Alan Shearer. This week we imagine the England soccer legend wants to know, if he leaves his hometown of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which is farther or nearer – Dublin, Ireland or Paris, France?
- 10.This is "Elemental, my dear Watson!", as Sherlock Holmes definitely never said. According to the Royal Society of Chemistry website, which of these elements is the metal with the lowest density?
- 11.Some fool of a Took (not pictured) has set a new record for the fastest time to run from the west to east of Australia to the other, presumably because there wasn't anything on the telly and he got bored. How many days did it take him?
- 12.It is the anniversary of the first battle of St Albans, which is often viewed as having kicked off England's War of the Roses (not pictured – that is the war of the rosés). When?
- 13.Who scored Crystal Palace's winning goal in the men's FA Cup final?
- 14.It is Morrissey's birthday today. So here is a question about lovely Johnny Marr instead. What is the name of the band that Johnny Marr formed with Bernard Sumner from New Order?
- 15.Japan's agriculture minister Taku Etō has resigned after saying what?
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 Hello by The Beloved instead?
