THE SUNDAY QUIZ

Have you been paying attention to this week’s news? Test yourself…

Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub comprised the fire brigade in the children’s television series Trumpton. For technical reasons, what were they never seen doing?

(a) Climbing ladders (b) Speaking

(c) Putting out a fire

Royal babies are christened in a replica of the Honiton lace gown worn by Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter. How was the modern version aged to resemble the original?

(a) Hung in full sunlight for two months

(b) Steeped in Yorkshire tea (c) “Kippered” in an Orkney smokehouse

In an unusual craze, holidaymakers in interwar Germany clamoured to have their pictures taken with a man dressed as a…

(a) Polar bear

(b) Zeppelin

(c) Sausage

Which item, installed on Parliament Square on Dec 9 1868, was a world first?

(a) Traffic light

(b) Photo booth

(c) Flushing public lavatory

The “Garden of Eden” – a “very wet, very lush” area in which modern humans first emerged some 200,000 years ago – has been identified. Where is it?

(a) Cardiff

(b) Las Vegas

(c) Northern Botswana

Woody Bledsoe, a Mormon bishop, pioneered which increasingly widespread field of research in the Sixties? (a) Ancestor tracing

(b) Facial recognition technology

(c) Cannabis oil therapy

What is the purpose of Trimbot, a robot developed by Edinburgh University?

(a) Hairdresser

(b) Garden pruning and topiary

(c) Adjusting ships’ sails

Mkango Resources is pursuing the “rare earths” used in vehicle batteries. Where?

(a) Kyrgyzstan

(b) Republic of the Congo (c) Birmingham

Demand is dramatically down in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea for this American export – but rising in Britain. What is it? (a) Tomato ketchup

(b) Oil

(c) Bourbon

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Formerly prominent figures in Irish life have become an “endangered species”, according to a spokesman. Who are they? (a) Publicans

(b) Priests

(c) Bookmakers

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A British former headmaster has been jailed for 10 months in Singapore for which offence?

(a) Smoking crystal meth (b) Spitting out chewing gum in the street

(c) Defaming the prime minister

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Singer John Legend’s album

A Legendary Christmas will contain a new version of a classic song rewritten in line with the MeToo movement. Which song? (a) If I Said You Have a Beautiful Body, Would You Hold It Against Me?

(b) Baby, It’s Cold Outside

(c) Stand By Your Man