TEST YOUR GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

1. The predominant colour of the Australian $2 banknote was (a) blue (b) green (c) yellow?

2. Kate Middleton’s second given name is (a) Diana (b) Elizabeth (c) Victoria?

3. Was the Taser, a police weapon, invented in the 1940s or 1970s?

4. Which former US president authored the 2020 book A Promised Land?

5. Which item of a jockey’s equipment is often referred to as “irons”?

6. Which character does Charlie Sheen play in the TV show Two and a Half Men?

7. The name of which South Australian opal mining town comes from an Aboriginal term for “whitefellas’ hole”?

8. The Sirocco, a Mediterranean wind that can reach hurricane speeds, comes from which desert?

9. In his mid-40s, which noted German composer gave up performing and appearing in public when he became almost completely deaf?

10. Who are the only two men to have played AFL, NRL and Super Rugby?

11. According to NRL player agent Sam Ayoub, several clubs were unwilling to take on, for free, which 18-year-old who went on to be a superstar?

12. Was camembert first produced in France or the Netherlands?

13. The name of a small seaport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is (a) Banana (b) Mango (c) Pineapple?

14. The 1913 act of the British parliament to deal with the activities of the suffragettes was commonly known as the (a) Cat and Mouse Act (b) Chicken and Egg Act (c) Dog and Bone Act?

15. Which is the correct spelling (a) stabalised (b) stabilised (c) stabillised?

16. Last year, the family of which best-selling British children’s author apologised for his notorious anti-Semitism, 30 years after his death?

17. King Scrub is in which Australian state/ territory?

18. “I hear that train a comin, rollin’ round the bend. I ain’t seen the sunshine since I don’t know when,” are lyrics from which song?

19. The “meatball” is the nickname of the primary logo of which aeronautics and space research agency?

20. Which Sri Lankan spinner holds the world record for most (800) test wickets?

21. Name the two permanent non-member states in the General Assembly of the United Nations.

22. What are the names of President Joe Biden’s two dogs?

23. Cities with which same name are the most populous in Libya and second-most populous in Lebanon?

24. Which 1840 Charles Dickens novel told the story of Nell Trent, “a beautiful and virtuous orphan girl of not quite 14” who lives with her maternal grandfather?

ANSWERS

1. (b) green. 2. (b) Elizabeth. 3. 1970s. 4. Barack Obama. 5. Stirrups. 6. Charlie Harper. 7. Coober Pedy. 8. Sahara Desert. 9. Ludwig van Beethoven. 10. Israel Folau, Karmichael Hunt. 11. Johnathan Thurston. 12. France. 13. (a) Banana.

14. (a) Cat and Mouse Act. 15. (b) stabilised. 16. Roald Dahl. 17. Queensland. 18. Folsom Prison Blues. 19. NASA. 20. Muttiah Muralitharan. 21. Holy See, Palestine. 22. Champ, Major. 23. Tripoli.

24. The Old Curiosity Shop.