The King William’s College quiz 2025: are you up to this notoriously difficult challenge?

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Editor’s note: the King William’s College quiz has appeared in the Guardian since 1951. The quiz is no longer sat formally; it is sent to the schoolchildren and their families to tackle over the Christmas holiday. So yes, you are allowed to Google – however, the questions are constructed to make that less than straightforward. Answers will appear on theguardian.com on 13 January 2025. Good luck!

General knowledge paper, 2025-2026, No 121, set for the pupils of King William’s College, Isle of Man

Scire ubi aliquid invenire possis ea demum maxima pars eruditionis est
(To know where you can find something is, after all, the greatest part of learning)

1. During 1925:

1. What event gave the Bluebirds the blues?

2. And what event brought joy to Beatrice and Alfred in North Parade?

3. In what was the worrying amnesia of Charles Edward Biffen revealed?

4. The idealism and humanity of whose work was rewarded in the Swedish capital?

5. Whose novel was published posthumously, contrary to his wishes, by his friend Max?

Active working dogs pulling sledge with people on snowy landscape.

6. To which subarctic town did a remarkable relay of dog sleds bring antitoxin to counter a diphtheria epidemic?

7. Where was a no-ball dispatched to take the Surrey opener past the Doctor’s record?

8. Who was the bird-girl controversially depicted in a Hyde Park sculpture?

9. Which city resumed the name that had been discarded in 1624?

10. Which island was declared a British crown colony?

2. Where:

Blue stethoscope on white background with copy space.

1. Did Montagu come to grief, irretrievably?

2. Did Ross’s trainer trial tendon-nicking on three sheep?

3. Is the pinnacle on which the Isle of Wight Parson sat uneasily?

4. Did Whistler paint scenes that were used by a Staffordshire pottery?

5. Did Vindex Brimblecombe have a contretemps with a 15-year-old pupil?

6. During a major confrontation, did ignition of the stored magazine destroy the parish church?

7. Was the doctor’s wife unable to hear the bells as she sat beneath the ilex tree?

8. Did the village GP establish the mode of transmission of enteric fever?

9. Did John fight Robin Snell and then help to put him to bed?

10. Did Harriet find the body of the haemophiliac gigolo?

3. Beating, tacking, reaching, luffing or even protesting – what:

Circus artists on a trapeze, with their shadows projected on a white wall.

1. Is in the affirmative?

2. Took its name from the long-finned tuna?

3. Encourages youngsters to look on the bright side?

4. Appropriately, was prepared for the Helsinki Olympic Games?

5. Accommodates a trapeze artist, and despite its name, is not a fishing boat?

6. Craft’s name is derived from a ghost ship immortalised by the Bayreuth master?

7. Started as Sea Swallow before receiving a more glowing name?

8. Unsurprisingly, was designed for the Royal Navy?

9. Brought together a small raptor and rucola?

10. Might equally be a speedy full back?

4.

1. Which kleiner leuchtturm is uniquely thatched?

2. Atop which Lutheran edifice does the light blink the letter “H”?

3. Which lighthouse was built on top of one of King Christian’s towers?

4. Which lighthouse, still active, started as Övre Dageort almost 500 years ago?

5. Where, of three towers built 300 years ago, does St Peter’s alone continue to shine?

6. Which Roman edifice was believed to stand above the head of a mythical three-bodied ogre?

7. Which lighthouse is dramatically located atop the highest of three rock pillars?

8. Where is there an ancient octagonal tower built of calcium carbonate?

9. Which lighthouse occupies the insular home of the Grey Selkie?

10. The lantern of which lighthouse stands beside its tower?

5. Who:

Espresso shot pouring out of a espresso machine.

1. Was Mandy?

2. Was Mr Winterbottom?

3. Enjoyed the regular company of Cissie?

4. Went their own ways as Fletcher and Lumsden?

5. Would inquire: “Do you want your coffee now or later?”

6. Suggested (unreliably) that his digit was abbreviated due to repeated immersion in whiskey?

7. Was blessed with more than his share of happiness?

8. Initially limited his show to 30 minutes?

9. Entertained us before our very eyes?

10. Were two of a kind?

6. In which cathedral:

1. Is the Donkey Tower?

2. Is the country’s only papal tomb?

3. Was the granddaughter of Alfred the Great finally laid to rest?

4. Is a seamless garment, allegedly worn by Jesus at the time of the crucifixion?

5. Is the apse shrouded in an ancient rose, which ensures the continuing prosperity of the city?

6. Was all the medieval stained glass destroyed by a devastating explosion of fertiliser 15km away?

7. Is the shrine containing the supposed relics of Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar?

8. Is worship conducted by both Roman Catholic and Lutheran adherents?

9. Is illumination seemingly provided by tungsten?

10. Is the continent’s largest organ?

7.

Steam train at sunset, in the Surrey hills.

1. As what is FeS₂ known?

2. Who wrote about Oligarchal Collectivism?

3. What carries the inscription “Out of the strong came forth sweetness”?

4. Happy to be buried by a tree or by a stream, but where did he not wish to be buried?

5. What describes Prince Henry’s journey from Strasbourg to Salerno via Lucerne and Genoa?

6. Where did Henry and Francis confer between the Feasts of Corpus Christi and Saint John the Baptist?

7. What name mimicked that of an elite Pullman service, but with a change of weapon?

8. Where did Tupman, Snodgrass and Winkle welcome their illustrious leader?

9. Who was exposed as a cheat first in Miami and then at Sandwich?

10. Who lost 6-44 to Johnson?

8.

1. Whose reign was ended by Maxim?

2. Who created a raindrop in Valldemossa?

3. Who, according to Matt and Mark, was Somebody to Love?

4. Who lost his duel with Hawk in a meadow near Ham House?

5. Who warned of an explosion in three seconds on his banana night?

6. Which Hanoverian sportsman was thought to have died as the result of a blow to the chest by a cricket ball?

7. Who might have been perceived as a deserter from Austerlitz?

8. Which naval officer’s creations were both simple and easy?

9. Who sang to Eliza “On the street where you live”?

10. Who established a Fun Factory in SE5?

9. Along the course of the great river:

An actor dressed as Napoleon Bonaparte on a white horse.

1. Whence Eco’s novitiate narrator?

2. Where was it bridged by Apollodorus?

3. Where did Clark repeat his Marlow Bridge design?

4. Where did Ilia Busch reluctantly accept Mr Jaeger as a passenger?

5. Where was the Lionheart incarcerated by der Tugendhafte, whom he had earlier insulted?

6. Where is the rotunda, commissioned by Ludwig, commemorating the defeat of Napoleon?

7. Where did Patrick join the mayor’s party in the cathedral on Holy Saturday?

8. Where did Brandt refuse to accept the bribe offered by Rasta Bey?

9. Where is the castle depicted by Altdorfer?

10. Where did Victor create his monster?

10.

1. Where is the home of Los Merengues?

2. In what does Arbutus receive an ursine embrace?

3. Where is Bellver’s statue, inspired by a work of John Milton?

4. Where can one see the famous depiction of the horror of Rügen?

5. Where did Jake and Brett enjoy roast young suckling-pig and drink rioja alta?

6. Where does El Manco de Lepanto look down on the knight from La Mancha and his portly squire?

7. Which venerable coffee house is associated with an annual literary award?

8. In which street did Goya depict the cavalry charge of 2 May?

9. Where do Los Colchoneros celebrate their successes?

10. Where was Piper winged by a sniper?

11. Where:

The Wheatsheaf Inn in Ludlow, Shropshire, England.

1. Was K7 created?

2. Was the shrine of the martyr, victim of Ivar and Ubba?

3. Was the final resting place of the bronze age toxophilite?

4. Did FitzUrse and colleagues carry out Curtmantle’s supposed order?

5. Was feminine weakness admitted, while claiming manly cardiac and gastric strength?

6. Was the Wheatsheaf Inn, selected by Alastair Maclean after his meeting with Amos and the Spoonbills?

7. Did the original biflora, supposedly arise from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea?

8. Did the 17-year-old Prince of Wales allegedly lose his head?

9. Is the Abbey, burial place of the victor of Brunanburh?

10. Does Black Tom toll the Devil’s Knell?

12. Add the next name in the following sequences:

1. Cush, Mizraim, Phut, ……

2. Wake, Potter, Herring, ……

3. Euphemia, Anabella, Joan, ….

4. Erhaab, Lammtarra, Shaamit, ….. … …

5. Newtown, Orchard, Somerset, ….. …..

6. Sherrington, Rutherford, Hopkins, …..

7. Dukkha, Samudaya, Nirodha, …..

8. Roncalli, Montini, Luciani, …….

9. Brainin, Nissel, Schidlof, ……

10. Horse, Goat, Monkey, …….

13.

1. Which military surgeon, together with four privates, received the VC for manning a boat and repeatedly negotiating dangerous surf to rescue comrades on Little Andaman?

2. Which surgeon from Limerick fought with his sword in defending colleagues, wounded by the Karens at Lwekaw, and was awarded the VC?

3. Which surgeon serving on HMS Hazard displayed extreme bravery in a rescue operation at Candia, Crete and is the only naval medical officer to hold the VC?

4. Who earned the highest award for repeated acts of bravery at Magersfontein, and although invalided home returned to action in South Africa two months later?

5. Which captain of the British Isles rugby team earned the highest award for bravery at Tyger Kloof Spruit?

6. Who qualified at UCH and was awarded the VC, first for gallantry at Vlakfontein and again, at Zonnebeke (Belgium) 12 years later?

7. Which hero of Mesopotamia became a distinguished malariologist and is the only fellow of the Royal Society to hold the VC?

8. Which hero gained the MC at Hooge and the VC at Guillemont, but in gaining a bar to his VC one year later at Wieltje, was fatally wounded?

9. Whose repeated acts of extreme bravery earned him the MC at Delville Wood and later the VC at Passchendaele? He was killed by a sniper 11 days later.

10. Which Old St Beghian won the MC during the first battle of Gaza, and again showed remarkable bravery later the same year at Tel-el-Khuwwilfeh, but was killed in action and awarded the VC posthumously?

14.

A young male snowy owl in flight against a blue sky

1. Where did a hypermetropic raptor fly to fame in 1988?

2. Which town is named after the third son of the Winter Queen?

3. Which capital recalls the Gilpins’ intended destination for their China anniversary?

4. Over which flats did the great white owl of the north catch the muskrat at the third attempt?

5. In which little fruitful village did the wealthy farmer Bellefontaine live with his gentle daughter?

6. Where is the memorial to a great Mohawk leader, together with six other figures representing the Iroquois Confederacy?

7. Where was the Métis leader hanged for treason 15 years after the shooting of an Orangeman?

8. Where did Grey Beaver reward the wolfdog, who had gone to the rescue of his son?

9. Where were planks from the Alice May burned to fulfil McGee’s dying wish?

10. Where did they bury Capt Lawrence of the Chesapeake?

15 Complete the following obituary notices:

Sunlight shines on the crosses of tombstones at Highgate cemetery, London.

1. On 13 January, due to a perforated ulcer, in Zurich ….. ….., husband of Nora, née Barnacle, and father of Giorgio and Lucia.

2. On 26 January, following a stroke, at the Chantry, …… …… FRS, physician and ornithologist, dear husband of Catherine. The funeral will take place at the Church of St Mary, Berkeley.

3. On 22 February, owing to heart failure at his home in Athol Street, Douglas, ……… …. . artist and lifelong friend of John Quine.

4. On 23 May after several strokes at his home in Arbins Gate, Kristiania, …… ….. , playwright. Husband of Susannah and father of Sigurd. Burial will take place at Vår Frelsers Gravlund.

5. On 28 May, from meningitis complicating an old bullet wound, at Oban, ….. ……., special friend of the late Adolph. The funeral service and burial will take place at the church of St Mary the Virgin at Swinbrook.

6. On 21 July, following complications of rheumatic fever, in Mill Hole Brae, Dumfries …… ….., exciseman.

7. On 5 August, as a result of laryngeal cancer, at Primrose Hill, ……… ……, successive partner of the late sisters, Mary and Lizzie.

8. On 9 November at St Vincent’s Hospital, Manhattan, ….. …… , poet, husband of Caitlin. The funeral will take place on 24 November at St Martin’s church, Lougharne.

9. On 14 December at his home in Fairfax County, …… ………., following an acute peritonsillar abscess, beloved husband of Martha and stepfather of Jacky and the late Patsy.

10. On 17 December at her home, Alde House, ……… ……. …….., pioneering physician and beloved wife of the late Skelton. The funeral will take place at the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Aldeburgh.