1 Apart from Stamford Bridge and Hastings, which was the third battle fought on English soil in 1066?
a) Maldon b) Fulford Gate c) Evesham d) Cadbury Hill
2 Who is supposed to have founded the first leper hospital in the world?
a) William the Conqueror b) El Cid c) Bohemond of Antioch d) Robert Cuiscard
3 Where was the world’s first university founded?
a)Salerno b) Padua c) Paris d) Salamanca
4 Which volcano erupted twice in the 12th century and 13 more times in the following 800 years?
a)Etna b) Hekla c)Vesuvius d)Krakatoa
5 What was the largest city in mainland Europe in the 12th century?
a) Rome b) Cordoba c) Paris d) London
6 Which classic of world literature appeared in the 12th century?
a) The Rubaiyat b) The Decameron c) The Tale of Genji d) Parsifal
7 Who imprisoned Richard I in Durenstein Castle?
a) Saladin b) Philip II of France c) Leopold of Austria d) Frederick Barbarossa
8 Which Alpine pass opened in the year 1201?
a) St Bernard b) St Gotthard c) Brenner d) Simplon
9 Who succeeded Genghis Khan as Great Khan of the Mongols?
a) Batu b) Subudei c) Jagatni d) Ogodei
10 Who was canonised just two years after his death in 1226?
a) Francis of Assisi b) Anthony of Padua e) Anselm d) Thomas Aquinas
11 What appeared in Avignon in the mid-14th century? The first
a) soup kitchen b) public library c ) licensed brothel d) Punch and Judy show
12 Why were Jews particularly persecuted in the late 1340s? For
a) usury b) intermarriage with Christians c) spreading the Black Death d) cannibalism
l3 Which French king was influenced by Joan of Arc and Agnes Sorel?
a) Charles V b) Charles VI c) Charles VII d) Charles VIII
14 Who designed the fresco entitled Reform of the Camelite Rule?
a) Botticeli b) Bellini c) Filippo Lippi d) Fra Angelico
15 Which game was banned in England by Edward IV on the grounds that it interfered with compulsory archery practice?
a) football b) cricket c) croquet d) bowls
16 What was the name of Henry VIII’s older brother?
a ) Arthur b) Thomas c) Edward d) Richard
17 Who painted the following: The Birth of the Virgin, The Madonna of the Harpies and The Madonna del Sacco?
a) Leonardo b) Paulo Veronese c) Andrea del Sarto d) Michelangelo
18 Which discoverer of New York harbour was killed in battle during an expedition to Brazil?
a) Vespucci b) Verrazano c) Cabot d) Alvarado
19 Which city suffered major earthquakes in 1531 and 1755?
a) Lisbon b) Tokyo c) Mexico City d) Bogota
20 Which South American silver mine provided the wealth to power 16th-century European economies?
a) Sulaco b) PotosI c) Cuzco d) Oaxaca
21 Who described tobacco as “a custom lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the nose, harmfull to the brain, dangerous to the lungs”?
a) Elizabeth I b) James I c) Shakespeare d) Francis Bacon
22 Which nation had a monopoly on trade with Japan until 1609?
a) Spain b) Holland c) England d)Portugal
23 Who was assassinated by Francois Ravaillac?
a) Louis XIII b) Vicomte de Turenne c) Prince of Conde d) Henri IV
24 In 1613 the Globe Theatre burned down after a performance of which play?
a) Henry VIII b) The Tempest c) Macbeth d) Hamlet
25 Which group of people did Pope Urban VIII threaten to excommunicate in 1624?
a) Jansenists b) tobacco smokers c) snuff users d) mercenaries
26 Half a million people were said to have died of bubonic plague in which city in 1630?
a) Vienna b) Venice c) Budapest d) Prague
27 Who described the condom as “an armour against enjoyment and a spider’s web against danger”?
a) Lady Wortley Montagu b) Madame de Sevigne c) Casanova d) Boswell
28 The Japanese shogun, Sunayoshi, imprisoned 9,000 people for breaking his law against what?
a) killing animals b)growing opium c) building ships d) living by the seashore
29 What industry was begun in 1712 by a single action by Christopher Hussey?
a) cotton manufacture b) cigar making c) the fur trade d) whaling
30 What made its last European appearance at Marseilles in 1720?
a) the Black Death b) leprosy c) a plague of locusts d) cholera
31 The English surgeon Claudius Aymand performed the first recorded successful operation of which kind in 1763?
a) trepanning b) appendectomy c) tonsillectomy d) caesarean section
32 Where was the first city-based professional police force set up?
a) London b) New York c) Paris d) Philadelphia
33 Which British politician first used the phrase “the balance of power”?
a) Newcastle b) Pitt c)Walpole d) Rockingham
34 What did Captain Cook discover in 1778 during his third voyage?
a) Marquesas Islands b) Antarctica c) Hawaii d) Easter Island
35 What was first made in Cuba in 1797?
a) cigarettes b) barley- sugars c) chocolates d) fruit salad
36 What was the world’s largest city in 1801?
a) Peking b) Delhi c) Tokyo d) Canton
37 Which nation introduced the habit of serving meals in courses?
a) Russia b) France c) Italy d) Poland
38 Which Zulu king was defeated by the Boers at Blood River in 1838?
a) Chaka b) Mzilikazi c) Dingaan d) Cetewayo
39 Who was prime minister on four separate occasions?
a) Salisbury b) Disraeli c) Palmerston d) Gladstone
40 Who charted the River Zaire in 1877?
a) Livingstone b) Stanley c) Burton d) Speke
41 The battle of Miraflores ended which war?
a) the Carlist war b) the Paraguayan war c) the Mexico-US war d) the Peru-Chile war
42 According to the constitution, what is the maximum period of time a US president can serve?
a) eight years b) nine years c) ten years d) 11 years
43 Which 20th-century Latin American president committed suicide?
a) Obregon b)Vargas c) Peron d) Irigoyen
44 Who commanded the Chinese communists’ eighth army during the struggle with Chiang Kai-shek?
a) Zhou Enlai b) Zhu De c) Lin Biao d) Yuan Shikai
45 Which of these is a native of Illinois?
a) sucker b) hoosier c) jayhawk d) cajun
46 Who suppressed the Kronstadt naval mutiny in 1921?
a) Lenin b) Stalin c) Trotsky d) Bukharin
47 Which US admiral was decoyed by the Japanese at the battle of Leyte Gulf?
a) Nimitz b) Halsey c) Spruance d) King
48 Who succeeded Madame Blavatsky as head of the theosophy movement?
a) Marie Stopes b) Ouida c) Aimee Semple MacPherson d) Annie Besant
49 Who was Benjamin Britten’s musical mentor?
a) Gustav Holst b) Frank Bridge c) Edward Elgar d) Ralph Vaughan Williams
50 Which famous Hollywood couple nearly came to grief when a once-in-a-hundred years hurricane assailed a transatlantic liner?
a) Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn b) Clark Gable and Carole Lombard c) Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood d) Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith
Quiz Answers
1 b) Fulford Gate
2 b) El Cid
3 a) Salerno
4 b) Hekla
5 b) Cordoba
6 a) The Rubaiyat
7 c) Leopold of Austria
8 b) St Gotthard
9 d) Ogodei
10 a) Francis of Assisi
11 c) licensed brothel
12 c) spreading the Black Death
13 c) Charles VII
14 c) Filippo Lippi
15 b) cricket
16 a) Arthur
17 c) Andrea del Sarto
18 b) Verrazano
19 a) Lisbon
20 b) PotosI
21 b) James I
22 d) Portugal
23 d) Henri IV
24 a) Henry VIII
25 c) snuff users
26 b) Venice
27 b) Madame de Sevigne
28 a) killing animals
29 d) whaling
30 a) the Black Death
31 b) appendectomy
32 d) Philadelphia
33 c) Walpole
34 c) Hawaii
35 a) cigarettes
36 d) Canton
37 a) Russia
38 c) Dingaan
39 d) Gladstone
40 b) Stanley
41 d) the Peru-Chile war
42 c) ten years
43 b) Vargas
44 b) Zhu De
45 a) sucker
46 c) Trotsky
47 b) Halsey
48 d) Annie Besant
49 b) Frank Bridge
50 c) Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood
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