Saturday Trivia Challenge: Put Your Smarts to the Test

What amount of common knowledge are you holding? Dive into this set of questions to find out.

The Questions

1 What icon of country music was nearly killed from an ostrich attack in 1981?

2 Sarah Mullally has been appointed as the one hundred and sixth what?

3 Which initially met at Thingvellir in the nation of Iceland in 930?

4 In the power industry, what is EfW?

5 Lacryma Christi vino originates from vineyards on which mountain?

6 What BBC sitcom has been airing for nineteen years?

7 Whose findings led to the implementation of stadiums with only seats in the UK?

8 Which piece in chess was originally known as the vizier?

Common Connections

9 Brick Lane; Chancery Lane; Hangar Lane; Leather; Park; Pudding Lane?

10 Urbión Range; Tordesillas; Zamora city; Oporto?

11 Son of Cush; ninth variation in music; maritime patrol aircraft; siege at the Iranian embassy?

12 Caldey; Denny Island; Flat Holm Island; Lundy; Stert; The Wolves Islands?

13 Pugilism; chariot contests; discus; javelin; broad jump; ancient combat sport; grappling?

14 Agent 007; Leamas character; Alden Pyle; Verloc persona?

15 Cate Blanchett; Cruz star; Keaton performer; Mira Sorvino; Wiest thespian?

Feeling stumped by the Tordesillas question?

The Solutions

1 The Man in Black.

2 Canterbury Archbishop.

3 Althing (Icelandic assembly).

4 Waste-to-energy.

5 Mount Vesuvius.

6 The sitcom Not Going Out (second longest-running UK sitcom)

7 Taylor Report (1990).

8 The queen piece.

9 London lanes.

10 River Douro: rises in Spain; travels through Spain; reaches Atlantic.

11 Nimrod: in Book of Genesis; from Elgar’s Enigma Variations; Nimrod aircraft; codename for SAS operation.

12 Bristol Channel islands.

13 Ancient Olympic events.

14 Title spies in novels: Ian Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me; John le Carré's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold; Greene’s The Quiet American; Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent.

15 Won acting Oscars in Woody Allen films: Blue Jasmine; movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona; classic Annie Hall; feature Mighty Aphrodite; Hannah and Her Sisters and Bullets Over Broadway.