General Knowledge50 randomly selected General Knowledge questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 26th January 2026 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
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| 1. | What 'A' is the ISO standard definition for a piece of paper measuring 148mm × 210mm? |
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A5 | |
| 2. | In Norse mythology, who was chief of the Gods and father of Thor, Baldur, and Váli? |
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Odin / Óðinn | |
| 3. | How many U.S. states have a letter 'U' in their name? |
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8 (Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah) | |
| 4. | What is the birth surname of Pope Francis? |
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Bergoglio (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) | |
| 5. | Associated with Ireland and Irish folklore, what 'S' describes this walking stick and cudgel, traditionally made from a stout knotty blackthorn stick with a large knob at the top? |
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Shillelagh | |
| 6. | First described in 1700, what 'K' is a legendary sea monster of enormous size said to appear in the sea between Norway and Iceland? |
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Kraken | |
| 7. | What is the English language translation of the Welsh term 'bord smwddio' (pronounced 'bord smoothio')? |
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Ironing board | |
| 8. | What is the value of this Roman numeral? |
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500,000 (D=500, the horizontal bar multiplies it by 1,000) | |
| 9. | How many X's are there on a regular clock face with Roman numerals? |
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4 (IX, X, XI, XII) | |
| 10. | What was Hilary Clinton's maiden name? |
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Rodham | |
| 11. | To the nearest kilogram, what is 14 stone in kilograms? |
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89 (88.9041) | |
| 12. | Operation Unicorn deals with transporting the Queen's coffin from Scotland to London. Operation Marquee covers the four days of the Queen's lying-in-state. First devised in the 1960s, what is the code name for the principal operation handling all aspects of the death of Queen Elizabeth II? |
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Operation London Bridge | |
| 13. | Which of these quantities is largest? A. 5 litres B. 10 U.S. pints C. 9 Imperial pints |
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C (A=5 B=4.732 C=5.114) | |
| 14. | Put these anniversaries in date order, earliest first: A. Crystal B. Pearl C. China |
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A. Crystal C. China B. Pearl (15 / 20 / 30 years) | |
| 15. | What is the colloquial English name for the Japanese Shinkansen |
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Bullet train | |
| 16. | How many prime numbers are there between 50 and 100? |
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10 (53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97) | |
| 17. | Who is also known as Siddhārtha Gautama? |
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Buddha | |
| 18. | Who comes next in this sequence: Conrad Hilton Jr., Michael Wilding, Mike Todd, Eddie Fisher, _____ _____? |
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Richard Burton (the first five husbands of Elizabeth Taylor) | |
| 19. | What term was coined after the Norrmalmstorg bank robbery of 1973, in which employees were held hostage for six days and became emotionally attached to their captors, and even defended them after they were freed from their ordeal? |
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Stockholm Syndrome (Norrmalmstorg is a square in central Stockholm) | |
| 20. | What type of structures appear on the reverse of Euro banknotes? |
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Bridges | |
| 21. | Which country has the letter C as its international car registration? |
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Cuba | |
| 22. | In Greek mythology, who was the father of Zeus? |
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Cronus / Kronos (Greek: Κρόνος) | |
| 23. | By what name is the "Religious Society of Friends" better known? |
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Quakers | |
| 24. | Using exact measurements, which is heavier: 5 kilograms or 11 pounds? |
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5 kilograms (11.0231131 pounds) | |
| 25. | Next in line of succession after the U.S. Vice President, who is the current Speaker of the House of Representatives? |
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Paul Ryan | |
| 26. | George W. Bush, Prince Charles, Paul McCartney. List them in order of age, youngest first. |
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Prince Charles (62), George W. Bush (65), Paul McCartney (69) (14 November 1948 - 6 July 1946 - 18 June 1942) | |
| 27. | After how many years would you celebrate a diamond anniversary? |
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60 | |
| 28. | How many yards are there in a statute mile? |
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1760 | |
| 29. | What two letter code is used by wireless operators to make a general call to everyone listening on the same frequency? |
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CQ | |
| 30. | Which U.S. city is nicknamed The Biggest Little City in the World? |
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Reno (Nevada) | |
| 31. | According to the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, when two power-driven vessels are meeting head-on, in what direction must they both alter course, port or starboard? |
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Starboard (Right) | |
| 32. | What 'L' is a breed of dog named after a north-easterly region of Canada? |
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Labrador | |
| 33. | How many cards are there in a standard tarot pack? |
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78 | |
| 34. | GBZ is the international vehicle registration code for what British Overseas Territory? |
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Gibraltar (Z was assigned because G was already used for Guernsey) | |
| 35. | In Norse mythology, which female warriors were sent into battle by Odin to decide which soldiers die and which live? |
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Valkyries (Old Norse: Valkyrja "chooser of the slain") | |
| 36. | What is the largest Euro denomination available as a coin? |
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2 Euro | |
| 37. | What was J. Edgar Hoover's first name? |
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John | |
| 38. | What, appropriately, was Buzz Aldrin's mother's maiden name? |
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Moon | |
| 39. | On a hunting trip in the Alps in 1941, Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral was intrigued by burdock burrs (seeds) that kept sticking to his clothes and his dog's fur. After lengthy experimentation, what did he patent in the mid 1950s? |
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Velcro | |
| 40. | A national symbol of the French Republic, what is the name of France's Goddess of Liberty? |
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Marianne | |
| 41. | To the nearest whole number, how many grams are there in an avoirdupois ounce? |
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28 (28.3495231 grams - a troy ounce is 31.1034768 grams) | |
| 42. | If a thousand billion is a trillion, what is a thousand trillion? |
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Quadrillion (1015 - 1,000,000,000,000,000) | |
| 43. | What is written immediately above the word 'ONE' in the centre of the back of a U.S. one dollar bill? |
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IN GOD WE TRUST | |
| 44. | What can be calculated by using the formula 2πr ? |
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Circumference of a circle (r=radius, π=pi; area is πr2) | |
| 45. | Which word describes both a blunt sword and a very thin sheet of metal? |
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Foil | |
| 46. | What two words complete the following sequence: Juliet Mike, Tango Bravo, Golf Bravo, Delta Charlie, Tango Mike, ____ ____? |
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Bravo Juliet (JM: John Major, TB: Tony Blair, GB: Gordon Brown, DC: David Cameron, TM: Theresa May, BJ: Boris Johnson) | |
| 47. | In Norse mythology, who was chief of the Gods and father of Thor, Baldur, and Váli? |
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Odin | |
| 48. | The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are Pestilence, War, Famine and what? |
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Death | |
| 49. | No more than 6 letters long, spell correctly the plural of 'radius'. |
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Radii (Radiuses) | |
| 50. | What item of nightwear derives its name from the Persian word for 'leg garment'? |
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Pyjamas / Pajamas (Persian: پايجامه pāyjāmeh) | |
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