General Knowledge50 randomly selected General Knowledge questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 7th July 2025 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
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| 1. | What do the initials HB on a pencil stand for? |
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Hard Black | |
| 2. | A train one kilometre long is travelling at a rate of 120 kilometres per hour through a tunnel which is three kilometres long. How long will it take the train to clear the tunnel? |
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2 minutes (1½ minutes for the front of the train to pass through plus 30 seconds until the back of the train clears the tunnel.) | |
| 3. | Divided into 100 stotinki (стотинки), the lev (лев) is the currency of what European country? |
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Bulgaria | |
| 4. | A plane took off from Suvarnabhumi at 6 o'clock this morning (ICT) on a flight to Los Angeles with a journey time of 17 hours 30 minutes. What time is it due to land at LAX (Pacific Daylight Time)? |
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9:30 am (14 hours time difference between PDT (UTC -7) and ICT (UTC +7)) | |
| 5. | Which European capital city is regarded as the birthplace of democracy? |
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Athens (Greece) | |
| 6. | What 'P' describes a sentence that makes use of all the letters of the alphabet? |
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Pangram (Greek: παν γράμμα, pan gramma, "every letter") | |
| 7. | The New Shekel is the currency of what country? |
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Israel | |
| 8. | Using exact measurements, which is heavier: 5 kilograms or 11 pounds? |
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5 kilograms (11.0231131 pounds) | |
| 9. | What two letters come next in the following sequence: SC, RM, GL, TD, PB, __? |
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DC (Sean Connery, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig) | |
| 10. | In Greek mythology, what object was sought by Jason and the Argonauts? |
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The Golden Fleece | |
| 11. | 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 | |
| 12. | Which word describes both a blunt sword and a very thin sheet of metal? |
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Foil | |
| 13. | In fashion, what does FCUK stand for? |
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French Connection United Kingdom | |
| 14. | With how many checkers does each player start a game of backgammon? |
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15 | |
| 15. | What is the only number in the English language that, when written out, is spelt in alphabetical order? |
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Forty | |
| 16. | Which well known professional wrestler was born Terry Gene Bollea in 1953? |
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Hulk Hogan | |
| 17. | What were 8 inches in 1971, 5¼ inches in 1976 and 3½ inches in 1983? |
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Floppy disks | |
| 18. | The USPS abbreviation of what US state is also the chemical symbol for mendelevium? |
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Maryland (MD / Md) | |
| 19. | Before being replaced by the Euro, what was the currency of Portugal? |
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Escudo | |
| 20. | With regards to the U.S. federal agency, what does ICE stand for? |
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement | |
| 21. | Who split up with Ken Carson between 2004 and 2006, during which time she dated Blaine, an Australian surfer? |
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Barbie | |
| 22. | Of which country is Avianca the flag-carrying airline? |
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Colombia (Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia S.A.) | |
| 23. | In the board game Monopoly, what is the total number of Chance and Community Chest squares? |
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Six (3 of each) | |
| 24. | What 'S' describes the illegal practice of bidding for your own items at auction, in order to drive the price up? |
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Shill bidding | |
| 25. | Not including aces or court (face) cards, what is the total value of the numeric cards of all suits in a standard deck of playing cards? |
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216 ((2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10)x4) | |
| 26. | How many four sided figures are in this diagram? |
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25 | |
| 27. | Nurse, Mako, Blue, Zebra, Carpet, School and Bull are all types of what? |
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Shark | |
| 28. | Typically defined as those born from the early-to-mid 1960s to the early 1980s, what name is given to the demographic cohort that comes after the Baby Boomers and before the Millennials? |
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Generation X / Gen X | |
| 29. | In Roman religion and mythology, what god is depicted with winged sandals? |
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Mercury (Hermes is the Greek equivalent) | |
| 30. | Wedding anniversaries. Put these three in date order, earliest first: Sapphire, Emerald, Ruby |
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Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald (40 - 45 - 55) | |
| 31. | What is the meaning of the small arrow next to the fuel pump symbol on a vehicle's fuel gauge? |
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Indicates which side of the car the fuel filler cap is on | |
| 32. | In Greek mythology, who was Helen of Troy's father? |
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Zeus | |
| 33. | The Lockheed C-5 had its maiden flight on 30th June 1968 and is still in service today. By what name is it better known? |
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Galaxy | |
| 34. | What 'S' describes the flexible strip of leather or canvas used by barbers to straighten and polish the blade of a razor? |
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Strop | |
| 35. | What is twelve cubed? |
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1728 | |
| 36. | How many cubic centimetres are there in a cubic metre? |
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1 million | |
| 37. | What single word can describe a ballet skirt, or an African cleric? |
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Tutu | |
| 38. | Which country has the letter E as its international car registration? |
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Spain (España) | |
| 39. | The Vedas are a volume of ancient texts that contain the oldest scriptures of what religion? |
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Hinduism | |
| 40. | In what U.S. State was King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX, born? |
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Massachusetts (Mount Auburn Hospital, Cambridge) | |
| 41. | What expression, referring to a lack of viable options, derives from a 16th-century livery stable owner in Cambridge who offered customers the horse nearest the stable door, or none at all? |
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Hobson's choice (said to have originated with Thomas Hobson (1544–1631)) | |
| 42. | What country's monarchs are Prince Phillipe and Queen Mathilde? |
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Belgium | |
| 43. | The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tested 540,000 students in 72 countries in 2015 on Maths, Science and Reading. What country ranked first in all three categories? |
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Singapore | |
| 44. | How many EU member states have English language names beginning with the letter 'S'? |
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4 (Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden) | |
| 45. | In Norse mythology, who was chief of the Gods and father of Thor, Baldur, and Váli? |
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Odin / Óðinn | |
| 46. | Which is greater? A. 80 knots B. 90 mph C. 40 m/s |
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A. 80 knots (92.0624 mph / 41.1556 m/s) | |
| 47. | To the nearest 1%, what was the percentage "No" vote in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum? |
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55 (55.3) | |
| 48. | What 'F' begins the common term for an error in human action, speech or memory, believed to be caused by the unconscious mind? |
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Freudian slip | |
| 49. | How many title deed cards are there in a standard game of Monopoly? |
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28 (22 streets, 4 railways, 2 utilities) | |
| 50. | Which Italian City is served by Marco Polo Airport? |
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Venice | |
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