Dachshunds, kangaroos and a tortoise on the loose – take the Thursday quiz | Life and style

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On Tuesday, the Thursday quiz celebrated its fourth birthday. Four whole years of this nonsense! What a joy it is to share the quiz with those who gather underneath it in the comments every week. But there is no time to get carried away with self-congratulations when there are questions to be asked. Fifteen of them, in fact, in their usual ridiculous configuration of topical news, general knowledge and pop culture trivia. Enjoy – and here’s to many more birthdays to come …

The Thursday quiz, No 208

  1. 1.Valerie the dachshund is home! How long did she survive on her own on Kangaroo Island?

  2. 2.Also found this week was a tortoise (not pictured) that went missing from his home in Ulverston, Cumbria, nine months ago. What was his name?

    Beatrice the Tortoise

  3. 3.There was a lot of animal news to take in this week. A runaway kangaroo named Sheila (similar to the one in the picture) shut down a stretch of interstate in which US state?

    A kangaroo

  4. 4.Mark Carney and his Liberal party won the election in Canada. Members of parliament in Canada represent what …

    Mark Carney

  5. 5.A university student had to be rescued from the slopes of which tourist attraction twice in the space of a week?

    Clown

  6. 6.This is Willow, the official dog of the Guardian Thursday quiz. She’s anxious today because she has forgotten which group of the periodic table the noble gases have belonged to since 1988. Which group is it?

    Willow, the official dog of the Guardian Thursday quiz

  7. 7.Cardinals will form a conclave next week to elect a successor to the late Pope Francis. Where inside the Vatican (not pictured, that is Inter Milan’s Stadio Giuseppe Meazza) do they meet?

    The Pope at Inter

  8. 8.Here is Karl-Heinz with his opening lines. This week the Thursday quiz imagines the German soccer legend (pictured) would like you to say which film, set during the second world war, opens with these narrated lines: ‘Refugees – streaming from all corners of Europe towards the freedom of the new world – all eyes turned to Lisbon, the great embarkation point.’

    Rummenigge smokes a cigar

  9. 9.This proved unexpectedly popular last week. Or at least the title did. Once again, here is farther or nearer with Geordie Alan Shearer. This week we imagine the England soccer legend (pictured) wants to know, if he leaves his hometown of Newcastle upon Tyne, which is farther or nearer – Cape Town, South Africa, or Mumbai, India?

    Alan Shearer

  10. 10.On this day in 1851, Queen Victoria (etched) opened the Great Exhibition. Where?

    Queen Victoria

  11. 11.It is Bernard Butler’s birthday today. Happy birthday Bernard! Which fantastic 90s band did he play guitar for?

    Bernard Butler

  12. 12.Fair play to artist Stuart Semple, who says he has created a new colour called olo which scientists say they discovered by having laser pulses fired into their eyes. Semple has turned the colour into a paint and claims to be selling it for how much per 150ml jar?

    Art

  13. 13.We lost Mike Peters, the singer with the Alarm. How many guns did their biggest UK hit feature?

    Mike Peters and the Alarm

  14. 14.How many red cards did Real Madrid manage to pick up in the Copa del Rey final at the weekend?

    Red card

  15. 15.And finally, ‘Historians dispute Bayeux tapestry penis tally after lengthy debate’ was not a sentence the Thursday quiz ever expected to read, as you can see from Kenneth Williams’s expression here. According to history boffins, how many depictions of penises are there in the tapestry?

    Kenneth Williams

If you really do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers – and can show your working and are absolutely 100% positive you aren’t attempting to factcheck a joke – you can complain about it in the comments below. Why not watch this sublime video for Highway Man by the New Eves instead?

Highway Man by the New Eves

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