{"id":669476,"date":"2026-07-02T08:51:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T08:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/669476\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T08:51:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T08:51:19","slug":"thursday-news-quiz-stolen-saplings-legal-happenings-and-a-missing-giraffe-life-and-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/669476\/","title":{"rendered":"Thursday news quiz: stolen saplings, legal happenings and a missing giraffe | Life and style"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sweltering heatwaves do nothing to deter the Thursday quiz. Well, OK, maybe a bit. The laptop is too hot to touch. The local animals are screeching and barking in a frenzy. People are playing their music too loud. But still, the quiz persists. Fifteen questions await you on topical news, general knowledge, popular culture and for some reason maths with goths, who are inevitably having a really hard time during such a hot summer. Anyway, let us know how you get on in the comments. Allons-y!<\/p>\n

The Thursday news quiz, No 254<\/p>\n

1.The Thursday quiz was saddened by the death of Penelope Keith (pictured here perfectly capturing Lady Bracknell). What was the name of her character in To The Manor Born?\"Penelope<\/p>\n

Reveal<\/p>\n

2.Which religious group is suing a podcast over the use of its name?\"Virgin<\/p>\n

Reveal<\/p>\n

3.A cassette recording of whose lost attempt to write a James Bond theme is being auctioned?\"A<\/p>\n

Reveal<\/p>\n

4.The Princess of Wales (pictured with her family, and she will always be Kate Middleton to the quiz) has completed what to raise money for charity?\"Kate<\/p>\n

Reveal<\/p>\n

5.Maths with goths! Take the extra amount of money the UK is to spend on drones, multiply it by the number of goals Brazil scored against Japan at the World Cup, divide it by the amount of money donated to Nigel Farage by the crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne, and what have you got?\"Two<\/p>\n

Reveal<\/p>\n

6.Who has announced they will be playing Hamlet in the West End next year (not pictured, that is obviously Yorick)?\"A<\/p>\n

Reveal<\/p>\n

7.It is Margot Robbie’s birthday today. Happy birthday, Margot! Hey Puddin! Which soap opera did she make her acting debut in?\"Margot<\/p>\n

Reveal<\/p>\n

8.This week’s guest canine is Basil, who the quiz met at The Fellow, just down the road from Thursday Quiz Towers in King’s Cross. Basil knows the EU has said small parcels under the value of \u20ac150 will now have to pay a customs charge, mostly to stop online platforms including Shein and Temu from undercutting retailers. How much is the charge to be?\"Basil<\/p>\n

Reveal<\/p>\n

9.Scores on the doors with Swindon’s Diana Dors! After breezing through their semi-final by reaching their target of 126 in just 13 overs, who will face either England or South Africa in this weekend’s Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup final?\"Statue<\/p>\n

Reveal<\/p>\n

10.London to Manchester trains were disrupted on Tuesday after what managed to get on to the tracks?\"Avanti<\/p>\n

Reveal<\/p>\n

11.Which country has just taken over the rotating EU presidency?\"EU<\/p>\n

Reveal<\/p>\n

12.The Sycamore Gap tree continues to make headlines after a sapling from it was stolen from where?\"Sycamore<\/p>\n

Reveal<\/p>\n

13.This giddy goose of a giraffe (the actual animal pictured, for once) absconded from a private game ranch in rural Texas and went missing for nearly two weeks. She has been found safe. What is her name?\"The<\/p>\n

Reveal<\/p>\n

14.On this day with Brian May! And his badger! 2 July is the anniversary of an 1881 assassination attempt on a US president that ultimately proved successful. The Thursday quiz imagines Queen’s legendary guitarist wants you to tell him \u2013 and his badger \u2013 which president.\"Queen<\/p>\n

Reveal<\/p>\n

15.Michael Phillips (not pictured) has had a healthy dose of attention for claiming to have the world\u2019s smallest penis, and is now crowdfunding for what?\"Eggplant<\/p>\n

Reveal<\/p>\n

If you really do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers \u2013 and can show your working and are absolutely 100% positive you aren\u2019t attempting to factcheck a joke \u2013 you can complain about it in the comments below. Or why not watch Wink Wink<\/a> by Charli xcx instead?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Wink Wink by Charli xcx<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sweltering heatwaves do nothing to deter the Thursday quiz. Well, OK, maybe a bit. The laptop is too…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-669476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}