Weekend Quiz: Put Your Smarts to the Test

How much of common knowledge are you holding? Dive into the following set of questions to find out.

The Questions

1 Which icon of country music had a close brush with death from an ostrich attack in 1981?

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

3 Which first convened at Thingvellir in the nation of Iceland during the year 930?

4 In the power industry, what is EfW?

5 Tears of Christ wine comes from wine estates on which mountain?

6 What British television comedy has been airing for 19 years?

7 Which person's findings led to the adoption of all-seater stadiums in the United Kingdom?

8 What piece in chess was initially called the vizier?

What Links

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

10 Sierra de Urbión; Tordesillas town; Zamora city; Porto?

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

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

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

14 Agent 007; Alec Leamas; Pyle figure; Adolf Verloc?

15 Blanchett actress; Cruz star; Diane Keaton; Sorvino actress; Wiest thespian?

In deep water over the Tordesillas clue?

The Solutions

1 Johnny Cash.

2 Canterbury Archbishop.

3 Althing (Icelandic assembly).

4 Energy from waste.

5 Mount Vesuvius.

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

7 Lord Justice Taylor (1990).

8 Queen.

9 Lanes in London.

10 Douro River: rises in Spain; flows through in Spain; empties into the Atlantic.

11 Nimrod: from 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; Conrad’s The Secret Agent.

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