The Saga Magazine February pub quiz - From sweets, to fruit, to custard

Put your general knowledge to the test with our 20 brain-teasers.

Illustration of a light bulb and question marks

By Marcus Berkmann | Published - 5 Feb 2026

Question 1

When Theresa May became Prime Minister, who did she appoint as her Foreign Secretary?

Question 2

A centennial is a 100-year anniversary. How many years are celebrated by a sesquicentennial?

Question 3

What’s the name of the children’s publishing arm of Penguin Books?

Question 4

Which range of potato snacks, first sold in 1968, was named after a street picked at random from a Cincinnati phone book by the manufacturers because of its pleasing sound? They are famous for their distinct logo featuring a man called Julius…

Question 5

What did a Japanese man called Daisuke Inoue invent in 1971, using a car stereo, a coin box and an amplifier?

Question 6

Which confectionery company was created in Bonn, Germany, in 1920 by Hans Riegel and claims to produce four of the five top sugar confectionery items sold in the UK?

Question 7

Who created the character Alex Rider, teenage spy, and also Foyle’s War for TV?

Question 8

Which Dickens character has been played by Alastair Sim (1951), Albert Finney (1970), Michael Caine (1992), Patrick Stewart (1999), and Jim Carrey (2009)? Walt Disney also named a duck after him.

Question 9

What term, now often used for films, originally described a class of very heavy and powerful bombs during World War II that could destroy several buildings at once?

Question 10

What alternative name is given to the herb wild marjoram, especially in its dried form? It has an aromatic, warm and slightly bitter taste and is a staple herb of Italian-American cuisine.

The Teletubbies posing in front of the London Eye — Alamy

Question 11

What is the name of the Spanish national museum of painting and sculpture found in Madrid?

Question 12

Which actress became engaged to Paul McCartney at the height of the Beatles’ fame in 1967?

Question 13

The novel A Clubbable Woman marked the debut in 1970 of which pair of detectives?

Question 14

Which 1812 book, written in German, tells of a clergyman, his wife and their children after they are shipwrecked?

Question 15

In 1989, John Cleese became the first person, it’s believed, to say the F-word in a speech at a memorial service in the UK. Whose life was being celebrated?

Question 16

Charlemagne grew them in his garden. Types include Bush Champion, Boston Pickling, Park’s Whopper, Miss Pickler Hybrid, Summer Dance and Spacemaster. Which fruit?

Question 17

Which Teletubby was red and drove a scooter?

Question 18

On what day of the week is Ascension Day?

Question 19

Which European country did General de Gaulle claim had been "invented by the British to annoy the French"?

Question 20

The label for Ambrosia Strawberry Flavour Devon Custard states it contains no artificial colours or preservatives. What other, more pertinent ingredient, is also missing?

Answers

1. Boris Johnson 2. 150 3. Puffin 4. Pringles 5. The Karaoke machine 6. Haribo 7. Anthony Horowitz 8. Ebenezer Scrooge 9. Blockbuster 10. Oregano 11. The Prado 12. Jane Asher 13. Dalziel and Pascoe 14. Swiss Family Robinson 15. Graham Chapman 16. Cucumber 17. Po 18. Thursday 19. Belgium 20. Strawberries.