The Saga Magazine Pub Quiz - John Lennon, cheese and a famous poem

Test your general knowledge with our 20 pub quiz teasers.

Illustration of a light bulb and question marks

By Saga Magazine | Published - 2 Jan 2025

Answer these 20 questions designed to test your general knowledge and see how many you can get right. Answers at the end.

Questions

Question 1

What name was given to the circular towers that were built along the south coast as a defence against Napoleon?

Question 2

Which 80s pop star, who came to prominence playing Elvis Presley in a West End musical, was born in Wales in 1948 and christened Michael Barrett?

Question 3

The holder of which office is the only person who can have an alcoholic drink while giving their speech in the House of Commons? This person usually does so at least once a year.

Question 4

Who grew up with Jacqueline Bisset and Maximilian Schell for godparents, had childhood dreams of becoming a funeral director and has six children – Maddox, Zahara, Pax, Shiloh, Knox and Vivienne?

Question 5

In 2020, the Republic of Ireland released a series of stamps honouring a TV sitcom. One of the phrases on the stamps was ‘Will you have a cup of tea, Father?’ What was the sitcom?

Question 6

What is the only film with the words ‘Part II’ in its title to win the Oscar for Best Film?

Question 7

Harry Beck (1903-1974) was the producer of what aid to travellers in London?

Question 8

What phrase in John Lennon’s song Imagine is the name of a group who won Eurovision?

Question 9

What type of cheese did Allan and Jenny Gray start producing in the 1980s on their dairy farm near Bodmin Moor? It’s still made today and has never been more popular.

Question 10

Two lines from Rudyard Kipling’s If are inscribed above the entrance to which UK sporting venue?

Question 11

In the US, this character is called by his proper name, Sir Topham Hatt. How is he better known in Britain?

illustration of a finger pointing to a question mark — Image credit: Alona Horkova

Question 12

Can you burp in outer space?

Question 13

Which hospital in Buckinghamshire contains the foremost spinal injuries centre in the country?

Question 14

What is the more popular name for nitrous oxide?

Question 15

In June 1967, a famous rock star was sentenced to three months in jail on drug charges. According to an editorial in The Times, this was ‘breaking a butterfly on a wheel’. Who was he?

Question 16

Who made only one commercial in his life, for Southern Maid Donuts, that aired on one radio station in Louisiana in 1954?

Question 17

Hindu folklore has it that the Earth is held up by four vast elephants standing on what?

Question 18

What basically consists of anchovies, tamarind, molasses, garlic, vinegar, chillies, cloves, shallots and sugar all mixed together? The precise recipe is a closely guarded secret.

Question 19

At which city do the Blue Nile and the White Nile meet?

Question 20

In 1924, which astronomer calculated the distance to the Andromeda galaxy and later proved that two separate galaxies move away from each other at a speed proportional to their distance from each other? His name lives on in a law, a constant, and a piece of hardware.

Answers

1 Martello Towers, 2 Shakin’ Stevens, 3 The Chancellor during their Budget speech, 4 Angelina Jolie, 5 Father Ted, 6 The Godfather Part II, 7 Map of London Underground, 8 Brotherhood of Man, 9 Cornish Yarg, 10 Centre Court, Wimbledon, 11 The Fat Controller, 12 No, 13 Stoke Mandeville, 14 Laughing gas, 15 Mick Jagger, 16 Elvis Presley, 17 A turtle (or tortoise), 18 Lea & Perrins’ Worcestershire Sauce, 19 Khartoum, 20 Edwin Hubble