How well do you know your trivia? Take our first 20-question quiz for 2025 to find out. (Answers below.)
1. Australian journalist Mary Kostakidis is facing a protracted legal battle over what type of communication? (Hint)
(a) Two articles (b) Two podcasts (c) Two social media posts (d) Two interviews
2. Who won the 2025 Golden Globe for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy?
(a) Jean Smart (b) Jodie Foster (c) Emilia Pérez (d) Demi Moore
3. Who painted the artwork at the centre of a 1973 Australian political controversy, Blue Poles?
(a) d’Arcy Doyle (b) Jackson Pollock (c) Brett Whiteley (d) Banksy
4. Which Australian bank has recently made a groundbreaking resolution to stop funding coal, oil and gas companies? (Hint)
(a) NAB (b) ANZ (c) Westpac (d) Commonwealth Bank
5. Which men’s cricket team recently won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy?
(a) Australia (b) Pakistan (c) India (d) England
6. How much money did the Federal Government announce it would contribute towards the cost of upgrading Queensland’s Bruce Highway, this week?
(a) $6.2 billion (b) $7.2 billion (c) $8.2 billion (d) $9.2 billion
7. Recently in the U.K., a heated debate erupted over the BBC’s editorial choices because it refused to air what? (Hint)
(a) The King’s Christmas Message (b) A song containing a sharp parody (c) Parliament Question Time (d) A controversial documentary
8. This week, the Prime Minister weighed in on an issue facing many beachgoers, saying it was “Not on”. To what was he referring?
(a) Nudity (b) Removing shark nets (c) Mankinis (d) Reserving space with cabanas
9. What is the name of the phase of the moon between a New Moon and the First Quarter?
(a) Waxing Crescent (b) Waning Crescent (c) Waxing Gibbous (d) Waning Gibbous
(Image via Sandor Somkuti | Flickr)
10. Who wrote the 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby?
(a) Charles Dickens (b) John Steinbeck (c) F Scott Fitzgerald (d) D H Lawrence
11. What is Newton’s Third Law?
(a) The principle of inertia (b) For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction (c) The principle of momentum (d) If something can go wrong, it will
12. In Chinese astrology, 2025 is the Year of which animal?
(a) Horse (b) Goat (c) Dragon (d) Snake
13. In Australia, where do tube-shaped roll clouds called Morning Glory frequently develop?
(a) Gulf of Carpentaria (b) Eyre Peninsula (c) Cradle Mountain (d) Spencer Gulf
14. Social media giants, Meta and X (formerly Twitter), have both recently decided to do away with what? (Hint)
(a) Swearing (b) GIFs (c) Fact-checking (d) Left-wing users
15. Which music festival was held on a farm at Bethel, New York in August 1969?
(a) Glastonbury (b) Woodstock (c) Monterey Pop Festival (d) Big Day Out
16. From which opera is the aria 'Nessun Dorma’ ?
(a) La Traviata (b) Aida (c) La Bohème (d) Turandot
17. Which major U.S. city has been besieged by devasting fires this week?
(a) New York (b) Atlanta (c) Los Angeles (d) Las Vegas
18. Who plays Elphaba in the 2024 movie Wicked?
(a) Cynthia Erivo (b) Ariana Grande (c) Taylor Swift (d) Michelle Yeoh
19. Where is the The Dog on the Tuckerbox monument located?
(a) Corrigin, WA (b) Gundagai, NSW (c) Blackall, QLD (d) Goulburn, NSW
20. According to the Australian Climate Change Authority's 2024 Annual Progress Report, how many tonnes did Australia emit in 2023? (Hint)
(a) 450 tonnes (b) 450 thousand tonnes (c) 450 million tonnes (d) 450 billion tonnes
ANSWERS
1. (c) Two social media posts 2. (d) Demi Moore 3. (b) Jackson Pollock 4. (d) Commonwealth Bank 5. (a) Australia 6. (b) $7.2 billion 7. (b) A song containing a sharp parody 8. (d) Reserving space with cabanas 9. (a) Waxing crescent 10. (c) F Scott Fitzgerald 11. (b) For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction 12. (d) Snake 13. (a) Gulf of Carpentaria 14. (c) Fact-checking 15. (b) Woodstock 16. (d) Turandot 17. (c) Los Angeles 18. (a) Cynthia Erivo 19. (b) Gundagai, NSW 20. (c) 450 million
SCORE
5 and under — need more coffee | 6 -10 — read IA more often | 11-15 — savvy IA reader | 16-20 — in line to take over editorial duties!
Compiled by IA columnist Belinda Jones.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
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