QUIZ: IA Interrogates! #8

How well do you know your trivia? Take our first 20-question quiz to find out. (Answers below.)

1. Journalist Antoinette Lattouf is suing the ABC for unfair dismissal after she was taken off air for doing what? (Hint)
(a) An on-air, expletive-laden tirade (b) Sharing a Human Rights Watch report on social media (c) Not turning up for work (d) Plagiarism

2. What is the chemical symbol for Gold?
(a) Gd (b) $$ (c) Ag (d) Au

3. What is the name of the movie franchise starring Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto?
(a) Fast & Furious (b) Slow & Spurious (c) Cute & Curious (d) Naked & Notorious

4. For which album did U.S. singer Beyoncé recently win her first Album of the Year Grammy?
(a) TEXAS HOLD 'EM (b) Cowboy Carter (c) Mufasa: The Lion King Soundtrack (d) Renaissance

5. Who is the Melbourne band whose name derives from a pair of ancient stone heads dug out of a garden in Hexham England that reportedly unleashed a wave of scary paranormal phenomena? (Hint)
(a) Hexham Stones (b) The Rolling Hexhams (c) Stone Hexham (d) Hexham Heads

6. Who wrote the novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles which first introduced the fictional Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot?
(a) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (b) Agatha Christie (c) Bram Stoker (d) Mrs Ariadne Oliver

7. While searching for the elixir of life during the Tang Dynasty (850 AD), Chinese monks discovered that a mixture of saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sulfur and charcoal made what?
(a) Electricity (b) Printing ink (c) Gunpowder (d) Make up

8. What is the name of the Hindu god with the head of an elephant and the body of a human?
(a) Kartikeya (b) Nrisingha (c) Shiva (d) Ganesha

9. According to legend, which cheese was created by a farmer's wife from Normandy, Marie Harel, in 1791?
(a) Camembert (b) Brie (c) Roquefort (d) Neufchâtel

10. Why have thousands of people recently fled the Greek island of Santorini?
(a) Volcanic eruption (b) Ebola outbreak (c) Earthquakes (d) Rioting and civil unrest

Santorini, Greece (Image via Maggie Meng | Flickr)

11. Which beer brand has recently been slammed on social media after launching a partnership with the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife? (Hint)
(a) XXXX Gold (b) Coopers (c) Victoria Bitter (VB) (d) Great Northern

12. What is the primary ingredient in a soufflé?
(a) Sugar (b) Eggs (c) Butter (d) Cream of tartar

13. This week Donald Trump announced a proposal to redevelop which area of land? (Hint)
(a) Florida (b) Panama (c) Gaza (d) Greenland

14. Whose theory of "systemic colonisation" became the blueprint for the settlement of South Australia?
(a) Colonial William Light (b) Edward Gibbon Wakefield (c) Robert Gouger (d) Thomas Peel

15. What is the name of a number that can only be divided by itself and 1?
(a) Prime number (b) Rational number (c) Composite number (d) Transcendental number

16. Which country borders Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea?
(a) Niger (b) Burkina Faso (c) Cameroon (d) Democratic Republic of Congo

17. Why was the Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2024, which passed Federal Parliament this week, controversial? (Hint)
(a) It included mandatory sentencing (b) It was a departure from the Labor Party's policy platform (c) It compromises the separation of powers (d) a, b & c

18. What was the relationship between the Ancient Greek philosophers Socrates (470–399 BC) and Plato (427—347 B.C.E.)?
(a) Teacher and student (b) Father and son (c) Grandfather and grandson (d) Political adversaries

19. Who won the 2025 Australian Open Women's Singles Final?
(a) Aryna Sabalenka (b) Madison Keys (c) Paula Badosa (d) Iga Swiatek

20. Anti-misogyny activists and unapologetic feminists, Mad Fucking Witches (MFW) have recently taken to their brooms over which radio and television personality? (Hint)
(a) Andrew Bolt (b) Jackie O Henderson (c) Dave Hughes (d) Kyle Sandilands

ANSWERS

1. (b) Sharing a Human Rights Watch report on social media 2. (d) Au (Gd- Gadolinium, $$- money, Ag- Silver) 3. (a) Fast & Furious 4. (b) Cowboy Carter 5. (d) Hexham Heads 6. (b) Agatha Christie 7. (c) Gunpowder 8. (d) Ganesha 9. (a) Camembert 10. (c) Earthquakes 11. (d) Great Northern 12. (b) Eggs 13. (d) Gaza 14. (b) Edward Gibbon Wakefield 15. (a) Prime number 16. (c) Cameroon 17. (d) a, b & c 18. (a) Teacher and student (Socrates was Plato's teacher) 19. (b) Madison Keys 20. (d) Kyle Sandilands

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.