Trivia Masterclass: Week 8

Pop Music, US Literature, Eminently Victorian

Aug 16, 2025

Welcome back to week 8! Huge thanks for joining me on this journey of quiz revision — I really hope you enjoy it. If you haven’t already, I’d recommend having a quick read of my introductory post ( https://substack.com/home/post/p-161751014?source=queue) where I say something about the philosophy of these quizzes and why I’ve structured them in the way I have.

As with previous weeks, you’ll find the answers to each round immediately after said round, rather than all together at the end. And if a question begins “[PICTURE]” then it relates in some way to the image included at the beginning of the round: there will be one such question in every round.

Feel free to post your scores in the comments, and especially to share answers you’re proud of, frustrating misses, facts you found interesting, or extra information — I’m keen for this to be an active community so conversation is encouraged, provided you all keep it friendly and respectful.

Round 1 — Warm-Up

[PICTURE] In a famous painting by Eugène Delacroix, what abstract female figure is depicted … Leading the People, with a musket in one hand and a republican “tricolore” flag in the other? This same figure is the subject of an extremely famous statue by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi.
The name of what animal precedes “court” in a disparaging colloquial term for a judicial body that acts without proper authority or with a disregard for due process?
“Probably the best lager in the world” is the advertising slogan for what beer brand, whose products include the high-strength lager Special Brew?
Now governed by Ecuador, what island group in the Pacific Ocean is home to many endemic animal species such as the marine iguana, blue-footed booby, and namesake giant tortoise? Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution was largely inspired by his visit to this archipelago.
What golf course in Georgia was founded and co-designed by 13-time major winner Bobby Jones and since 1932 has played host to the annual Masters Tournament?
What word, which also refers to a structure in civil engineering, is used in music to describe an interlude in a pop song, typically occurring after the second chorus, that serves to add variety or build musical tension?
China’s recent campaign of international development initiatives has been described as a “New” version of what historical network of trade routes, named after a lucrative textile product, that operated across Eurasia from ancient until early modern times?
What textile craft, somewhat similar to knitting, involves pulling loops of thread through other loops with a distinctive hook-shaped needle?
Which metallic chemical element, with the atomic number 3, is the least dense element that is a solid at room temperature, with the only lighter elements being the gases hydrogen and helium?
Which former member of the Monty Python team has written and presented numerous travel documentaries since the 1980s, including Pole to Pole, Hemingway Adventure, and New Europe?
What woodwind instrument is a smaller version of the concert flute and has a name deriving from the Italian word for “small”?
Mahershala Ali became the first Muslim to win an acting Oscar for his role in what 2016 coming-of-age drama, where he plays a drug dealer who becomes a surrogate father figure to the protagonist Chiron? This film won the Oscar for Best Picture in the same year, despite the presenters mistakenly announcing a different winner.
Shaka was the founder of what 19th-century kingdom of Southern Africa, whose war against the British Empire in 1879 included the battles of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift?
In poetry, how many lines of verse make up a sonnet? In English-language sonnets, each line generally consists of ten syllables in an iambic rhythm.
Ain’t That a Kick in the Head, Everybody Loves Somebody, and That’s Amore were among the signature hits of what Italian-American singer and entertainer, one of the leading members of the Rat Pack along with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr?
Which South London football team, who play their home games at Selhurst Park, won their first ever major trophy when they beat Manchester City 1-0 in the final of the 2025 FA Cup?
With its capital at Dhaka, what Asian country is one of the most densely populated in the world, with the eighth-highest population of any UN member state but only the 92^nd largest land area?
In the common medical technique of auscultation, what device is used for observing the body’s internal sounds, and consists of a small resonator placed against the skin with a tube carrying the sound to two earpieces?
What nickname was originally bestowed on silent movie actress Clara Bow, deriving from the title of a 1927 film in which she starred, and is still commonly used to describe a glamorous and charismatic young woman in the public eye? Recent UK celebrities granted this title include Tamara Beckwith, Alexa Chung, and Cara Delevingne.
Lip-Sync for Your Life, Snatch Game, and the Runway are recurring challenges on what reality TV show, whose eliminated competitors are told to “sashay away”?

Round 1 — ANSWERS

Liberty
Kangaroo
Carlsberg
Galápagos Islands
Augusta National
Bridge
Silk Road
Crochet
Lithium
Michael Palin
Piccolo
Moonlight
Zulu Kingdom
Fourteen
Dean Martin
Crystal Palace
Bangladesh
Stethoscope
It girl (the 1927 film was simply called It)
RuPaul’s Drag Race

Round 2 — The Fundamentals: Pop Music

Generally one of my stronger quiz topics I think, although also one where I’m constantly being surprised by my gaps. I came to pop music relatively late, having paid it almost no attention until my late teens, but from then on I embraced it with the zeal of an adult convert, hoovering up endless lists of Best Songs/Albums of All Time and collecting a library of books about pop history (I devoured Bob Stanley’s ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah’ the summer before I started university, and I’ve lost count of how many hard quiz questions I’ve been able to answer as a direct result of it). Identifying pop songs from short clips is also one of my favourite quiz sub-genres, albeit not one I’m especially good at, and is pretty much the only type of quiz I play on Sporcle these days — if you’re interested, I can recommend the Sporcle creators blueisstillblue and RobboPOSH as masters of the format. I’ve found these clip quizzes especially useful for introducing me to (sometimes very famous) songs that have passed me by, and they’ve occasionally pointed me towards new music that I’ve genuinely fallen in love with. Without access to sound clips here (although I might have a go at incorporating them in the future), I’ve tried to write this pop music round so as to reflect both my love of Bob Stanley-esque pop academia, giving an impression of the dense variety and interconnectedness of music history, and my enjoyment of the music itself, in a way that might remind you of songs that haven’t listened to in a while or inspire you to check out something new.

With what debut single did Olivia Rodrigo top the charts on both sides of the Atlantic aged only 17? Its poignant lyrics concern a certain late-teenage rite of passage which the singer had hoped to celebrate with her boyfriend, but ends up commemorating alone.
Best known for his work in Chicago in the early 1980s, DJ Frankie Knuckles is often dubbed “the Godfather of” what genre of dance music, which he famously described as “disco’s revenge”?
Heaven Is a Place on Earth and Rush Hour were solo hits for two former members of what American new wave band, whose 1981 debut album was titled Beauty and the Beat?
[PICTURE] Lisa Maffia, Harvey, and Asher D were among the many members of what UK garage group who topped the UK singles chart in 2001 with 21 Seconds?
What opening track from Michael Jackson’s album Thriller features a famous extended coda, inspired by the 1972 song Soul Makossa by Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango, which repeats the phrase “ma-ma-say ma-ma-sah ma-ma-coo-sah”?
As well as releasing several hits in their own right, Booker T and the MGs originally formed in 1962 as the house band for what legendary Memphis record label? Working with all the label’s biggest stars, they provided the instrumental tracks for Otis Redding’s Try a Little Tenderness and Sam & Dave’s Hold On, I’m Coming among countless others.
Born in Delhi, Sonya Madan became famous in the UK as the lead singer of what Britpop group whose hit singles in the mid-’90s included Great Things and King of the Kerb?
What critically beloved 1968 folk-rock album/song cycle by Van Morrison begins with the impressionistic lyrics “If I ventured in the slipstream, among the viaducts of your dream”?
What East Coast hip-hop artist, who died aged 50 in 2021, was known for his aggressive rapping style, perfectly suited for pre-game pump-up playlists, as exemplified on hit singles such as Party Up (Up in Here) and X Gon’ Give It to Ya?
Also the name of a single from his album Around the World in a Day, what was the name of Prince’s studio complex in Chanhassen, Minnesota where he exclusively recorded, and later lived, from the mid-1980s until the end of his life?
What Swedish electropop singer-songwriter had international hits with the songs Lush Life and Never Forget You, as well as providing guest vocals on Clean Bandit’s 2017 UK number 1 single Symphony?
Prominently featured in Steve McQueen’s 2020 film Lovers Rock, the 1979 song Silly Games was recorded by what London-born singer? The famous high note in the song’s chorus was inspired by songwriter Dennis Bovell watching an advert for Memorex cassette tape in which Ella Fitzgerald breaks a glass with her voice.
Led by drummer Klaus Dinger, what Düsseldorf band of the early ’70s, whose name features an exclamation mark, inspired David Bowie, New Order, and Sonic Youth with the repetitive “motorik” groove of tracks like Negativland and Hallogallo?
Often described as the magnum opus of the thrash metal genre, what 1986 album by Metallica was their last to feature original bassist Cliff Burton, who died in a bus crash while touring the album?
The appropriately onomatopoeic Belgian town of Boom is the home of what popular annual electronic music festival, founded in 2005?
Featuring the characteristic ambient sound of producer William Orbit, what 2000 UK number 1 by girl group All Saints was written for the soundtrack of the Leonardo DiCaprio film The Beach, hence its repeated refrain “Take me to my beach”?
Which singer’s 2018 album El Mal Querer, written as her baccalaureate project at the Catalonia College of Music, was the highest-placed Spanish-language entry on Rolling Stone’s most recent list of the greatest albums of all time? Her follow-up album was 2022’s Motomami, which included a collaboration with The Weeknd on lead single La Fama.
El-P and Killer Mike comprise what hip-hop superduo, formed in 2013, whose four critically acclaimed albums are all self-titled and all have front covers depicting the duo’s iconic “pistol and fist” hand gestures?
With a famous intro played on the calliope (steam organ) and lyrics which reference the operatic character Pagliacci, what Motown song became a trans-Atlantic number 1 single for Smokey Robinson and the Miracles in 1970, three years after its initial recording as an album track?
Shortly before her death in 2025, what American easy listening singer, whose 1950s hits included Who’s Sorry Now and Stupid Cupid, had a surprise return to prominence when her song Pretty Little Baby went viral on TikTok?

Round 2 — ANSWERS

drivers license
House
The Go-Gos (the solo hits were by Belinda Carlisle and Jane Wiedlin respectively)
So Solid Crew
Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’
Stax
Echobelly
Astral Weeks
DMX
Paisley Park
Zara Larsson
Janet Kay
Neu!
Master of Puppets
Tomorrowland
Pure Shores
Rosalía
Run the Jewels
The Tears of a Clown
Connie Francis

Round 3 — A Deeper Dive: US Literature

As with many UK quizzers of my generation, I have read, heard, and played a lot of American quizbowl sets (quizbowl being an academic-focused buzzer quiz format widely played at US schools and colleges) — although compared to some of my peers I didn’t do a huge amount of it at university and, while I now enjoy the gameplay more than I used to, it still plays a relatively small role in my actual quiz revision. Personally I’ve never found the pace of a quizbowl game, which often feels like a frenetic barrage of things I’ve never heard of, to be very conducive towards learning new facts; although admittedly when making academic flashcards I’m constantly searching Aseemsdb.me to see how many times a fact has come up in quizbowl before and what other stock clues are commonly associated with it. In honour of quizbowl therefore, and in a selfish effort to be slightly better prepared for my next tournament whenever it comes, I’ve written a round about one regular element of the quizbowl syllabus which quite often catches out non-American players, namely US literature. I’ll tell you right now that until writing this round I didn’t know a single fact about the answer to Q9, despite having heard his name in innumerable quizbowl sets — so I’ve already picked up a marginal gain from this round, and I hope you will too!

In the first line of a famous work by 19th-century poet Emily Dickinson, what abstract noun is described as “the thing with feathers”?
What fourth and last completed novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald is largely set in the French Riviera and depicts the troubled marriage of glamorous American expats Dick and Nicole Diver, who were manifestly based on the author himself and his wife Zelda?
Published in 2019, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous was the semi-autobiographical debut novel of which author? The novel takes the form of a long letter written by a young gay Vietnamese-American man to his illiterate mother who works in a nail salon.
Published in The New Yorker in 1948, the brilliantly disturbing short story The Lottery, in which residents of a bucolic rural community calmly prepare for a human sacrifice, is one of the best-known works by what author of gothic horror and mystery fiction?
Which US state provides the setting for Michael Chabon’s 2007 alternative-history whodunnit The Yiddish Policemen’s Union? In Chabon’s imagined history, the US government established a temporary settlement for Jewish refugees in this state in 1941, which developed into the vast Yiddish-speaking metropolis where the book’s present-day action takes place.
A leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance, what Jamaican-American author is best known for the sonnet If We Should Die, written in 1919 in response to a recent wave of mob violence against black communities?
What very controversial 1992 play by David Mamet concerns a pompous college professor accused of sexual harassment by a female student? The harassment in question takes place during Act 1, although notoriously audiences at the time were sharply divided about the nature of what they had witnessed.
Compared by one critic to John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, what playfully allegorical 1961 children’s book by Norton Juster centres on Milo, an apathetic schoolboy who is transported by the titular portal into the Kingdom of Wisdom?
Intended as a distillation of the optimistic spirit of early 20th-century America and a less gloomy counter to T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, which American author’s 1930 epic poem The Bridge took New York’s Brooklyn Bridge as its central symbolic motif?
Which contemporary thriller author is best known for his several novels set in Boston, with several spawning successful film adaptations, including Mystic River and Gone, Baby, Gone?
[PICTURE] In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 classic The Scarlet Letter, what is the name of the protagonist who is impregnated by spineless clergyman Arthur Dimmesdale and, after giving birth to the illegitimate child, is punished by her Puritan neighbours by having to wear the eponymous badge of adultery for the rest of her life?
In one of her many novels inspired by the era of America’s westward expansion, which author wrote about a family of Bohemian immigrants in her own native state of Nebraska in her 1918 masterpiece My Ántonia?
Which famous 20th-century American novel begins with the line “124 was spiteful”, referring to the number of the possibly haunted house on Bluestone Road, Cincinnati where the protagonist lives after escaping from the Sweet Home slave plantation?
Quentin, Benny, and Caddy are among the members of what fictional family of fading Southern aristocrats who appear in several novels by William Faulkner? The family’s slow decline is most famously chronicled in The Sound and the Fury, while the depressed Harvard student Quentin is the principal narrator of Absalom! Absalom!
Born in Northampton, England, what female Puritan poet’s 1650 collection The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America was the first work of literature from England’s American colonies to achieve major publishing success both in America and England?
As well as writing the screenplays for The African Queen and The Night of the Hunter, which author profiled the harsh lives of impoverished sharecroppers in the 1941 non-fiction work Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, a collaboration with pioneering photojournalist Walker Evans?
Which Pulitzer Prize-winning 2010 novel by Jennifer Egan was praised for its unusual non-linear structure, mirroring that of a 1970s concept album, with thirteen interconnected stories elliptically revolving around the New York record company executive Benny Salazar?
Inspired by the death of jazz singer Billie Holiday, The Day Lady Died is one of the highlights of which avant-garde poet’s 1964 collection Lunch Poems? This poet himself died tragically early a few years later, after being hit by a dune buggy on New York’s Fire Island beach.
A leading figure of the Native American Renaissance, which Ojibwe author’s debut novel Love Medicine begins with June Morrissey freezing to death in a snowstorm while escaping her abusive husband? Her more recent novels include The Round House and The Night Watchman.
“I would prefer not to” is the immortal mantra of the eccentric title character of what short story by Herman Melville, an elderly Wall Street clerk who radically recuses himself from the demands of everyday life?

Round 3 — ANSWERS

Hope
Tender Is the Night
Ocean Vuong
Shirley Jackson
Alaska
Claude McKay
Oleanna
The Phantom Tollbooth
Hart Crane
Dennis Lehane
Hester Prynne
Willa Cather
Beloved (by Toni Morrison)
Compson
Anne Bradstreet
James Agee
A Visit from the Goon Squad
Frank O’Hara
Louise Erdrich
Bartleby, the Scrivener

Round 4 — Themes and Trends: Eminently Victorian

After pandering to the youths with my 2024 round in my last Masterclass, this week it’s time to eat your gruel as I channel Dickens’s Mr Gradgrind with a round of cold hard facts about the 19th century. And it goes without saying that I’m not expecting to see any “before my time” complaints in the comments, given that this round is by its very nature before the time of every human on earth. Saying that, I have tried to make it fun, and some bits of youth content may even have snuck out of the workhouse to join the party!

An archetypal staple of the Victorian female wardrobe, what French-derived word refers to a stiff structured petticoat designed to be worn under a long skirt to create a bell-shaped silhouette? These circular garments were distinct from bustles, which only provided extra volume for the posterior.
Shared with that of an island, what is the name of the ship in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, whose disreputable cook Long John Silver leads its crew in a mutiny?
What 19th-century English illustrator was influenced by Japanese erotic woodcuts for his distinctive pen-and-ink drawings, several of which appeared in the published version of Oscar Wilde’s play Salome?
Opened in 1857 and depicted in paintings by Manet and Degas, what racecourse in Paris’s Bois de Boulogne is the home of the annual Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, one of the highlights of the flat racing calendar?
In three consecutive years (1992-94), which American actor played three 19th-century literary heroines on film, namely Mina Murray in Dracula, May Welland in The Age of Innocence, and Jo March in Little Women?
Often said to be the world’s largest religion founded by a woman, what Japanese religious movement originated in the nineteenth century from the teachings of Nakayama Miki, who encouraged her followers to sweep away negative mental “dusts” in pursuit of the “Joyous Life”?
Named after the German Chancellor who annexed the land in 1890, what long salient protrudes from the north-east corner of Namibia, almost completely dividing Zambia to the north from Botswana to the south?
What is the one-word subtitle of the 2015 Assassin’s Creed video game set in 1860s London, which featured such real-life characters as Florence Nightingale, Charles Darwin, and Queen Victoria herself?
Now the namesake of an Oxford college, what 19th-century female polymath wrote an influential condensed translation of Laplace’s Celestial Mechanics, and was one of the first to mathematically predict the existence of the planet Neptune? In 1868, she was the first signatory to John Stuart Mill’s parliamentary petition for women’s suffrage.
What German romantic composer was inspired by Jewish devotional music for his piece Kol Nidrei and by Scottish folk melodies (including the tune used for Robert Burns’s Scots Wha Hae) for his Scottish Fantasy?
Which country cricket side did the great W. G. Grace captain for three decades, from 1870 to 1899? In the 20th century, Wally Hammond, Mike Procter, and Courtney Walsh all had distinguished stints with this team.
With the first name Plantagenet, what is the surname of the socially awkward protagonist of an eponymous series of novels by Anthony Trollope, which follow his reluctant ascent of the greasy pole of Victorian politics?
One of the longest and bloodiest engagements of the 1857 Indian Rebellion was the six-month siege of what city, now the capital of Uttar Pradesh?
Set in Victorian England, the first instalment of what long-running Japanese manga series introduced the protagonist Jonathan Joestar and his resentful adopted brother Dio Brando? Later instalments span a wide variety of eras and locations and feature different generations of the Joestar family, while Dio is revealed to be an immortal vampire.
With her stage name referencing a brand of safety matches popular at the time, what music hall star of the late 19th century was most famous for her male impersonation act, and especially for her foppish alter ego of Burlington Bertie?
The BBC Sounds podcast Lady Killers, a gallery of female rogues and reprobates of the Victorian era, is hosted by what historian and television presenter, who worked as curator of the UK’s Historic Royal Palaces until 2024?
Which 19th-century German mathematician, known as the “Father of Set Theory”, scandalised many contemporary mathematicians with his assertion, now universally accepted, that the infinite set of real numbers is greater in size than the infinite set of natural numbers?
[PICTURE] What acclaimed graphic novel by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell is set against the backdrop of the Whitechapel murders, with its title taken from the opening words of a letter which Jack the Ripper reputedly sent to George Lusk in 1888 along with a human kidney?
Which treaty of 1878 ended the Russo-Turkish War and notably established Bulgaria as a very large independent nation, initially stretching from the Black Sea to the Aegean? Fearing that this would give Russia a powerful new outpost, the other Great Powers quickly moved to limit Bulgaria’s size with the Treaty of Berlin, with the resulting ethnic displacement and sense of betrayed nationalist hopes largely contributing to the Balkans becoming the powder keg for the First World War.
Based on a much-banned 1891 play of the same name by Frank Wedekind, what Tony-winning musical of 2006 depicts a group of teenagers in 19th-century Germany coming to terms with their developing sexual feelings?

Round 4 — ANSWERS

Crinoline
Hispaniola
Aubrey Beardsley
Longchamp
Winona Ryder
Tenrikyo (not to be confused, as I have confused it, with Tengrism, a much older shamanistic religion associated with the Eurasian steppes)
Caprivi Strip (as a result of the Caprivi Strip, Zambia and Botswana have the shortest land border of any two independent countries on earth, not including external territories, at less than 150 metres)
Syndicate
Mary Somerville
Max Bruch
Gloucestershire
Palliser
Lucknow
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
Vesta Tilley
Lucy Worsley
Georg Cantor
From Hell
Treaty of San Stefano
Spring Awakening

Round 5 — No Pain, No Gain

What French word can refer to the decorative sprinkles more commonly known in the UK as “hundreds and thousands” or to the smallest and generally most sought-after variety of capers?
Which South Korean girl group, who had international success with songs like Ditto and Super Shy, have recently been locked in a protracted and public legal fight with their record label? In 2024, South Korea’s Labour Ministry controversially dismissed the band members’ claims of workplace harassment, arguing that pop stars could not legally be classed as workers.
What Italian musical term is defined as a smooth continuous slide from one note to another, distinct from the generally showier technique of glissando in which the intervening pitches are sounded discretely?
What female Danish geologist made the paradigm-shifting discovery in 1936 that, rather than being a single molten chamber, the Earth’s core in fact consists of a solid inner core with a liquid outer core?
Also known as Burmese boxing, which bare-knuckle martial art, associated with the Karen people of Myanmar, is widely regarded as the world’s most brutal combat sport? Head-butts are permitted, and in the traditional rules, a fight can only be won by knockout.
One of the USA’s earliest military heroes to emerge after the War of Independence, what naval commander was known for his intrepid exploits during the Barbary Wars, most famously leading a small detachment of Marines in 1804 to storm the captured US frigate Philadelphia in Tripoli harbour? He is also known for coining the jingoistic dictum “my country, right or wrong”.
[PICTURE] What is the usual name for the familiar internet meme template, based on a stock image photo of a retired Hungarian electrical engineer, that is generally used to convey profound sorrow masked behind an unconvincing smile?
Loosely inspired by a comic strip and novel of the same name by Peter O’Donnell, what absurdist British spy comedy film of 1966 starred Monica Vitti as the titular secret agent, and is essentially a pop art-inspired, female-led burlesque of the Connery-era Bond films?
What very small island off the coast of modern-day Tanzania was the base of a namesake medieval Sultanate that controlled most of the Swahili Coast from Kenya to Madagascar between the 13th and 15th centuries?
After a Soviet agronomist, what eponymous phenomenon in plant biology refers to weeds evolving features which resemble those of domesticated crops, thus making them less likely to be uprooted? Rye and oats originally developed in this way in Neolithic times by mimicking wheat.
What Trinidadian author is most famous for his 1956 stream-of-consciousness novel The Lonely Londoners, which was written almost entirely in creole English?
Which current captain of the Canadian women’s ice hockey team, famously scored the winning goal in the gold medal matches at the 2010, 2014, and 2022 Winter Olympics, more than earning her nickname of Captain Clutch?
What British pioneer of electronic music is known for her uncredited work providing synthesiser soundtracks for the 1961 horror movie The Innocents and several early Bond films, and for developing a namesake technique of etching sound graphically onto strips of film?
Translating as “black fever” in Hindi, and also known as visceral leishmaniasis, what tropical disease carried by infected sandflies is second only to malaria as the deadliest parasitic disease in the world? In 2023, Bangladesh became the first country in the world to successfully eradicate the disease.
What American stand-up comic and actor, whose mother was one of the original seven cast members on Saturday Night Live, is possibly best known for her role as struggling comedy writer Ava on the acclaimed HBO Max series Hacks?
At the north-eastern extremity of the Great Glen, the city of Inverness stands at the point where the River Ness discharges into what small inlet (firth), which itself empties into the much larger Moray Firth?
Peter Molyneux used Lego bricks to build a physical gameplay prototype for what 1989 “god game”, which became one of the best-selling PC games of all time? The player takes the role of a god using divine interventions to protect their own followers while wiping out the followers of other gods.
What battle of 1578, in which Portugal’s king Sebastian I was defeated by the Saadi Sultanate of Morocco, is regarded by historians as the greatest disaster in Portuguese military history and the effective end of the country’s reign as Europe’s leading colonial superpower? The childless Sebastian disappeared without trace in the fray, causing a succession crisis that ended with Portugal’s absorption by Philip II’s Spanish kingdom, although legends continued to abound that the dashing young crusader would one day ride back to his country’s rescue.
One of the leading figures in the New York scene of performance art “happenings” in the early 1960s, which artist created the dramatic 1964 piece Meat Joy in which participants writhe around on the ground playing with raw meat?
By far the highest-grossing Russian film ever made is a 2023 live-action/animated movie based on what cartoon character, sometimes described as “the Soviet Mickey Mouse”, who was formerly the protagonist of a beloved series of stop-motion films by pioneering animation studio Soyuzmultfilm?

Round 5 — ANSWERS

Nonpareils
NewJeans
Portamento
Inge Lehmann
Lethwei
Stephen Decatur
Hide the Pain Harold
Modesty Blaze
Kilwa island
Vavilovian mimicry
Sam Selvon
Marie-Philip Poulin
Daphne Oram (the namesake technique was Oramics)
Kala-azar
Hannah Einbinder (daughter of Laraine Newman)
Beauly Firth
Populous
Battle of Alcácer Quibir
Carolee Schneeman
Cheburashka

And that’s your lot. Hope you had fun. Feel free to share your best gets and most annoying misses in the comments. I’ll see you in a week’s time, but for now I’ll leave you with a video that somehow makes me feel nostalgic despite coming from the year before I was born: Suggs introducing Echobelly on ‘Top of the Pops’.