Record feats, lawsuit grief and naming retired popes – take the Thursday quiz

This is Pope Benedict XVI. But what is his title now? Photograph: Pier Paolo Cito/AP

It is Thursday, and once again you find yourself running up that road, running up that hill, running up that building, and finding that at the top awaits 15 questions on general knowledge and topical trivia, littered with a few jokes. There are no prizes, it is just for fun, but let us know how you get on in the comments. And don’t forget there are bonus points available if you can spot Doctor Who references in the incorrect answer options.

The Thursday quiz, No 59

1. 

   THE SILVER SCREEN: Which high-grossing movie of 2022 is being sued for copyright infringement by the family of Ehud Yonay, whose writing they claim inspired it?

   1. Everything Everywhere All At Once

   2. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

   3. Top Gun: Maverick

   4. Morbius

2. 

   AGE IS NO OBJECT: Kenichi Horie, 83, has become the oldest known person to do what?

   1. Reach the summit of Chomolungma, also known as Mt Everest

   2. Father a child

   3. Sail solo non-stop across the Pacific Ocean

   4. Found a European Super League™, then have to back down a few days later

3. 

   WHY THE LONG FACE?: Who (not pictured) won the Epsom Derby at the weekend?

   1. Desert Crown ridden by Richard Kingscote

   2. Noble Yeats ridden by Sam Waley-Cohen

   3. Hoo Ya Mal ridden by David Probert

   4. Manchester Suite ridden by Jackie Tyler

4. 

   ART FOR ART'S SAKE: 71-year-old artist Antony Gormley has said he is expecting a passport to arrive shortly for his citizenship of which country, after deciding to apply for one having being 'embarrassed about Brexit'?

   1. Germany

   2. Ireland

   3. Malta

   4. France

5. 

   ON THIS DAY-ISH: June is traditionally given as the month of the founding of the city of Münich by Heinrich der Löwe. It was founded on the banks of which German river?

   1. Altmühl

   2. Lippe

   3. Peenestrom

   4. Isar

6. 

   GCSE SCIENCE CORNER: Physics today. The acceleration of an object increasing speed by 320 m/s in 16 seconds is what?

   1. 20 m/s (metres per second)

   2. 20 m/s² (metres per second squared)

   3. 20 m/s³ (metres per second cubed)

   4. About 70 ancient Sumerian cubits

7. 

   HAPPY BIRTHDAY: It is Natalie Portman's birthday today. Happy birthday, Natalie! But where was she born?

   1. Johannesburg

   2. Jacksonville

   3. Jerusalem

   4. Jakku

8. 

   SWEET BABY CHEESES: Which of these options is NOT a cheese originating from France?

   1. Beauceron

   2. Brillat-Savarin

   3. Pélardon

   4. Brie de Meaux

9. 

   FIBONACCI NUMBERS: First described in Indian mathematics, and forming a sequence where each number is the sum of the two preceding ones, F₁₆ is 987. In AD 987 King Louis V died, ending the Carolingian Dynasty which had been founded by Charlemagne when he became the first Holy Roman Emperor in which year?

   1. 700

   2. 750

   3. 800

   4. 850

10. 

    TWO WHEELS GOOD FOUR WHEELS BAD: Brazil's Ronaldo (not pictured) is undertaking a 450km bike ride which he said he'd do if Valladolid got promoted back to La Liga. Which famous site of Spanish pilgrimage is he cycling to?

    1. The Sagrada familia in Barcelona

    2. The Holy Grail in the Cathedral of Valencia

    3. The mosque at Cordoba

    4. The cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

11. 

    ALLONS-Y: Wikivoyage lists 23 locations visited by fictional Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, none of them by hot air balloon. No 19 is Chicago, Illinois, US. Chicago hosted the first ever televised debate between US presidential candidates. Who?

    1. Dwight D Eisenhower of New York and Adlai Stevenson of Illinois

    2. John F Kennedy of Massachusetts and Richard Nixon of California

    3. Lyndon B Johnson of Texas and Barry Goldwater of Arizona

    4. Richard Nixon, by then living in New York, and Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota

12. 

    ART FOR ART'S SAKE (PART TWO): An artist (not pictured) restoring a famous tourist attraction (not pictured) has been accused of obscuring original details by – hilariously – putting in the faces of their friends. What were they restoring?

    1. The astrological clock in Prague

    2. The altarpiece in Berlin Cathedral

    3. A mural in Park Güell in Barcelona

    4. The painting of the Fallen Madonna by Van Clomp in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

13. 

    NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT: Rumours are swirling that Pope Francis might step down. But what was the title taken by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, when he retired from the role in 2013?

    1. Pope renuntiatio

    2. Pope abdicatio

    3. Pope emeritus

    4. Pope saeculum

14. 

    MANET OR MONET: Who painted this?

    1. Édouard Manet

    2. Claude Monet

15. 

    REINFORCEMENTS: That's a 1974 Sparks song where they 'could use a strong rear guard'. But that's not important right now. A Pyrrhic victory gets its name from the verdict of Pyrrhus of Epirus after he won the Battle of Asculum. Who was he fighting?

    1. The Babylonians

    2. The Romans

    3. The Egyptians

    4. The Carthaginians

Solutions

1:C - They claim Paramount Studios failed to reacquire the rights to Ehud Yonay’s 1983 article 'Top Guns', which inspired the original movie, and, they claim, the sequel. The quizmaster is unsure that anyone would want to assert in court that they inspired the Morbius movie, 2:C - Apparently he was the first ever person to be recorded doing it, in 1962, and wanted to do it again for some unfathomable reason, 3:A - The 5-2 favourite came in as 76-year-old trainer Michael Stoute's sixth success in the Classic, 4:A - The artist expected to receive his new passport in the next month, he said, by virtue of having a German mother. Gormley added that he believed many leading British politicians were not serving the country’s best interests. 'I’m embarrassed about Brexit: it’s a practical disaster, a betrayal of my parents’ and grandparents’ sacrifice to make a Europe that was not going to be divided again. It’s a tragedy', 5:D - The Isar is a river in Tyrol, Austria, and Bavaria, Germany, which flows into the Danube. Münich is one of Germany's biggest cities and some consider it was founded in 14 June 1158 when the Augsburg Arbitration settled a dispute over toll bridges across the river between Henry the Lion and Bishop Otto von Freising in Henry's favour., 6:B - Acceleration is measured in metres per second squared. Not really anything is measured in ancient Sumerian cubits these days to be honest, and the world is much poorer for it, 7:C - She was born in Jerusalem, not Jakku. That would be ridiculous. Everybody knows her Star Wars character Padmé Amidala was born on the planet Naboo, 8:A - That's a herding dog breed originating from the plains of central France. The Beauceron is also known as berger de Beauce (sheepdog from Beauce) or bas rouge (red-stockings). Brie de Meaux is a cheese that originates from Île-de-France, Brillat-Savarin comes from Burgundy, and Pélardon sounds like it should be a Doctor Who reference but actually is a cheese from Languedoc-Roussillon, which also sounds like a Doctor Who reference, 9:C - Charlemagne had already been King of the Franks and King of the Lombards, but on Christmas Day in 800 Pope Leo III controversially crowned him 'Emperor of the Romans' at Old St Peter's Basilica in Rome , 10:D - The former striker bought a 51% stake in Valladolid in 2018 and made the vow after the club was relegated from Spain’s top flight last season. 'I promised that if we came back to La Liga, I would do the Camino de Santiago,' he said on Friday. 'I will do it by bike as I can’t run', said one of the greatest footballers of his generation, 11:B - It was Kennedy v Nixon in 1960. Nixon's poor performance and sweaty appearance in the studio was widely credited with harming his election chances, thus elevating the debates to become a major election campaign feature, 12:A - The 600-year-old Orloj features a supposed reproduction of a 19th-century calendar painting by Josef Mánes adorning the clock’s astrolabe and depicting the months of the year in the form of the zodiac signs. A local heritage preservation group has alleged that its painter, Stanislav Jirčík, had deviated from the spirit and detail of Mánes’ painting, 13:C - It was highly unusual for a pope to resign, and he was the first to do so since Gregory XII resigned in 1415 when the Council of Constance arranged the abdication of both him and the Pisan antipope John XXIII, excommunicated the Avignon antipope Benedict XIII, and elected Martin V as the new pope reigning from Rome, 14:A - That is 'A Bar at the Folies-Bergere' by French painter Edouard Manet, 15:B - The Battle of Asculum took place on the peninsula that is modern Italy, and Pyrrhus defeated the Romans, but suffered so many losses in the process that he knew his campaign was doomed. You can tell by his face that Ron from Sparks thinks Kate Bush should have been an option here in the final question like she always used to be

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   We hope you had fun – let us know how you got on in the comments!

• If you do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers, please feel free to email martin.belam@theguardian.com, but remember, the quiz master’s word is always final, and if you start complaining about the use of ancient Sumerian cubits in answer options you will not get far.