Weekend Quiz: Put Your Smarts to the Test

How much of general knowledge do you possess? Plunge into the following collection of queries to find out.

The Questions

1 Which icon of country music had a close brush with death from an ostrich attack in 1981?

2 Dame Sarah Mullally has been appointed as the one hundred and sixth what?

3 What initially met at Thingvellir in the nation of Iceland during the year 930?

4 In the power industry, what does EfW stand for?

5 Lacryma Christi wine originates from wine estates on what mountain?

6 Which British television comedy has been running for nineteen years?

7 Which person's report led to the implementation of stadiums with only seats in the United Kingdom?

8 What piece in chess was initially called the counsellor?

Common Connections

9 Brick Lane; Chancery; Hangar Lane; Leather; Park Lane; Pudding Lane?

10 Sierra de Urbión; Tordesillas town; Zamora city; Oporto?

11 Son of Cush; ninth variation in music; maritime patrol aircraft; Iranian embassy siege?

12 Caldey; Denny Island; Flat Holm; Lundy Island; Stert; The Wolves?

13 Boxing; chariot racing; discus; javelin; long jump; pankration; grappling?

14 James Bond; Alec Leamas; Pyle figure; Verloc persona?

15 Cate Blanchett; Penélope Cruz; Diane Keaton; Mira Sorvino; Wiest thespian?

Feeling stumped over the Tordesillas clue?

The Solutions

1 Johnny Cash.

2 Archbishop of Canterbury.

3 Althing (parliament).

4 Waste-to-energy.

5 Mount Vesuvius.

6 The sitcom Not Going Out (second longest-running UK sitcom)

7 Lord Justice Taylor (1990).

8 The queen piece.

9 London lanes.

10 Douro River: starts in Spain; travels through Spain; reaches Atlantic.

11 Nimrod: in Book of Genesis; from Elgar’s Enigma Variations; Nimrod aircraft; SAS operation codename.

12 Bristol Channel islands.

13 Events in the ancient Olympics.

14 Spy titles in books: Ian Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me; Le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold; Graham Greene's The Quiet American; Conrad’s The Secret Agent.

15 Oscar wins in Woody Allen movies: Blue Jasmine; movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona; classic Annie Hall; feature Mighty Aphrodite; Hannah and Her Sisters and Bullets Over Broadway.