UK Alphabeticals Trivia Quiz

Answer: Swansea

Swansea is at the mouth of the river Tawe, hence its Welsh name. Newport is Casnewydd in Welsh, Wrexham is Wrecsam and Milford Haven is Aberdaugleddau.

Answer: The Duke of Marlborough

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, was rewarded for his military victories in the War of the Spanish Succession with this magnificent house and estate at Woodstock, about seven miles north of Oxford. Winston Churchill was born there in 1874. It is open to the public: admission is expensive (£7.80 when I went there in the mid-1990s), but probably worth it.

Answer: Circus

There are records of a Chipperfield exhibiting a dancing bear on the Thames in the Frost Fair during the very cold winter of 1683 - 84, when the river froze. The family concern as we know it seems to date from the mid-nineteenth century.

Answer: Genealogy of the nobility and gentry

The 2003 edition of Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage is the 144th. The company also publishes other works of reference on prominent people, etiquette, etc, and provides genealogical research services.

Answer: Five sixths

The populations of the countries of the UK in the 2001 census were: England 49,139,000 (83.58%) Scotland 5,062,000 (8.61%). Wales 2,903,000 (4.94%). Northern Ireland 1,685,000 (2.87%). In area, England takes up about 53½ per cent of the UK.

Answer: Derby County

Derby County moved to Pride Park in 1997. Its Baseball Ground was originally intended to be just that - for further information see http;//www.sabruk.org .

Answer: Celtic and Rangers

The two teams used to play each other four times a year in the Scottish Premier League. The natural rivalry between teams from the same city is traditionally exacerbated by religious antagonism, but this may be dying down nowadays.

Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian, by the way, are not Glaswegian at all; they are the two leading teams in Edinburgh.

Answer: Armistice Day (November 11)

November 11, when World War One ended, is kept as a public holiday in many of the WW1 Allied countries, but not in the UK. Ceremonies to commemorate the dead are held on the nearest Sunday to the 11th, which is known as Remembrance Sunday. New Year's Day has only been a holiday in England and Wales since 1974.

Answer: Crystal Palace

Brunel was the son of a French engineer and followed in his father's footsteps. The Clifton Suspension Bridge was one of his earliest designs, though it was not completed till after his death. The "Great Britain" was the largest ship in the world when she was built and is now preserved in Bristol.

The Royal Albert Bridge over the Tamar at Saltash was one of his last achievements. The Crystal Palace, built to house the Great Exhibition of 1851, was the work of Joseph Paxton.

Answer: William Blake

Scholars argue about the symbolic meaning of Blake's words, but the poem continues to provide inspiration for all sorts of people.

Answer: Canterbury

St Augustine, "the apostle of the English", landed in Kent in A.D. 597 and received his archbishop's pallium from Pope Gregory I in 601. After the Reformation, Canterbury remained the primatial see of the Church of England. When the Roman Catholic hierarchy was re-established in England in 1850, its primate was based at Westminster.

Answer: 1 square mile

To be exact, the ancient City covers 677 acres (1.06 square miles or 274 hectares), but is often known as "the Square Mile". The City (especially the eastern part of it containing the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange and Lloyd's of London) is the leading financial centre of the UK and Europe, and when Britons speak of "the City" they mean much the same as an American means by "Wall Street".

Answer: 1971

"D-day" was February 15, 1971. Before that the pound was divided into 20 shillings and the shilling into 12 pence. People who grew up with the old money can still tell you, almost without thinking, that threepence three-farthings is a sixty-fourth of a pound and that seven times seven shillings and sevenpence is two pounds thirteen shillings and a penny.

Answer: Horse racing

Horse racing at Newmarket goes back to the days of James I in the early seventeenth century, and his grandson Charles II was a great patron of the sport there. The Jockey Club, which governs racing on the flat in the UK, has its headquarters in the High Street. There is also a National Horse Racing Museum with a good display of sporting art.

Answer: John Major

John Major was one of three post-WW2 Prime Ministers who did not go to a university, the other two being Winston Churchill and James Callaghan. The other eight post-war Premiers (as at the end of 2004) were all Oxford graduates.

Answer: The Red Lion

Pub names change frequently these days, but the Red Lion is still generally reckoned to be the commonest. It is generally represented on the sign by the rampant red lion of the royal arms of Scotland.

Answer: Boxing

The Queensberry rules form the basis of today's British rules, which are promulgated by the British Boxing Board of Control.

Answer: Hull Kingston Rovers

Rugby League is traditionally a Northern English speciality, but in recent years it has caught on to a small extent in the south as well.

Answer: James VI of Scotland & I of England

James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary Queen of Scots, was the first English king of that name. His great-grandson, deposed in the revolution of 1688, was James VII and II, and this man's son (the "Old Pretender") was styled James VIII and III by his followers.

Answer: Cirencester

Cirencester in Gloucestershire is close to the source of the Thames, but lies on the river Churn. In its upper reaches, especially around Oxford, the Thames is sometimes called the Isis.

Answer: Donegal

Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, consists of the counties of Antrim, Down, Derry/Londonderry, Tyrone, Armagh and Fermanagh. The Irish province of Ulster additionally includes three counties in the Republic of Ireland: Donegal to the west and Monaghan and Cavan to the south.

Answer: Victoria Prison

Her Majesty's subjects were happy to bestow her name on all sorts of institutions, but seem to have baulked at associating her with prisons, although there is a Victoria Prison in Hong Kong.

Answer: Islay

On Islay, the barley for whisky is traditionally dried over peat fires, and the peat smoke gives Islay whisky its distinctive taste. Jura produces Isle of Jura and Skye produces Talisker. I don't think there are any single malt distilleries on Rothesay.

Answer: The Land of Green Ginger

The National Railway Museum's exhibits include the record-breaking steam locomotive "Mallard". The Shambles is a narrow medieval street in the old city. The Jorvik Viking Centre has interesting historical displays but a gimmicky way of presenting them. The Land of Green Ginger is a street in Hull.

Answer: zed

Izzard is in fact an old name for Z, but is no longer heard.