UK Number One Hits From Australia Quiz

Answer: The Seekers

The Seekers were the first Australian pop artists to make it big internationally.

In 1965, "I'll Never Find Another You" was the first of two singles to top the UK charts. It was also a number one in Australia. That same year, "The Carnival Is Over" also topped the UK charts.

The Seekers were the quartet of Judith Durham, Athol Guy, Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley.

Between 1963 and 1989, they had eight singles in the Australian top 30, three in the USA, and eight in the UK.

The band broke up in 1968, but reunited from time to time thereafter. In 2019, they signed a new recording deal.

Answer: Men At Work

"Down Under" was a number one in the USA and the UK in 1983. In Australia it topped the charts for six weeks.

It was written by lead singer Colin Hay, who told songfacts.com: "The chorus is really about the selling of Australia in many ways, the overdevelopment of the country. It was a song about the loss of spirit in that country. It's really about the plundering of the country by greedy people. It is ultimately about celebrating the country, but not in a nationalistic way and not in a flag-waving sense. It's really more than that."

"Down Under" became an unofficial national anthem when Australia won the America's Cup in 1983.

In 2009, the band lost a copyright suit after a judge ruled the flute riff ripped off a pre-existing children's song.

Answer: Kylie Minogue

Kylie Minogue was a childhood actor, making her first appearance on Australian TV at the age of ten. However, it was the massive hit series "Neighbours" that was to bring her fame when she joined the cast in 1986. She was only in the show for two years, but became a firm favourite with viewers, particularly through her chemistry with co-star Jason Donovan.

She released her first single in 1987, "The Locomotion", which spent seven weeks at the top of the Australian singles chart. Over the next 30 years, she had more than 40 top 30 hits in her native land and even more in the UK (41). In the USA, Kylie had 17 hits in the Billboard Dance top 30, but never repeated the success on the Hot 100 pop charts.

Kylie, as she was simply billed, kept a busy career as a pop performer, selling more than 60 million records worldwide, and also starring in musical shows.

"I Should Be So Lucky" came from the British 'hit factory' Stock Aitken Waterman (Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Peter Waterman). Together they were responsible for 100 UK top 40 hits.

They claim to have written the song in ten minutes and the recording was in the can within two hours.

Answer: Jason Donovan

Jason Donovan was the other half of the celebrated Charlene and Scott love story with Kylie Minogue in the long-running Australian TV soap opera "Neighbours".

Like his co-star, he went on to a busy recording career.

In 1989, "Too Many Broken Hearts" was the first of three solo UK number ones - after he had joined forces with Kylie for "Especially For You" in 1988.

Donovan's career involved more than just chasing pop hits. He was a stalwart of stage musicals, appearing in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and "Sweeney Todd".

He also appeared on several TV 'reality' shows and was placed third in the televised "Strictly Come Dancing" show in 2011.

Answer: Peter Andre

"I Feel You" was the second of two UK number ones for Peter Andre. Both came in 1996; the first was "Fava".

Although he was born in England, Andre's family moved to Australia when he was aged six.

At the age of 16 he was awarded a recording contract after appearing on the Australian televised talent show "New Faces".

He returned to the UK in the mid 1990s after topping the UK album charts.

His marriage to the model and presenter Katy Price became the subject of a 'fly on the wall' TV show. They separated after three-and-a-half-years.

More reality shows followed including, almost inevitably, "Strictly Come Dancing", but attempts to reignite his pop career stuttered.

Answer: Baz Luhrmann

Having a number one single might almost be described as a blip in the career storyline of Baz Luhrmann.

There were few areas of performance arts in which he was not involved. His forays into the arts included film, television, opera, theatre and music as actor, director, creator and composer.

He received numerous nominations at international awards for his movies. These included Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards wins for "Strictly Ballroom" (1992) and "The Great Gatsby" (2014). "Moulin Rouge!" won the Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical Grammy in 2002.

"Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)" was a musical monologue that Luhrmann based on Mary Schmich's 'Chicago Tribune' column "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young" of June 1997.

The song was a number one in the UK, Ireland and Canada, but only made number 65 in Australia - where, frankly - wearing sunscreen should be enforced by law* - and number 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

* "The world's highest incidence of melanoma is in Australia and New Zealand (more than twice as high as in North America)." Source: Skin cancer statistics | World Cancer Research Fund.

Answer: Madison Avenue

"Don't Call Me Baby" was written by Cheyne Coates, Andy Van Dorsselaer and Duane Morrison. It was released by Van Dorssaelaer and Coates under the duo name Madison Avenue.

The song topped the pop charts in Canada and New Zealand and topped out at number two in Australia. It bubbled around the Official UK Charts for some time before a re-release in May 2000 took it to number one.

The duo broke up professionally in 2003.

Answer: Holly Valance

"Kiss Kiss" originated with the Turkish pop star Tarkan and it reached the Top Three in several European countries.

In 2001 the Australian soap opera star Holly Valance (she had appeared in "Neighbours") used the same music, with lyrics in English.

Answer: 5 Seconds Of Summer

She Looks So Perfect" was a 2014 number one in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom. It peaked at number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100.

5SOS, as they were sometimes named, formed in 2011 and a solid recording and perming career followed. They were still active when this quiz was written in October 2019.

Answer: Olivia Newton-John

"Summer Nights" was the second of two UK number ones for the England-born but Australia-raised Olivia Newton-John in duo with the non-Aussie John Travolta.

Newtown-John moved to Melbourne with her father when she was aged six, and was 14 when she began singing in a group.

She returned to the UK in the early 1970s, and although she released singles regularly, she failed to secure a solo number one spot there.

She had more success in the USA, where she had nine number ones on the Alternative Country charts by 1978.

Many things changed for Newton-John in 1978 when she and John Travolta had two number ones from the soundtrack of the movie "Grease" - in which they both appeared.

In 1980, she scored a third UK chart-topper with "Xanadu", which she recorded in collaboration with the Electric Light Orchestra.