Around the World in 10 Questions [4] Quiz

Answer: Manchester

Standing on the north bank of the river Mersey, the village of Didsbury dates back to the 13th Century. It is now a commuter community about 5 miles south of Manchester City Centre.
The township of Cheetham became part of the growing Borough of Manchester in 1838. It lies on the west bank of the River Irk to the northeast of the centre, near the boundary with Salford. Children's writer Francis Hodgson Burnett, Nobel laureate physicist J.J. Thompson and Don Arden, manager of The Small Faces and father of Sharon Osbourne, were all born in Cheetham Hill.
Hulme is located on the southern edge of Manchester City Centre. It was here that the first 'Rolls-Royce' factory opened in 1904. Morrissey, controversial lead-singer of 'The Smiths', grew up in Hulme and neighboring Moss Side.
Moss Side is a multi-ethnic residential area two miles south of Manchester City Centre, east of Old Trafford, with an unfortunate reputation for gang culture and high crime rate. Moss Side was home to Manchester City's Maine Road stadium from 1923 until their move to the City of Manchester Stadium in 2003. Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst was born in Sloan Street. Moss Side was also the childhood home of Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott and 'A Clockwork Orange' author Anthony Burgess.

Answer: Colombia

The southernmost country in Central America, the Republic of Panama has land borders with Costa Rica to the northwest and Colombia to the southeast. To its north is the Caribbean and to its south the Pacific. Now a Constitutional Democracy, Panama gained independence from Spain in 1821 and from Colombia in 1903.
With an area of 29,157 sq miles, it is very slightly smaller than the US state of South Dakota. Its population of 3.3 million is similar to Uruguay and Lithuania and slightly less than Connecticut.

Answer: Amsterdam, Netherlands

The 'Van Gogh Museum' is one of four museums located in Museumplein (Museum Square) in Amsterdam. The other three are the 'Rijksmuseum' (the Dutch National Museum), the 'Stedelijk' (home of the country's largest modern art collection), and the self-explanatory 'Diamond Museum'. Opened in 1973, the 'Van Gogh Museum' provides visitors with an insight into the artist's life, from his childhood through his various crazy stages to his death.

The world's largest collection of the Dutch master's work includes one of his three 'Sunflowers', 'Bedroom in Arles' and the 1885 masterpiece 'The Potato Eaters'.

Answer: Illinois

Home to almost 13 million people, Illinois is the fifth most populous state in the US, after California Texas, New York and Florida. However, with an area of only 57,914 sq miles, slightly larger than Nepal, there are 24 larger states. Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River. With around 400,000 living in the Peoria metropolitan area, it is the state's largest after Chicago. Champaign is 135 miles south of Chicago and home to half of the 'University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana'. Decatur, the county seat of Macon County, claims to be 'The Soybean Capital of the World'.

It is most notable as the home of Abraham Lincoln, who arrived in 1830 and practiced law here before moving to Springfield. Joliet, 40 miles southwest of Chicago, is one of America's fastest-growing cities.

The former Joliet Prison is featured in the hit TV series 'Prison Break'.

Answer: Asunción

Paraguay is one of the two landlocked countries in South America, the other being Bolivia. It has borders with Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina. Having gained independence from Spain in 1811, Paraguay is now a Constitutional Presidential Republic.
With an area of 157,000 sq miles, Paraguay is the world's 59th largest country, slightly smaller than both Iraq and the US state of California. Its population, though, is only just over 6 million, which is less than that of the city of Rio de Janeiro in neighboring Brazil.
The alternatives are three more South American capitals -- Quito (Ecuador), Montevideo (Uruguay) and Bogotá (Colombia).

Answer: Moscow

Surprisingly, perhaps, Moscow is the winner of this category. The top ten cities on the list are Moscow, New York, London, Istanbul, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Mumbai, San Francisco, Dallas and Tokyo.
Moscow also led the list of the cities with the highest cost of living in 2008. Close behind on that list are London, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Answer: Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire (or Oxon) is a Ceremonial & Non-Metropolitan County in southern England. Noted for Oxford University, the most famous Oxfordian is Sir Winston Churchill, who was born in 1874. Of those referred to here, England's former #1 tennis player Tim Henman was born in Oxford in 1974. Mike Hailwood, nicknamed 'Mike the Bike', 500cc Motorcycle World Champion from 1962-1965, was born in Great Milton in 1940. Stephen Hawking, Britain's most famous theoretical physicist and a professor at Cambridge University, was born in Oxford in 1942. James Hugh Calum Laurie OBE, probably best known in the US for the TV series 'House' and in the UK for his portrayal of the exceedingly stupid Prince George in the TV series 'Blackadder the Third', was born in Oxford in 1959. Larry Grayson, born William White in Banbury in 1923, a regular host of TV game shows in the 1970s-80s was known particularly for his over-the-top camp humor.

Answer: Israel

With an area of 4,700 sq miles, the Negev Desert covers the whole of southern Israel and around 55% of the entire area of the country. The largest city and the capital of the region covered by the Negev is Beersheba, a city of some 185,000 people and Israel's seventh-largest city.

Answer: Gibraltar

Although home to some 29,000, Gibraltar is truly tiny, covering a mere 2.6 sq miles. Ceded by Spain to Great Britain in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, it has been a source on conflict between the two European powers for more than 200 years. Of the alternatives, the Chagos Islands are also known as British Indian Ocean Territory. Located halfway between Africa and Indonesia, the largest island is Diego Garcia.

They have a surface area of 23.2 sq miles and a population of around 3,500. Although commonly known as the Pitcairn Islands, the official name of the only remaining British territory in the South Pacific is 'The Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands'. Comprising four volcanic islands, only Pitcairn (the second largest) is inhabited.

The islands have an area of 18.1 sq miles and a population of around 50. Located in the South Atlantic, the British territory of St Helena also includes the dependencies of Ascension Island and Tristan du Cunha. By far the largest of the four options here, St Helena covers some 162 sq miles and is home to around 4,500 people.

Answer: Victoria

Victoria is the smallest of Australia's mainland states but with just over 5 million inhabitants it has the second highest population after New South Wales. It is also the most densely populated, with around 70% of the state's people living in the capital, Melbourne. Victoria, and Melbourne in particular, is the driving force behind Australia's proud sporting tradition.

It is the home of Aussie Rules, or 'footie', as they call it, with 10 of the 16 AFL clubs based in the state. Melbourne hosted the 1956 Olympic Games and the 2006 Commonwealth Games, and is the venue for the annual Australian F1 Grand Prix and the Australian Open tennis grand slam tournament.

The Melbourne Cup is also one of the world's major horse races.