General knowledge / 100 QUESTIONS

British Knowledge Quiz

Take a mixed tour of Britain through its places, history, writing and culture. These British quiz questions range from familiar names to less obvious connections, with 100 questions across five sets. This is a general trivia quiz, rather than a citizenship test or exam revision resource.

Set 1 of 5

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What’s in this British quiz questions?

Each of the five sets contains 20 questions, with five questions at each difficulty. Choose Easy for the full round, Medium for 15 questions, Hard for 10 or Very hard for five.

Topics in the mix

British history and places
Authors, books and familiar names
Traditions and cultural trivia

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Question set

Set 1 · British knowledge

Easy
In 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany after it invaded which country?
Answer: Poland
Easy
What was the first ever London Underground line to be built?
Answer: Metropolitan Line
Easy
What is the capital of Scotland?
Answer: Edinburgh
Easy
In the English language, what is the name of the "&" character?
Answer: Ampersand
Easy
In 1720, England was in massive debt and became involved in the South Sea Bubble. Who was the main mastermind behind it?
Answer: John Blunt
Medium
Where did Scotland unsuccessfully try to establish a colony?
Answer: Panama
Medium
In which English county is Stonehenge?
Answer: Wiltshire
Medium
What is the official religion in England?
Answer: Anglicanism
Medium
Which river flows through the Scottish city of Glasgow?
Answer: Clyde
Medium
In which English county is the city of Portsmouth?
Answer: Hampshire
Hard
The RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton, England on what date?
Answer: April 10, 1912
Hard
The Scottish New Year celebration, whereupon people traditionally sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’, is called what?
Answer: Hogmanay
Hard
How many days did it take the Mayflower to make the crossing from England to America?
Answer: 66 days
Hard
What year is considered to be the year that the British Empire ended?
Answer: 1997
Hard
Who was King of Great Britain when the American Revolutionary War broke out in 1775?
Answer: George III
Very hard
What king of England, depicted in a self-titled Shakespearean play, won a decisive victory at the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years War?
Answer: Henry V
Very hard
What kind of movie is the 1988 British film The Fruit Machine, also known as Wonderland in the United States?
Answer: Thriller movie
Very hard
Lyme Park in Cheshire, England is believed to be haunted by which of the following?
Answer: Phantom funeral cortege
Very hard
Foreseeing that she will never have peace of mind, this Queen of Scotland desperately asks what, will these hands nere be clean?
Answer: Lady Macbeth
Very hard
What English poet, noted for his narrative poem Childe Harolds Pilgrimage, once wrote “The English winter - ending in July, To recommence in August”?
Answer: Lord Byron

Set 3 · British knowledge

Easy
What is the name of Captain Larsons seal-hunting schooner from the novel The Sea Wolf by Jack London?
Answer: Ghost
Easy
The worlds first international football match was played in 1872 between the national teams of Scotland and which country?
Answer: England
Easy
The Hundred Years War -- a series of related conflicts between France and England, started in 1337 and lasted how many years?
Answer: 116
Easy
The famous department store Harrods that occupies an entire block is located on which road in London?
Answer: Brompton Road
Easy
The British Airways London Eye, which opened in 1999, is what type of structure?
Answer: An observation wheel
Medium
Which of these was a traditional Christmas dinner in early England?
Answer: Pig head
Medium
Which English county will you find the University of East Anglia?
Answer: Norfolk
Medium
Which country inside the United Kingdom does NOT appear on its flag, the Union Jack?
Answer: Wales
Medium
Which is the patron saint of Scotland, celebrated on November 30?
Answer: St Andrew
Medium
The British evacuation from which French port was codenamed Operation Dynamo, in 1940?
Answer: Dunkirk
Hard
In what year was slavery banned in the British colonies?
Answer: 1833
Hard
Which of these British royal brides wore a wreath of fragrant orange blossoms instead of a diamond encrusted tiara?
Answer: Victoria
Hard
For what is Scottish Sir James Dewar famous?
Answer: Inventing the vacuum flask.
Hard
What was the first American colony to renounce allegiance to the King of Great Britain in 1776?
Answer: Rhode Island
Hard
Which one of the these is a British physicist and mathematician, born on Christmas Day?
Answer: Sir Isaac Newton
Very hard
The first recorded use of the word purple in the English language dates back to what year?
Answer: AD 975
Very hard
The House of Windsor was founded by King George V in 1917 when he changed the name of his family to Windsor. What was the original name of his family?
Answer: German
Very hard
Rumpole from the fabulous British TV series Rumpole of the Bailey likes his job defending people in court and does not want to be a judge. What is Rumpoles first name?
Answer: Horace
Very hard
Which of the following British Monarchs never appeared on a circulated pound sterling coin?
Answer: Edward VIII
Very hard
Once occupied by the Romans and then later the Vikings, which Yorkshire city is said to be the most haunted in Europe if not the world?
Answer: York

Set 4 · British knowledge

Easy
What is the pen name of Eric Blair who wrote the memoir Down and Out in Paris and London?
Answer: George Orwell
Easy
In the Crimean War, France, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire fought against what country?
Answer: Imperial Russia
Easy
On a London Underground map, what colour is the Circle Line?
Answer: Yellow
Easy
The Great Exhibition, a symbol of the Victorian Age, was held in London in what year?
Answer: 1851
Easy
When did Singapore become a British crown colony?
Answer: 1867
Medium
Who conquered England as a result of the Battle of Hastings?
Answer: The Normans
Medium
The national flag of Scotland features what two colours?
Answer: Blue and white
Medium
What British schooner was discovered in 1840 with the bodies onboard preserved by the Antarctic cold?
Answer: Jenny
Medium
Who became King of England after the monarchy was restored in 1660?
Answer: Charles II
Medium
Who was the British ruler at the time of the American Revolution?
Answer: George III
Hard
What ghost allegedly appeared in Gibside Hall, Tyne and Wear, England?
Answer: The ghost of a countess
Hard
What clothing item was named after a British Army Major General who commanded the Light Brigade during the Crimean War?
Answer: cardigan
Hard
Which famous book by British writer H.G. Wells presents the Martians as having octopus-like bodies?
Answer: War of the Worlds
Hard
In what year did Cardiff become the capital city of Wales?
Answer: 1955
Hard
Which English king had wives called Catherine, Anne, Jane, Anne, Catherine and Catherine, in that order?
Answer: Henry the Eighth
Very hard
What is the name of the informal association of people who can trace their ancestry to the original Virginian colonists from England?
Answer: First Families of Virginia
Very hard
Which wars were fought in XV century England?
Answer: Wars of the Roses
Very hard
Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan have all played the role of a fictional British spy. Who was that character?
Answer: James Bond
Very hard
In England, names of places ending in chester, like Manchester and Winchester come from a Latin word meaning what?
Answer: camp
Very hard
What actress won an Academy Award for her portrayal of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the movie The Iron Lady?
Answer: Meryl Streep

Set 5 · British knowledge

Easy
While driving or walking down Kings Cross Road and Farringdon Road in London few people are aware that unseen beneath them runs which river?
Answer: River Fleet
Easy
What flower has become a national symbol of England?
Answer: Rose
Easy
Who lives at 10 Downing Street, London, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as Number 10?
Answer: the British Prime Minister
Easy
What was the name of the New England Patriots from 1960 through 1970, when the team was part of the American Football League?
Answer: Boston Patriots
Easy
What author described a day in the life of Mrs Dalloway, who goes around London in the morning, getting ready to host a party?
Answer: Virginia Woolf
Medium
Lawrence Bohune was the first doctor in the British Colony of Virginia. When did he arrive?
Answer: 1610
Medium
On what day did American colonies actually declare their independent from Britain?
Answer: July 2
Medium
What King of England was known as Longshaks and the Hammer of the Scots?
Answer: Edward I
Medium
Who smuggled the Scottish Bonnie Prince Charlie out of Scotland?
Answer: Flora MacDonald
Medium
What British singer recorded her biggest hit, Downtown in 1964?
Answer: Petula Clark
Hard
Which British band released the hit single Hippy Hippy Shake in 1963?
Answer: The Swinging Blue Jeans
Hard
What is the capital of the U.S. state in which Manchester is the largest city?
Answer: Concord
Hard
What country has never been a member of the British Commonwealth - presently the Commonwealth of Nations?
Answer: Congo
Hard
The English language has quite a variety of words for the babies of different animals. What is the proper word for a baby swan?
Answer: Sygnet
Hard
When did monarchs sit on the Stone of Scone in Scotland?
Answer: during a coronation ceremony
Very hard
The ancient Roman Empire stretched from modern day Great Britain to Egypt. Which present day country was not part of the Roman Empire?
Answer: Poland
Very hard
The Welsh are renowned for singing. One of their popular hymns is known in Welsh as Cwm Rhondda. By what name is it more commonly referred to in English?
Answer: Bread of Heaven
Very hard
Who was the first British royal bride to place her wedding bouquet on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, which honours the unknown dead of WWI?
Answer: Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (aka Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother)
Very hard
What is the most commonly used noun in the English language?
Answer: Time
Very hard
Which King of England was faced with the Peasants' Revolt in 1381?
Answer: Richard II

Questions adapted from Open Trivia Database and OpenTriviaQA, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected, filtered and arranged into fixed rounds. Sources & editorial notes.

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