Question about England‘s history, sports, politics, geography, places, universities, laws, cities, kings, queens, important people and other general topics.
From 1931 to 1935 what was the speed limit for cars and motorcycles in the UK in built-up areas?
(a) 30 mph (48 km/h)
(b) None. There was no speed limit.
(c) 70 mph (112 km/h)
(d) 10 mph (16 km/h)
The length of the English channel is –
(a) 564 kilometres
(b) 534 kilometres
(c) 464 kilometres
(d) 584 kilometres
How many days did Britain ”lose” in September 1752 on changing from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar?
(a) 45
(b) 23
(c) 11
(d) 104
In England, which fish, when caught in a river, traditionally belongs to the Sovereign?
(a) Shark
(b) Trout
(c) Sturgeon
(d) Herring
What organisation, set up to encourage scientific research, was founded in 1648 and obtained a charter from King Charles II in 1660?
(a) Newton Committee
(b) National Geographic
(c) Royal Society
(d) Naked Science
What is the traditional wedding transportation for the bride and groom in the UK?
(a) A limousine
(b) A horse-drawn carriage
(c) A vintage car
(d) A sports car
Who is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated?
(a) Spencer Perceval
(b) Winston Churchill
(c) William Pitt the Younger
(d) Charles Grey
During 1850’s, Britain came to be known as
(a) mini continent
(b) workshop of the world
(a) labour king
(d) factory owner
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Magna Karta is also known as the
(a) Bible of English Culture
(b) Bible of English Land
(c) Bible of English people
(d) Bible of the English Constitution
The oldest residential university in Britain is the –
(a) King’s College
(b) Oxford University
(c) Imperial College
(d) University of Edinburgh
From 1801 to 1812 Lord Elgin, under a controversial permit from the Ottoman Empire, removed many marble sculptures from a famous building in which country, and brought them to the UK?
(a) France
(b) China
(c) Greece
(d) Russia
What is the name of the classic English horse race run at Epsom, two days after the Derby?
(a) The Steeplechase
(b) The Queen’s Pace
(c) The 1,000 Guineas
(d) The Oaks
The first attempt at printing was made in England by
(a) James Arkwright
(b) James Watt
(c) William Caxton
(d) Isaac Newton
National game of England –
(a) Football
(b) Cricket
(c) Rugby
(d) Swimming
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Which town in Lincolnshire, UK, is the birthplace of Margaret Thatcher, and has connections with Isaac Newton, Nicholas Parsons and Richard Todd?
(a) Grantham
(b) Grimsby
(c) Mablethorpe
(d) Scunthorpe
Which rectangular flag centred with a white square was flown by British ships?
(a) Union Jack
(b) Black watch
(c) Blue Peter
(d) Royal Ensign
Heathrow Airport is located in –
(a) Bristol
(b) London
(c) Glasgow
(d) Belfast
Which horse won the inaugural Epsom Derby horse race in the UK in 1780?
(a) Diomed
(b) Bridget
(c) Young Eclipse
(d) Saltram
When did the United Kingdom convert to decimal currency?
(a) 25 March 1949
(b) 29 December 1963
(c) 15 February 1971
(d) 1 January 1988
Which of these was a Prime Minister of Great Britain?
(a) John Major
(b) John Sergeant
(c) John Colonel
(d) John General
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The famous British one-eyed Admiral was –
(a) F. Lanchester
(b) Robert Edwards
(c) Nelson Ceylon
(d) Samuel Cohen
The first British university to admit women for degree courses was –
(a) University of Oxford
(b) University of Bristol
(c) London University
(d) Durham University
Where is the United Kingdom’s National Space Centre?
(a) Bristol
(b) Runnymede
(c) Cardiff
(d) Leicester
London’s Hatton Garden is the centre of trade in what?
(a) Meat
(b) Fish
(c) Flowers
(d) Jewelry
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When were England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland termed a Commonwealth?
(a) Under King Arthur
(b) Never
(c) After World War II
(d) Under Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector
Winston Churchil died in the year
(a) 1965
(b) 1968
(c) 1969
(d) 1970
The first British Prime Minister was –
(a) Sir Robert Walpole
(b) Winston Churchil
(c) Elizabeth I
(d) Edward Teller
What name was given to 6 December 1745, after highlanders under Charles Edward Stuart reached Derby causing a financial panic in London?
(a) Scottish Monday
(b) Black Friday
(c) Bloody Sunday
(d) Pancake Tuesday
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The London market at Billingsgate, now situated close to Canary Wharf in Docklands, London, deals in what?
(a) Fruit, vegetables and flowers
(b) Fish
(c) Meat
(d) Fruit and vegetables
Which of these is on the English Channel?
(a) Eddystone Lighthouse
(b) Hilbre Island Lighthouse
(c) Cromer Lighthouse
(d) Bell Rock Lighthouse
The national flower of Britain is
(a) Lotus
(b) Lily
(c) Sun Flower
(d) Rose
Who was the British Prime Minister during the Falklands War of 1982?
(a) Tony Blair
(b) Margaret Thatcher
(c) Harold MacMillan
(d) Harold Wilson
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Gibraltar was ceded to the UK by Spain in 1713 and although now semi-autonomous, is still under UK government; it has been a strategic advantage to the UK at a number of times. Which is NOT one of these?
(a) prior to the Battle of Trafalgar 1805
(b) during the Spanish Civil War 1820-23
(c) during the Crimean War 1854-56
(d) following the opening of the Suez Canal 1869
What is known most usually in the UK as ”The Sport of Kings”?
(a) Billiards
(b) Darts
(c) Rugby Union
(d) Horse racing
What is the nickname of Apsley House, the former London residence of the Dukes of Wellington, that stands alone in Hyde Park Corner on the south-east corner of Hyde Park?
(a) Waterloo
(b) Buck Palace
(c) Arden House
(d) Number One, London
What is the name of the official proceedings of the UK’s House of Commons?
(a) Hansard
(b) Hasbeen
(c) Harmonium
(d) Handel
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The name of the large clock on the tower of the House of Parliament in London is called –
(a) Big Ben
(b) Tower of London
(c) Buckingham Palace
(d) London Eye
What very popular sport, introduced to England by the Romans, was banned temporarily under Cromwell and finally outlawed in 1849?
(a) Greyhound racing for distances over 5 miles
(b) Fox Hunting
(c) Bare-knuckle boxing
(d) Cock fighting
In 1707, the two countries who became united were
(a) England and Scotland
(b) England and Ireland
(c) England and Wales
(d) England and Netherlands
John Lombe’s water-powered silk mill at Derby, operational from 1721, is generally acknowledged as being the first what?
(a) Company to hire women
(b) Water-powered machine
(c) Workplace to recognise a union
(d) Fully functional Factory
The first woman Prime Minister of Britain was –
(a) Theresa May
(b) Margaret Thatcher
(c) Elizabeth Vallance
(d) Elizabeth II
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The father of which ex-prime minister of the UK was a trapeze artist and a garden gnome salesman?
(a) John Major
(b) Tony Blair
(c) Harold Wilson
(d) Lloyd George
In England, what are Lloyds, Barclays, Westminster, Midland and National Provincial?
(a) Clothing stores
(b) Supermarkets
(c) Fast food outlets
(d) Banks
The word for a territory under British rule that was not part of Great Britain itself was “colony” or “Crown colony”, until the British Nationality Act 1981 which called each one a “British-Dependent Territory”. What name are most of them known by since?
(a) British Overseas Colony
(b) British Overseas Territory
(c) British Overseas Dependency
(d) British Territorial Dependency
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What is the name of the model village near Birmingham, owned by a trust that was founded for the employees of Cadbury in 1895?
(a) Cadbury
(b) Bourneville
(c) Milo
(d) Chocoville
What was the first name of the English Prime Ministers known as Pitt the Elder and Pitt the Younger?
(a) Edward
(b) Andrew
(c) Christopher
(d) William
Who was the British nurse executed on 12 October 1915 for harbouring wounded and refugee soldiers in Brussels during the German occupation, and assisting escapes
to Holland?
(a) Florence Nightingale
(b) Edith Cavell
(c) Mata Hari
(d) Tokyo Rose
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Which city was the site of the dervish rebellion and the death of the British General Gordon in 1885?
(a) Khartoum
(b) Wadi Halfa
(c) Cairo
(d) Sedan
Although the position was not officially designated as such for nearly 200 years who was the first person (in 1721) un-officially called the Prime Minister of the British Parliament?
(a) Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
(b) Sir Horace Walpole
(c) Benjamin Disraeli
(d) Sir Robert Walpole
Winchester was the capital of which Anglo-Saxon kingdom?
(a) Wessex
(b) Sussex
(c) Essex
(d) East Anglia
Which English rowing event is held every year on the River Thames for 5 days (Wednesday to Sunday) over the first weekend in July?
(a) The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race
(b) Henley-on-Todd Regatta
(c) Henley Royal Regatta
(d) Riverview Gold Cup
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Which of these ”Mary” was never a Queen?
(a) Daughter of George V and Queen Mary
(b) Daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Teck
(c) Daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon
(d) Daughter of James II and Anne Hyde
Which of these is not a prison in England?
(a) Pentonville
(b) San Quentin
(c) Reading
(d) Wandsworth
The site of what modern landmark residence in London, UK, was at one time owned by King Edward the Confessor, William the Conqueror, the monks of Westminster Abbey, King Henry VIII, Sir William Blake and Lord Goring?
(a) Buckingham Palace
(b) Clarence House
(c) Kensington Palace
(d) The Ritz
The guild, known until medieval days in London as the Fraternity or Guylde of Our Lady and St. Clement, still exists in the 21st century under what name?
(a) The City of London Guild of 21st Century Polychromy
(b) The Worshipful Company of Bakers of London
(c) The Guild of Freemen of the City of London
(d) The Guild of Masters, Pilots and Seamen of Trinity House
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When were 18-year-olds allowed to vote in a general Election in the United Kingdom?
(a) 1970
(b) 1960
(c) 1965
(d) 1975
What post was held by Winston Churchill during the 1926 General Strike in the UK?
(a) Home Secretary
(b) Chancellor
(c) Deputy Prime Minister
(d) First Sea Lord
Where in Britaindium”?
(a) Glasgo
(b) London
(c) Cardiff
(d) Sheffield
Which college was founded by Henry VI in 1440?
(a) King’s College
(b) Harrow
(c) Eton
(d) Charterhouse
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What part of mainland Europe was English territory for 200 years from the mid 14th century?
(a) Calais
(b) Catalunya
(c) Turin
(d) Tyrol
Which poet is buried in an upright position in Westminster Abbey?
(a) William Blake
(b) W B Yeats
(c) Ben Jonson
(d) John Keats
The world’s oldest emergency call service was first introduced in the London area in 1937. What telephone number was used?
(a) 911
(b) 999
(c) 111
(d) 119
Where in Britain is Bishop Rock’s light house?
(a) Scilly Isles
(b) Anglesey
(c) Lundy
(d) Channel Islands
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What mythical creature is a symbol of Wales?
(a) Unicorn
(b) Dragon
(c) Mermaid
(d) Gorgon
Who was known as the ‘morning star of the English Reformation’ ?
(a) Martin Luther
(b) Tetzel
(c) John Calvin
(d) John Wycliffe
In which year was the Petition of Rights accepted in the history of England?
(a) 1689
(b) 1688
(c) 1649
(d) 1628
