The King William’s College quiz: are you ready to solve the world’s most challenging puzzle?

Editor’s note: the King William’s College quiz has appeared in the Guardian since 1951. The quiz is no longer sat formally; it is sent to the schoolchildren and their families to tackle over the Christmas holiday. So yes, you are allowed to Google – however, the questions are constructed to make that less than straightforward. Answers will appear on the Guardian website on 1 January 2025. Good luck!

General knowledge paper, 2024-25, No 120, sat by the pupils of King William’s College, Isle of Man

1. During 1924

1. Who climbed to a world record 28,126ft?

2. Whose exposure of The Fascisti cost him his life?

3. In what could one learn of the ordinariness of Chandrapore?

4. Whose rivalry in Paris would lead to a Puttnam production 57 years later?

5. In the renaming of which city was a leading apostle replaced in honour of a revolutionary leader?

6. In what did Moravians first witness the escape of Little Sharp Ears and her eviction of the Badger?

7. The publication of which forged document may have influenced a Conservative landslide?

8. Who worked on his autobiography while residing in Landsberg?

9. Which surgical pioneer’s memorial was unveiled in W1?

10. Which little playhouse opened in Covent Garden?

2.

1. What was likened to a single-crested Teneriffe?

2. Which dread name is derived from clouds and storms?

3. Where is there a single yew tree, standing in the midst of its own darkness?

4. Along the bare and open valley of which river was the Ettrick Shepherd my guide?

5. Without yon cloud, from what may thine eye over three Realms take the widest range?

6. What expands majestically, gliding silently over smooth sands with unfettered sweep?

7. Beneath which rugged feet did Sir Lancelot give a safe retreat to noble Clifford?

8. Where does a church-like frame give the savage Pass its name?

9. Where does the bell fling o’er the fen that ponderous knell?

10. Which torrent hoarse speaks from the woody glen?

3.

1. What is also a dusty pollex?

2. What is too snobby to be pleasant?

3. Where was the home of the Marchmain family?

4. Who lost his writing book while birdwatching by the river?

5. What dismal condition, together with anxiety can cause insomnia?

6. What burrows deep between a gallows and a diabolical drinking vessel?

7. What featured in a nocturnal rambling route to the West Midlands?

8. Where did the newcomer to Justinian endure naupathia?

9. What was the foundation of Ezekiah Hopkins?

10. Who was Appalachia’s son?

4.

1. Where did Rollo meet his old friend Harry?

2. Where did Dolfuss die in a failed Nazi coup?

3. Where does Papageno stand with his birdcage above the gateway?

4. Where did Königstein discuss the Serbian question with von Hötzendorf ?

5. In which street does a Baroque column commemorate devastation due to Yersinia?

6. Where did Patrick and Konrad order hot Brötchen and coffee smothered in whipped cream?

7. Where was a massive bronze casting shattered on falling from a great height?

8. Where did Leopold’s precocious six-year old son kiss the Empress?

9. Where is the Herzgruft occupied by 54 imperial urns?

10. Where is the gilded statue of which fiddler?

5.

1. Which city gave its name to the tarboosh?

2. Where did victory earn O’Donnell an eponymous Dukedom?

3. Where did Crusoe spend about two years as the guest of a Turkish rover?

4. In which city did Roosevelt and Churchill make a Declaration of “unconditional surrender”?

5. Which city underwent an exchange of Iberian masters in a Treaty mediated by the Earl of Sandwich?

6. Where did an acquisitive and unwelcome feline appear in the Bay, together with a larger companion?

7. Where did Latham rescue the helmsman of uncertain identity when the Gay Juliet foundered?

8. Where, according to Historia Naturalis, is the site of the theft of the golden apples?

9. Which mountain dominates the view south across the Straits?

10. In which city was the McKennas’ son Hank abducted?

6.

1. Which hymnodist was the first Poet Laureate?

2. Which architect designed St Paul’s and wrote a popular wedding hymn?

3. Which island-educated clergyman wrote of dawn breaking on each continent and island?

4. Which reformed slave-trader captain found the name of Jesus his shield and hiding-place?

5. Who was inspired to write his great hymn while becalmed between Palermo and Marseilles?

6. Which sometime honourable member for Norwich, and Colonial Governor, wrote of ineffable love?

7. Who patented a form of shorthand and saluted a happy Christmas morn with a gift for Dolly?

8. Which silk merchant’s daughter provided an English rendering of Nun danket alle Gott?

9. Which future Cardinal’s curate wrote of the risks of slippery footsteps?

10. Whose noted hymn composition recalls his bishopric?

7.

1. Like what would Meg’s rider be roasted in hell?

2. Prompted by faster following traffic, what urged gastropod acceleration?

3. What accompanied Mistress Mackintosh on her ride downstream on a gate?

4. What whopper succumbed to two blows to the head as it lay in the cockpit of the Cachalot?

5. What stay their wavy bodies ‘gainst the stream and nestle their silver bellies on the pebble sand?

6. What floundered about Mr Jeremy’s boat, pricking and snapping until it was quite out of breath?

7. What does well with a black snail or a piece of soft cheese if a grasshopper cannot be found?

8. What was represented by two fish bones, two eyeballs and a bit of black mackintosh?

9. What lusty creature is encountered here and there en route to Philip’s farm?

10. What are better taken in the Thames by bobbing than by sniggling?

8.

1. Who vaulted to gold with a wooden leg?

2. Which city was the beneficiary of an eruption of Vesuvius?

3. Which orange flame scorched to gold repeatedly at White City?

4. Who gained eight gold medals, including seven world records in which city?

5. Which couple, sharing the same birthday and year, won gold separately on the same day?

6. Where was which steeplechase winner disqualified, but reinstated with the support of fellow competitors?

7. With a name recalling Mary Poppins, which yacht was sailed to gold at Acapulco?

8. Where was there a failure of simple arithmetic in the steeplechase?

9. Which inappropriately named pentathlete doctored his épée?

10. Where did a water-carrier become a national hero?

9.

1. Where was the OCTU for National Servicemen?

2. Which elevated hostelry recalled unusual canine laughter?

3. On which town did Elizabeth Gaskell base her most famous novel?

4. Where does a pair of elaborately decorated Saxon crosses dominate the market square?

5. Where does what conical structure commemorate the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life?

6. Where was Yn Stanlagh Mooar sentenced to death at court-martial following his capture at Worcester?

7. A dispute over the ownership of which fine house led to the death of both claimants in a duel?

8. Which village has a natal association with the memorable answer “Because it’s there”?

9. For which ferry crossing was Ted’s 2d. fare non-negotiable ?

10. Where did Webb depict Alice with her scholarly creator?

10.

1. Where did Tirel fire the fatal arrow?

2. What has given its name to a calorie-rich cherry cake?

3. Where is the final resting place of the crew of the ill-fated LZ 72?

4. Where did Pentecost learn from Darking how to imitate a stoat’s whistle and a badger’s grunt?

5. In which forest did the burglar release his thirteen companions, bound and suspended from branches by the Attercops?

6. On the edge of which forest was a new water sport established with fir cones, which were subsequently replaced by sticks?

7. In which forest was the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, from which Percy escaped having disabled Héron?

8. Where was the corpse discovered, together with Muriel Forrest’s £5 banknote?

9. Where did Renoir capture his architect friend with his dogs?

10. Where is the home of Big Belly and Duke’s Vaunt?

11. Who

1. Surrendered to Kirkaldy on a hill near Musselburgh?

2. Underwent a gentlemanly arrest at the Old Exeter Inn?

3. Were violently arrested in Mr Jellyband’s coffee-room?

4. Was arrested at the Amsterdam Coffee House on a charge of sedition?

5. Together with his mistress, was confronted by Dew on board SS Montrose?

6. Was arrested at Ashgrove Cottage on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the Stock Exchange?

7. Was allegedly arrested by his father following a battle near Northallerton?

8. Claimed to be Hizinger when arrested near Bremervorde?

9. Was arrested by Mr Namby at the George and Vulture?

10. Was invited to leave the Cadogan Hotel quite quietly?

12. At which hotel

1. Did Merrimaid’s owner lose the Morning Star?

2. Did the Belgian Director offer to find a berth for his compatriot?

3. Did Ruth’s millionaire father show the Heart of Fire to his secretary?

4. Did the young American impersonator take a room as Mrs van Dusen?

5. Did Tim’s mother identify that funny little man in conversation with Rosalie, the novelist’s daughter?

6. Did the teenager pierce a crude wax model with a pin and suppose that she was responsible for her glamorous stepmother’s demise?

7. Was the Irish doorman shot by the supposed heiress to protect her inheritance?

8. Did the suspect stay prior to the final classic of the flat racing season?

9. Was the imitation pearl necklace hidden in Célestine’s mattress?

10. Was the eminent, titled MP identified by her former wardress?

13.

1. What dish is a reticulum?

2. What Irish name describes an absence?

3. Which Australian sports a silver-grey coat?

4. What did the Dutch Lakenvelder create in south-west Scotland?

5. What has a lineback and markedly overdeveloped keratin-based protuberances?

6. Identify four stiff standers, four dilly danders, two hookers, two lookers and a wig-wag.

7. What hybrid was developed from red and dun in adjacent counties?

8. What came from Heck and Hagenbeck, one from each?

9. Who righted the females from Valencia?

10. What was sourced from Teeswater?

14.

1. Which range incorporates The Bones?

2. Whose skhian-dhu accounted for Fhairson?

3. Which rodent-faced creation is tempting for salmonids?

4. Who wrote about the loss of (and gain from) the Cabinet Minister?

5. Which company was established following the harvesting of Capsicum on Île Petite Anse?

6. Who tried to tempt the Cap’en with a small kidney pudding or a sheep’s heart, prior to his nocturnal escape from Brig Place?

7. Who advised Claybody of his intention, but was threatened with prosecution?

8. Which monster of depravity was the Napoleon of Crime?

9. Which steward related the story of the Durie brothers?

10. Who received the sobriquet The Knife?

15.

1. Which distillery produces a Beast?

2. Which little gem is hand-made in a pocket glen’?

3. What is “not easy to find, out of sight in a remote cove”?

4. Where, in Victorian times, was one urged to take a peg of John Beg?

5. For what is it claimed that the founders were known for their hospitable nature and generous spirit?

6. Which distillery achieved Royal approval in the same year as the monarch gave his name to a noted island School?

7. What, apart from Isla and Glenlivet, was conceived as the king o’ drinks?

8. Which distillery has enjoyed aquiline supervision since 1898?

9. Where do gulls preside over the “Little Bay of Caves”?

10. What is described as the Maritime Malt?

1. Suggested that which giant Serb weighed 14lb 10oz?

2. Described a street procession from 23 Railway Cuttings?

3. Likened which bulky captain to a pachyderm attempting the pole vault?

4. Compared whose technique to an old lady poking with her umbrella at a wasp’s nest?

5. Appeared to confuse gustation and olfaction in describing whose desire to appear at Wembley?

6. Suggesting that which colleague needed a small ruler, wrongly stated that the Sultan of Brunei was only four foot ten?

7. Suggested that which unusually heavy South African was born when meat was cheap?

8. Credited who with being hula hula champion for Santander for many years?

9. Implied that Chester and Chesterfield were neighbouring towns?

10. Likened which team to a huge jar of a breakfast preserve?

17. Where

1. Was Macdougal the barman?

2. Did Hugger use a reflecting cigarette case to cheat at bridge?

3. Did the traveller return promptly at 8.45pm on Saturday 21st December?

4. Did the Colonel supposedly cheat at whist, prior to the death of his partner?

5. Did the membership consist of elderly butlers and gentlemen’s gentlemen of fairly ripe years?

6. Did two NCOs find employment after National Service at an establishment run by Pendleton?

7. Was Pendyce able to study a caricature of himself, wearing a black billycock hat?

8. Did Marchbanks provide the firearm for the doctor’s suicide in the library?

9. Did Stephen and Sir Joseph discuss the purchase of Surprise?

10. Did Pugh describe the unmasking of Reinmar?

18. During 2024

1. Where was the start and finish of 36 4ED?

2. Where were three corgis unveiled together with their mistress?

3. Which Geezer reached Ras Angela 351 days after leaving Cape Aghulas?

4. Which jovial conductor of “the very model of a modern music festival” has sadly departed?

5. The return of whose misplaced baggy green was appropriately celebrated with a final half century?

6. Who removed from his study an “unsettling” portrait of a predecessor in his Westminster residence?

7. In fond memory of which hirsute Barrovian did thousands ride from Beverley to Scarborough?

8. Who has shared his thoughts following a near fatal knife attack two years earlier?

9. What record-breaking leviathan surfaced briefly from a Somerset lake?

10. Whose Falstaff took an unrehearsed tumble?