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Questions:

1. Which epic poem dated between the 8th and 11th centuries is the oldest extant English manuscript?
2. The first hour of the medieval monastic day began at 6:00 am; which hour of the day was known as noon?
3. In the middle of the 17th century, which Scandinavian country was the third-largest in Europe by land area?
4. In which country is the world’s largest coal exporting port, Newcastle, located?
5. In the eighteenth century, the name of which popular tropical fruit became a verb meaning “to pickle”?
6. In which decade did Momofuku Ando invent instant noodles: 1910s, 1930s, 1950s, or 1970s?
7. True or false: it took ninety years for researchers to successfully breed and domesticate hamsters.
8. Which of the following sports has never been part of the Olympic Games: cricket, croquet, lacrosse, rugby, netball, softball, tug of war, or water motorsports?

Answers:

1. Beowulf.
2. Ninth. (Hence the name noon, from the Latin ‘nona hora’.)
3. Sweden.
4. Australia.
5. Mango. (Today, mangoes account for approximately half of all tropical fruits produced worldwide.)
6. 1950s. (He marketed the first instant noodles in 1958; sales of his most famous product, cup noodles, began in 1971.)
7. True. (The golden hamster was first described scientifically in 1839, but only first bred and domesticated in 1930.)
8. Netball. (Softball was part of the Olympics from 1996 to 2008, while the rest are from the early twentieth century.)