Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

A landmark with a view

The statue of Christ the Redeemer stands on the peak of Corcovado mountain, overlooking Rio de Janeiro. Completed in 1931, the Art Deco figure is around 30 metres tall and its outstretched arms span roughly 28 metres. It is regularly struck by lightning, and repair teams replace damaged fingers and other sections of the soapstone surface from time to time.

From Persia to Iran

For much of the Western world, the country we now call Iran was long known as Persia, a name rooted in the ancient Greek word for the region. In 1935, the ruler Reza Shah asked foreign governments to use the name Iran, which had long been used inside the country. The change caused confusion at the time, and for a few years in the mid-20th century both names appeared in official use.

Vilnius and the Baltic states

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, the southernmost and largest of the three Baltic states. Its old town is one of the largest surviving medieval old towns in Europe and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city has changed hands many times over the centuries, passing between Polish-Lithuanian, Russian, German and Soviet control before Lithuania regained independence in 1990.

Tempo marks and the language of music

Accelerando is an Italian term meaning gradually getting faster, and it belongs to a whole family of tempo instructions that composers have used for centuries. Andante means a walking pace, while comodo suggests a comfortable, easygoing speed. Because these directions are traditionally written in Italian, musicians around the world share a common vocabulary regardless of their native language.

Technetium, the first synthetic element

Technetium carries the symbol Tc and was the first element to be produced artificially rather than found in nature. It was created in 1937 by bombarding molybdenum with deuterons in a cyclotron. The element has no stable isotopes, which explains why it is so rare on Earth, yet a short-lived isotope of technetium is widely used in medical imaging today.