Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

A novel that took shape over decades

Victor Hugo began planning Les Misérables as early as the 1830s but only published it in 1862, after years of political exile and repeated revisions. The novel appeared simultaneously in Paris and Brussels, and its long digressions on history, religion and urban poverty were unusual even for serial fiction of the era. Hugo's portrait of Jean Valjean turned a former convict into one of literature's most recognisable figures.

The two capitals that share a name

San Marino is one of the few countries whose capital carries the same name as the state itself, a pattern shared with Luxembourg and Monaco. Port Vila, by contrast, sits on Efate, the main island of Vanuatu, an archipelago in the South Pacific that gained independence from joint British and French rule in 1980. Both capitals are small by global standards, yet each anchors a distinct political identity.

Cotahuasi and the limits of measurement

Cotahuasi Canyon in southern Peru is often cited as the deepest canyon on Earth, plunging roughly twice the depth of the Grand Canyon. Measuring canyons is genuinely tricky, though: depth depends on where you place the rim, and rival claims from nearby Colca Canyon have long complicated the rankings. What is not in dispute is the dramatic Andean terrain that produces these gorges.

Reading the Equator on a map

The Equator passes through thirteen countries, and the Republic of the Congo is one of them, along with Gabon, Uganda, Kenya and several others. Egypt sits well north of the line, which is why its climate is so different from that of equatorial Africa. In South America, Ecuador takes its very name from the Equator, and Quito lies close to it.

The storms of Neptune

Neptune's winds are the fastest measured in the solar system, with speeds that can exceed 2,000 kilometres per hour. The planet is so distant that sunlight is faint, which makes such violent weather difficult to explain. Jupiter and Saturn have powerful storms too, but neither matches Neptune's extremes.