Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

A title that entered the language

Aldous Huxley published Brave New World in 1932, during the interwar period. The novel imagines a future shaped by reproductive technology, sleep-learning and a rigid social hierarchy. Its title comes from a line in Shakespeare's The Tempest, spoken by Miranda. The phrase has since become shorthand for any technologically advanced but dehumanising society, often contrasted with the totalitarian vision in George Orwell's 1984.

The word for wine lovers

The term oenophile combines two Greek roots: oinos, meaning wine, and philos, meaning loving. It entered English usage relatively late, becoming more common in the twentieth century as wine appreciation grew as a hobby. While the word originally described connoisseurs with formal tasting knowledge, today it is used more broadly for anyone with a genuine enthusiasm for wine and its many varieties.

A city of learning and stone

Edinburgh earned the nickname Athens of the North in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This was a period when the city became a major centre of philosophy, science and literature, associated with figures of the Scottish Enlightenment. The nickname also reflects the neoclassical architecture of the New Town, whose columns and facades deliberately echoed the buildings of ancient Greece.

A river that splits two nations

The Zambezi is Africa's fourth-longest river, flowing through several countries before reaching the Indian Ocean. For a significant stretch it forms the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The river is best known for Victoria Falls, one of the largest waterfalls in the world, where it drops over a basalt cliff. Downstream, the Kariba Dam harnesses the river's flow to generate hydroelectric power for both countries.

The world's deepest lake

Lake Baikal in Siberia holds about one-fifth of all unfrozen surface fresh water on Earth. Its maximum depth is around 1,642 metres, making it the deepest lake on the planet. The lake is also thought to be among the oldest, with an estimated age of 25 to 30 million years. Many of its plant and animal species, including the Baikal seal, are found nowhere else in the world.