Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

The river that refuses to stay in one country

The Nile is one of the most international rivers in the world, flowing through several countries in northeastern Africa on its long journey north to the Mediterranean. Sudan, where it is joined by the Blue Nile at Khartoum, is one of them. Egypt is perhaps the country most famously associated with the river, but it is far from the only one that depends on it.

A mould that changed medicine

Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin in 1928 was partly a matter of luck: a stray mould contaminated one of his bacterial cultures, and he noticed that the bacteria around it had died. It took more than a decade, and the work of other scientists during the Second World War, before penicillin became a widely produced drug. It went on to save countless lives and opened the era of antibiotics.

Capitals that are not the biggest city

Beijing is the capital of China, yet the country's largest city by population is Shanghai, with Hong Kong also far more prominent in finance and trade. This split between political and economic centres is common around the world. Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, is another example of a capital whose name many people recognise long before they can place it on a map.

A novel that scandalised its readers

Stendhal's The Red and the Black, published in 1830, follows Julien Sorel, an ambitious young man from a humble background who tries to rise through society. The "red" and the "black" of the title are often linked to the army and the church, the two traditional paths to advancement in post-Napoleonic France. The novel is now considered a landmark of French literature, though it was not a great success during Stendhal's lifetime.