Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

The car brand that stayed close to home

Volvo was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1927, and the name comes from the Latin word "volvo", meaning "I roll". For decades the brand built its reputation on safety engineering, and it was Volvo engineers who introduced the three-point seatbelt in 1959 - then chose to leave the patent open so other manufacturers could use it. Sweden remains Volvo's home market and its cultural anchor, even though the company has passed through several ownership changes since.

A river that touches several countries

The Niger is the principal river of West Africa, roughly 4,200 kilometres long, and it flows through Nigeria on its way to the Gulf of Guinea. Its course is unusual: it rises in the highlands of Guinea, swings into Mali, bends toward the Sahara fringe and then turns south again. That great curve confused European geographers for centuries, some of whom assumed it must be connected to the Nile.

The anaconda's quiet advantage

The green anaconda is generally considered the largest snake in the world by weight, with mature females capable of reaching impressive mass, though the reticulated python usually wins on sheer length. Anacondas are constrictors and spend much of their time in and around slow-moving water in South America, which suits their heavy bodies. The green anaconda's eyes and nostrils sit high on its head, letting it breathe and watch while almost entirely submerged.

Coffee's journey out of Africa

Coffee's story begins in Africa, most famously in the Ethiopian highlands, where the plant grew wild long before it was cultivated. From there it travelled to the Arabian Peninsula, where Yemeni growers and traders developed the drink and the port of Mocha gave its name to a style we still use today. European colonial powers later carried coffee to plantations in Asia and the Americas, which is why so much of today's production sits far from its African origins.

When the Beatles went global

The Beatles formed in Liverpool in 1960 and spent years honing their sound in Hamburg clubs before British fame arrived. The 1960s is the decade that made them a worldwide phenomenon, with Beatlemania spreading across Europe and North America and their music shifting from pop singles toward ambitious studio albums. Their influence on fashion, recording technique and youth culture is still cited as one of the defining stories of twentieth-century popular music.