Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

An island at the crossroads of the Indian Ocean

Sri Lanka sits just off the southern tip of India, separated from the mainland by the Palk Strait. Its position made it a natural stop for traders crossing the Indian Ocean, and the island has been known by many names over the centuries, including Ceylon during the colonial era. That long history of exchange left its mark on the country's languages, religions and cuisine.

A rare element with a confusing name

Samarium takes its symbol Sm from the mineral samarskite, in which it was first identified. It belongs to the lanthanide series, a group of metallic elements that tend to be chemically similar to one another, which is why they were so difficult to separate in the nineteenth century. Samarium itself is used in specialised magnets and in some nuclear applications, though most people will never encounter it directly.

When sport becomes theatre

John McEnroe was one of the finest tennis players of his generation, but he is remembered just as much for his temper as for his touch at the net. Arguments with umpires and line judges became part of his public image, and his rivalry with Bjorn Borg helped turn men's tennis into a global spectacle during the late 1970s and 1980s. His left-handed serve and volleying style made him especially dangerous on grass courts.

The boomerang that was never just a weapon

The boomerang is most closely associated with Aboriginal Australians, who developed many forms of the object for different purposes. Not every boomerang returns to the thrower: heavier, straighter types were used for hunting and fighting, while the curved returning kind was often made for sport and recreation. Traditional examples were carved from wood, shaped carefully to suit the job they were meant to do.

Huxley's unsettling future

Aldous Huxley published "Brave New World" in 1932, imagining a society engineered for stability and comfort rather than freedom. Unlike some dystopian novels that rely on brute force, Huxley's world controls people through pleasure, conditioning and a drug called soma. The title comes from a line in Shakespeare's "The Tempest", and the book remains a standard reference point whenever people debate technology, happiness and social control.