Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

A painting that turned a bombing into a warning

Pablo Picasso painted "Guernica" in 1937, after the Basque town of Guernica was bombed during the Spanish Civil War. Rather than depicting the attack literally, he filled the canvas with screaming figures, a wounded horse and a bull, turning the event into a universal image of the horrors of war. The painting became a symbol of anti-war sentiment and spent decades in New York before returning to Spain.

The river that became music

Bedřich Smetana composed "The Moldau" as part of his cycle "Má Vlast" ("My Fatherland"). The piece follows the river from its two small sources through the Bohemian countryside, past a peasant wedding and moonlit water nymphs, before it flows into Prague and disappears into the Elbe. Smetana was already deaf when he wrote much of the cycle, which makes the vividness of the music all the more remarkable.

A revolution that reset the calendar

The French Revolution began in 1789, when the storming of the Bastille on 14 July became the flashpoint for years of upheaval. It abolished the monarchy, reshaped French society and spread ideas of liberty and equality across Europe. The revolution also produced a new calendar, with 1789 as year one, a reminder of how completely its supporters wanted to start over.

The god who got the last laugh

Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and festivity, was also associated with theatre, ecstasy and the unsettling loss of control. Athenian drama festivals were held in his honour, and the word "theatre" is linked to the rituals celebrated for him. He reminds us that in Greek myth, pleasure and danger were rarely far apart.