Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

A capital that grew up next to the pyramids

Cairo sits on the Nile roughly 20 kilometres from Giza, close enough that the pyramids are visible from parts of the city on a clear day. Giza is now a sprawling urban area in its own right, but it is not a separate capital - the two cities have effectively merged into one metropolitan region. Alexandria, once the intellectual centre of the ancient Mediterranean, lies on the coast and remains Egypt's main port.

The shot put is heavy for a reason

Shot put is the odd one out among ball sports because it is not really a ball game at all - it grew out of old strength contests in which competitors heaved stones or weights. A men's competition shot weighs 7.26 kg, far more than a cricket ball or a baseball, which is why athletes push rather than throw it. The technique exists purely to transfer body weight into distance.

Fitzgerald's first novel

This Side of Paradise (1920) was F. Scott Fitzgerald's debut novel and made him famous at just 23. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is a Princeton-educated young man drifting through love affairs and intellectual enthusiasms - a portrait of the Jazz Age that Fitzgerald would later refine in The Great Gatsby. The book's success gave him the income and celebrity that shaped the rest of his short career.

Finland and the sauna

The sauna is so central to Finnish life that the country has roughly one for every two people, in homes, lakeside cottages and public buildings. Traditionally a wood-fired room with steam created by throwing water on hot stones, it has served as a place for bathing, relaxation and even, historically, childbirth. Finland added sauna culture to UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2020.

One river, one country

The Yangtze is the longest river in Asia and flows entirely within China, from the Tibetan Plateau to the East China Sea. It crosses several provinces and major cities, including Chongqing, Wuhan and Nanjing, before reaching Shanghai. Its basin is home to hundreds of millions of people, which is why it has long been central to Chinese transport, farming and energy production.