Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

A ballet that sparked a riot

When The Firebird premiered in Paris in 1910, it made the reputation of its young composer, Igor Stravinsky. The work was written for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, the company that would later stage The Rite of Spring. That later ballet caused a famous scandal at its premiere, with fights breaking out in the audience. The Firebird, by contrast, was a triumph from the start.

Islands, peninsulas and political geography

Sicily and Corsica are both true islands, surrounded by water on all sides. Crimea is a peninsula, connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land. Whether it counts as "not an island" is straightforward geography, but the region itself is politically sensitive: Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move most countries do not recognise.

The bear at the top of the food chain

Polar bears are generally considered the largest land predators, with adult males weighing up to around 700 kilograms. They depend on sea ice to hunt seals, their main prey. As Arctic ice shrinks, polar bears face a serious threat to their hunting grounds. Kodiak bears, a subspecies of brown bear found in Alaska, are close rivals in size.

One country, three borders

France shares borders with Italy, Spain and Belgium, which is why it is the answer here. It also borders Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Andorra and Monaco. Luxembourg is a common trap: it touches Belgium, Germany and France, but not Italy or Spain. France's position at the heart of Western Europe has shaped its history as a crossroads of trade, war and culture.

Van Gogh's most famous night

Vincent van Gogh painted The Starry Night in 1889 while staying at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, southern France. The painting is partly imagined, based on sketches and memories rather than the view from his window. It now hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and is one of the most reproduced images in art history.