Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

Two museums, one city of canals

Amsterdam is home to both the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum, and the two sit almost next door to each other on Museumplein. The Rijksmuseum holds a vast collection tracing Dutch art and history, including Rembrandt's monumental "The Night Watch". The Van Gogh Museum, as the name suggests, is devoted to the work and letters of Vincent van Gogh. Together they make the square one of the densest art destinations in Europe.

The race to crack the double helix

The structure of DNA was famously published in 1953, the work of James Watson and Francis Crick, building on X-ray diffraction images produced by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins. Watson and Crick's short paper in Nature proposed the now-familiar twisted ladder, with paired bases forming the rungs. Franklin's contribution was long underappreciated, and her early death in 1958 meant she never shared in the Nobel Prize awarded for the discovery.

A capital with a story behind its name

Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, was founded in the late eighteenth century as a settlement for freed slaves, which is where its name comes from. It sits on a peninsula on the country's Atlantic coast and grew into its largest city and main port. The name is a reminder that many African capitals carry histories of migration and resettlement, not just administrative functions.

The bird that swapped flight for swimming

Penguins are birds, but their wings have evolved into stiff flippers built for propelling them through water rather than air. That trade-off makes them spectacular divers and swimmers, and it is why they thrive in some of the coldest, most food-rich seas on the planet. Not all penguins live in icy climates, though - several species are found in temperate regions, and one even breeds around the equator.

An unfinished novel that became a favourite

Jane Austen published "Pride and Prejudice" in 1813, and it has rarely been out of print since. The novel follows Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy through misunderstandings, pride and social pressure, and its opening line about a single man in possession of a good fortune is among the most quoted in English literature. Austen wrote it before her name appeared on her books - her first novels were published anonymously.