Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

A city buried in ash, and the shape of what we found

When Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, Pompeii was smothered under a deep layer of volcanic material that sealed the town almost intact. Because the ash hardened around whatever it touched, excavators centuries later found streets, bakeries, frescoes and even graffiti preserved in remarkable detail. The disaster that ended the city is precisely what made it one of the most complete windows we have into everyday Roman life.

Coffee's journey from Ethiopia to the world's largest producer

Coffee plants are native to Ethiopia, but the crop travelled far and now thrives across the tropics. Brazil has been the world's largest producer for well over a century, thanks to a vast growing area, a favourable climate and large-scale farming. Colombia and Vietnam are also major players, yet neither comes close to Brazil's annual output.

Why Madeira sits in a different sea

Malta and Mallorca both lie in the Mediterranean, which is why Madeira stands out: this Portuguese archipelago sits in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Morocco. The Mediterranean is bordered by southern Europe, North Africa and the Levant, while Madeira is swept by Atlantic currents. A single glance at a map explains why it does not belong with the other two.

Bengali, a language spoken by hundreds of millions

Bangladesh's official language is Bengali, also called Bangla, and it is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. It has its own script and a rich literary tradition, including the work of Rabindranath Tagore, who wrote in Bengali and won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Hindi and Mandarin belong to entirely different language families, which is what makes the wrong options easy to rule out.

Roman numerals, still quietly in use

CCC is simply three hundreds added together, giving 300. Roman numerals are built by combining and sometimes subtracting symbols: I, V, X, L, C, D and M. They survive today on clock faces, in film credits, on monuments and in the numbering of Super Bowls, which is why recognising them still pays off.