Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

A composer who reshaped musical theatre

Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote Jesus Christ Superstar with lyricist Tim Rice, and it began life as a 1970 concept album before reaching the stage. Its rock score and its focus on the human drama of its characters were unusual for musical theatre at the time. Lloyd Webber went on to write Evita, Cats and The Phantom of the Opera, becoming one of the most commercially successful composers in the history of the form.

A war that redrew the map of Europe

The First World War ran from 1914 to 1918 and was fought mainly across Europe, with fronts also opening in the Middle East and Africa. It ended the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, German and Russian empires, and the peace settlements that followed reshaped borders across the continent. The scale of the casualties, and the sense that the settlement sowed later conflict, made it one of the defining events of the twentieth century.

A painting built on secrets and symbols

Hans Holbein the Younger painted "The Ambassadors" in 1533, during a stay in England. The double portrait is packed with carefully chosen objects, including scientific instruments and a distorted shape across the foreground that resolves into a skull when viewed from the side. Such details have kept art historians busy for centuries, reading the picture as a statement about knowledge, wealth and mortality.

Tea, ritual and a Russian icon

A samovar is a metal vessel used to heat water for tea, and it became a fixture of Russian homes, inns and railway stations. Traditionally a small teapot of strong concentrate sits on top, and each cup is diluted with hot water from the main body. The design made it possible to serve tea to a household or a crowd over many hours without reheating a single kettle.

The grain that feeds half the world

Rice is the staple food for a huge share of the global population, and China has long been the world's largest producer. Most of it is grown in flooded paddies, a method that helps control weeds and pests while supplying water to the plants. India is the second largest producer, and much of its crop is exported, which is why India often leads in international rice trade rather than in total output.