Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

When a country changes its capital

Burundi's answer here is Gitega, but many people still associate the country with Bujumbura, its former capital and largest city. In 2019 the government moved the political capital inland to Gitega, a decision intended to spread development away from the crowded lakeside economic hub. It is a reminder that capitals are not permanent: countries relocate them for reasons of geography, politics or national balance, and old habits in atlases and conversation can take years to catch up.

The attack that pulled America into war

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor took place on 7 December 1941, striking the US naval base in Hawaii. The following day the United States declared war on Japan, and within days Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, drawing the country fully into the Second World War. The date has since become shorthand for sudden, decisive turning points in world affairs.

Shakespeare's bleakest tragedy

King Lear is one of William Shakespeare's late tragedies, written in the early seventeenth century. It follows an ageing king who divides his kingdom among his daughters based on flattery rather than honesty, with devastating results. Its themes of power, loyalty and madness have kept it among the most performed and studied of Shakespeare's plays.

A capital chosen to end a rivalry

Canberra became the capital of Australia as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne, the two cities that both wanted the honour. The site was selected in the early twentieth century, and the city was purpose-built as a planned capital. Its inland location and carefully designed layout make it one of the world's clearest examples of a capital created by political negotiation rather than natural growth.

Memory, the mind and the movies

Amnesia, the loss of memory, can result from head injury, illness or psychological trauma, and it appears far more dramatically in fiction than in real life. Peter Sellers, meanwhile, made his mark in the Pink Panther films as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau, a role that became one of his best-known performances and helped define a style of physical comedy that still feels fresh.