Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

A Nobel that capped a writing life

Ernest Hemingway received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954, two years after publishing "The Old Man and the Sea", the short novel widely credited with reviving his reputation. The Nobel committee praised his mastery of narrative art, and he dedicated the award to his fourth wife, Mary Welsh Hemingway. He did not travel to Stockholm to collect it, citing his health, and had his statement read aloud.

The fastest man of the Berlin Games

Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics: the 100 metres, the 200 metres, the long jump and the 4x100 metre relay. The Games were staged by Nazi Germany, and Owens's victories directly undercut the regime's claims about racial superiority. He returned home to the United States, where he still faced segregation and limited commercial opportunities.

The Sun King and his palace

Louis XIV of France was known as the Sun King, a title linked to the idea of the monarch as the centre around which the nation revolved. He ruled for 72 years, one of the longest reigns in European history, and transformed a hunting lodge at Versailles into a vast palace that became the model for royal residences across the continent.

A river that crosses the equator twice

The Congo River flows through the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and its basin drains parts of several neighbouring countries as well. It is the deepest river in the world, with depths exceeding 200 metres in places, and it crosses the equator twice because of its great curving course. Its enormous water volume makes it one of the most powerful rivers on Earth.

A continent without states

Antarctica has no states and no permanent population, so the answer to that quiz question is zero. The continent is governed instead through the Antarctic Treaty System, which sets it aside for peaceful and scientific purposes. Several countries maintain research stations there, but none of them holds sovereignty over the territory.