Trivia and Quiz Questions About Britain, with Answers
How much do you know about Britain? Test your knowledge with this fun, free quiz which is great for parties, pub quizzes, schools or home-schoolers, or social groups of all kinds.
The quiz is suitable for all age groups, and could readily be adapted into a history or citizen skills lesson.
The answers can be found next to the questions, written in italics.
Even if you've lived in Britain all your life, you are bound to learn something new with this fun, free quiz!
Feel feel to print it out and use this for any non-profit making purpose.
Quiz Questions about British Geography
1) Name the seas surrounding the British Isles. The Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the Irish Sea and the English Chanel.
2) Name the four separate countries which make up Britain? England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
3) What are the three Crown Dependencies? Jersey, Channel Islands and Isle of Man.
4) How many square miles does the United Kingdom cover in total? 94,060.
5) Which country accounts for just over half of the total square miles of the United Kingdom? England.
6) Standing at 3,209 feet, which is England's highest mountain? Scafell Pike in the Lake District.
7) Name Britain's main rivers. Severn, Thames, Humber, Tees, Tyne, Tweed, Avon, Exe and Mersey.
8) Which British country is divided roughly into two areas, and has nearly 800 islands? Scotland.
9) Standing at 4,406 feet, which is Scotland's highest mountain? Ben Nevis.
10) What are known, collectively, as the Welsh 3000? The fifteen mountains which stand over 3,000 feet in height.
11) What is the United kingdom's largest lake? Lough Neagh, in Northern Ireland.
Quiz Questions about British History
1) What is the full, correct title for Britain? The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
2) Name the earliest known tribe of Homo sapiens to populate Britain. Picts.
3) Which group of tribes originated from northern Europe, bringing cultural traits which are still a part of British life today? Celts.
4) Which invading people, who arrived some time around 43 AD, drove the Picts into Scotland and the Celts into Wales? Romans.
5) In the 8th Century, the Benedictine monk known as the Venerable Bede wrote that his contemporaries were the mostly decendents of which three invading peoples? Angles, Saxons and Jutes.
6) Where did the Angles, Saxons and Jutes come from? The Angles and Saxons came from Germany, and the Jutes came from Denmark.
7) Which group of people invaded Britain in 1066? Normans.
8) Between 1455 and 1485, which English counties warred against each other? Lancashire and York.
9) The conflict which raged between the kings of England and France is known as which war? The One Hundred Years war.
10) Which war ended with the Battle of Worcester in 1651? English Civil War.
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More Quiz Questions about British History.
1) The British Empire became the foremost world power following which war, which began in 1803? Napoleonic Wars.
2) Which was the last English king to die in combat? Richard III.
3) The war between England and Scotland in the 1700s was known as what? Jacobite Rebellion.
4) The huge changes to industry which took place between 1750 and 1850 are usually referred to as what? Industrial Revolution.
5) Which war against Russia, France, Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire ended in February 1856? Crimean War.
6) Which British queen was also known as the Empress of India? Queen Victoria.
7) The first British king of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was who? Edward VII.
8) Which king was the grandson of Queen Elizabeth, the son of Queen Alexandra of Denmark, a first cousin of both Tsar Nicholas II or Russia and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany? George V.
9) Which was began on the 28th July, 1914? World War I.
10) Which war with Argentina began in 1982? Falklands War.
Quiz Questions About British Places
1) Which ancient monument would you find on Salisbury Plain? Stonehenge.
2) What is the name of London's most famous bridge? Tower Bridge.
3) Which stately home houses one of Europe's finest art collections and has been home to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire since 1549? Chatsworth House.
4) Name England's largest lake. Lake Windermere.
5) Designed and constructed by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975, the fanciful Italianesque village in North Wales in known as what? Portmeirion.
6) What is made up of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns created after a volcanic eruption, and is associated with a legend about an Irish giant? Giant's Causeway.
7) Name the Scottish city famous for its arts festival and large castle perched on top of an extinct volcano. Edinburgh.
8) In the Scilly Isles, which sub-tropical gardens are regarded by botanists as one of the most interesting and varied botanical experiments in the world? Tresco Abbey Gardens.
9) What is the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe? York Minster.
10) Situated in an abandoned clay pit, which complex in Cornwall houses 100,000 plants in two giant transparent domes, each recreating different global climate conditions? Eden Project.
Quiz Questions about British Inventions
1) In 1797, who created a precision machine that allowed identical screws to be mass-produced? Henry Maudslay.
2) Which Scottish engineer invented the television? John Logie Baird.
3) Who invented the jet engine? Frank Whitttle.
4) In 1735, the first marine chronometre was invented, enabling ships to accurately tell where they were when out at sea. Who invented this? John Harrison.
5) Who invented the bouncing bomb, used in world War II? Barnes Wallis.
6) Who invented the so-called cat's eyes, which mark the centre of roads? Percy Shaw.
7) Who was the inventor of radar? Robert Watson-Watt.
8) In the second half of the 20th century, which mode of transport did Christopher Cockerell invent? Hovercraft.
9) Name the Cornishman who built the first railway steam locomotive, and whose design was later debveloped by George and Robert Stephenson. Richard Trevithick.
10) Who designed the first computer? Charles Babbage.
Quiz Questions about British Artists
1) Name the famous artist who painted royalty and who is credited as being the originator of the 18th century British landscape school. Thomas Gainsborough.
2) Who was the influential 18th-century English painter specialising in portraits, who was one of the founders of the Royal Academy and who was knighted by King George III? Joshua Reynolds.
3) Name the Suffolk-born painter whose best-known works sometimes feature Flatford Mill, which was owned by his father. John Constable.
4) Founded in 1845, what is the famous Scottish art school called? Glasgow School of Art.
5) Who was the Scottish architect, designer, watercolourist and artist, usually associated with the Glasgow School of Art? Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
6) Name the Welsh artist who is noted for her still lifes and portraits, and who also worked as a model for the sculptor Auguste Rodin. Gwen John.
7) Who was the writer, textile designer, artist and publisher who helped found the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood? William Morris.
8) Name the Welsh painter, draughtsman and etcher who was an important exponent of Post-Impressionism and President of the Gypsy Lore Society. Augustus John.
9) What is the world famous art school, found in London? Slade School of Fine Art.
10) Born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, name the sculptress who was a contemporary of Henry Moore. Dame Barbara Hepworth.
Quiz Questions about British Folk Festivals
1) Name the famous Nottingham fun fair held during the first week of October, which is imore than 700 years old. Nottingham Goose Fair.
2) On which day of the year do young people perform a circular dance which involves weaving ribbons around a tall pole? May Day, on the 1st of May.
3) What is traditionally rolled down Cooper's Hill in Gloucestershire, and then is raced after by local men? Cheese.
4) What do some brave and hardly souls do each New Year's Day? Go for an outdoor swim.
5) If you saw a group of people dressed in ribbons and bells, accompanied by someone wearing a large hooped skirt and a horse's head, who all carried sticks, handkerchiefs, which pre-Christian tradition would you be watching? Morris Men.
6) Oak Apple Day is celebrated on the 29th May to commemorate the restoration of what? The English monarchy.
7) Which Chester tradition was started in 1442, was banned during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I as 'popery', was performed illegally in 1568 - resulting in the town mayor being taken to London Tower - and was revived in 1951? Chester Mystery Plays.
8) Dating back to at least the 12th century, name the annual Welsh festival of the music, literature and acting. The Eisteddfod.
9) Bognor Regis plays host to which eccentric flying competition? International Bognor Birdman.
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Quiz Questions about British Sports
1) Held at the start of August each year, name the longest-running sailing regatta in the world, which has up to 40 daily races. Cowes Week.
2) First held in Dunoon, Argyll in 1894, name this event which now attracts around 3, 500 international competitors and 20,000 spectators. Cowal Highland Gathering or Cowan Highland Games.
3) With which sport has St Andrews in Scotland been associated with for over 600 years? Golf.
4) Which two sports are usually associated with Wales? Football and Rugby Union.
5) Thought to have prehistoric origins and considered to be the world's fastest team game, what is the name of this ancient Irish sport? Hurling.
6) Which sport dates back to Tudor times, and now has a variety of national and international championships, and has a famous English venue named after the venue's founder John Lord? Cricket.
7) Which sport was allegedly introduced by the Romans in 200 AD, was banned by Oliver Cromwell in 1645, then flourished after King Charles II instituted the Newmarket Town Plate in 1664? Horse racing.
8) In 1743, an Englishman called Jack Broughton set out the first rules to regulate a sport which dates back to Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt - which sport is this? Boxing.
9) The BAF is the professional body for coaching which sport in Britain? British Academy of Fencing.
10) Which sport gained popularity in the 1960s, having been imported from the Far East, and is now included in the Olympics? Karate.
Quiz Questions about British Entertainers
1) What is the annual music festival which takes place in Stornoway? Hebridean Celtic Festival.
2) Name the famous Irish comedian who, at the height of his career, was considered to be Britain's most controversial comedian due to his observations of political hypocrisy and for poking fun at religious authority. Dave Allen.
3) The works of William Shakespeare have also been attributed to which writers? Edward de Vere (17th Earl of Oxford), Francis Bacon, William Stanley (6th Earl of Derby), and Christopher Marlowe.
4) Who has become one of Britain's most commercially successful authors of all time? JK Rowling.
5) First broadcast on Radio 4 on the 29th May, 1950, this everyday story of country folk is usually known as what? The Archers.
6) Which fictional character lives at 221B Baker Street, in London? Sherlock Holmes.
7) Name the famous writer, illustrator and conservationist who will be forever associated with the Lake District. Beatrix Potter.
8) Which society, based in Liverpool, manages the country's longest surviving professional orchestra? Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society.
9) Founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin, what is the name of this dance company which has its own school and orchestra, and is renowned for touring throughout Europe? English National Ballet.
10) Held predominantly at the Royal Albert Hall, name the annual festival of Classical music? The Proms - more formally The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC.
- Free Fun 100 Question Quiz
If you are seeking a fun, free quiz, then look no further! Here are one hundred quiz questions, with the answers in italics beside them. This quiz is great for many situations, such as parties, social groups, pub quizzes or school groups.
© 2012 Adele Cosgrove-Bray
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If you are seeking a fun, free quiz, then look no further! Here are one hundred trivia questions with the answers in italics beside them, good for parties, social groups, pub quizzes or school groups.