Weekend Trivia Challenge: Put Your Smarts to the Test

What amount of common knowledge are you holding? Dive into the following collection of queries to discover.

The Questions

1 Which icon of country music had a close brush with death from an ostrich attack in 1981?

2 Dame Sarah Mullally has been appointed as the 106th what?

3 Which first convened at Þingvellir in the nation of Iceland in 930?

4 Within the energy sector, what does EfW stand for?

5 Tears of Christ wine originates from wine estates on what mountain?

6 What BBC sitcom has been airing for nineteen years?

7 Which person's findings led to the adoption of stadiums with only seats in the UK?

8 Which chess piece was initially called the counsellor?

Common Connections

9 Brick; Chancery; Hangar Lane; Leather Lane; Park; Pudding?

10 Sierra de Urbión; Tordesillas; Zamora city; Porto?

11 Son of Cush; ninth variation in music; maritime patrol aircraft; Iranian embassy siege?

12 Caldey Island; Denny Island; Flat Holm; Lundy Island; Stert Island; The Wolves Islands?

13 Boxing; chariot racing; discus; javelin; broad jump; ancient combat sport; wrestling?

14 Agent 007; Leamas character; Pyle figure; Verloc persona?

15 Blanchett actress; Cruz star; Diane Keaton; Sorvino actress; Dianne Wiest?

Feeling stumped over the Tordesillas clue?

The Solutions

1 Johnny Cash.

2 Canterbury Archbishop.

3 Althing (parliament).

4 Energy from waste.

5 Mount Vesuvius.

6 Not Going Out (UK's second longest-running comedy)

7 Lord Justice Taylor (1990).

8 The queen piece.

9 Lanes in London.

10 Douro River: starts in Spain; travels through Spain; reaches Atlantic.

11 Nimrod: in Book of Genesis; from Elgar’s Enigma Variations; Hawker Siddeley Nimrod; SAS operation codename.

12 Bristol Channel islands.

13 Events in the ancient Olympics.

14 Spy titles in books: Ian Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me; Le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold; Greene’s The Quiet American; Conrad’s The Secret Agent.

15 Won acting Oscars in Woody Allen films: Blue Jasmine; Vicky Cristina Barcelona; classic Annie Hall; feature Mighty Aphrodite; Hannah and Her Sisters, Bullets Over Broadway.