THE BIGGEST QUIZ IN HISTORY* – ROUND TWO
For round two of the The Biggest Quiz in History* we'll test your knowledge with 25 questions about sieges, blue plaques, abbeys, kings and queens and much more.
*May not be the biggest quiz in history
1. The longest siege in medieval England began in 1266 at which West Midlands castle?
2. Who is the oldest surviving London blue plaque to?
3. Which Thomas Hardy novel features a climactic scene at Stonehenge?
4. What did Britain begin to use on 14 September 1752?
5. Caedmon, the first named English poet, was a divinely-inspired shepherd at which Yorkshire abbey?
6. Sorviodunum was the Roman name for which settlement, which was thought to be a fort in Roman times and later housed a medieval castle?
7. Lawrence of Ludlow, the founder of Stokesay Castle, made his huge fortune trading in which commodity?
8. Which animals have been used for hundreds of years at Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight to draw up water in the well-house?
9. Piel Island – home to Piel Castle – briefly hosted the army of Lambert Simnel, a pretender to the throne during the reign of which monarch?
10. Which castle in the North of England did Richard III take over after the death of 'Warwick the Kingmaker'?
11. English Heritage cares for how many castles? 44, 55 or 66?
12. How many years did it take for Sir Francis Drake to complete the first circumnavigation of the globe in 1580?
13. Francis Tresham was one of the Gunpowder Plotters. His father, Sir Thomas Tresham, built which unusual building in Northamptonshire?
14. Elizabeth I granted which castle to one of her favourites, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester?
15. Underground passage complexes known as ‘fogous’ are found only in which county?
16. When did the last Romans allegedly leave Britain?
17. Charles II fled the country after he was defeated at the final battle of the Civil War in 1651 – at one point hiding in an oak tree at Boscobel House. Close to which city did the battle take place?
18. Which blue plaque recipient is generally recognised as the first prime minister of England?
19. What was the profession of the medieval saint Godric of Finchale before he became a hermit?
20. Which Celtic queen led a rebellion against the Romans in AD60?
21. To be awarded an official English Heritage Blue Plaque, the proposed recipient must have died a minimum of how many years ago?
22. The heir of which medieval king drowned during the sinking of the White Ship?
23. Which Roman emperor invaded Britain without success in both 55 and 54BC
24. Why did Hailes Abbey in Gloucestershire become one of the most significant pilgrimage sites in medieval England?
25. The architecture of which Cistercian abbey may have inspired the design of the rose window at York Minster?
