British (English) here… scored 21. Deliberately rushed it, so maybe I could have got another 1, possibly 2 if I’d thought hard about the answers. Nothing too surprising there I felt - not on the questions I had anyway.
18 correct, barely squeaked in. A few educated guesses, a couple of wild ass guesses that I got right.
All right, now you have to take me. Right? No? Crap.
21/24
No idea about the Doomesday Book, no idea when Rome left Britain, and I’ve already forgotten the third one I missed.
I did know who founded NHS, Big Ben’s identity and a whole lot of questions about government.
ETA I just realized I can review my answers. I had no idea about Gustav Holst. I think I’ve heard his name mentioned before, but that doesn’t help me know when planet is related to a hymn.
That was one numerical one where I wish that the numbers had been as close as a lot of other ones, since I happened to know it was 410 and have been waiting for a chance to use that knowledge for a long time, but no, the glory of my correct answer was somewhat dimmed by the alternative answers being 3-400 years away from it.
Ooh, there was a Holst question and I didn’t get it?
He’s a composer most famous for a suite with a piece for each planet. “Mars, Bringer of War” is the most famous, but “Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity” gets around, too. The tune is often used for hymns (where it gets identified as “Thaxted”, for some reason).
I didn’t see that one, either, but I could have guessed that it was around 400ish.
I remember that question. If you vaguely remember the themes, you can narrow down which movement might be used for a hymn (probably not Mars…) But if you have never heard of Holst, then you would just be guessing.
And not a single one about Formula One! I woulda Aced those!
Knowing word origins helps. Knowing why a surgery is called that made for a good guess.
It seems to be a mixture of stuff ordinary people know (national flowers, national heros), but stuffed full of concessions to what the Left and the Right think you ought to know.
I suspect several of the questions are there as some sort of Captcha to
weed out the robots.
“A key part of British values history”
Someone wrote that, and then a group of people signed it off. Not just as a phrase in itself, but as a description of Magna Carta.
Of what kind of history is Magna Carta a part? Legal history? Political history? Constitutional history? No, you fool. It is a part of “values history”. You know, like you can study in any of the great universities. Oxford is famous for its Values History degrees. And what kind of part is it? Important? Foundational? Again, no, clown. It is a key part. So, again, I don’t want to hear any of this Magna Carta is a foundational document in British constitutional history nonsense. The English language is a monument to our nation, we are descendants of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Austen,and Elliot so kindly reflect that heritage and write with weight and dignity:
Magna Carta is a key part of British values history.
That was Q1 for me and fucking hell lads, if I got back in the office on Monday morning and found that was going out under my name I’d resign.
“What sport is associated with the annual event held at Lord’s at London?”
There isn’t an annual event held at Lord’s. It’s not fucking Wimbledon. There’s usually two Test Matches every year, but always against different teams, they’re not on fixed dates, they’re not even in the same position in each series, and they are only fixtures in a bigger series, not standalone annual events, what the fuck are you talking about? If “not knowing basic things about the sporting calendar” is grounds for not being truly British, someone is in trouble.
“Sir Bradley Wiggins was the first Briton to win the Tour de France. In which sport did he achieve this?”
Knowing what sport the Tour de France is a contest of is not fundamental to being British the clue is in the question how is even suggesting this not a firing offence were you all drunk?
It’s not a bad idea to check that prospective British citizens have a handle on some useful stuff lilke how to contact their MP, or the differing role of monarch and PM, or why in November so many people are wearing poppies etc. But the pub quiz stuff is a nonsense, stuff that you’ll just pick up - or not! a lot of people couldn’t tell you who Sir Bradley Wiggins is and that’s fine - just by living your life and doesn’t make you more or less British anyway.
(24/24, only because I am such a gold-star-please-teacher nerd that I couldn’t stop myself giving what I knew was meant to be the right answer even when the question is fundamentally flawed.)
The actual test is tolerating the bullshit. Will you just sit and seethe ineffectively in a properly British way, or will you complain?
I’m only half joking, a friend did it and was refused entry to her initial attempt at the test because of an ‘electronic aid’; an insulin pump for which she’d bought the required proof of need from her doctor and had contacted the test centre in advance to confirm would be allowed. They did at least, after some nonsense back-and-forth and filling out forms, allow it for the second attempt some weeks later, which she passed.
Couldn’t you ask that about any question on this test?
FFS. Similar stories are all too common, at a rate that goes well beyond “just one or two low-level incompetents in another wise fair and equitable system”. My moderate opinion on all this is: abolish the Home Office.
(I should be working)
How many countries make up the United Kingdom?
Northern Ireland is a lot of things, most of which people disagree about, but neither Nationalists nor Loyalists would ever claim it was a country. It isn’t and never has been its own sovereign territory, there is no tradition of unique NI nationality, England, Scotland and Wales are countries, NI is not. This is kind of a big deal, if we think this stuff is important to know could we kindly get it right.
Was “3 and 3/16” an answer option?
Hah! No, whole numbers only.
It has it’s own legislature and Legal system. Not to mention the police routinely carry firearms, which isnt common in the rest,
But yeah, calling it a “country” seems off.
and Northern Ireland (variously described as a country,[1] province,[2][3][4] jurisdiction[5] or region[6][7]).