Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
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50 free 2026 trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
2026 has already packed in a World Cup won with a single goal conceded, the first Olympics co-hosted by two cities, a crewed flight around the Moon for the first time since 1972, a new Archbishop of Canterbury and a new Prime Minister. It is a year that keeps producing pub-quiz questions faster than anyone can write them. These fifty questions cover the first seven months: the big sporting results from Milan–Cortina to Wimbledon and the Grand National, the Oscars, Grammys and Eurovision, the elections and upheavals that made the news, the films that broke box-office records, and the strange science stories that slipped past most people. Most are pitched at anyone who followed the headlines; a handful reward the people who read past them. It works as a 2026 round for a pub quiz, a catch-up for anyone who switched the news off for a while, or a solo test of how much of the year you actually absorbed. Every answer is sourced and explained.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which team won the World Cup conceding only one goal, beating holders Argentina 1–0 after extra time?
Spain
Spain's win was its second World Cup and first since 2010, and made it the first nation to hold the men's and women's titles at the same time.
Q 02Which tropical nation won its first ever Winter Olympic medal, a giant slalom gold, at Milan–Cortina?
Brazil
Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen won the men's giant slalom on 14 February, the first Winter Olympic medal for any tropical, Latin American or South American nation.
Q 03Which 1972 mission was the last to take a crew beyond low Earth orbit before Artemis II's April lunar flyby?
Apollo 17
Apollo 17 flew in December 1972; Artemis II's four astronauts then broke Apollo 13's distance record, reaching 252,756 miles from Earth.
Q 04Which company's June IPO, the largest ever, briefly made Elon Musk the world's first dollar trillionaire?
SpaceX
SpaceX began trading on the Nasdaq on 12 June, and Musk's stake took him past $1 trillion before a share slump dropped him back below it the next month.
Q 05Which country won Eurovision for the first time, Dara's 'Bangaranga' sweeping jury and televote in Vienna?
Bulgaria
Bulgaria had only returned after a three-year absence, and 'Bangaranga' was the first winner since Portugal in 2017 to take both the jury vote and the televote.
Q 06Which Barcelona basilica, begun in 1882, became the world's tallest church when Pope Leo XIV blessed its tower?
Sagrada Família
The Sagrada Família's 172.5-metre Tower of Jesus Christ was blessed on 10 June 2026, exactly 100 years after architect Antoni Gaudí's death.
Q 07Which team beat the New England Patriots 29–13 in Super Bowl LX, handing them a record sixth Super Bowl loss?
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks' 'Dark Side' defence held the Patriots scoreless for three quarters, and running back Kenneth Walker III was the first at his position named MVP since 1997.
Q 08Which team won its first NBA title in 53 years, beating the San Antonio Spurs in five games?
New York Knicks
The New York Knicks' last title was in 1973; in Game 4 they overturned a 29-point deficit, the largest comeback in Finals history, before Jalen Brunson's 45 points sealed Game 5.
Q 09Which former Mayor of Greater Manchester became Prime Minister in July after Keir Starmer resigned?
Andy Burnham
Andy Burnham had only returned to the Commons in June, winning the Makerfield by-election, before King Charles III appointed him on 20 July.
Q 10Which former chief nursing officer for England became the first woman to be Archbishop of Canterbury?
Sarah Mullally
Sarah Mullally, the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, was the youngest person to hold England's top nursing post before she left the NHS for full-time ministry in 2004.
Q 11Who was World Cup top scorer for the second tournament running, passing Lionel Messi as its all-time leader?
Kylian Mbappé
Kylian Mbappé scored 10 times to reach 22 career World Cup goals, and became the first player ever to finish as the tournament's top scorer twice.
Q 12How many teams played at the first World Cup spread across three host nations, with 104 matches in total?
48
48 teams were split into 12 groups of four, with a new round of 32 and the tournament stretched to 39 days across the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Q 13Which country topped the Winter Olympics medal table for a fourth Games running, with a record 41 medals?
Norway
Q 21Which team won the Six Nations with its final kick, a Thomas Ramos penalty to beat England 48–46?
France
France's second straight title came by two table points from Triple Crown winners Ireland, in a championship where Italy beat England for the first time ever.
Q 22Which Scottish runner broke Hicham El Guerrouj's 27-year-old mile world record in London in July?
Josh Kerr
Josh Kerr ran 3:42.66, calling the attempt 'Project 222' for the 222 seconds he needed to beat a mark that had stood since 1999.
Q 23Which horse won a second Grand National in three years, carrying top weight of 11st 12lb as 9/2 favourite?
I Am Maximus
Norway's 18 golds and 41 medals were both records for a single Winter Games; the United States finished second with its best ever gold haul of 12.
Q 14Which sport made its Olympic debut at the Milan–Cortina Winter Games, with events at Bormio's Stelvio centre?
Ski mountaineering
Ski mountaineering's three events drew athletes from 13 nations, and Milan–Cortina was also the first Olympics officially co-hosted by two cities.
Q 15Which team became the first to win three Men's T20 World Cups, beating New Zealand by 96 runs in a home final?
India
India retained the trophy won in 2024, the first country to take consecutive T20 World Cups and the first to lift the title on home soil.
Q 16Who won back-to-back Masters, a feat previously managed only by Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods?
Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy held off Scottie Scheffler by a stroke at Augusta a year after completing the career Grand Slam there, taking his major tally to six.
Q 17Who retained the Wimbledon men's title, his fifth major, after losing the first set of the final on a tie-break?
Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner won three straight sets after the tie-break, in a fortnight when 39-year-old Novak Djokovic played the longest quarter-final in Wimbledon history, 5 hours 15 minutes.
Q 18Which club ended a 22-year wait for the Premier League title, sealed with a game to spare in May?
Arsenal
Arsenal's 14th English title and first since the 2003–04 Invincibles was confirmed when Manchester City drew 1–1 at Bournemouth on 19 May.
Q 19Which club retained the Champions League, beating the English champions on penalties in Budapest?
Paris Saint-Germain
Paris Saint-Germain won 4–3 on penalties after a 1–1 draw, only the second club of the Champions League era to win back-to-back titles, after Real Madrid.
Q 20Which sixth-tier club knocked holders Crystal Palace out of the FA Cup, a first against a top-flight side?
Macclesfield
Macclesfield's 2–1 win on 10 January was the first time a non-league side had beaten the holders since 1909, and was called the biggest shock in FA Cup history.
I Am Maximus, trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Paul Townend, finished second in 2025 between his 2024 and 2026 Aintree victories.
Q 24Which American manufacturer joined Formula One as its eleventh team, the first new entrant since Haas in 2016?
Cadillac
Cadillac, backed by General Motors, started with Ferrari engines and veterans Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas, while Ford returned to the sport as Red Bull's engine partner.
Q 25Which Paul Thomas Anderson film won six Oscars, including Best Picture and the first ever award for Best Casting?
One Battle After Another
One Battle After Another, inspired by Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland, also won Best Director and Best Supporting Actor for Sean Penn.
Q 26Which actor won Best Actor for playing twin brothers, only the second Oscar for a dual role after Lee Marvin's?
Michael B. Jordan
Michael B. Jordan played criminal twins in Ryan Coogler's Sinners, which arrived with a record sixteen nominations and won four.
Q 27Which film beat Avengers: Endgame's record with a $360 million opening weekend in the US and Canada?
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Spider-Man: Brand New Day crossed $2 billion in just 19 days, and its trailer drew 718.6 million views in 24 hours, another record.
Q 28Which Christopher Nolan epic became the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, passing Deadpool & Wolverine?
The Odyssey
The Odyssey, with Matt Damon as Odysseus, was the first feature shot entirely on IMAX 70 mm cameras and also became the biggest IMAX release ever, passing Avatar.
Q 29Which animated sequel, made for $110 million, was the first release of 2026 to pass $1 billion worldwide?
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie sends Mario and Luigi into space to rescue Princess Rosalina, and its $1.012 billion trails only its 2023 predecessor among video game films.
Q 30Which A24 horror film made 20-year-old Kane Parsons the youngest director to open at number one in the US?
Backrooms
Backrooms grew from Kane Parsons's YouTube series and became A24's highest-grossing film, overtaking Marty Supreme.