Bono Trivia
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60 free Bono trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Bono trivia quiz covers the U2 singer from every angle. The early questions ask about Paul Hewson's Dublin childhood, the Cedarwood Road street gang that handed out nicknames, the hearing-aid shop that gave the world 'Bono Vox', and the school noticeboard advert that brought U2 together in 1976. From there it moves through the band years: Live Aid, the Zoo TV alter egos, the Golden Globe expletive that reached Congress, and the songs he and the Edge wrote for other people. A second strand follows Bono the activist and businessman: the Ethiopian famine trip, Jubilee 2000, DATA, the ONE Campaign and (RED), the honorary knighthood, the Time Person of the Year cover, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the tax criticism that came with all of it. There are also questions on his family, his sunglasses, his memoir, his bicycle crash and the heart surgery he kept quiet for years. Difficulty runs from easy to expert and is shown on every question. Every answer was checked against a reference page and each question carries its citation. If you want the whole band, our U2 trivia quiz is the natural next stop.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is Bono's real first name?
Paul
Paul David Hewson is 'Bono' even to his family and bandmates; the nickname went through several versions, the first being the tongue-twister 'Steinhegvanhuysenolegbangbangbang'.
Q 02Bono wrote U2's 'Pride (In the Name of Love)' about which leader?
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King was shot in the evening, not the 'early morning' of the lyric; Bono admits the slip, sometimes sings 'early evening' on stage, and corrected the line on a 2023 re-recording.
Q 03Bono's nickname 'Bono Vox' was adapted from the name of what kind of business just off O'Connell Street?
A hearing aid shop
A hearing aid shop called Bonavox supplied the name; he disliked it until he learned that it loosely means 'good voice' in Latin.
Q 04Which childhood friend gave Bono his nickname?
Guggi
Guggi, the painter Derek Rowen, chose the name, and the favour went both ways: it was Bono who renamed Derek 'Guggi'.
Q 05What was the name of the surrealist street gang Bono belonged to as a teenager?
Lypton Village
Lypton Village members invented their own slang and renamed one another; the gang's habit also gave U2's guitarist his stage name, the Edge.
Q 06Which school did Bono attend when U2 formed?
Mount Temple Comprehensive
Mount Temple Comprehensive gave him both his band and his wife: he began dating fellow pupil Ali Stewart in 1976, the year U2 formed there.
Q 07Who posted the 1976 school notice board advert seeking people to form a band, which Bono answered?
Larry Mullen Jr.
Larry Mullen Jr., then a 14-year-old drummer, hosted the first practice in his family kitchen; he joked that he was in charge for about ten minutes, until Bono walked in.
Q 08What was the first name the band that became U2 went by?
Feedback
Feedback became The Hype, and then U2 on a night in 1978 when Dik Evans, the Edge's older brother, walked off stage in mid-show to mark his exit.
Q 09Which early U2 song did Bono write about his mother, who died when he was 14?
I Will Follow
I Will Follow is sung from a mother's point of view, about her love for her child; Iris Hewson collapsed at her own father's funeral in 1974 and never recovered.
Q 10Which opera star sang with Bono on the 1995 single 'Miss Sarajevo'?
Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti had pestered Bono for a song, phoning his house and warning that God would be very cross if he didn't write one.
Q 11During U2's Live Aid set in 1985, Bono famously left the stage to dance with a fan during which song?
Bad
'Bad' ran to about 12 minutes while he was in the crowd, which cost them 'Pride', then their biggest hit; the band thought they had blown it, yet the set is remembered as the one that made them.
Q 12Which U2 song won Bono the Grammys for both Record and Song of the Year in 2001?
Beautiful Day
Beautiful Day sounds like pure celebration, but Bono says it is about a man who has lost everything and finds joy in what he still has.
Q 13Which of Bono's Zoo TV Tour stage personas wore a gold lamé suit and devil's horns?
MacPhisto
Q 21In the 2007 film Across the Universe, Bono appeared as 'Dr. Robert' singing which Beatles song?
I Am the Walrus
I Am the Walrus is his character's showpiece; like Jude, Lucy and Prudence in the same film, 'Dr. Robert' takes his own name from a Beatles song.
Q 22Bono voiced Clay Calloway, a reclusive lion rock legend, in which animated film?
Sing 2
Sing 2 casts him as a star who vanished from public life after his wife died; U2 also wrote a new song for the film, 'Your Song Saved My Life'.
Q 23What is the title of Bono's 2022 memoir?
Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story
MacPhisto, a world-weary old devil, phoned public figures from the stage in character; at Wembley he wondered aloud whether to give the Archbishop of Canterbury a call.
Q 14Bono said his 'Fly' outfit paired Lou Reed's glasses and Elvis Presley's jacket with whose leather trousers?
Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison's trousers completed the look; the character began as a studio joke, when Bono put on oversized sunglasses to lighten the mood, and grew into a swaggering rock-star parody.
Q 15Bono's Mirror Ball Man character was meant to parody which group of people?
American televangelists
American televangelists gave the character his creed, that cash was a sign of God's blessing; in costume Bono would ring the White House from the stage and ask for the president.
Q 16In which city did Bono spray-paint 'Rock N Roll Stops the Traffic' on a fountain in 1987?
San Francisco
San Francisco's mayor, Dianne Feinstein, was running an anti-graffiti drive and condemned the stunt; Bono was cited and apologised, yet the fountain's own sculptor took his side.
Q 17Bono swore live on air while accepting which award in 2003, prompting a 'Clean Airwaves' bill in Congress?
A Golden Globe
A Golden Globe for 'The Hands That Built America' drew his delighted expletive; the FCC declined to fine NBC, so a congressman proposed listing the banned words in law, a bill that never passed.
Q 18Bono and the Edge wrote the theme song for which James Bond film, performed by Tina Turner?
GoldenEye
GoldenEye nearly had other themes: Depeche Mode were asked first but were tied up touring, and Ace of Base wrote a rival song before their label pulled them out.
Q 19Bono and the Edge composed the music and lyrics for which Broadway musical?
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark kept postponing its opening night as cast members were injured and the show was reworked, and ended up with the longest preview run in Broadway history.
Q 20Bono and the Edge featured on 'We Are the People', the official song of which tournament?
UEFA Euro 2020
UEFA Euro 2020 kept its name even though the pandemic pushed it back to 2021, which is when Dutch DJ Martin Garrix released the song with them.
Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story explains its own title: the memoir is told in 40 chapters, and each one is named after a U2 song.
Q 24Bono's 2025 documentary film of his one-man stage show was released on which streaming service?
Apple TV+
Apple TV+ continued a long tie-up: in 2014 Apple added U2's album Songs of Innocence to its customers' iTunes libraries unasked, a giveaway Bono later apologised for in print.
Q 25Bono says he was first inspired to activism by seeing a benefit show for which organisation in 1979?
Amnesty International
Amnesty International's Secret Policeman's Ball, staged by Monty Python's John Cleese, 'sowed a seed', Bono said; seven years later U2 toured America for Amnesty on the Conspiracy of Hope tour.
Q 26After Live Aid, Bono and his wife volunteered for several weeks at a feeding centre in which country?
Ethiopia
Ethiopia's famine was the cause Live Aid had raised money for; at the camp the couple helped write songs and one-act plays that taught children about health and hygiene.
Q 27What does DATA, the name of the advocacy group Bono co-founded in 2002, stand for?
Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa
Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa listed what it lobbied rich countries to act on; in return the group pressed African leaders for democracy, accountability and transparency.
Q 28Bono co-founded the ONE Campaign in 2004 with which nephew of John F. Kennedy?
Bobby Shriver
Bobby Shriver, son of JFK's sister Eunice, had already started the advocacy group DATA with Bono in 2002, and the pair went on to launch the (RED) brand in 2006.
Q 29Money raised by Bono's Product Red brand goes to which organisation?
The Global Fund
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria receives it: partner brands such as Apple and Nike sell red-branded products and hand over a share of the profits.
Q 30Which US president said his AIDS relief plan, PEPFAR, would never have passed Congress without Bono?
George W. Bush
George W. Bush said so in 2018 while his presidential centre gave Bono a leadership medal; the singer had first lobbied the Republican president at the White House in 2002.