British history is a long parade of kings, queens and unlikely discoveries, and it is a favourite for pub-style quizzes. These ten British history trivia questions run from the Battle of Hastings to a skeleton found under a car park, each answered with a note. Use them at a table or in a trivia quiz online with friends.
The questions
1. Which English king had six wives?
2. Which British queen ruled for 63 years in the 1800s?
3. Which famous battle in 1066 saw William the Conqueror win England?
4. Which English queen was known as the Virgin Queen?
5. Which English king was killed at the Battle of Hastings?
6. Which English king's skeleton was found under a car park in Leicester in 2012?
7. Which Tudor queen had hundreds of Protestants burned, earning a gory nickname?
8. Which wife of Henry VIII was the mother of Elizabeth I?
9. Which 1588 fleet tried to invade England for Spain?
10. Which British monarch abdicated in 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson?
The answers, with a note on each
1. Henry VIII. Two of his wives were beheaded.
2. Queen Victoria, who popularised the white wedding dress.
3. The Battle of Hastings. A famous embroidered hanging from Bayeux tells the story.
4. Elizabeth I. The US state of Virginia is named after her.
5. Harold II. Legend says he was killed by an arrow in the eye.
6. Richard III, the last English king to die in battle, in 1485.
7. Mary I, who had about 280 Protestants burned for heresy.
8. Anne Boleyn, who was beheaded in 1536.
9. The Spanish Armada. Storms wrecked many of its ships on the way home around Scotland and Ireland.
10. Edward VIII, who reigned for less than a year.
How hard is the set?
Questions 1 to 4 are comfortable for most British players and a good test for visitors. Questions 5 to 8 are medium. Questions 9 and 10 are harder. For a mixed-nationality table, add a bonus for the Virginia fact, which usually surprises everyone.
How do you use it on the night?
On a call, run it as a short trivia night: read the questions one at a time and ask for answers in the chat. Reveal the answer and the note together, and move on briskly.
Why does the car park question always land?
Because it is the rare history story that happened in our own lifetimes. In 2012 archaeologists found a king under a car park, and the discovery made a medieval battle feel like the news. A quizmaster who asks the table where they think a king might be hiding gets a funny round of guesses. It is a good reminder that history is not finished.
How do you add some local colour?
Add a question about the town you are in: who founded it, what battle was fought nearby, which royal visited. A local round is a gift to a pub quiz, and the research is half the fun. For a family, ask each person to name their favourite monarch and explain the choice in one sentence.
Where can you play it online?
If your friends are in different places, put the questions on Boardit and play trivia online together. Each person answers on their own phone, the host chooses the categories, and the table sees the scores as they change.
A closing remark on the Tudors
The Tudors dominate the set because their stories are the strongest preserved and the most dramatic. A table that enjoys them may want a round on a single family, with questions on each wife and each child, and the bank has enough to make one.
Ahmed Moaz builds Boardit, a free browser game site.