QUIZ OF THE WEEK

PICTURE QUESTION: As battery-operated fish went on show in Hong Kong, why were 18 tons of the real thing seized in the Caspian and Azov seas?

1. James Hormel's nomination for the US ambassadorship to Luxembourg was blocked by the Senate. According to Senator Trent Lott, this was because Mr Hormel suffers from a "disease". What was he referring to?

2. The engagement ring bought by Prince Charles for Diana cost pounds 28,000 in 1981. What is its present valuation?

3. Where was a new ocean thought to have been discovered this week?

4. Lisa Smith, aged 22, has joined which previously all-male preserve?

5. A Mafia family allegedly planned to kill Las Vegas businessman Richard Sorrano in order to control what industry in the city?

6. Senile dementia has just been observed to cause what side-effect in some sufferers?

7. How did Rosencrantz and Macduff win a banana?

8. Why was singer Sinead O'Connor surprised to be asked to narrate a CD of the Pope's poems? Whom did she replace as narrator and why?

9. How did the rare Gray Catbird make its way to Britain for the first time this week?

10. Which political leader is shortly to be portrayed as a geriatric transsexual in a BBC spoof documentary?

Answers at foot of page