(Current affairs questions are from the period August 1st to 15th. Questions 11 to 20 pertain to Chennai and Tamil Nadu.)

1. Raymond Scott of County Durham in England was recently jailed for eight years for handling a stolen copy of which famous author’s first folio considered ‘quintessentially English treasure’ and for ‘cultural vandalisation’?

2. Google has decided to pull the plug on which social networking service after one year, citing lack of user adoption?

3. According to the first global census of marine life, what’s the claim to the fame of the manylight viperfish (Chauliodus sloani)?

4. Where did scientists recently announce the discovery of the world’s first active undersea river which, if found on land, could be the world’s sixth largest river in terms of the amount of water flowing through it?

5. Whose record did Tendulkar overhaul to become the most capped player in Test cricket?

6. Mark Hurd, who recently quit after a sexual harassment probe, was the CEO and President of which tech giant?

7. Under a pioneering agreement signed with the UN, which nation has agreed to refrain from drilling for oil in a pristine Amazon rainforest reserve in return for upto $3.6 billion in payments from rich countries?

8. Why did the MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia-III make news?

9. Queen Elizabeth II was recently said to be concerned about which royal becoming the first to be declared legally bankrupt, after running up debts of millions?

10. In which country were the first Youth Olympic Games held?

* * *

11. Where in Chennai can you spot a trio of giant sandpipers ready to take wing?

12. Name the weekly launched by Anna on 18.3.42 in Kanchi.

13. How did Robinson Park, Madras, become part of Madras governance on 17.9.1949?

14. Name 3 city parks to be closed for 3 years to facilitate work on the underground railway.

15. Which hospital in Chennai is named after the person regarded as the founding father of modern abdominal surgery and one of the first to attempt a scientific analysis of musicality?

16. According to a recent study, where was Madras’ and India’s first permanent movies theatre?

17. Name the world’s oldest steam locomotive recently restored by the Perambur Loco Works for heritage runs.

18. Where in Chennai is Lang’s Garden Road, where there’s a new park along the Cooum?

19. Name the Italian, a French-trained confectioner, who in 1910 got Simpson’s to build a biplane to his design and provide Madras citizens the first sight of a flight by a local resident.

20. Name the medico who in the 19th Century helped found the Mohammedan Library in Triplicane and who had a hand in the Nawab’s madrasa being made a public school.