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

1. The 150th anniversary of which decisive battle in the US Civil War, and known for the then President’s famous address, was observed on July 1st?

2. Which European nation with Zagreb as the Capital became the 28th nation of the European Union recently?

3. In the world of astronomy, how did Kerberos and Styx make news recently?

4. Which music maestro has been chosen for the prestigious Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony 2013 worth Rs. 2 crore?

5. How did the former Popes John Paul II and John XXIII make headlines recently?

6. By winning at Wimbledon, which siblings became the first doubles team in the Open era to hold all four Grand Slam tennis titles at the same time?

7. Which UNESCO World Heritage Site in our country was rocked by powerful bomb blasts on July 7th?

8. Name the Nobel Laureate who has been named the interim Prime Minister of strife-torn Egypt?

9. Which North Indian State has been declared the first ‘smoke-free’ State after achieving 85.45% compliance with the relevant parameters as per the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003?

10. Douglas C. Engelbart, a technologist best known for idealising a very common computer peripheral, passed away recently. What did he invent?

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11. How does one better know T.S. Rangarajan, a literary giant with a five-decade association with the Tamil film industry, who left us recently?

12. Which K. Balachander comedy was based on Crazy Mohan’s play Marriage Made in Saloon?

13. What did the London Mission Girls’ School become in 1915?

14. In the mid-1990s, apart from Kilakkaranai near Maraimalanagar where it is located now, which place near Sriperumbudur did Ford consider for its plant?

15. In world of cricket, who was the first Test captain to stand as an umpire in Test matches?

16. What decade-and-a-half-old cultural initiative on the ECR was the brainchild of Deborah Thiagarajan and Gita Ram of the Madras Craft Foundation?

17. Known as ‘Pinther Kuruvai’ in Sangam literature, which dance form is devoted to ‘Thirumal’ and is performed by villagefolk belonging especially to Nataka community?

18. Which natural wonder that gets its name from Kannada is called Marikottayam by the people of Tamil Nadu?

19. In the politics of yesteryears, which ‘opponent’ party was described by the Congress as the ‘Sarigai Thalappa Party’ because most of its members wore silk turbans?

20. Which former Chief Minister of Madras was responsible for establishing the College of Indian Medicine at Kilpauk that has now become the KMC?