Life in the UK Practice Test 36
Free Life in the UK practice test 36 of 52: 24 questions in the real exam format, drawn from all five chapters of the official handbook. The real test has 24 questions, a 45-minute limit and a pass mark of 18 out of 24 (75%). Tap an answer to check it instantly and read the explanation.
Question 1 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
A British pantomime, a much-loved Christmas theatre tradition, is best described as what?
Pantomime retells fairy tales as a noisy, funny family show, with songs, slapstick comedy and plenty of shouting back from the audience.
Question 2 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
Which of these is NOT a traditional feature of a British pantomime?
Audience participation is essential to pantomime — complete silence would ruin it. Dames, principal boys and 'He's behind you!' are all classic panto traditions.
Question 3 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
The jet engine, which transformed air travel in the twentieth century, was developed by which British engineer?
Sir Frank Whittle patented his turbojet design in 1930, and an engine to his design powered the first British jet aircraft flight in 1941.
Question 4 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
Alexander Graham Bell, who patented the telephone, was born in which country of the UK?
Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1847, before emigrating first to Canada and then to the United States.
Question 5 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
The Scottish inventor John Logie Baird is famous for pioneering which technology in the 1920s?
John Logie Baird gave some of the first public demonstrations of a working television system in the 1920s, transmitting moving pictures.
Question 6 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
Which of these inventions is credited to the British engineer Christopher Cockerell?
Christopher Cockerell invented the hovercraft, a craft that travels on a cushion of air over land or water.
Question 7 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
Cockerell's prototype hovercraft, the SR-N1, first crossed the English Channel in which year?
The SR-N1 crossed from Calais to Dover on 25 July 1959, fifty years to the day after Blériot's first aeroplane crossing of the Channel.
Question 8 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
Concorde, the famous supersonic airliner, was built by Britain working together with Germany.
Concorde was designed and built jointly by Britain and France, and carried passengers at more than twice the speed of sound.
Question 9 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
In 1953, scientists working in Britain helped to establish the structure of DNA. What shape did they show it has?
Working in Cambridge, James Watson and Francis Crick established in 1953 that DNA forms a double helix, drawing on research data produced in London by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins' team.
Question 10 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, was created at a research institute in which country of the UK?
Dolly was cloned in 1996 at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh in Scotland, and her birth was announced the following year.
Question 11 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
The Football Association, which drew up the first standard rules of association football, was founded in London in 1863.
The Football Association was founded in 1863, when clubs met in London to agree one standard set of rules for the game.
Question 12 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
According to legend, rugby football began when a schoolboy picked up a football and ran with it during a match. At which school is this said to have happened?
The famous story credits William Webb Ellis, a pupil at Rugby School in 1823, with picking up the ball and running with it — the game of rugby is named after the school.
Question 13 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
The trophy presented to the winners of the Rugby World Cup is called what?
The Rugby World Cup trophy is the Webb Ellis Cup, named after William Webb Ellis, the Rugby School pupil in the sport's famous origin legend.
Question 14 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
The first Wimbledon tennis championships were held in 1877.
The first Championships took place at the All England Club in 1877, with a gentlemen's singles event won by Spencer Gore.
Question 15 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
The Wimbledon tennis championships are played on clay courts.
Wimbledon is played on outdoor grass courts — it is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and the only Grand Slam event still played on grass.
Question 16 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
The first modern London Marathon was run in which year?
The first London Marathon was held on 29 March 1981, founded by Chris Brasher and John Disley after they were inspired by the New York City Marathon.
Question 17 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
A full marathon race covers approximately what distance?
A marathon is 26 miles and 385 yards, about 42 kilometres — the standard distance for races such as the London Marathon.
Question 18 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
A rugby union team has 13 players on the field at one time.
A rugby union team fields 15 players at a time. Rugby league, the other code of the game, is played with 13 players a side.
Question 19 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
Which TWO of these are traditional parts of a British Christmas?
Choose TWO answers — select both to see the result
Christmas crackers, which pop open to reveal a paper crown, a small gift and a joke, are pulled at the Christmas meal, and the monarch's Christmas message is broadcast on Christmas Day. Maypole dancing belongs to May Day on 1 May, and hot cross buns are traditionally eaten on Good Friday at Easter.
Question 20 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
The monarch's Christmas message is broadcast on television and radio on which day each year?
The King's Christmas message is broadcast on Christmas Day, a tradition begun by George V on radio in 1932 and continued on television by Elizabeth II.
Question 21 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
In Scotland's Hogmanay 'first footing' tradition, the first visitor after midnight should ideally bring symbolic gifts, such as coal or whisky, for luck and plenty.
A first-foot visitor traditionally brings symbolic gifts — such as a piece of coal, bread, salt or whisky — meant to bring the household luck and plenty for the year ahead.
Question 22 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
Dancing around a maypole, weaving patterns with long ribbons, is a traditional part of which British celebration?
Maypole dancing is an old tradition of May Day, 1 May, celebrating the arrival of spring, still seen at fairs and school fêtes.
Question 23 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
At harvest festival, celebrated in churches and schools in the autumn, people traditionally give thanks with gifts of what?
At harvest festival, churches and schools are decorated with gifts of food and farm produce, which are often then shared with local people in need.
Question 24 · Chapter 4: Modern Society
In the UK, Mother's Day is traditionally called Mothering Sunday and falls during which period of the Christian calendar?
Mothering Sunday is the fourth Sunday in Lent, the period before Easter, when people traditionally visited their 'mother church' — it is now marked as Mother's Day in the UK.
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