7 questions on rain
The UK has experienced the wettest April and June on record in 2012 - giving weather-obsessed Britons plenty to talk about. How much do you know about rain through the ages?
1.) Multiple Choice Question
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a 9th Century historical account, what rained down on Britain in the year 685?
2.) Multiple Choice Question
According to the Met Office, which location witnessed the UK's highest recorded rainfall during a 24-hour period?
- Loch Sloy, Argyll and Bute
- Tollymore Forest, County Down
- Seathwaite, Cumbria
3.) Multiple Choice Question
Wet weather was on the side of English forces against the French at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, military historians believe. Why?
- The English wore better waterproofs
- The French got stuck in mud
- Clouds gave the English cover
4.) Multiple Choice Question
A "wet, ungenial summer" forced a group of friends indoors, prompting a contest to see who could write the scariest story. Which novel was the result?
- Bram Stoker's Dracula
- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
- Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
5.) Multiple Choice Question
Weather stories are big news today. The Storm, an account of extreme British weather in 1703, has been described as the "first substantial work of modern journalism" by the New York Times. Who was its author?
- Daniel Defoe
- Jonathan Swift
- Lady Caroline Lamb
6.) Multiple Choice Question
Which year saw the last major flood to affect central London?
7.) Multiple Choice Question
Rain is regarded by many Beatles fans as the band's finest B-side. On which single did it appear?
- Nowhere Man
- Hello, Goodbye
- Paperback Writer
- It's blood. According to the Chronicle: "This year there was in Britain a bloody rain, and milk and butter were turned to blood."
- Seathwaite in Cumbria saw 316.4mm - a whole foot - of rainfall from 00:00 to 23:59 GMT on 19 November 2009, the Met Office says.
- Experts say heavy rain prior to the battle meant the more heavily armoured French knights sank into the mud, handing the initiative to the outnumbered English archers.
- It's Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus to give its full title. Shelley (then called Mary Godwin) took part in the challenge along with Lord Byron and John William Polidori near Lake Geneva in 1816.
- It was Daniel Defoe, who put together the book using first-hand accounts after placing a series of adverts - an early example of user-generated content.
- It was 1928, when 14 people drowned in the capital following heavy rainfall. A subsequent flood in 1953, which led to the construction of the Thames Barrier, caused extensive damage further along the river's estuary and up the east coast of the country.
- It's Paperback Writer.
0 - 3 : Washed out
4 - 6 : Changeable outlook
7 - 7 : High water mark
For past quizzes including our weekly news quiz, 7 days 7 questions, expand the grey drop-down below - also available on the Magazine page (and scroll down)