Last weekend the quiz master was taking in the sights, sounds and overwhelming history of Istanbul. Did that deter the writing of 15 questions on the week’s headlines, random pop culture and general knowledge? Absolutely not. However, you may detect a certain “Cats of Istanbul” flavour to today’s effort, which is in no way a transparent attempt to show off the quiz master’s holiday photos. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 266 – Cats of Istanbul special

1. 1.This Istanbul cat lives near the Dolmabahçe Palace and wants to know where Brigitte Bardot’s personal items were sold this week at an auction to raise money for her animal welfare foundation …
2. 2.This feline is interested in finding out which former occupant of No 10 Downing Street modelled clothes in designer Edeline Lee’s London fashion week show. Help the cat out …
3. 3.This Istanbul cat is hopefully looking for some scraps from the table, and also hoping you can remember which airline has announced a new 18-hour non-stop direct flight route between New York and Sydney …
4. 4.This Istanbul cat was hiding up in a pedestrian subway. It wants to know who has just set a new record for weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with the song Choosin' Texas …
5. 5.This Istanbul cat is puzzled as to why it can't reach the food behind the glass, and even more puzzled to find out that 800,000 what have been stolen across far north Queensland …
6. 6.This Istanbul cat is staring like that because it cannot believe an English football club tried to market a merchandise collection called "United 93" without noticing the implied reference to 9/11. Who?
7. 7.Here is proof that the quiz master actually was in Istanbul. Facebook, meanwhile, was banning ads for the play A Room of One’s Own in Spain because it related to feminism. Whose words are the play based on?
8. 8.Talking of plays, this very sleepy Istanbul cat wants to know about an Australian play written by 95-year-old Liz Hicklin that recounts how she lost her lover to which literary love rival?
9. 9.There aren't a whole lot of dogs in Istanbul, but this fine specimen was spotted. Tell this dog which TV network was criticised by Donald Trump at the UN general assembly for asking a question …
10. 10.The former England boss Fabio Capello appears to have fallen on hard times and to be shilling shoes in Istanbul. But what misfortune befell the footballer Andros Townsend this week?
11. 11.This Istanbul cat was doing its best impression of Ron from Sparks. It is also looking shocked because Ofcom has announced it is investigating which porn site for potentially not conducting checks on underage users properly?
12. 12.This corvid of Istanbul is a hooded crow, and it wants to know which tasty snack of a spider has been spotted in Cheshire for the first time …
13. 13.These ceramic fish in Istanbul look like they have seen things. Terrible things. Possibly an advert by a shoe company that has been criticised for invoked racist imagery associated with the Ku Klux Klan and lynching. Which brand?
14. 14.This Istanbul cat is glaring because it has discovered that world records for solving a Rubik’s Cube are gendered, which frankly the Thursday quiz finds baffling. A six-year-old girl has just set a new record for women – who famously have entirely different hands to men – by solving a 3x3 puzzle on several occasions in an average time of under 4.5 seconds. Where?
15. 15.And finally … when filming Argo, which actor was so dissatisfied with the lighting inside Istanbul's Hagia Sophia that they paid for the lightbulbs to be replaced with a softer, yellower hue?

If you really do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers – and can show your working and are absolutely 100% positive you aren’t attempting to factcheck a joke – you can complain about it in the comments below. Why not watch The Lovecats by The Cure instead?