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Traditions, Law and Language

16 practice questions, each with the answer and an explanation.

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Random questions from this topic, one at a time. You see the answer and the explanation straight after each one.

All 16 questions

  1. Which festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ is observed primarily on 25 December and is a public holiday in many countries?
  2. Which English legal document of 1689 gave Parliament freedom of speech and control over taxes?
  3. Which parliament voted unanimously to reduce the voting age to 16 for elections to that parliament?
  4. Which Anglo-Saxon word is the origin of 'Saturday'?
  5. On which date is Burns Night, honouring the Scottish poet Robert Burns?
  6. Which patron saint's day is 17 March, celebrated especially in Northern Ireland?
  7. How many people form the jury in a criminal trial in England, according to GOV.UK jury service guidance?
  8. Which people conquered England in 1066 and introduced a dialect of French as the language of the elites?
  9. Which dictionary, published in 1755 by Samuel Johnson, illustrated the meanings of words by literary quotation?
  10. Which Welsh festival, traditionally held in the first week of August, awards a bardic chair for a long poem in strict metre?
  11. Which UK law passed in 2010 combined earlier discrimination laws and protects nine characteristics?
  12. Which type of law, based on judges' decisions and precedent rather than statutes, is used in England and Wales?
  13. Which cheese-rolling event takes place each spring on a steep hill in Gloucestershire?
  14. In which year did the Human Rights Act come into force in the UK?
  15. In July 2025 the government announced that the minimum voting age for all elections in the UK would be reduced to what age by the 2029 general election?
  16. Which verdict was removed in Scotland for new trials from 1 January 2026, having allowed an acquittal with the same legal effect as 'not guilty'?

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