What is the UK’s heaviest and fastest flying duck? The Saturday quiz

The questions

1 Slovenia and Venezuela are the first two countries to lose all their what?
2 Which celebrated rock has 1620 carved on to it?
3 What is the UK’s heaviest and fastest flying duck?
4 Which royal consort was born in the same bedroom as Queen Victoria?
5 Skaldic poetry was written in what language?
6 Which international organisation was dissolved on 19 April 1946?
7 Who has statues in Middlesbrough, Derby and Nottingham?
8 Which irrational number is represented by the Greek letter phi?
What links:
9 Cheddar Man; Dead Sea Scrolls; Altamira and Lascaux art; olm salamander?
10 Ash Dykes; Ed Stafford; Ed Talone; Levison Wood?
11 Bat and Ball; Blackrod; Hall i’ th’ Wood; Whatstandwell?
12 US citizen; Stem master’s degree; two years’ professional experience; pass physical test?
13 Ain’t Misbehavin’; Blueberry Hill; Hound Dog (originally); The Twist; Hypnotize?
14 Maia; Peter; Chris Adams; Kikuchiyo; Abbie Hoffman?
15 Profiles in Courage; Brave New World; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?

Testing the waters on the Slovenia clue? … View across Lake Bled, north-western Slovenia. Photograph: Alexander Gutkin/Getty Images

The answers

1 Glaciers.
2 Plymouth Rock (Massachusetts).
3 Eider.
4 Queen Mary (of Teck).
5 Old Norse.
6 The League of Nations.
7 Brian Clough.
8 Golden ratio (1.61803 etc).
9 Discovered in caves.
10 First people known to walk length of rivers: Yangtze; Amazon; Mississippi; Nile.
11 Unusual station names: Kent; Greater Manchester; Bolton; Derbyshire.
12 Criteria for Nasa astronaut selection.
13 Signature songs by acts with super-sized names: Fats Waller; Fats Domino; Big Mama Thornton; Chubby Checker; Notorious BIG.
14 Members of groups of seven: Seven Sisters; Secret Seven; Magnificent Seven; Seven Samurai; Chicago Seven.
15 Books by authors who died on 22 November 1963: John F Kennedy; Aldous Huxley; CS Lewis.