The questions

1 Whose funeral in 1989 attracted about 10 million mourners?
2 What is the only major river to cross the equator twice?
3 Which singer has been called the Geordie Springsteen?
4 What is the largest surviving carnivorous marsupial?
5 What was added to 30 June 2015?
6 Which sci-fi epic was inspired by the shifting sands of the Oregon coast?
7 Football and which other sport were banned in Scotland in 1457?
8 Which war memorial was designed by Yale student Maya Lin?
What links:
9 Buzzard; Clair; Cygnus; Jackdaw; Rosebank?
10 Dis; Duat; Helheim; Irkalla; Mictlan?
11 England: 188,900; Scotland: 37,200; Wales: 21,100?
12 Susan Janet Ballion; Marianne Elliott-Said; Arianna Forster and Paloma Romero?
13 Bridalveil Fall; El Capitan; Half Dome; Mount Lyell; Sentinel Dome?
14 Saving Private Ryan; Pressure; The Longest Day?
15 Everton (currently); Arsenal; Southampton; Norwich City?

Flagging over the Everton clue? Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

The answers

1 Ayatollah Khomeini (Iran).
2 Congo.
3 Sam Fender.
4 Tasmanian devil.
5 Extra/leap second.
6 Dune (Frank Herbert).
7 Golf.
8 Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington DC.
9 Major UK oil and gasfields.
10 Underworld in various mythologies: Roman; ancient Egypt; Norse; Mesopotamian; Aztec.
11 Estimated total lengths of roads in Britain.
12 Original names of early punks: Siouxsie Sioux; Poly Styrene; Ari Up and Palmolive.
13 Natural landmarks in Yosemite national park, California.
14 Films about D-day.
15 Football allegiances of recent PMs: Burnham; Starmer; Sunak; Truss.