1. Which of these was NOT a Covid-era message between officials that was shown to the Covid inquiry?

   1. It’s hard to ask people to march to the sound of gunfire if they’re shot in the back

   2. It is like taming wild animals. Nothing in my past experience has prepared me for this madness. The PM and the people he chooses to surround himself with are basically feral

   3. Hancock so far up BJ’s arse his ankles are brown

   4. It was the wrong crisis for this prime minister’s skill set. Which is different, I think, from not potentially being up for the job of prime minister

   5. I’ve never seen a bunch of people less well-equipped to run a country

2. 

   What hobby did David M Solomon (below), CEO of Goldman Sachs, have to give up amid reported concerns from the bank’s board that it was causing a distraction?

   1. Solomon was a keen base jumper who had leapt from 14 Manhattan skyscrapers, including Goldman’s 200 West St HQ

   2. Solomon had become a nationally rated chess grandmaster and competed in 13 tournaments between January and April of this year

   3. Solomon is a leading collector of Warhammer figurines and had spent more than $6m on rare Necron warriors

   4. Solomon had spent more than 300 hours learning pi to 40,000 places

   5. Solomon was a successful electronica DJ who went by the moniker DJ D-Sol and had played at Lollapalooza

3. 

   In November, the Beatles (below) released their AI-assisted new single Now and Then. Which artist provided the track's artwork?

   1. Frank Auerbach

   2. Ed Ruscha

   3. Yayoi Kusama

   4. David Hockney

   5. Tracey Emin

4. 

   The actor Hannah Waddingham was one of the hosts of May’s Eurovision song contest in Liverpool. What is the name of the team Waddingham’s character Rebecca Welton owns in Ted Lasso (below), the final episode of which streamed in May?

   1. Richmond Academical

   2. AFC Richmond

   3. Richmond FC

   4. Richmond Greyhounds

   5. Richmond United

5. 

   On 23 June, Yevgeny Prigozhin (below), leader of the mercenary army the Wagner group, began a brief, ill-fated march on Moscow. Two months later he was killed. What did Vladimir Putin say caused his death?

   1. A mysterious illness

   2. He was hanged inside his mansion

   3. Someone set off hand grenades inside Prigozhin’s plane mid-flight (and that he might have been on drugs)

   4. Polonium poisoning

   5. He had a heart attack and fell out of a 10th-storey window

6. 

   Which of these things did NOT happen at the men’s Rugby World Cup held in France in the autumn?

   1. Ireland finally won a knockout game

   2. The organisers had to rerecord the teams’ national anthems – sung by schoolchildren – mid-tournament as fans found them "disturbing"

   3. One of the captains of the two finalists was sent off in the final

   4. England fans dressed as 18th-century admirals were thrown out of a match for fighting

   5. Portugal beat Fiji by a point to win their first ever match at the tournament

7. 

   Which of these conspiracy theories was talked about on stage by a serving cabinet minister at the Conservative party conference in Manchester?

   1. A global elite is controlling world politics

   2. Prince William is a stooge of the World Economic Forum because of his work on the climate

   3. The Covid vaccine rollout was akin to mass murder

   4. The urban planning concept of “15-minute cities” will lead to councils deciding how often you can go to the shops

   5. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is using war with Russia as a front for a private money-laundering operation involving the bankrupt FTX crypto platform

8. 

   In November, David Cameron (below) made an extraordinary return to high office when he replaced James Cleverly as foreign secretary. Who was the last former prime minister to return to a job in the cabinet?

   1. Theresa May

   2. Harold Wilson

   3. Alec Douglas-Home

   4. Winston Churchill

   5. Neville Chamberlain

9. 

   The second-innings dismissal of England’s Jonny Bairstow (below) during the second Ashes test against Australia at Lord’s in July led to ugly scenes in the Long Room, where blazer-wearing MCC members accused the Australians of cheating. What sparked the incident?

   1. After several wild swings of his bat, Australia’s Travis Head told Bairstow to “watch the windows” – only for Bairstow to clatter the next ball on to his own stumps

   2. The Australian captain Pat Cummins appealed when Bairstow took too long to adjust his helmet after entering the field and was timed out

   3. The Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc bowled an underarm delivery to stop Bairstow reaching a century

   4. Australia’s Steve Smith was spotted sandpapering the ball between deliveries

   5. Bairstow walked out of his crease to change ends after an over and Australia’s wicketkeeper threw the ball at the stumps

10. 

    What did striking actors and screenwriters accuse bosses at Universal of doing during a picket outside the company’s LA studios (below) in July?

    1. Disconnecting the Tesla superchargers on the road outside the studio entrance so the strikers couldn’t get home

    2. Pruning a row of trees so the WGA and Sag-Aftra members were forced to picket in blazing heat

    3. Turning up the volume on the Jaws ride so that the strikers’ chants were overpowered by John Williams’s famous score

    4. Sending out theme park staff dressed as Minions to hand out anti-union pamphlets to passersby

    5. Employing non-union actors to stage a counterstrike outside the Disney studios

11. 

    The family of Captain Sir Tom Moore (below) were ordered to demolish a spa complex in their back garden after a retrospective application for planning was refused. Which of these was NOT among the reasons given to planners to justify the construction of the Captain Tom Building?

    1. It would provide a space for future fundraisers to swim sponsored laps of the pool

    2. It would be used to host coffee mornings

    3. It would be used to host presentations to the press

    4. It would store cards from well-wishers

    5. The pool would offer rehabilitation sessions for local elderly people

12. 

    Which of these is a GB News show?

    1. Brexit Britain With Boris Johnson

    2. Lee Anderson’s Real World

    3. The Plot Against Britain With Nadine Dorries

    4. Ken Clarke’s Cigar Hour

    5. Frankly Francois With Mark Francois

13. 

    The Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once won seven Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards – including for best picture. Michelle Yeoh (below) became only the second woman of colour to win best actress. Who was the first?

    1. Jennifer Hudson

    2. Youn Yuh-jung

    3. Octavia Spencer

    4. Halle Berry

    5. Viola Davis

14. 

    England’s Jude Bellingham (below) is now a Real Madrid superstar. What was unusual about Bellingham’s move from his boyhood club Birmingham City to Dortmund in 2020 when he was just 17?

    1. The Blues named part of its St Andrew’s ground after him. The Bellingham Stand opened in August 2021

    2. Bellingham turned down a move to Paris Saint-Germain as he “didn’t want” to play with Neymar Jr

    3. Bellingham’s agent accidentally told him he was actually being signed by Bayern Munich

    4. Dortmund paid the transfer fee in bitcoin

    5. The Blues retired the teenager’s shirt number after he left – an honour usually reserved for deceased legends

15. 

    Who did not appear on stage with Elton John as he closed this year’s Glastonbury festival (below)?

    1. Dua Lipa

    2. Brandon Flowers

    3. Jacob Lusk

    4. Stephen Sanchez

    5. Rina Sawayama

16. 

    This year it was revealed that the US supreme court justice Clarence Thomas (below) failed to repay all of a $267,000 loan from a businessman in 1999. What was the money for?

    1. A luxury campervan

    2. Ringo Starr’s snare drum

    3. A Florida Keys timeshare

    4. A Ferrari Testarossa

    5. A painting by Dwight Eisenhower

17. 

    The man who led the critical Cop28 UN climate talks is …

    1. A former environmental protester who was arrested at the Newbury bypass protests in 1996

    2. The chairman of Manchester City

    3. A former Tour de France cyclist

    4. The crown prince of Dubai

    5. The head of an oil company

18. 

    In November, Sam Bankman-Fried (below) was convicted of fraud and money laundering. Which of these celebrities did NOT appear in an advert for Bankman-Fried’s FTX crypto trading platform?

    1. Larry David

    2. Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen

    3. LeBron James

    4. Stephen Curry

    5. David Ortiz

19. 

    Who didn’t play a Barbie in Barbie?

    1. Florence Pugh

    2. Kate McKinnon

    3. Issa Rae

    4. Hari Nef

    5. Emma Mackey

20. 

    Which of these former Conservative ministers hasn’t (yet!) announced they will stand down as an MP before the 2024 election, reducing the chances of a Michael Portillo (below) moment for a new generation?

    1. Ben Wallace

    2. Dominic Raab

    3. Michael Gove

    4. Matt Hancock

    5. Sajid Javid

Solutions

1:D - The clue is the tense. This was former No 10 director of communications Lee Cain’s testimony to the inquiry in October, rather than an old WhatsApp message, 2:E - DJ D-Sol has been praised for his remix of Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), 3:B - The Oklahoman pop art great is also the subject of a current exhibition at New York’s Moma entitled, fittingly, Now Then, 4:B - Fictional AFC Richmond, nicknamed the Greyhounds, play at the fictional Nelson Road Stadium (actually the nonfictional Selhurst Park, home of Crystal Palace), 5:C - In his first comments after the crash in October, the Russian president was keen to note that, as well as fragments of grenades in passengers’ bodies, the FSB had discovered “not only 10bn roubles in cash, but also 5kg of cocaine” in Prighozin’s mansion, 6:A - Tournament favourites Ireland were on a 17-match-winning run before going out in the quarter finals for the eighth successive time, 7:D - A concept the Guardian’s architecture critic called “mundane” has become an unlikely new conspiracy theory, in this case cited by transport minister Mark Harper on stage at Manchester Central. (The other answers are, however, all thoughts shared on GB News in the past few years), 8:C - After serving as PM for 363 days in 1963-64, Alec Douglas-Home returned to the frontbench to serve as Ted Heath’s foreign secretary from 1970 to 1974. Before that, both Wilson and Churchill returned to the cabinet as prime minister. After being replaced by Churchill in 1940, Chamberlain served in the cabinet as lord president of the council. May remains a backbench MP, 9:E - Depending on your hemisphere, it was agreed that Alex Carey’s quick-thinking throw was either fair dinkum/not in the spirit of the game. In November’s Men’s World Cup, Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews became the first international player to be timed out in a match against Bangladesh, 10:B - A row of trimmed ficus trees became an unlikely strike flashpoint. An NBCUniversal spokesperson said it knew the trimming had “created unintended challenges for demonstrators; that was not our intention”, 11:A - In a hearing in October the Planning Inspectorate dismissed the family’s appeal against the demolition, saying the “scale and massing” of the building “resulted in harm” to the Old Rectory, the Grade II-listed building where the family live in Bedfordshire, 12:B - The Tory party deputy chair was reprimanded for filming a clip for GB News from the roof of parliament. Nadine Dorries is a star of rivals Talk TV, and Johnson’s “new series showcasing the power of Britain around the world” is yet to air. Frankly Francois is yet to be commissioned, sadly, 13:D - Berry won for Monster’s Ball in 2002. The others have all won for best supporting actress, 14:E - Bellingham wore 22 at City and Dortmund as he wanted to reflect his ability to play as a No 4, a No 8 and a No 10. He’s now No 5 for Madrid, as was once Zinedine Zidane, 15:A - Despite the pair teaming up for 2021’s remix smash Cold Heart, Lipa didn’t make it to Somerset. “The person I did this song with isn’t here, so I’m going to ask you to sing her part, and sing it loudly,” Elton said, a little pointedly, 16:A - The RV was a Prevost Marathon Le Mirage XL – with “orange flames licking down the sides”, according to the New York Times. The loan was among a number of ethics scandals affecting Thomas in 2023, 17:E - Abu Dhabi’s Sultan Al Jaber is CEO of the National Oil Company and chairman of the emirate’s green energy company Masdar, 18:C - Lakers superstar James instead appeared in one of the many 2022 Super Bowl crypto ads for crypto.com. NFL great Tom Brady and Seinfeld co-creator Larry David were among those named in a class-action lawsuit after the collapse of FTX [Curb Your Enthusiasm music plays … ], 19:A - Pugh played Jean Tatlock, one of J Robert Oppenheimer’s lovers in, er, Oppenheimer, which formed the other half of a double bill with Barbie. The others played Weird Barbie, President Barbie, Dr Barbie and Physicist Barbie, 20:C - Gove’s seat of Surrey Heath is a key Lib Dem target – though he’s rumoured to be considering packing it in, too. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has been selected for the newly created nearby seat of Godalming and Ash, but is rumoured to want to step down

Scores

1. 20 and above.

2. 19 and above.

3. 18 and above.

4. 17 and above.

5. 16 and above.

6. 15 and above.

7. 14 and above.

8. 13 and above.

9. 12 and above.

10. 11 and above.

11. 10 and above.

12. 9 and above.

13. 8 and above.

14. 7 and above.

15. 6 and above.

16. 5 and above.

17. 4 and above.

18. 3 and above.

19. 2 and above.

20. 0 and above.

21. 1 and above.