The Christmas quiz 2024 | The Week

How carefully have you ever adopted the information in 2024? And the way’s your basic information? Check your self now – solutions on the backside…

Wanting again on 2024

1. The Belfast-based shipyard that constructed the Titanic went into administration in September. Title it.

2. Whose resignation in January despatched Liverpool followers right into a tailspin?

3. Which American was accused this 12 months of “betraying the values that our father and household maintain most pricey”?

4. Samantha Harvey received this 12 months’s Booker Prize along with her novel “Orbital”. The place is it set?

5. Who printed a memoir/manifesto entitled “Ten Years to Save the West”?

6. The previous spouse of a Beatle put her “love-triangle letters” up for public sale in March. Who had been the members of that love triangle?

7. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was launched from jail in June, because of a plea cope with the US. By which jail had he been held for the earlier 5 years?

8. Gymnastics celebrity Simone Biles received three Olympic golds in Paris this 12 months. What was the identify of the situation that had compelled her to withdraw from the Tokyo Video games in 2021? And who received essentially the most gold medals in Paris, with 4?

9. Within the Tory management race, who was the primary of the 5 candidates to be eradicated?

10. In November, Donald Trump’s first selection for legal professional basic withdrew from consideration inside days of being nominated. What’s his identify?

Locations

1. Which stately dwelling in Britain bears the identify of a battlefield in what’s now Germany?

2. What establishment resides within the Peace Palace?

3. The place would you discover a Sea of Tranquility and an Ocean of Storms?

4. If you happen to wished to see Armageddon, the place would you have to go?

5. Which is the one English county with a geological period named after it?

6. If you happen to travelled from Brighton Seaside to Sheepshead Bay, the place would you be?

7. Which nation has the longest shoreline on mainland Africa? And which nation has the longest shoreline on the earth?

8. All of the nationwide flags on the earth have 4 sides – bar one. Which nation is the exception?

9. Which is the world’s largest desert?

10. Earlier than it achieved independence in 1971, by what identify was Bangladesh recognized?

11. Which US state is dwelling to essentially the most dwell volcanoes?

12. By way of which nations does the Orinoco river run?

13. Which river varieties a pure border between Mexico and the US?

Literature and the humanities

1. Listing the 4 Shakespeare performs which have the names of locations of their essential (generally used) title. For a bonus level, identify the three others which have place names of their full titles.

2. Who was “mad, unhealthy and harmful to know” – and who described them thus?

3. “Mad In regards to the Boy” was famously recorded by Dinah Washington, however who wrote the music, in 1932?

4. By what names are the next writers higher recognized? a) David Cornwellb) Helen Lyndon Goffc) Cecil Smith d) Marguerite Annie Johnson.

5. The next make up the final traces of which books? a) “There have been three thousand 600 and fifty-three days like that in his stretch. From the primary clang of the rail to the final clang of the rail. The three additional days had been for leap years.” b) “It is humorous. Do not ever inform anyone something. If you happen to do, you begin lacking everyone.” c) “And the ashes blew in direction of us with the salt wind from the ocean.” d) “So we beat on, boats towards the present, borne again ceaselessly into the previous.” e) “A wonderful 12 months’s progress.”

6. By what identify was the artist Emmanuel Radnitzky higher recognized?

7. “The Insulted and Humiliated” is a lesser-known work by which well-known nineteenth century author?

8. T.S. Eliot’s line “April is the cruellest month”, from “The Waste Land”, is derived from (and a reference to) which earlier work?

9. “For Whom the Bell Tolls” is a ebook by Ernest Hemingway and a citation from a meditation by which poet? And what’s the first line of that passage?

10. By what identify did the artists who known as themselves the Nameless Society of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers and so forth., develop into higher recognized?

11. On which highway in London did Andrew O’Hagan (largely) set his most up-to-date novel?

12. What do J.M.W. Turner’s initials stand for?

13. The next fictional locations function through which novels?a) Maycombb) Cittàgazzec) Ishmaeliad) Westerose) Galt’s Gulch.

14. In “The Chronicles of Narnia”, what’s the identify of the luxurious mountainous nation to the south of Narnia?

Showbiz

1. Which movie hyperlinks the set designer Ken Adam and the author Roald Dahl?

2. What’s the solely single the place each the music title and the identify of the band are palindromes?

3. Within the Harry Potter movies, Maggie Smith performed Professor McGonagall. What was her character’s first identify?

4. On which avenue would possibly you’ve gotten met Bouncer, Charlene and Mrs Mangel?

5. Title the Italian-American director of “It is a Great Life”, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, and “It Occurred One Evening”. And whereas we’re at it, identify the actor who starred within the first two of those movies, and the 2 stars of the third.

6. Which late actor, author, comic and satirist starred as Mr Sowerberry within the authentic West Finish manufacturing of Lionel Bart’s “Oliver!”?

7. Within the newest Paddington movie, set in Peru, which actress took on the position of Mrs Brown? Which actor voiced Mrs Brown, and certainly all of the characters, within the BBC’s beloved animated collection within the Seventies?

8. Of the highest 10 grossing movies of the Eighties, solely two didn’t have sequels. Are you able to identify both of them? (Clue: one in every of them is the one movie from the Eighties that’s among the many high 200 highest-grossing movies of all time. The opposite starred Tom Cruise.)

9. What’s the identify of The Beatles’ debut album within the UK?

10. To which nation do Robert Redford and Paul Newman’s characters flee in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Child”?

11. By which movies do the next well-known traces seem – and for additional factors, which actors spoke them?a) “I am walkin’ right here!”b) “Get busy dwelling, or get busy dying.”c) “A boy’s finest good friend is his mom.”d) “Greed, for lack of a greater phrase, is sweet.”e) “Fasten your seatbelts, it may be a bumpy evening.”f) “The stuff that goals are made from.”

12. Who performed Normal Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick’s movie “Dr. Strangelove”?

13. “Suicide Is Painless” is the theme tune to which Seventies movie?

14. John Gielgud was the primary British Egot (winner of an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony). For which movie did he win his Oscar?

Obituaries

1. This musician composed the music for “Within the Warmth of the Evening”, and for the opening scene of “Austin Powers: Worldwide Man of Thriller”. Who was he?

2. Which actor gave voice to each Darth Vader, within the Star Wars movies, and Mufasa, in “The Lion King”.

3. The entrepreneur Tony O’Reilly was related to which model of butter?

4. 4 years after being acquired by the Tate in 1972, the artist Carl Andre’s piece “Equal VIII” provoked a storm within the British media. What did the sculpture encompass?

5. Carl Weathers was deemed too delicate to be a footballer, however then discovered fame enjoying which fictional boxer?

6. For whom was “life too brief to stuff a mushroom”?

7. Shelley Duvall is finest remembered for her position in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”; however earlier than that, she had made six movies with which different director?

8. In her 80s, Edna O’Brien travelled to Nigeria to analysis her ebook primarily based on the Boko Haram college abductions. What was the ebook known as?

9. Explaining that he had joined the center lessons, which politician stated: “I’ve modified. I now not hold the coal within the bathtub. I hold it within the bidet.”

Science and nature

1. What’s the collective noun for flamingos?

2. What’s the hardest naturally occurring substance on Earth?

3. Roughly how lengthy does it take for the Solar’s mild to succeed in Earth – eight minutes, eight hours or eight days?

4. Mycology is the examine of what?

5. What identify is given for the variety of protons discovered within the nucleus of an atom?

6. What’s the quickest land animal, with a high pace of as much as 65mph? What’s the quickest sea creature (as much as 82mph)? And which hen is the quickest in horizontal flight (greater than 100mph)?

7. For which contagious illness was the primary vaccine developed, by Edward Jenner, in 1796?

8. Which is the one even prime quantity?

9. The pores and skin is the most important and heaviest of the human organs, however which is the heaviest inside organ?

10. Which Polish-born scientist was the primary individual to win two Nobel Prizes?

Historical past and politics

1. If I speak about 15 metopes, 27 pedimental figures and 75 metres of frieze, what am I almost definitely speaking about?

2. Which 1739-1748 battle was named after an anatomical function? Which two nations fought it?

3. In US politics, who’re donkeys and who’re elephants? If that’s too straightforward, identify the cartoonist who made them so.

4. Apart from the King and Queen, and the Prince and Princess of Wales, there are seven working members of the royal household. Who’re they?

5. To whom was the Motion This Day memorandum despatched?

6. Which political leaders match these dates of beginning and demise? a) 1917-1963 b) 1889-1945 c) 1925-2013.

7. What’s the identify of the nationwide vacation that commemorates the beginning of the 1789 Revolution in France?

8. What had been the names of the ultimate two imperial dynasties in China, ruling from the late 14th century till the early twentieth?

9. Which nice chief was nicknamed The Little Corporal?

10. Though they shared a reputation, the twenty sixth president of the US was solely distantly associated to the thirty second president; nonetheless, he was fairly carefully associated to the thirty second’s spouse. What was their relationship?

11. On what island was Mary Jo Kopechne left to die following a automotive accident in 1969?

12. What did Keir Starmer’s father do for a dwelling? (The official guidelines of The Week quiz state that any contestant who can’t reply this query is straight away eradicated.)

The solutions

Wanting again on 2024 1. Harland & Wolff 2. Jürgen Klopp 3. Robert F. Kennedy Jr 4. The Worldwide House Station 5 Liz Truss 6. George Harrison, Pattie Boyd, Eric Clapton 7. HMP Belmarsh 8. The twisties; Léon Marchand 9. Priti Patel 10. Matt Gaetz

Locations 1. Blenheim 2. The Worldwide Courtroom of Justice (additionally accepted, as a result of it is true: the Everlasting Courtroom of Arbitration) 3. The Moon 4. Israel 5. Devon 6. Brooklyn 7. Somalia; Canada 8. Nepal 9. Antarctica 10. East Pakistan 11. Alaska 12. Venezuela and Colombia 13. The Rio Grande

Literature and the humanities 1. “Two Gents of Verona”; “The Service provider of Venice”; “The Merry Wives of Windsor”; “Timon of Athens”. “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”; “Pericles, Prince of Tyre”; “The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice” 2. Lord Byron; Woman Caroline Lamb 3. Noël Coward 4. a) John le Carré b) P.L. Travers c) C.S. Forester d) Maya Angelou5. a) “One Day within the Lifetime of Ivan Denisovich” b) “The Catcher within the Rye” c) “Rebecca” d) “The Nice Gatsby” e) “Bridget Jones’s Diary” 6. Man Ray 7. Dostoevsky 8. “The Canterbury Tales” 9. John Donne; “No man is an island” 10. The impressionists 11. Caledonian Highway 12. Joseph Mallord William 13. a) “To Kill a Mockingbird” b) “His Darkish Supplies” c) “Scoop” d) “A Track of Ice and Fireplace” e) “Atlas Shrugged” 14. Archenland

Showbiz 1. “You Solely Stay Twice” 2. Abba’s “SOS” 3. Minerva 4. Ramsay Road 5. Frank Capra. James Stewart; Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable 6. Barry Humphries 7. Emily Mortimer. Michael Hordern 8. “E.T”.; “Rain Man” 9. “Please Please Me” 10. Bolivia 11. a) “Midnight Cowboy” (Dustin Hoffman) b) “The Shawshank Redemption” (Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins) c) “Psycho” (Anthony Perkins) d) “Wall Road” (Michael Douglas) e) “All About Eve” (Bette Davis) f) “The Maltese Falcon” (Humphrey Bogart) 12. George C. Scott 13. “M*A*S*H” 14. “Arthur”

Obituaries 1. Quincy Jones 2 James Earl Jones 3. Kerrygold 4. A pile of bricks 5. Apollo Creed 6. Shirley Conran 7. Robert Altman 8. “Lady” 9. John Prescott

Science and nature 1. A flamboyance 2. Diamond 3. Eight minutes 4. Fungi (mushrooms) 5. The atomic quantity 6. Cheetah; black marlin; white-throated needletail (peregrine falcon is quicker in dive) 7. Smallpox 8. Two 9. The liver 10. Marie Curie

Historical past and politics 1. The Parthenon Sculptures/Elgin Marbles 2. The Struggle of Jenkins’ Ear; Britain and Spain 3. Democrats and Republicans; Thomas Nast 4. Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh; Princess Anne; Duke and Duchess of Gloucester; Duke of Kent; and Princess Alexandra 5. Winston Churchill 6. a) JFK b) Adolf Hitler c) Margaret Thatcher 7. Bastille Day 8. Ming and Qing 9. Napoleon 10. Theodore Roosevelt (Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fifth cousin) was Eleanor Roosevelt’s uncle 11. Chappaquiddick 12. Toolmaker