How would you fare in the Mastermind chair?
JOHN HUMPHRYS grills you on 2015’s big stories
The joy of firing questions at machine gun speed to people sitting in the notorious Mastermind chair is having them fire back the correct answers and marvelling at their knowledge and calmness under pressure.
Actually, that’s only half the fun. The other half is when they fire back answers that are so hilariously wrong it’s difficult to keep a straight face.
If the rules of Mastermind were more forgiving I’d happily award points to the most gloriously wrong answers. The gold standard was set a few years ago by the contender who suggested that the breakfast cereal we associate with prison was not porridge, but Cheerios.
A classic in the present series was the name of the Tory MP who’d resigned his seat to run for UKIP. he was Mark Reckless and not, as offered, Mark Careless. I also enjoyed the suggestion that the sweet dessert named after a day of the week was not a sundae but a Wednesday. And the opposite to an evergreen tree was a nevergreen.
But better to offer a bonkers answer immediately than spend an age trying to find the right one. Once they start thinking of the clock ticking down they are usually doomed — and that’s worth remembering when you tackle the questions that follow.
Treat the multiple choice questions as a warm-up, but you might try setting a timer on the ones that follow. A Mastermind pro gets through about 18 in two minutes. Good luck with these news-related questions about some of the biggest stories of the year!
MULTIPLE CHOICE
What firm date did the government set to start building a new runway in the south east of england?
This year Next year Some time Never
2 Who discovered that it’s possible to make even bigger profits by being nice to their customers than by being nasty? a. Sports Direct b. Ryanair c. HMRC d. Virgin Trains
3 Name the odd one out from the following dishes and say why: a. Caesar salad with a fried egg on top b. Insalata caprese with two sodium alginate formed spheres c. Baked lettuce d. Avocado on toast
4 What does David Cameron say he has been battling against for many years and has been ‘relatively successful’ in defeating? a. Socialism b. His image as a posh boy from Eton c. The European Commission d. Smoking
5 Who did the students’ union at Cardiff University try to ban from speaking because of the speaker’s ‘hateful’ views? a. Germaine Greer b. Donald Trump c. Marine le Pen d. Abu Qatada
6 Who tried (and failed) to look pleased when it was announced that Jeremy Corbyn had won the contest for Labour leader? a. Andy Burnham b. Yvette Cooper c. Liz Kendall d. Half the Labour Party
7 The climate change conference in Paris was called ‘COP21’. COP is ‘Conference of the Parties’. Why 21? a. That’s how many countries took part in it b. That’s how many climate change agreements have been signed c. That’s how many agreements have failed d. That’s how many yearly sessions they’ve had since the UN agreement on climate change
QUICK-FIRE
1 The government of which country held a referendum, didn’t like the result, and decided to ignore it?
2 Which famous football manager said he was not used to losing, but got lots of practice at it anyway?
3 Speaking of losers . . . who were forced to sit out the international tournament they were hosting after a disastrous start?
4 Who will no longer need to get up at 2.59am to shout at politicians?
5 And who is going to have to get used to doing it in his place?
6 Who made herself unpopular in her country for declaring at the height of the refugee crisis: ‘Let them all come’?
7 how did Libby Lane make ecclesiastical history?
8 What was one of the factors Prince Charles blamed for the civil war in Syria?
9 Who decided to give up the catwalk because her ‘body asked her to stop’?
10 What links hamlet, Sherlock holmes and a highly emotional appeal on stage for Syrian refugees?
11 Which very old Royal was finally laid to rest?
12 And which very young Royal made her first appearance?
13 Who got to hug his children for the first time after 14 years of incarceration?
14 Whose Christmas card contained a puzzle you might need a little spylike cunning to complete?
15 A Ferrari 250 GT0 built in 1962 (pictured) became the most expensive car ever sold at auction. how much, to within $5 million?
16 Which world-famous author shocked her fans by revealing that the hero of her first book was not quite the paragon her readers had been led to believe?
17 Which son of a famous Left-wing father had them cheering in the aisles for his warlike speech?
18 Who was the distinguished scientist forced to resign from his university post because he made a joke about the women he worked with in an after-dinner speech?
19 Who spent 15 years under house arrest, won the Nobel Prize, and finally led her party to victory in her country’s first real election for 25 years?
20 Whose death at 71 caused a lorra lorra tears to be shed?
21 What massive geographical feature moved by just over an inch in April and why?
22 What historic document went on display in February, 800 years after it was sealed. Churchill once described it as the ‘foundation of principles and systems of government’?
23 Who was a world champion on the track but had to do a bit of back-tracking after he landed the biggest job in athletics?
24 Which singer became massively famous even though almost no one knows who she actually is?
25 Who won a world boxing championship title and lost it a couple of weeks later?
26 Whose ‘defeat’ devices left a nasty whiff in the air and landed the company with a massive bill?
27 Where was there rejoicing at the possible presence of water in the past but, later in the year and many thousands of miles away, despair at there being far too much of it?
28 Who inspired the most signatures on an internet petition there’s ever been and why?
29 Who told his daddy he wanted to come with him but was not allowed to go?