QUIZ OF THE YEAR
Answers on the solutions panel.
NEWS
1 COP26 was held in Glasgow this year. What does COP stand for? a) Conference of the Parties b) Climate Organisation Progress c) Copenhagen Treaty d) Changing Our Planet 2 Which settlement is set to become the UK’s newest city, in honour of the late MP Sir David Amess? a) Dover b) Gravesend c) Hartlepool d) Southend 3 Naftali Bennett succeeded which long-serving world leader in June? a) Justin Trudeau (Canada) b) Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel) c) Angela Merkel (Germany) d) Erna Solberg (Norway) 4 What first name, a childhood nickname of the Queen, did the Duke and Duchess of Sussex give their daughter, born in June? a) Brenda b) Betsy c) Lizzie d) Lilibet 5 Edwin Poots lasted just 21 days as leader of which political party in 2021? a) The Green Party b) The Democratic Unionist Party c) Swedish Social Democrats d) The Alba Party 6 Sandra Mason replaced the Queen as head of state of which country in November 2021? a) Barbados b) Botswana c) Belize d) Benin 7 Who sang the US national anthem at Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration? a) Bruce Springsteen b) Amanda Gorman c) Lady Gaga d) Billie Eilish
SPORT
1 Who scored England’s early goal in the final of the delayed UEFA European Championships at Wembley in July? a) Harry Kane b) Bukayo Saka c) Raheem Stirling d) Luke Shaw 2 In April, Hideki Matsuyama became the first Japanese man to win a major title in which sport? a) Formula 1 b) Golf c) Tennis d) Darts 3 Which of these football clubs wasn’t one of the 12 proposed members of the European Super League, announced in April this year? a) Juventus b) Arsenal c) Paris SaintGermain d) Atlético Madrid 4 Teenager Emma Raducanu became the first qualifier to win a tennis major, beating Leylah Fernandez in the US Open final. How much younger than her opponent was she? a) Fifteen years, two months b) Ten years, two months c) Five years, two months d) Two months 5 Sky Brown won the first British Olympic medal in which sport? a) Skateboarding b) Weightlifting c) Sport climbing d) Wakeboarding 6 Which Australian batsman hit 77 not out in the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, earning the player of the match award? a) Steve Smith b) David Warner c) Mitchell Starc d) Mitchell Marsh 7 Rachael Blackmore became the first female jockey to win the Grand National, riding which horse? a) Tiger Roll b) Medina Spirit c) Rule the World d) Minella Times
SCIENCE & TECH
1 After a surge took sales to over $10bn in 2021, NFT was chosen as the Collins Dictionary Word of the Year. What does it stand for? a) Neo-Functional Trade b) Non-Financial Transfer c) Non-Fungible Token d) Net-Facing Ticket
2 Amid damaging revelations from former employee Frances Haugen,
Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook’s parent company would be rebranded with what name? a) Multi b) Meta c) Beta d) Better
3 Which country became the first in the world to accept Bitcoin as legal tender in September? a) Barbados b) Sri Lanka c) Iceland d) El Salvador
4 David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian won this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their explanation of what bodily sensation? a) Hunger b) Smell c) Touch d) Extra-sensory perception
5 2021 saw the first successful privately funded sub-orbital space flights. Which of these men made it to space first? a) Jeff Bezos b) Richard Branson c) William Shatner d) Elon Musk
6 Amazon opened what for the first time in the UK in March? a) A till-less supermarket b) A drone delivery centre c) A TV studio d) A cloud storage server hub
7 Inventor Clive Sinclair died aged 81 in September. What type of product was the Sinclair Executive, his first major commercial success? a) Smart energy meter b) Electric scooter c) Digital watch d) Calculator
CULTURE
1 The winners of the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest, Måneskin, represented which country? a) Sweden b) Hungary c) Lithuania d) Italy
2 Chloé Zhao won the Best Director Oscar for Nomadland in April and directed which 2021 Marvel film? a) Eternals b) Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings c) Black Widow d) WandaVision
3 Which of these TV and radio shows didn’t unveil a new permanent host in 2021? a) Countdown b) Mastermind c) Eggheads d) Just A Minute
4 Which of these things disappointed fans of Married At First Sight UK when tuning in to watch the 2021 finale? a) Schedule changes after Prince Philip’s death b) E4 aired the wrong episode c) Expert Mel Schilling tweeted the outcome in advance d) One competitor was revealed to be an actor
5 Who became the oldest man to have a No 1 album in the UK charts with 2021’s Surrounded By Time? a) Bob Dylan b) Elton John c) Tom Jones d) Billy Ocean
6 Pauline Black of The Selecter performed at the launch event for which city’s City of Culture festivities in May? a) Coventry b) Colchester c) Coleraine d) Cambridge
7 Damon Galgut’s novel The Promise won the 2021 Booker Prize. Which country is Galgut from? a) Jamaica b) Tanzania c) New Zealand d) South Africa
2022
1 In which month will the Fifa World Cup kick off in Qatar? a) March b) June c) September d) November 2 Which country intends to become the latest to launch an astronaut into space, aboard its Gaganyaan spacecraft? a) Iran b) China c) India d) Nigeria 3 What will return to TV screens in February? a) It’s A Knockout b) Grandstand c) BBC Three d) Teletext 4 There will be an extended Bank Holiday in 2022 to celebrate what jubilee of the Queen’s reign? a) Pearl b) Platinum c) Diamond d) Ivory 5 ABBA announced their first concerts in 40 years will take place in London in 2022. What will be unusual about the performance? a) The band will be represented by digital avatars b) They will only sing new songs c) The set will be entirely acoustic d) Only Swedish citizens will be able to attend 6 What will be different about the Brit Awards in 2022? a) There will be a TikTok video category b) There will be no separate male and female artist categories c) They are being renamed the British Music Awards (BMAs) d) There will be a Worst Single category 7 Which city will become the first to host both a Summer and a Winter Olympic Games? a) Beijing b) Los Angeles c) Berlin d) Lausanne