Friday 29 April 2016

The newsquiz is back: Give it a go

There was no newsquiz for the last two weeks as I was in the US where the news was dominated by Trump, Clinton, Sanders and Cruz. It was good to catch up with colleagues at DailyMail.com in New York and to meet some of those trainees who are looking to join the website later in the year. I got back to the UK this week just in time to say farewell to some of the Mail's Australian trainees before they flew back to Sydney. 


Saying farewell to the Australian trainees in London
They have been in the UK on placement at regional newspapers and at the Mail's Kensington offices since the New Year. Good luck to them when they start their real jobs on Monday.
Anyway, the good news is that the quiz is back this week. The top individual scorer in the last quiz I posted was Janet Boyle with 17, the same score as the Batstone Collective. Well done to them. Here are this week's questions. As usual there are 25 points to be won. Let me know how you get on.


Metro reports on the Hillsborough verdict by replicating The Sun's notorious front page (Question 1)
1. What verdict did the Hillsborough inquest jury return in respect of all 96 victims? 
Bonus: South Yorkshire's chief constable was suspended because of the approach the force took to the inquest The acting chief constable who replaced him, then stepped down a day later. Name them both. Half a point for each.
Bonus: Which newspaper did not put the inquest verdict on its front page on the first edition but added it later, tweeting: 'We made a mistake with the front page of our first edition, and we fixed it for our second edition'?
2. Sir Philip Green sold troubled BHS last year for £1 to a consortium led by Dominic Chappell. What is the consortium’s name?
Bonus: Labour MP John Mann said Green must repay how much in dividends or give up his knighthood?
3. Boris Johnson was widely criticised after saying that 'part-Kenyan' president Barack Obama had intentionally removed whose bust from the Oval Office?
4. Paisley Park, the home of Prince who died last week, may become a tribute museum, his family said. Paisley Park is in a suburb of which US city?
Bonus: What was Prince’s full name? 
5. What, according to negative Twitter users, had a Charlie’s Angels silhouette at the front, a daft squiggle and looked like a knock-off from Asda?
6. Labour MP Naz Shah was suspended after it emerged she had once suggested that Israel should be moved to the United States. What is her constituency?
Bonus: In a televised shouting match, which book did Labour MP John Mann say Ken Livingstone obviously hadn’t read?
7. To which position was Malia Bouattia controversially elected?
8. Barry Howard, who died aged 78, was best known for playing Barry Stuart-Hargreaves in which sitcom?
9. The United Nations described the situation in which Syrian city as catastrophic, after dozens of people were killed in attacks on targets including a hospital?
10. A construction worker was killed on the Queensferry Crossing, the new £1.4 billion bridge being built across which river?
11. Which celebrity was sprayed with manure by a farmer driving a muck spreader during an anti-fracking demonstration near Blackpool?
12. Shane Sutton resigned which position amid claims of sexism and discrimination?
13. US presidential hopeful Ted Cruz was called '_________ in the flesh' by fellow Republican and former Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner. What is the missing word?
14. Lord Alfred Dubs described what as ‘shameful' and a 'sad moment for British politics’?
15. Which 26-year-old French-Algerian was described by his boss as ‘a genius’ and 'our light’?
16. Why did Jessica Coakley Martinez say she felt humiliated at Heathrow?
17. Jerome Chauris, a 41-year-old Frenchman, was found not guilty of possessing an air rifle and a knife which caused a security alert where?
18. Whose London Marathon time has been ‘wiped’ while there is an investigation into cheating?
19. Which company is being sued over a filter on its app that allows drivers to monitor their speed?
20. Which hashtag, celebrating a politician’s mistake five years ago, was the top trend in the UK this week, used over 26,000 times?

Answers here




Friday 8 April 2016

Test your news knowledge with this week's quiz

Well done to Wherryman's Web who scored 15 in last week's newsquiz. The top team score was by the Batstone Collective with an impressive 18 and a special mention goes to my mates in the Plough with 17. Here's this week's quiz. As usual there are 25 questions about the week's events. Let me know how you get on. 


The Panama papers dominated this week's newspapers (See Question1)
1. The leak of 11.5 million files from which Panama-based law firm created upheaval around the world?
Bonus: The documents were originally leaked to which newspaper?
Bonus: What was the name of the offshore fund, run by David Cameron’s late father, which avoided paying tax in Britain?
Bonus: David Cameron said he and his wife owned shares in the trust before selling them in 2010 for how much?
Bonus: The Prime Minister of which country issued a statement saying he was not resigning but handing over the office for an unspecified time to the agriculture and fisheries minister?
2. The Government signed off plans to spend £9.2million on what?
3. Why was Sharon Cutts in the headlines? 
4. Andy Newman, who died aged 73 this week, had a no 1 hit with his band in 1969? What was the song called?
5. Who said: 'It took me so long to get back on my feet. I didn’t want to get back up. It was like the whole world had come down on me. There weren’t any good things going through my mind. It was just complete devastation.’
6. In an interview aired on RTE, who claimed to have fled Northern Ireland for Ibiza because of sectarian threats?
7. Which politician is facing high court legal action over claims he broke the law and acted ‘irrationally’?
8. Who quit a high profile role saying: 'I have learnt so much and enjoyed nurturing talent but I’ve missed making music and am excited to be recording again’?
9. People posted pictures of themselves dressed in blue using the hashtag #blueforbonnie in a tribute to whom?
10. Steve Rowe began his first week as chief executive of which company?
Bonus: The head of which company asked for a 60 per cent cut to his total pay package because the job has become easier? 
11. Chelsea’s new manager Antonio Conte won five league titles as a player and three as a manager with the same club. Name the club.
12. Why was the trial of Auschwitz guard Ernst Tremmel, accused of being an accessory to the murder of more than 1,000 people, cancelled?
13. The Rolling Stones launched a memorabilia exhibition at which London gallery?
14. Why was Helen Titchener taken into custody?
15. What item, once owned by JK Rowling, sold for £278,000 at a New York auction?
16. Sanjeev Gupta emerged as a potential buyer for the Port Talbot steelworks. What is the name of his company?
17. Who named her first child Jonathan Rosebanks?
18. The biggest jackpot in the Lotto's history was claimed by a single ticket. How much was it worth?
19. What is to be refurbished at a cost of £27million including a new cafe?
20. David Cameron told students in Exeter that he liked to do what ‘in front of a warm fire’?

Answers here

Friday 1 April 2016

The newsquiz - 25 questions about the week

Well done to Ben Jackson who was last week's newsquiz top scorer with 16 points, narrowly beating Janet Boyle with 15. Others in double figures were Lydia Willgress 14, David Banks 13, Jessica McKay 11.5 and Chris Lennon 11. My mates in the Soleou cafe bar in Port Camargue scored an impressive team total of 17 while the Batstone Collective scored a 'un-Vardy like' 11. Here is this week's quiz. As usual there are 20 questions with five bonuses, so 25 points to be won. Let me know how you get on. 


The Steel industry in crisis (Question 1)
1. Tata Steel announced it is to sell its UK business putting 40,000 jobs at risk. In which city is Tata’s parent company based?
Bonus: The Labour MP for Aberavon, which includes the threatened steel town of Port Talbot, said he was 'flabbergasted by the incompetence' shown by the Government over the crisis. Who is he?
Bonus: What is the name of the union led by Roy Rickhuss that is urging the Government to intervene in the steel crisis?
2. Ronnie Corbett, who died this week, was born in which year?
Bonus: Corbett supported two football teams, one English and one Scottish. Name them. Half a point for each.
Bonus: What did drinkers in Corbett’s local, The Golf Inn in East Lothian, do to pay tribute?
3. An Easter Sunday bombing killed at least 72 people in which Pakistani city? 
4. Why was Ben Innes called stupid by his mother? 
5. Architect Dame Zaha Hadid, who died aged 65, designed which building for the 2012 Olympics?
6. Whose performance at the O2 went wrong because of a phone network problem?
7. In which Indian city did a partially built flyover collapse, killing more than 20 people?
8. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he favoured ‘some form of punishment’ for women who did what?
9. Which company pulled its April Fool gag after users complained it had 'got them in trouble' and 'cost them a job’?
10. The new £1 coin, due to come into circulation next year, will have how many sides?
11. Who will England meet in cricket’s T20 World Cup final on Sunday?
12. Which television programme has been nominated four times in this year’s Bafta television awards?
13. Former Page Three girl Rhian Sugden, at the centre of a sexting scandal with TV presenter Vernon Kay, tweeted a picture of which fictional character?
14. Kayaker Grant Broster went missing during Storm Katie while paddling on which river?
Bonus: At least nine people were injured when a series of tornadoes tore through which US state?
15. Which football manager was sacked after winning just three of his 16 league games? 
16. The new mandatory National Living Wage came into force, requiring employers to pay workers aged 25 and over at least how much an hour?
17. Who raised eyebrows by leaving his wife and children over the Easter weekend to attend the wedding of his childhood friend, Jessica 'Jecca' Craig, in Kenya?
18. Which company won a four-month battle to buy Argos after its owner agreed to a £1.4bn takeover?
19. She was born in Sunderland as Margaret Broderick, was awarded the MBE and has been a TV regular since 1985. Who is she?
20. A baby gorilla born in a rare emergency caesarean section at Bristol Zoo has been named following a public vote. What is her name?

Answers here