Friday 25 November 2016

Here's this week's newsquiz - give it a go

Liz Gerard was the runaway top scorer in last week's newsquiz with a massive 18 points. She tweeted: 'Wow! after languishing in single figures for the past month, I managed 18. Yippppeeeeeee!!!!!'. Well played. Here is this week's quiz. As usual there are 25 questions about the week's events. Let me know how you get on.

Jo Cox on the front page of the YEP (Question 5)
1. What did Chancellor Philip Hammond say would be his first and, after detailed discussion with the Prime Minister, his last?
2. The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement targeted a group referred to in Whitehall as Jams. What does the acronym Jam stand for?
3. The Chancellor announced the launch of a three-year National Savings and Investment (NS&I) bond with an expected annual yield of what per cent?
4. The Autumn Statement announced that £1.4billion would be set aside for 40,000 what?
5. Jo Cox's husband Brendan said of her killer: 'We feel nothing but pity for him, that his life was so devoid of love that his only way of finding meaning was to attack a defenceless woman who represented the best of our country in an act of supreme ______’. What is the missing word?
6. During Storm Angus a Stena Line ferry, with nearly 150 passengers and crew on board, was stranded in which bay for more than 24 hours?
7. A care home in Cornwall was closed and three others are under investigation after an exposé about the treatment of residents. Who carried out the exposé?
8. Who won the first round of France’s centre-right presidential primaries?
9. Justin Bieber was filmed appearing to punch a man who reached into his car in which city?
10. The Advertising Standards Authority banned a commercial for what product for health and safety reasons?
11. Why was a Pakistan International Airlines flight from Toronto to Lahore diverted to Manchester airport?
12. Footballers Andy Woodward, Steve Walters and David White said they had been abused by their coach when they were teenagers playing for which club?
13. Angela Merkel announced she would run for a fourth term in the German elections next year. What year did she become Chancellor?
14. Who cancelled the St Pablo tour and was taken to hospital after a suffering a 'psychotic break’?
15. According to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson there is no vacancy for the job held by Sir Kim Darroch. What is the job?
16. Who denied reports that he had described Jeremy Corbyn as 'a nutter' or Theresa May as 'a lightweight’?
17. Donald Trump described which musical as ‘overrated' and its cast as 'very rude’?
18. Gorka Marquez underwent dental surgery after two of his front teeth were badly chipped when he was assaulted in which town?
19. Bruce Arena returned to his old job, succeeding whom?
20. The Duchess of York is suing for damages - 'reflecting what she has lost in earnings' - from News Group Newspapers over the cash-for-access sting by Mazher Mahmoud? How much money is she seeking?
21. Antonino Fernández was reported to have left £2million in his will to each resident of the small Spanish village Cerezales del Condado where he grew up. Fernández was the founder of which famous brand?
22. Why was Stephen Port in the headlines? 
23. A woman was killed when an armed man entered a retirement home for former missionaries on the outskirts of which French city?
24. At least 140 people died in which country’s worst train accident in six years?
25. A school lesson plan aimed at RE classes uploaded to the Times Educational Supplement website caused a stir by claiming that which story ‘promoted domestic abuse’?

Answers here

Friday 18 November 2016

Have a crack at this week's newsquiz

There were some impressive scores in last week's quiz. Top was Gavin Devine with a personal best of 17, just ahead of Janet Boyle on 16. Nick Martin also scored a PB with 15. The top team score was by the Batstones with 15. Here is this week's quiz. As usual there are 25 questions about the week's events  Let me know how you get on.


The Jo Cox murder trial reported by the Yorkshire Evening Press
(Questions 3 and 4)
1. At Prime Minister’s Question Time, Theresa May replied to SNP MP, George Kerevan, saying: 'All I can say to you, I'm afraid, is that such matters are normally never discussed in public.’ What matter was she referring to?
2. Andrew Marr defended an interview, broadcast on Remembrance Sunday, by saying: 'In the end we are a news programme and I don’t think that the best way to honour the fallen is to fail to report on the next big challenge to western security’? Which politician was he interviewing?
3. Why did Thomas Mair, charged with the murder of MP Jo Cox, not appear at the Old Bailey on Tuesday?
4. Politicians and musicians are to record a charity single in memory of Jo Cox. Which song will they sing?
5. Donald Trump’s newly-appointed strategy director Stephen Bannon is executive chairman of which controversial website?
6. Who said: 'All I wanted to do was curl up with a good book and our dogs and never leave the house again’?
7. What was named international word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries?
8. What is the name of the tram driver arrested on suspicion of manslaughter following the deaths of seven people in Croydon? 
9. A 14-year-old girl, who has been allowed by the High Court to have her body cryogenically frozen, was only referred to by which initials?
10. Destiny Church leader Bishop Brian Tamaki blamed what event on gays, sinners and murderers?
11. Lewis Hamilton won the Brazilian Grand Prix to ensure the F1 Championship will be decided on the last race of the season. In which city will it be held?
12. Coronation Street denied that Eileen Derbyshire has left the soap for good. Which character does she play?
13. England captain Wayne Rooney was filmed apparently drunk and playing piano after gatecrashing a wedding party at the Grove Hotel in which town?
14. Why was Suzie McCash in the headlines?
15. Tuesday's supermoon was the biggest since which year?
16. Hundreds of people joined a dying whippet on its final walk on a beach in Newquay, Cornwall. What was the dog’s name?
17. BBC Western House in London, home to Radio 2, has been given a new name. What is it?
18. Last year more than 61,000 people in England and Wales - 11.6 per cent of all recorded deaths - died of what?
19.  The server of which organisation crashed after a test email was accidentally sent to all of its employees?
20. Former South Yorkshire Police chief inspector Norman Bettison defended his controversial book published this week. What is it called?
21. Who signed a three-year 'golden handcuffs’ deal thought to be worth £30million?
22. Why were grandmothers Jenny Hockey and Freda Brayshaw arrested and then released without charge?
23. Who will not be going to Sweden next month because 'other commitments make it unfortunately impossible’?
24. A film about magizoologist Newt Scamander premiered in Leicester Square. What is it called?
25. Who paid $4.8million (£3.9million) for the dress that was worn by Marilyn Monroe when she sang Happy Birthday Mr President to John F Kennedy?

Answers here

Friday 11 November 2016

Test your knowledge with the newsquiz

Well, that was an amazing newsweek. I could easily have written 25 questions just about the American elections - but you will be pleased to know I haven't. Last week's top individual scorer was Adam Shergold with 16. The top team score was an impressive 18 by The Penmans (with Daisy on fire). Here are this week's questions. As usual 25 points to be won. Let me know how you get on.



The biggest story of the week (Questions 1-5)

1. Donald Trump needed 270 electoral votes to win the presidential election. How many did he actually get?

2. Donald Trump will be what number president of the US?
3. In his acceptance speech Donald Trump said: 'Now it’s time for America to bind the _____ _____ _____’. What are the three missing words?
4. Which currency took its biggest two-day tumble in more than 20 years after the Trump victory?
5. Police threw stun grenades and flares at crowds of rioters after anti-Trump protests turned violent in which city?
6. Theresa May said: 'I don't want to take ____ for granted like Britain has done in the past.’ What is the missing word?
7. An extra minute's silence was added to the Armistice Day ceremony at which town’s Cenotaph today?
8. Prince Harry laid a wreath at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire and read the poem The Soldier. Who wrote it?
9. Andy Murray was ranked world No 1 in tennis after reaching the final of which tournament?
10. The killing of a ten-year-old boy - and his father's fight for justice - was the subject of a BBC drama. What was it called?
11. Police stormed into which racecourse weighing room to arrest one of three jockeys accused of raping an 18-year-old girl?
12. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon announced eight military sites are to close. They include which garrison, built following the Battle of Culloden, that is the home of the Black Watch battalion?
13. Russia said two of its destroyers forced away a submarine spying on the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov in the Mediterranean. From which country was the sub?

14. Who admitted it had been hit by 'a systematic, sophisticated attack' at the weekend?
15. Leslie Ronald was born in Cinderford, Gloucestershire, in 1921, and was the first person to have consecutive No 1 hits in the UK. How was he better known?
16. Matthew Baker and James Whitlock went missing from which institution?
17. Seven MPs from the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee claimed they were ‘bugged’ during a visit to which company’s headquarters?
18. What caused a social media storm when it changed shape and reduced weight?
19. A statement issued this week said: 'This is not a game - it is her life and his.’ Name the two people that statement is referring to. Half a point each.
20. A report found that numerous errors were made in Scotland Yard's investigation into paedophile allegations against VIPs and that the decision to abandon the police operation should have been made earlier. What was the operation called?
21. M&S announced the closure of how many UK clothing and homeware shops?

22. Jill Gascoine’s husband revealed she was is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s. She was best known for her role in a TV police series which ran from 1980 to 1984. What was it called?
23. His first eponymous album was released in 1967 and his last, You Want It Darker, was released this year. Who is he?
24. Why was Nick Jablonka in the headlines?
25. Who said: ‘I’ll be 56 in December and there’s life in the old bird yet. Now I’m a menopausal mama, I’m having the time of my life’?

Answers here

Wednesday 9 November 2016

A look at today's Trump front pages

Well, that was a night for newsrooms to remember. Trump's triumph and Clinton's demise were pored over in detail on social media. It was fascinating and emotional to watch and a far cry from my days at the newsroom coalface when it was all about print. The newspapers themselves are still important though and there were some strong front pages around today. Here's my pick.



The New York Daily News produced some robust anti-Trump front pages throughout the campaign - and it has sent a clear message that it isn't going to dilute them now. The News couldn't even bring itself to use a picture of the President-elect on Page 1. Given that Trump has called reporters 'lying, disgusting people', we can look forward to a feisty four years.



The Australian press isn't afraid to speak as it finds - and doesn't shy away from colourful language either. Here's Sydney's Daily Telegraph. WTF stands for Will Trump Flourish. Of course it does.




Le Journal de Montreal expresses a similar sentiment 




El Periódicothe centre-left Catalan newspaper based in Barcelona, uses a photograph of Trump in full flow. The headline says God forgive America. No sitting on the fence here. 



Elsewhere in Europe there was a clear lack of enthusiasm for America's choice. You don't need to speak German to work out that the Hamburger Morgenpost is not impressed. 


The power of tight cropping is demonstrated well by France's Liberation. Trumpocalypse needs no translation. 




Germany's Märkische Allgemeine appeared to offer a brief glimmer of hope to Clinton supporters waking up to the news. But the paper was just employing that old trick of having a mirror page that newsagents can turn around according to the result. The Daily Star in Lebanon did the same thing four years ago.


Back in America, the New York Post, unusually, played a fairly straight bat




The New York Times and The Washington Post use the same Trump triumphs headline in the same position.



USA Today and The Wall Street Journal both go for President Trump. USA Today has big display at the top and plenty of detail below the fold. A strong broadsheet page.  
The Chicago Sun Times calls on Trump's Apprentice days ... a headline and picture working together.

The San Francisco Examiner mentions the rage. The Born Golden advert has to be deliberate.



Back in Australia there is Shock and Awe in the Herald Sun ...

 
... and Revolution in The Sydney Morning Herald.




A Birmingham News page inadvertently appeared briefly online - showing what might have been. But it was soon replaced by the real front.



And in the UK ... here's the The Press and Journal in Aberdeen.




The Manchester Evening News. Bat out of Hell is a good advert for the occasion ... it could easily have been the main headline.




And here's this afternoon's London Evening Standard. Given everybody in the world knows Trump won, I am surprised a bigger show isn't given to the Croydon tram crash.


I look forward to some creative and dynamic front pages by the British papers tomorrow - although newsrooms will be torn between this and the events in Croydon. 

Friday 4 November 2016

Test your news knowledge with the newsquiz

The top scorer in last week's newsquiz was Janet Boyle with an impressive 15.5. Here is this week's quiz. As usual there are 25 questions about the week. Give it a go and let me know how you get on. 


Brexit blocked - MailOnline breaks the news
1. The British Government is to appeal against the High Court’s decision that parliament must vote on Article 50. Which court will hear the appeal?
2. Name the businesswoman who led the campaign for a judicial review of the Government’s triggering of Article 50.
3. Bookmaker Ladbrokes halved the odds, to 7/4, of what happening? 
4. Which MP announced he was standing down with immediate effect due to 'irreconcilable policy differences with the current Government’?
5. Home Secretary Amber Rudd told MPs there will be 'no statutory inquiry or independent review' into what?
6. One of England’s oldest hotels was destroyed in a huge fire in Exeter. What was the hotel called?
7. MPs were accused of bringing the House of Commons into ‘disrepute' after voting to allow Keith Vaz to join what?
8. As news of their relationship broke, Prince Harry has apparently been staying at actress Meghan Markle's house in which city?
9. Michael Heseltine dismissed as 'rubbish’ a story that he had choked the family dog to death. What was the dog called?
10. A race meeting was abandoned after jockeys Freddie Tylicki and Jim Crowley were treated for serious injuries after a fall at which racecourse?
11. Which two celebrities paid £15,000 each for artwork by 11-year-old Rhea Kara? Half a point each.
12. Brett McGurk wrote on Twitter: 'Ways to go, but ahead of schedule.’ What was he referring to?
13. The head of MI5 warned that Russia is willing to use 'propaganda, espionage, subversion and cyber-attacks' against countries including the UK. What is his name?
14. England players will wear poppies when they play on Remembrance Sunday despite a Fifa regulation banning them. Who are England playing?
15. Why was Tomasz Kroker in the headlines?
16. A 22-year-old man was stabbed to death in a knife ambush by masked men on a night of Halloween mayhem in which town?
17. A 36-foot effigy of who is to be burned at Edenbridge bonfire on Guy Fawkes night?
18. Who beat England in a Test match for the first time ever?
19. According to official figures how many people died in the four earthquakes that struck central Italy this week?
20. A new batch of email messages that, according to the FBI, may be pertinent to Hillary Clinton’s campaign were found on whose laptop?
21. What did Theresa May wear to accept her Politician of the Year Award from George Osborne?
22. Who agreed to stay in his job until June 2019?
23. Theresa May made a mistake and offered her congratulations to Jeremy Corbyn at Prime Minister’s Question Time. What did she congratulate him on?
24. The new pound coin will be introduced next March. How many sides will it have?
25. Who is to stage a concert to reopen the Bataclan music venue in Paris this month, the day before the first anniversary of the attack that killed 90 concert-goers?

Answers here