Here's the last newsquiz of 2019

I hope all you newsquizzers had a lovely Christmas break - while still keeping on top of the news of course. The top solo scorers in last week's quiz were Tom Savage and Alex Richman who both scored 22. Jaymes Bryla scored 19.5, Janet Boyle and Liz Gerard 19 and Toby Brown 18.5. The best team was the bizarrely-named Happy With 39 Points from the @thestagatwalton pub quiz who clocked up a remarkable 24 while out drinking on Friday night. Neil and Jo Benson scored 22, Bruce and Sarah Hayward 21.5, the Roberts Family 20.5 and Adam Batstone and Lucy Thorpe 19. Below is the last newsquiz of 2019. Give it a go and let me know how you get on. I hope you have enjoyed the weekly challenge this year. I will be back with whatever stories 2020 has in store for us. 

The Boxing Day front pages

1. The Queen, in her Christmas Day speech, said: 'The path, of course, is not always smooth, and may at times this year have felt quite ___, but small steps can make a world of difference.’ What is the missing word?

2. Prince Philip left King Edward VII's hospital in London on Christmas Eve after a four-night stay and was flown by helicopter to where?

3. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex missed the Royal family Christmas and celebrated on which island instead?

4. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn warned that a post-Brexit US trade deal would mean signing up to lower standards including maggots in ____ and rat hairs in ___ ___. What are the two missing foodstuffs? Half a point for each.

5. Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said he had not dismissed Boris Johnson’s idea of building what - but insisted that the UK must pay for it?

6. Prime Minister Boris Johnson helped serve a pre-Christmas lunch of turkey and Yorkshire puddings to 850 British troops stationed in which country?
7. European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans wrote a love letter to Britain, expressing his 'deep hurt' over Brexit and concluding with the sentence ‘you will always be welcome to ___ ___’?

What are the two missing words?

8. Which company sacked its chief executive Dennis Muilenburg and put its chairman David Calhoun into the role in an attempt to 'repair relationships with regulators, customers, and all other stakeholders'?

9. At least 12 people were killed and more than 60 injured when a Bek Air passenger jet crashed into a building just after take-off in which country?

10. How did 52-year-old British father Gabriel Diya and his two children die?

11. How many people were sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi?

12. What did six-year-old Florence Widdicombe, from Tooting, south London, discover while writing her Tesco Christmas cards?

13. Who did Liverpool beat 1-0 to become football’s world club champions?

14. What was the name of the typhoon that swept across the central Philippines on Christmas Day claiming at least 28 lives?

15. Barrister Jolyon Maugham was criticised after claiming on Twitter that he killed a fox with a baseball bat in his central London garden while he was wearing what?

16. Why did Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho say, before his side’s Boxing Day victory against Brighton, that his Christmas so far had been ‘very sad’?

17. Swede Flamur Beqiri was shot dead in front of his wife and young child on Christmas Eve just yards from his £1.5million home in which London district?

18. The son of actor Tony Britton, who died age 95 this week, is offering a reward for the return of what which 'went missing’ at Watford General Hospital?

19. Television personality Georgia Toffolo was held in a detention centre in which country after two pages of her passport were found to be missing?

20. All nine Boxing Day Premier League football matches could be watched live via which network?

21. Grammy-winning songwriter Allee Willis, who died age 72, co-wrote the Earth, Wind and Fire hits September and Boogie Wonderland but was best known for which sitcom's theme tune?

22. Who famously described England World Cup scorer Martin Peters, who died age 76, as 'ten years ahead of his time'?

23. Canada’s national public broadcaster CBC upset supporters of President Trump when it deleted a scene, in which he appears, from its Christmas Eve showing of which film? 

24. Who wrote on Instagram: 'Thankfully I know a lot of you will not believe all that you have heard and read following today's court hearing ... thank you for your continued support and love'?

25. What was the most watched TV Christmas special in 12 years, being seen by an average of 11.6million viewers?

Answers here

Let's get the newsquiz done!

The top solo scorer in last week’s news quiz was Hilary Scott with 21, narrowly ahead of Andy Reed with 20.5, Tom Savage on 20 and Janet Boyle and Damon Wake who both scored 19.5. The top teams were Bruce and Sarah Hayward with 20, the same score as my Three Legs drinking pals Bryan and Les with a personal best (they had obviously been glued to the election coverage). Adam Batstone and Lucy Thorpe scored 19.5. Here is this week’s quiz. As usual there are 25 questions about the week’s events. Give it a go and let me know how you get on.  

Last Saturday's front pages report on a Tory landslide

1. After the Queen’s Speech, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Parliament that a 'new ___ ___ for the UK is now in reach.’ What are the two missing words?

2. The Government enshrined in law its spending on the NHS, with an extra how much per year provided by 2023/24?

3. Zac Goldsmith, who lost his seat in the General Election, has been given a life peerage so that he can keep which Cabinet role?

4. What were Labour MP Stella Creasy and Tory MP Kemi Badenoch holding while being sworn in to take their seats in Parliament?

5. Treasury minister Rishi Sunak said that the Government is reviewing whether to stop making the non-payment of what a criminal offence?

6. Jeremy Corbyn told MPs that he 'took responsibility' for Labour's lowest number seats won since what year?
7. Who attacked the Labour leadership saying the party had 'pursued a path of almost comic indecision’, and 'by its self-indulgence ... was the effective handmaiden of Brexit’?

8. Emily Thornberry, threatening to sue former Labour MP Caroline Flint, said: 'I have better things to think about than people going on television and making up ___. I have no idea what's in her head.’ What is the missing word?
9. Which political party was disbanded after failing to win any seats at the General Election?

10. Donald Trump was the third president in American history to be impeached. Name the previous two. Half a point for each.

11. Whirlpool announced it was recalling which two brands of washing machines 'because of a potential safety concern’? Half a point for each.

12. Who said he had received hate mail claiming that his partner, who died this week, is in hell?

13. Tamara Ecclestone’s Kensington home was burgled while she was visiting where with her family?
14. British businessman Matthew Gibbard was shot dead in which city?
15. According to a Times investigation, hedge funds gained a crucial advantage over rivals by purchasing access to an audio feed of which organisation's news conferences?

16. Who was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award at the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year?

17. Clive Lewis became the second person to do what?

18. How did 25-year-old Fallon Sherrock make history?

19. UK grime star Stormzy told pupils at his old primary school in Thornton Heath, south London, that who was 'a very, very bad man’?

20. Who was announced as the Sunday night headliner at next year’s Glastonbury?

21. Spaniard Mikel Arteta said goodbye to the Etihad and hello (again) to where?

22. Who had two UK Top Ten hits, including Up On The Roof, in the early 1960s and also wrote hits for Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield and the Small Faces?

23. Kelvin Fletcher, who won Strictly Come Dancing’s glitterball, joined which TV programme at the age of 10 and stayed for two decades?

24. What did the BBC call 'pseudo-religious nonsense’, Vanity Fair say was 'an ugly stray who smells bad' and the FT describe as 'worryingly erotic’?
25. Why has Michael Barrymore pulled out of Dancing on Ice?

Answers here

Mail looking for trainee subs and reporters

This year's trainee reporters and subs at Northcliffe House

Applications are now open to trainee journalists who want to be reporters or sub-editors on the Daily Mail.

The successful applicants will embark on a year-long programme that involves intense training, assessment and on-the-job experience at national and regional newspapers and agencies.

If you are interested you will probably have a degree and will have shown a commitment to journalism by working for your student newspaper or website and gained work experience in newsrooms.

Previous graduates of the training scheme now hold senior positions on the Mail and its sister paper the Mail on Sunday.

The course starts in September with intensive in-house training. It is followed by five months' placement after which the trainees will join the newsroom or subs department in Kensington.

Trainees are paid a competitive salary while they train. Nearly all are offered staff jobs at the end.

To apply send a covering letter, your CV and the three best examples of your work to sue.ryan@dailymail.co.uk by Tuesday March 3, 2020. Please specify in the subject of the email whether your application is for either a trainee reporter or  sub-editor.

Both schemes are now being advertised on Hold The Front Page. The subbing scheme is here and the reporting one here. They are also on Journo Resources    here and here.

The newsquiz ... election special

There was some excellent scores in last week’s newsquiz. Janet Boyle scored 21, just ahead of Liz Gerard, Alex Richman, Toby Brown and Tom Savage who all scored 20. Dave Bromage delivered a personal best with 19, the same score as Paul Bowen. Ed Mortimer and Alan Geere both scored 18. The top team was Miles Dilworth and Ben Wilkinson with 22. Adam Batstone and Lucy Thorpe notched up 21 and Bruce and Sarah Hayward 19. Here is this week’s newsquiz which, hardly surprisingly, includes a fair few General Election questions. There are, as usual, 25 questions about the week. Give it a go and let me know how you get on. 

The election exit poll dominates today's early editions

1. In his victory speech Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that he would get Brexit done - 'no ifs, no buts, not maybe’ - by what date?

2. Boris Johnson finished his victory speech by saying 'let's get Brexit done, but first, my friends, let's get ___ done.’ What is the missing word?

3. Jeremy Corbyn said he would not lead the party at another election but would stay on as Labour leader during a process of what? 

4. This morning bookmakers Betfair said who was 2/1 favourite to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader?

5. Liberal leader Jo Swinson lost her East Dunbartonshire constituency to the SNP by how many votes?

6. Who became the Liberal Democrats’ joint acting leaders after Jo Swinson lost her seat? Half a point for each 

7. Which MP lost the seat he had held for 49 years?

8. The SNP increased its number of seats in Scotland and now holds how many of the country’s 59 constituencies?

9. Which constituency, held by Tony Blair during his time as Prime Minister, elected a Conservative for the first time since 1931?

10. Nigel Dodds, the leader of the DUP in Westminster, lost his seat to which party? 

11. What was the first constituency to announce a General Election result? 

12. A four-year-old boy with suspected pneumonia was photographed sleeping on a floor because of a lack of beds at which hospital? 

13. What is the name of the New Zealand volcano where at least eight people were killed?

14. Serial rapist Joseph McCann, who carried out sex attacks on 11 women and children, was given how many life sentences at the Old Bailey?
15. What did Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev say was part of 'chronic anti-Russian hysteria’?

16. Which country elected Sanna Marin as the world's youngest Prime Minister?

17. Climate activist Greta Thunberg became the youngest ever recipient of what title?

18. Whose career saw him teaching botany at Durham University, presenting television programmes such as Don’t Ask Me and fronting his own shows on botany, Britain and Europe and winning a Bafta?

19. Who attended a court hearing in New York using a walking frame as he was suffering injuries from a car accident in August?

20. Television presenter Peter Purves, 80, said being dropped as a commentator from what event felt like he had been 'kicked in the stomach’?

21. Which former football manager, who died at the weekend age 87, won the first division title with Aston Villa and managed six other English football teams? 

22. What two items made up the artwork, called the Comedian, by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan which was reportedly sold in Florida for $120,000? 

23. Marie Fredriksson, who died age 61, had six UK top ten hits with which band? 

24. Former EastEnders star Jacqueline Jossa won I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here. Who came second and third? Half a point for each.

25. Who, with more number one singles and albums than any other artist and with the most weeks (79) at number one in the charts, was named the UK's artist of the decade by the Official Charts Company?

Answers here

Give this week's newsquiz a go - 25 questions

There were some impressive scores in last week's newsquiz. The top solo performers were Alex Richman and Becca McAuley who both scored 20, Ted Ditchburn and Liz Gerard clocked-up 19, Jayne Howarth got 18 on her quiz debut and Toby Brown, Gavin Devine, Tom Savage and Alan Geere all scored 17. Bruce and Sarah Hayward were the top team with 20. The Wright Brothers squad of Richard, Danny, Ivan and Diana scored 18 and Adam Batstone and Lucy Thorpe 17. Here is this week's quiz. As usual there are 25 questions about the week's events. Give it a go and let me know how you get on.

Saturday's front pages report on the London Bridge terror attack (questions 1, 2 and 3)

1. Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, who were killed in the terrorist attack at London Bridge, were both graduates of which university? 

2. The terror attack at London Bridge began at a prison rehabilitation event being held in which building?
3. The London Bridge terrorist was attacked by people using a fire extinguisher, a ceremonial lance and which other makeshift weapon?

4. Who said this week: 'The Prime Minister of our nation will, at times, have to stand up to President Trump, President Putin, President Xi of China. It was surely not expecting too much that he spend half an hour standing up to me’?

5. Labour promised to cap classroom sizes at how many pupils across all schools in England if it won the election?

6. Climate change activists dressed as what glued themselves to Liberal Democat's leader Jo Swinson's electric-powered battle bus in south London?

7. The Prime Minister’s father Stanley Johnson, speaking on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show, suggested that the 'Great British public' couldn’t spell which word 'if they tried’?

8. The 2019 Nato Summit was held on Wednesday at The Grove Hotel in which town?

9. Asked if the NHS would be on the table in post-Brexit talks, US president Donald Trump said: ‘If you handed it to us on a ___ ___, we’d want nothing to do with it.’ What are the two missing words? 

10. After a video showed world leaders joking about Donald Trump at the Nato Summit, how did the US president describe Canadian PM Justin Trudeau before announcing he was leaving early?

11. Who said in a television interview: 'He knows what happened, I know what happened. And there's only one of us telling the truth’?

12. A 12-year-old boy was killed and five other pupils were injured in an alleged hit-and-run outside a high school in which town?
13. Shares in which retailer tumbled after it estimated the value of its stock had been overstated by £20million to £25million?

14. British cave expert Vernon Unsworth told a Los Angeles court that he was 'humiliated, ashamed and dirtied' after Tesla founder Elon Musk called him what online?
15. Hundreds of thousands of people marched across France in one of the biggest public sector strikes in decades against president Emmanuel Macron’s plans to overhaul what?
16. Why were families in Samoa asked to hang a red flag outside their homes?

17. Former England cricket captain Bob Willis, who died age 70 this week, added which name by deed poll in 1965?

18. What was the username of the person who went viral - and forced an official denial from Buckingham Palace - after screenshots from his Whatsapp group claimed the Queen had died?

19. Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi won the coveted Ballon d'Or trophy for a record number of times. How many?

20. The British Geological Survey confirmed that towns in which county were shaken by a 3.2 magnitude earthquake?

21. Which company saw £1.1billion wiped off its value after its Christmas advert was described as ‘sexist’, 'dystopian’, ‘offensive' and ‘dumb’?

22. A society aimed at tackling the misuse of what has closed down, with the founder saying that 'ignorance and laziness present in modern times have won’? 

23. Who was booed off stage and had a bread roll thrown at him after making Brexit jokes at the Lord's Taverners annual charity cricket lunch?
24. Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Helen Cammock, Oscar Murillo and Tai Shani shared what?

25. Who, according to Spotify, was the most streamed artist in the world over the last decade having been listened to 28 billion times?

Answers here