Give the newsquiz a go ...

The top solo scorers in last week’s newsquiz were Robert Rea and Janet Boyle on 22.5, ahead of Liz Gerard, Marion Fountayne and Marguerite Turner on 21, George Mann on 20.5, Toby Brown on 19.5, Damon Wake and Gavin Devine on 18 and Antony Tiernan on 16.5. The top team was Maura and Phil Parsons on 23, ahead of Neil and Jo Benson on 22, Our Peter, Sarah and Joe with a personal best of 21.5, Bruce and Sarah Hayward on 19, Adam Batstone and Lucy Thorpe on 18 and Three Legs drinkers Stacey and Peter on 17.5. Here is this week’s newsquiz. As usual there are 25 questions about the week. Give it a go and let me know your score. 

Today's front pages

1. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told newly-appointed Laurie Magnus to investigate claims that Tory Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi was forced to pay a fine and millions of pounds in unpaid taxes to HMRC. What position does Magnus hold?
2. BBC chairman Richard Sharp is to be questioned by MPs after the disclosure that he helped former Prime Minister Boris Johnson to secure a loan of how much?
3. Germany agreed to send 14 of what type of tanks to Ukraine?
4. Labour accused the Government of 'a total dereliction of duty' for doing nothing to find 76 asylum-seeking children who are missing from Home Office-run hotels in which city?
5. Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced that Isla Bryson, who was convicted of two rapes, would not be allowed to do what?
6. In a major speech at Bloomberg's European headquarters, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: '___ about Britain was wrong in the past - and it is wrong today' and later added 'if we look further ahead, the case for ___ becomes weaker still.' What is the missing word?
7. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he would legislate to work around a court ruling preventing what being built on the Grade II listed Victoria Tower Gardens beside the Houses of Parliament?
8. It was announced that the production of what in the UK has sunk to its lowest level for 66 years?
9. Geza Tarjanyi, 61, from Lancashire, was charged with assaulting who at Westminster underground station?
10. Which entertainer called in to a live Sky News phone-in offering to donate money for medical scans and tweeted: 'In all my years in this country I've never seen it so bad ... change the bloody government’?
11. A 72-year-old gunman killed 11 people at a Chinese New Year celebration at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in which city in Los Angeles county?
12. Romario Henry was found guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court of a knifepoint robbery, in which watches worth £700,000 were stolen, at whose home?
13. Whose brother said he had come to terms with the fact 'he has gone' and he had already said his 'goodbyes'?
14. Five firefighters were injured, one of them critically, in a blaze at the Jenners building in which city?
15. Lloyd Morrisett, who died aged 93, was the co-creator of which educational television show watched by millions of children around the world?
16. Who married Dr Anca Faur, his long-term partner, on his 93rd birthday said the couple were as 'excited as eloping teenagers’?
17. Which football club sacked their manager after a run of eight Premier League games without a win?
18. Beyoncé was criticised by some fans for a private concert held where for a reported fee of $24million (£19.4 million)
19. What colour is the comet, that was last visible during the Stone Age and won't be visible again for another 50,000 years, which will have its closest approach to earth on Wednesday?
20. Why was seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry fined by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association?
21. Four-year-old Teddy Hobbs, from Portishead in Somerset, became the UK's youngest member of what?
22. Which football team, from the birthplace of scientist Alexander Fleming, pulled off one of the greatest upsets in Scottish Cup history by beating top flight Aberdeen?
23. Which artist sold his share of the rights to his music to Hipgnosis Songs Capital for a reported $200million (£162million)?
24. Which British actor, aged 73, received his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his performance in the film Living?
25. Who was announced as the replacement judge for David Walliams for the new series of Britain's Got Talent?

Answers here

Time to tackle the newsquiz

The top solo scorer in last week’s newsquiz was George Mann with 22, ahead of Marion Fountayne on 19, Antony Tieran on 18.5, Robert Rea on 18 and Toby Brown and Gavin Devine both on 17.  The top team was Phil and Maura Parsons with 23, ahead of Lou, Joe and Sam Hart on 21, Neil and Jo Benson on 19, Adam Batstone and Lucy Thorpe on 18 and Bruce and Sarah Hayward on 16. Here is this week’s newsquiz. As usual there are 25 questions about the week’s news. Give it a go and let me know your score.

Today's front pages

1. The TUC earmarked what date next month for coordinated national action including strikes by rail staff, train drivers, teachers, university lecturers and civil servants?
2. Who has reportedly agreed to pay several million pounds in tax after a dispute over his use of an offshore company to hold shares in the polling firm YouGov?
3. For the first time ever the Government triggered Section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 - vetoing what bill?
4. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologised for an 'error of judgement' after he was filmed doing what?
5. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak came under fire for taking two short internal flights on Thursday. Which two Northern airports did he fly to? Half a point for each.
6. What is the name of the Metropolitan Police officer who appeared at Southwark Crown Court and admitted 49 offences, including 24 counts of rape?
7. Jacinda Ardern announced she was standing down as New Zealand's Prime Minister saying: 'I know what this job takes. And I know that I no longer had enough __ __ __ to do it justice.’ What are the missing three words?
8. An inquest jury decided that blogger Beth Matthews, 26, who took her life by swallowing a poisonous substance, was failed by which hospital?
9. Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg was filmed being carried by police at a protest over what in Germany?
10. The directors of which football club were instructed not to attend Saturday’s home game because of 'a real and credible threat to their safety and security’?
11. Four women and two children were injured in a drive-by shooting at what occasion at a church in Euston, London?
12. Seventy-two people, including a ballet dancer from Essex, were killed in which country's worst air disaster in three decades?
13. Actor Alec Baldwin is to be charged with ___ manslaughter over the shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins who was killed on a film set when he fired a prop gun. What is the missing word?
14. Which retailer announced it has been put up for auction and was looking at potential administration because of rising costs and lack-lustre sales?
15. Joseph Watts, 35, from Hackney, was charged with assault after being filmed kicking who?
16. Food Standards Agency chair Professor Susan Jebb said that what could be as harmful as passive smoking?
17. Which actress, who was a Hollywood star in the 1950s and 60s and became known as 'the most beautiful woman in the world’, died aged 95?
18. The BBC apologised after Gary Lineker was interrupted by what while presenting the FA Cup game between Wolves and Liverpool?
19. Matteo Messina Denaro, who was arrested this week after being on the run since 1993, was the leader of which organisation?
20. A double decker bus carrying 70 construction workers, heading to work at which facility, overturned in Somerset?
21. Who announced he was leaving his job to take up an ambassadorial position saying: 'I have had the privilege of working with an exceptional team of dedicated individuals during the past 13 years with the agency, which has been incredibly exciting and rewarding’?
22. Tennis player Andy Murray beat Thanasi Kokkinakis in a match which lasted five hours 45 minutes, the longest contest in Murray's career, and finished at what time in Australia?
23. Musician Dave Crosby, who died aged 81, played with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and also had two UK top ten songs with Bob Dylan covers in 1965 with which band?
24. Jim Ratcliffe, chairman and co-founder of the INEOS chemicals group and considered Britain’s richest man, officially stated an interested in buying what?
25. Radio 2's Ken Bruce announced on air that he was leaving the BBC after 31 years of hosting its weekday mid-morning show to join which station?

Answers here

Test your knowledge with the newsquiz

The top solo scorers in last week’s newsquiz were Robert Rea and George Mann with 21, ahead of Marguerite Turner on 19.5 and Celia Mindelsohn on 19. The top teams were the Three Legs drinkers Peter, Stacey, Nicky, Les and Rosie and Maura and Phil Parsons 22, ahead of Adam Batstone and Lucy Thorpe on 20 and Bruce and Sarah Hayward on 19. Here is this week's newsquiz. As usual there are 25 questions about the week. Give it a go and let me know your score. 

Today's front pages

1. According to the publishers, Prince Harry’s autobiography Spare became the UK’s fastest-selling non-fiction book ever, with how many copies sold on its first day on sale?
2. In Spare, Prince Harry wrote that who had made his 'blood boil' for 'milking’ his mother's death for money when he published a book called A Royal Duty?
3. Prince Harry said he had to ask the Queen’s permission to do what at his wedding?
4. Prince Harry wrote of his stepmother: 'In a funny way I even wanted Camilla to be happy. Maybe she’d be less __ if she was happy.’ What is the missing word?
5. On their first appearance since Prince Harry's book was released, the Prince and Princess of Wales visited Merseyside where Kate told a boy in the crowd that what did not work for some people?
6. Emergency care figures for December, released by NHS England, were the worst since records began with an average wait of how many minutes to reach calls for problems such as heart attacks?
7. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence gave approval for GPs to prescribe what drugs to anyone over the age of 18 to help prevent heart attacks and strokes?
8. A Daily Mirror investigation found that up to a dozen firefighters had been diagnosed with rare cancers linked to what incident?
9. Andrew Bridgen was suspended as a Conservative MP for posting a tweet that compared Covid vaccines to what?
10. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson was reported to have told Downing Street staff that 'this is the most __ __ party in the UK right now' during a boozy Downing Street leaving do in November 2020. What are the two missing words?
11. LauncherOne failed to reach orbit after being carried skyward from Spaceport Cornwall by a converted jumbo jet named what?
12. What was missing from a photograph that Business Secretary Grant Shapps tweeted of himself meeting staff at Spaceport Cornwall?
13. Lisa Marie Presley, who died aged 54, was married four times - to musicians Michael Lockwood, Danny Keough and which other two celebrities? Half a point for each.
14. The Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command was investigating after metal contaminated with what was found at Heathrow Airport?
15. A knifeman was shot after stabbing six people at a railway station in which European city?
16. What happened to 25-year-old teacher Abigail Zwerner, while she was taking a class at school in Virginia?
17. Which company apologised for its backlogs which it said were caused by Royal Mail strikes, staff shortages and bad weather?
18. A school in Lewisham, named after which historical figure, was renamed the Twin Oaks Primary School following a vote by staff and parents over the man's role in the slave trade?
19. Actress Honeysuckle Weeks told Worthing magistrates that she drove her car while over the limit to avoid what?
20. A cryptic invitation to attend 'Selma's Party’ was used online encouraging people to storm which country’s congress, high court and presidential palace?
21. Guitarist Jeff Beck, who died aged 68, was in the UK top 20 in 1967 and 1972, with which song that was originally recorded by The Attack, covered by Slade and became the anthem of Wolves football supporters?
22. Lee Ryan, from which pop band, was found guilty at Ealing Magistrates’ Court of the racially aggravated assault, telling a black flight attendant 'I want your chocolate children' while drunk on a BA flight?
23. Which 33-year-old sportsman announced his retirement, saying he was 'stepping back' and that 'the dragon on my shirt is all I need?’
24. Golden Globes host Jerrod Carmichael started the ceremony in Los Angeles by saying: 'I’ll tell you why I’m here, I’m here because I’m __.’ What is the missing word?
25. What caused the fishing lake Rochford Reservoir in Essex to close?

Answers here

Nick Herbert - a champion of editorial integrity

Back in 1989 I got a call asking why I had not applied for the editorship of The Northern Echo. I replied that I thought there were people ahead of me and that, perhaps, I was too young. I was encouraged to reconsider and was interviewed by Westminster Press’s editorial director Nick Herbert at the Viking Hotel in York. Three weeks later a letter arrived offering me the job and I remember sitting on my bed and staring at it in disbelief. What followed was a genuine life-changing experience. Nick took a gamble on me, as he did with many other young editors. In the 70s and 80s he was responsible for huge changes in the regional newspaper industry. He appointed young and often untested editors to shake-up the industry, he was a pioneer,  bringing in new technology, and he was a huge champion of editorial integrity. He was also a thoroughly nice man. I had run-ins with judges, politicians, advertisers planning to boycott the paper, and was twice threatened with prison, and he never failed to offer wise counsel and support. He was certainly one of the good guys and I owe him a great deal. Nick died, aged 88, just before Christmas and there are tributes on InPublishing here, in his old paper the Cambridge News here and on Hold The Front Page.

 

Mail looking for trainee journalists

Trainees from last year's March course

Last year I trained 36 young journalists who were beginning their careers at MailOnline, DailyMail.com, Metro.co.uk, the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. They included reporters, news subs and sports journalists. Most of the trainees then went on a five-month placement, working for the Mail in Dublin and Glasgow, the Sunday Post, the Liverpool Echo, the Press Association, the Evening Standard and the i newspaper. Others went straight to the newsroom. There has since been impressive work and plenty of bylines. Now the group is recruiting for this year’s scheme. It is looking for reporters for both print and online, print sub-editors and sports journalists. If you are committed to becoming a journalist and want to work for Britain's most successful newspaper group, the details are below or you can apply here. The Mail is also running a scheme in New York for trainees eligible to work in America. The details are here. 

Trainees from last year's September intake

TRAINEE JOURNALISTS

Sub-editors, sports reporters and news reporters

Applications are invited for the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and MailOnline editorial training schemes (news and sports reporters and print sub-editors).

We are looking for budding journalists with broad interests who want to work for Britain's most successful newspaper group. 

Our trainees embark on a two-year programme that involves intense training, assessment and on-the-job experience at regional daily newspapers.

The successful applicants will probably have an NCTJ qualification and will have shown a commitment to journalism by writing or editing for their student newspaper/website and gained work experience in newsrooms.

We want self-starters with a real interest in current affairs who can write and edit accurately and in style. Previous graduates of the training scheme now hold senior positions on the Mail, Mail on Sunday and MailOnline. 

The sub-editing course starts on June 19 and the news/sports reporting course begins on September 11. There will be four weeks of intensive in-house training during which the trainees are introduced to Mail style.

It is followed by five months’ placement – on a regional daily paper, the Scottish Daily Mail in Glasgow or the Irish Daily Mail in Dublin - after which the trainees will join the Mail newsroom. 

Trainees will be on the best journalism course in the business and paid a competitive salary while they train. 

Nearly all are offered staff jobs at the end.

How to apply

To apply send a covering letter, your CV and the three best examples of your work to sue.ryan@dailymail.co.uk by Friday February 17, 2023.

Please specify in the subject of the email that your application is for a trainee sub-editor, trainee news reporter or trainee sports reporter.

Interviews will be held in March.

First newsquiz of 2023

The top solo scorer in last week’s newsquiz was Janet Boyle with 21 just ahead of Marguerite Turner on 20, George Mann on 18 and Robert Rea on 16. The top team was Maura and Phil Parsons with a score of 22, ahead of Sarah and Bruce Hayward and Adam Batstone and Lucy Thorpe who scored 19. Here is the first newsquiz of 2023. As usual there are 25 questions about the last seven days. Give it a go and let me know your score.

Prince Harry dominates today's front pages

1. Which newspaper obtained an early copy of the Duke of Sussex's autobiography Spare and reported on an alleged physical attack between princes Harry and William?
2. In a report of a fight with his brother, Prince Harry wrote that he was knocked to the floor and landed on what 'which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me’?
3. Prince Harry reportedly claimed he killed how many people when he was a helicopter pilot during his second tour of duty in Afghanistan?
4. In his first speech of the year Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made five promises, saying: 'We will halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce debt, cut waiting lists and __ __ __.’ What are the three missing words?
5. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced plans for all pupils in England to study what subject up to the age of 18 to better equip them for the modern workplace?
6. Anti-strike legislation, proposed by the Government, is to 'ensure that vital public services will have to maintain a basic function and deliver minimum __ __ during industrial action’. What are the two missing words?
7. In his first speech of the year Labour leader Keir Starmer said his party would embrace which three-word message saying 'we'll turn it from a slogan to a solution. From a catchphrase into change'?
8. According to the World Health Organisation, a new strain of Covid called XBB.1.5 with what nickname is 'the most transmissible sub-variant that has been detected yet’?
9. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a 36-hour ceasefire on the Ukrainian frontline to coincide with what?
10. The Met Office said 2022 was the UK's warmest year on record with an average annual temperature of more than how many degrees celsius for the first time?
11. The murder of tourist Sean Patterson from London was 'a contract killing that emanated from Britain’ according to which country’s police?
12. Benedict XVI, who died aged 95, was the the first pope in 600 years to do what?
13. Which company announced plans to cut more than 18,000 jobs globally, the largest number in its history, citing the 'uncertain economy’?
14. David Gold, who died aged 86, was co-chairman of two football clubs during his life. Name them. Half a point for each.
15. How were a married couple from Cheshire and two Australians killed in Queensland?
16. Why were Brazilian footballers Kaká, Neymar and Nazario criticised by their country's fans and pundits?
17. American Republican politician Kevin McCarthy became involved in the longest contest in 164 years while attempting to be elected to what role?

18. Which sportswoman announced she had throat and breast cancer, saying: 'The double whammy is serious, but fixable, and I'm hoping for a favourable outcome. It’s going to stink for a while, but I'll fight with all I have got’?
19. Sampdoria football club issued a statement saying: 'We won't forget your 141 goals, your overhead kicks, your cashmere shirts, your earring, your platinum blonde hair, your Ultras bomber jacket.’ Who was it referring to?

20. Which journalist, who died aged 93, made television history by becoming the first female anchor of an evening news programme in America?
21. Which guitarist was knighted for services to music and charity in the New Year’s Honours and said: 'I will do my very best to be worthy’?
22. Marvel actor Jeremy Renner was taken to hospital in Nevada after being crushed by what?
23. Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting said they were suing Paramount Pictures for more than $500million (£414million) over a nude scene in which 1968 film, shot when they were teenagers?
24. The Royal Mail issued a set of 12 stamps featuring which rock band? 
25. What is the name of the R&B trio who won the BBC's Sound of 2023, which showcases the next big things in music?

Answers here