Friday 30 September 2022

Trainee sub Will wins newsquiz champagne

Trainee subs (from left): Dom Lee, Isabella McCrone, Will Holmes (with the champagne), Naveen Gharyal and Lizzie Newton

I said goodbye to the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday trainee sub-editors this week who now head off for their placements at the Evening Standard, the i newspaper, the Press Association and the Mail in Glasgow. They are very smart and likeable bunch and I will follow their careers with interest. They did long-form journalism with Fiona Webster and designed pages, in Mail style, for a new supplement and a breaking news story with training and guidance from Mike Brough

The trainees with some of their pages

Today they had a session with former trainee, now assistant chief sub, Tom Belcher. As usual we finished with the newsquiz. This week’s winner was Will Holmes with 17.5 points, ahead of Isabella McCrone on 15.5 and Dom Lee on 15.  Well done to Will who also collected the champagne for the top score by a sub over the four weeks.
The top solo scorer in last week’s quiz was Jayme Bryla with 20, just ahead of Robert Rea on 19, Marguerite Turner and Janet Boyle on 18, Toby Brown on 17, Will Holmes 16.5 and Isabella McCrone on 16.
The top team was Maura and Phil Parsons with 21, ahead of Sarah, Joe and Our Peter 19, the same score as Lou and Joe Hart with Tim and Kay. Adam Batstone and Lucy Thorpe scored 16. Here is this week’s newsquiz. As usual there are 25 questions about the week. Give it a go and see if you can beat Will's score.

Today's front pages

1. The Bank of England announced it would buy Government bonds worth up to how many billions of pounds, on a temporary basis, to calm financial markets after the mini-budget caused turmoil?
2. Which organisation said the Government’s financial plan was economically risky, likely to increase inequality and recommended taking an 'early opportunity' for a re-evaluation in the coming weeks?
3. A YouGov poll for The Times found Labour had surged to a lead of how many points ahead of the Tories?
4. Which high profile Conservative is to miss the party conference in Birmingham at the weekend, reportedly saying it would give Prime Minister Liz Truss 'all the space she needs to own the moment’? 
5. Labour MP Rupa Huq was suspended from the party after she said of Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng ‘___ he is a black man’. What is the missing word?
6. What did former leader Jeremy Corbyn says was 'very, very odd’ about the Labour Party Conference in Manchester?
7. Who made a guest appearance at the Labour Party Conference on Monday and said that Liz Truss had 'tanked the pound lower than my reputation in Liverpool’?
8. Police searching the Yorkshire Moors for which 12-year-old schoolboy, who died in the 1960s, said they had found human remains including a skull?
9. What is the name of the two pipelines which leaked gas into the Baltic Sea?
10. Russian President Vladimir Putin is to annex four more areas of Ukraine after self-styled referendums. They are Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and which other?
11. What was the name of the hurricane that tore in Cuba before causing chaos in Florida on Wednesday?
12. The Queen's death certificate, which was released by the National Records of Scotland, said she died of old age at what time on September 8?
13. Which union announced its workers would hold 19 strikes in October and November?
14. Which Grammy winning rapper, whose hit Gangsta Paradise was a UK Number One in 1995, was found dead in Los Angeles?
15. US President Joe Biden made a blunder during a speech in Washington when he asked if a congresswoman, who died in a car crash in August, was in the audience, saying: '___ are you here? Where's ___? She must not be here.’ What is the missing name?
16. Giorgia Meloni claimed election victory and is on course to become which country’s first female prime minister?
17. What was the name of the spacecraft that NASA successfully smashed into an asteroid seven million miles from Earth?
18. JD Wetherspoon announced it was selling how many pubs due to rising food and energy costs and a lack of staff?
19. In the book Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown by Valentine Low, a former Palace insider says of the Duchess of Sussex: 'I think Meghan thought she was going to be the ___ of the UK’. What is the missing name?
20. Why did Joachim say his children Nikolai, 23, Felix, 20, Henrik, 13, and Athena, 10, had been 'harmed' by their grandmother?
21. Why did the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland order thousands of Lidl chocolate bunnies to be incinerated?
22. Eliud Kipchoge broke the world record for what in Berlin?
23. The Cheshire home of which couple was burgled on Tuesday evening with jewellery and handbags stolen? Half a point for each name.
 
24. Nearly 400 people gathered in a pub in Worcestershire for a festival in a bid to revive their name that is in danger of becoming extinct. What is the name?
25. Which two cities are still in the running to host next year's Eurovision Song Contest, after the shortlist was cut from seven? Half a point for each.

Answers here

Friday 23 September 2022

Liv wins the newsquiz champagne

Trainees (left to right) Neirin Gray Desai, Milo Pope, Sabrina Miller, Lizzie Newton, Dom Lee (standing), Liv Dean with the champagne, Will Holmes (standing), Isabella McCrone, Zander Butler and Naveen Gharyal.

The Mail trainees had another amazing week. They all spent Monday out and about in London and Windsor getting stories from people in the crowd at the Queen’s funeral. There were bylines for those working for the Daily Mail and Liv Dean and Sabrina Miller were published online with a story about the chaos after the funeral. Will Holmes also got a byline on MailPlus for a story about the Windsor farmers who formed a guard of honour with tractors. 


Bylines in the Daily Mail for Naveen Gharyal, Isabella McCrone, Lizzie Newton, Will Holmes and Dom Lee. 


Bylines for Sabrina Miller and Liv Dean on MailOnline

A byline for Will Holmes on MailPlus

The trainees had a session with group digital editor Ailsa Leslie on MailPlus. She also taught them how to use the Glide software. They covered a live breaking story in real time and built it on MailPlus. Dom Lee created the best page - including a photo gallery - and won a scratchcard. Associate chief sub Rich Hall talked to the print subs and Tahar Rajab went through SEO with the online trainees. Head of production Chris Dean examined the paper in detail and Harry Howard talked about his role as history correspondent. The reporters prepared newslists for their placement and the subs drew up proposals for a new supplement which they will create next week. I debriefed the reporters this afternoon before they head off on placement while copytaster Lottie Young put the subs through their paces with practical work. As usual we finished with the newsquiz. This week’s winner was Will Holmes with 16.5, just ahead of Isabella McCrone on 16 and Dom Lee on 15.5. The highest scoring reporter over the three weeks was Liv Dean who collected a bottle of champagne. Well done Liv. The three online trainees and two Mail on Sunday reporters now head off on their placements. They are a talented and likeable bunch and I wish them well.
The top solo scorer in last week's quiz was Jayme Bryla with 19.5 ahead of Marguerite Turner on 19, Etan Smallman and Robert Rea on 18.5, Toby Brown on 17.5, Stuart Bagnall and Will Holmes on 17 and Liv Dean on 16.5.
The top team was Maura and Phil Parsons with Will on 22.5, ahead of The Mountain Men (featuring Adam, Lucy, Damian, Neil, Tim and Stafford) on 20.5, Joe and Lou Hart on 20, the Three Legs drinkers of Thom, Tim, Les and Peter on 19.5, Bruce and Sarah Hayward on 17.5 and Sarah Cockerill and Joe Everton on 17.

Tuesday's front pages

1. What is the name of the chapel in Windsor where the Queen was laid to rest next to her husband, mother, father and sister?
2. The State Gun Carriage that carried the Queen’s coffin had not been seen on the streets of London since which event?
3. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office defended him after he was filmed singing which song in a London hotel, two days before the Queen's funeral
4. Who did Australian broadcasters Peter Overton and Tracy Grimshaw fail to recognise, 
suggesting she might be a ‘minor Royal’, while commentating on the Queen’s funeral?
5. Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng in his emergency Budget promised: 'We will turn the vicious cycle of ___ into a virtuous cycle of growth.’ What is the missing word? 
6. In his emergency budget Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced that the 45p tax rate for top earners, with an income of more than how much a year, would be abolished from April next year?
7. The Bank of England raised interest rates to what per cent, taking borrowing costs to their highest level since 2008?
8. Health Secretary Therese Coffey announced that no patient should have to wait more than how long to see a GP?
9. Russian president Vladimir Putin gave a rare televised speech part of which was translated as: 'When the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people. It's not a ___’. What is the missing word?
10. Prime Minister Liz Truss said of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threat that: 'He is desperately trying to claim the mantle of democracy for a regime without human rights or freedoms. And he is making yet more bogus claims and __-__ threats.' What is the missing hyphenated word?
11. Which country brokered the deal between Russia and Ukraine which led to ten prisoners, including five British nationals, being freed?
12. Hindu and Muslim community leaders in which city called for an end to weeks of violent disturbances which resulted in 47 arrests?
13. A record reward of up to £200,000, put up by Crimestoppers founder Lord Ashcroft and a private donor, has been offered for what?
14. The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini led to angry protests, with women burning what, in Iran?
15. A murder investigation started after a 15-year-old boy was stabbed to death outside a school in which town?
16. Dame Hilary Mantel, who died aged 70, won the Booker Prize twice for Wolf Hall and its sequel. What is the name of the sequel?
17. A global report said that more than eight in ten Britons will be what by 2060 – costing the economy £142billion a year?
18. Fletcher Cox, 19, from Jersey was the youngest member of which team that were universally praised on Monday?
19. More than 66,000 people signed a petition for who to be sacked?
20. England claimed a six-wicket Twenty20 win in their first game in which country for 17 years?
21. Chrissy Heerey, who serves in the RAF, was the last person to do what?
22. England men's football captain Harry Kane, along with those from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Wales, will wear an armband that says what at the World Cup in Qatar?
23. Adam Levine, the lead singer with which pop group, faced claims from Instagram models who allege he sent them inappropriate messages?
24. Who replaced Richard Osman in the Pointless chair?
25. Former I’m a Celebrity contestants will return in an ‘all-star’ series which will be filmed in which country?

Answers here











Friday 16 September 2022

Trainee Will wins the newsquiz

The Mail trainees had another busy week in Kensington. They pitched story ideas to MailOnline executive editor Amanda Williams and travel editor Ted Thornhill. The first trainee on the course to be published was Naveen Gharyal with a story about an artist who created a street mural of the Queen in two and a half hours as he was worried about his car parking ticket. You can read it here.


The trainees also had sessions with Daily Mail consultant editor Andrew Pierce, MailOnline senior reporter Mark Duell, deputy showbiz editor Rebecca Davison and Mail on Sunday news-editor Ben Felsenburg. Paul Hutchinson from the managing editor’s office talked to the onliners and Editor Emeritus Peter Wright gave an insight into IPSO and the editor’s code. The trainees wrote headlines, picture captions and developed wire stories into Mail style. Milo Pope won both the headline of the week awards. This afternoon the trainees were briefed on the Queen’s funeral which they will all be covering on Monday. As always we finished with the newsquiz. The top scorer was Will Holmes with 17, narrowly ahead of Liv Dean on 16.5. The top solo scorer in last week’s newsquiz was Robert Rea on 22, ahead of Marion Fountayne, Stuart Bagnall, Etan Smallman and Sam Neve on 21, Olivia Dean on 20.5, Nick Turner, Janet Boyle and Gavin Devine on 20, Jayme Bryla 19 and Toby Brown and Anthony Ferguson on 18. The top team was the Three Legs drinkers (Peter, Stacey, Nicky, Les, Jim and Andre) who scored a maximum 25. They were ahead of Maura and Phil Parsons on 22.5, Joe and Lou Hart on 20.5, Adam Batstone and Lucy Thorpe and Bruce and Sarah Hayward both on 20 and Sarah and Joe on 19.5. Here is this week’s quiz. As usual there are 25 questions about the week. Give it a go and see if you can beat Will's score of 17.

Monday's front pages


1. Elizabeth II’s reign was referred to as the Elizabethan era, while Charles III’s will be called what era?
2. Thousands of people queued through the night to see the Queen's coffin at which cathedral in Edinburgh?
3. Which one of these countries is officially invited to the Queen’s funeral? a) Russia b) Argentina c) North Korea d) Venezuela?
4. Charles III, in his first speech as King, finished with an emotional sign off to his 'darling Mama' saying ‘may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest' a quote from which play?
5. What was King Charles referring to when he said 'I can’t bear this bloody thing … every stinking time’ and 'Oh God, I hate this’?
6. Dozens of staff at which Royal residence were given notice of redundancies as the offices of King Charles and the Queen Consort move to Buckingham Palace?
7. Morrisons turned off its music and tannoy announcements and turned down what out of respect for Queen Elizabeth II?
8. A barrister who held up a blank piece of paper near the Houses of Parliament was told by police that he risked arrest if he wrote what three words on it?
9. Which company faced criticism after telling guests they would have to leave on Monday morning, the day of the Queen's funeral, and not return till Tuesday? 
10. The Prime Minister’s office announced there would be 'a one-minute silence where the public are invited to come together and observe a national moment of reflection to mourn and reflect on the life and legacy of Queen Elizabeth II’ at what time on Sunday?
11. A 22-year-old man was charged with a breach of the peace in Edinburgh for shouting at Prince Andrew and calling him what?
12. Which two Cabinet ministers, in full uniform, stood guard over the Queen’s coffin in Westminster Hall? Half a point for each.
13. BT Sport apologised for showing footage of fans of which football club holding banners directed at the Royal family including one reading ‘F*** the crown’?
14. The mother of Olivia Pratt Korbel, the nine-year-old shot dead in Liverpool, said at her funeral: ‘I will never say ___ but what I will say is ___, love you, see you in the morning.’ What are the two missing words? Half a point for each.
15. A mass burial site containing around 440 graves was found in which Ukrainian city after it was liberated from Russian control?
16. What was the name of the 24-year-old shot dead by a Metropolitan Police officer in south London on Monday?
17. How did French film director Jean Luc Godard die?
18. Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was said to be drawing up plans to end the cap on bankers' bonuses which currently stands at how many times their salary?
19. Former BBC radio DJ Alex Belfield, who was jailed for five years after being convicted of four stalking charges against broadcasters, was said to have subjected which radio presenter to an 'avalanche of hatred’?
20. Europe’s football governing body, UEFA, rejected requests from Chelsea, Rangers and Manchester City to allow what at their European games this week?
21. Which Grammy-winning rapper pleaded guilty to third degree assault and second decree reckless endangerment after a fight at a strip club in New York?
22. Which company overtook Morrisons to become the fourth-largest UK supermarket, according to research firm Kantar?
23. British writer Jesse Armstrong collected the Emmy's top award for Outstanding Drama Series for which show and made a joke about King Charles?
24. Roger Federer, who announced his retirement, won 20 Grand Slams and holds the title for the most Wimbledon singles wins. How many?
25. New Health Secretary Therese Coffey’s department told civil servants to avoid jargon and refrain from using which ‘unnecessary’ punctuation?


Answers here

Friday 9 September 2022

In a momentous week, Liv wins the newsquiz

I have just spent a very busy week in the newsroom with ten trainees from the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, MailOnline and DailyMail.com. They wrote stories, had a day with the lawyers, met the editors and managing editors and were briefed on how to pitch stories. They will be presenting ideas to the news-editor and travel editor next week. The best intro of the week award went to Will Holmes. As always we finished with the newsquiz. This week's runaway winner was Liv Dean with 20.5. Well done to her. The top online solo scorer in last week's newsquiz was Janet Boyle also with 20.5, ahead of Robert Rea on 19, Toby Brown on 18.5 and Gavin Devine and Marguerite Turner on 16.5.
The top teams were the Best of Brest (Our Peter, Sarah, Joe, Andrew and Barry) and Maura and Phil Parsons with Will and Alexandra on 20. They were ahead of Lou and Joe Hart on 19.5 and Adam Batstone and Lucy Thorpe on 16.5. Here is this week's quiz where two stories, a new Prime Minister and a new King, dominated. Give it a go and see if you can beat Liv's score.

Today's front pages

1. Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday, was Britain’s longest reigning monarch. How many years did she serve?
2. Queen Elizabeth's reign spanned how many prime ministers starting with Winston Churchill, born in 1874, and ending with Liz Truss, born 101 years later in 1975?
3. When the Queen died, the throne passed immediately to the Prince of Wales who will now be known by what name and number? 
4. The new line of succession to the throne means that the first female on the list is now third. Who is she?
5. Prime Minister Liz Truss made a statement outside Downing Street, just after the announcement that the Queen had died, and finished with what four words?
6. The death of the Queen meant that a plan codenamed Operation what was put into place leading up to her funeral?
7. Liz Truss won the Tory leadership contest with 57.4 per cent of the vote to Rishi Sunak’s 42.6 per cent but, to the nearest thousand, how many Tory members voted for each candidate?. Half a point for each.
8. What did Liz Truss say that she would do, and repeated it six times, in the last two sentences of her victory speech as Tory leader?
9. Prime Minister Liz Truss, like her predecessor Boris Johnson, uses her second name rather than her first. What is her first name?
10. In her Cabinet appointments who did Prime Minister Liz Truss name as foreign and home secretaries? Half a point for each name?
11. Which position will Kwasi Kwarteng have in the new Cabinet?
12. After Liz Truss sacked Johnny Mercer as veterans affairs minister, his wife tweeted that her husband was the 'best person I know sacked by an ___’. What is the missing word?
13. Liz Truss’s newly appointed Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan called for which 'unfair tax' to be 'scrapped altogether’?
14. In the first major policy announcement of her premiership, Liz Truss said a typical household will pay no more than how much annually for its gas and electricity bills from the start of October?
15. Former BBC journalist Iain Macwhirter was suspended from his role as a columnist at the Scottish newspaper The Herald after describing Liz Truss's Cabinet as what?
16. Liz Truss’s team were said to be ‘incandescent' that her interview on Sunday with BBC's Laura Kuenssberg was hijacked by who?
17. In his leaving speech which one of these did outgoing Prime Minster Boris Johnson not describe himself as: a) Cincinnatus ... returning to my plough b) a booster rocket that has fulfilled its function c) admired from Kyiv to Carlisle d) a ten-year-old bouncing around on a space hopper 
18. Ten people were killed and 18 injured in a mass stabbing at an indigenous community in which Canadian province?
19. Which country this week passed a law declaring itself to be a nuclear weapons state and enshrined the country's right to use a pre-emptive strike to protect itself?
20. Joy Milne, 72, noticed what about her husband, before he was diagnosed with Parkinson's, that has helped scientists develop a test that spots the disease?
21. Manager Thomas Tuchel was sacked after Chelsea lost to which team in the Champions League?
22. Prince Harry visited which city, the location of the next Invictus Games, and said it was 'brilliant and filled with amazing people’?
23. Novice actress Meg Bellamy, 19, will make her television debut, just months after leaving secondary school, playing which real life person?
24. Who denied spitting on co-star Chris Pine at the Venice premiere of their latest film Don't Worry Darling?
25. Which children’s television cartoon series became the first to add a same-sex couple to its cast of characters?

Answers here

Thursday 8 September 2022

A historic collection of front pages

As you would expect there are some cracking front pages today ... first class use of pictures and some respectful understated headlines. Here is a selection.