Christmas quiz of the year 2023

Looking back on 2023

1. Why did Barbara Millicent Roberts make headlines this year? 
2. What is the Hindi name for India, heavily promoted at this year's G20 summit in New Delhi?
3. "There's just as much truth in what I remember and how I remember it as there is in so-called objective facts," is a line from which book, published this year?
4. Which film won the Academy Award this year for best picture? 
5. What (or rather who) do Scott McAfee, Aileen Cannon, Tanya Chutkan and Arthur Engoron have in common? 
6. What is the name of the Biden family's German shepherd, which was expelled from the White House this year for biting too many secret service agents? 
7. At King Charles's coronation, who took on the role of Gold Stick in Waiting? 
8. Which British politician, in the news this year, was named after a character in the soap opera Dallas? 
9. Which up-and-coming star won the 2023 men's singles Wimbledon tennis final? (And who were the only four players to win the men's singles tournament in the 20 years preceding that?) 
10. Why was "Watership Down", the 1978 animated film that has long terrified children, in the news this year?
11. In October, the Rolling Stones released their first album of original material since 2005. What is it called? 
12. Which celebrated British author returned to northwest London this year, after a long period living in New York?

History and politics

1. Napoleon was born on one island, and died on another. What were they?
2. Which liner rescued more than 700 survivors of the RMS Titanic in April 1912? And what does RMS stand for?
3. Which former British prime minister died in the Ritz hotel?
4. What event links J.R.R. Tolkien, Harold Macmillan, Ralph Vaughan Williams, A.A. Milne, Adolf Hitler and Otto Frank?
5. By what name is BackRub, founded in a computer science department at Stanford University in 1996, now known?
6. Which countries made up the Triple Entente in the First World War?
7. Which warrior leader's final battle was the Battle of Watling Street?
8. The "shot heard round the world", in Emerson's poem, refers to a skirmish that triggered which major conflict? And what were, in John Reed's book of that name, the "ten days that shook the world"?
9. Founded in 1602, and often referred to as the first joint stock company and the first multinational, by what name was this company most commonly known in English-speaking countries?
10. "The History of U.S. Decision-Making in Vietnam, 1945-1968" was a confidential report better known by what name?

Sport

1. Usain Bolt set an unbeaten world record for the 100 metres in 2009. Who set the women's world record, in 1988?
2. A documentary about David Beckham's career in football was a hit on Netflix this year. List the four clubs that he was signed to during his career. For a bonus, to which club was he loaned in 1994-5?
3. If you are a toxophilite, which sport do you love?
4. Which is the only sport to have been played on the Moon?
5. Which countries take part in the Six Nations rugby tournament? Which of them is the most recent joiner? And which is the current champion?
6. Who did Muhammad Ali sensationally defeat to become world heavyweight boxing champion in 1964?
7. For which team did Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio and Babe Ruth all play?
8. Which British tennis champion is credited with developing the first sweatband?
9. Seven men's clubs have won football's Premier League since the first season of its formation (1992-93). Name them.

Literature and the arts

1. Which of the Brontës wrote a) "Jane Eyre" b) "Villette" c) "Wuthering Heights" d) "TheTenant of Wildfell Hall"?
2.  Japan, Brobdingnag and Laputa are all visited by which literary traveller?
3. "Les Bouquinistes" are often fighting for their survival in Paris. What are they?
4. Svengali is a character in which 1894 novel by George du Maurier (a stage adaptation of which popularised a hat)?
5. Famed for his watercolour paintings of the South Downs, which British artist became the first war artist to be killed in action, in 1942? For a bonus point, off the coast of which country did he die?
6. Which fictional city is accessed via the Yellow Brick Road?
7. Shangri-La – a mythical land of eternal youth – was introduced to the world in which 1933 novel, by which author?
8. Frankie Goes to Hollywood's 1984 song "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" was inspired by which 19th century poem?
9. From which novel (and film) did the Arctic Monkeys borrow the title of their debut album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not"?
10. What is the name of the castle in which Titus Groan lives?
11. In which Dickens novels would you find the following characters a) Jack Dawkins b) Quilp c) Madame Defarge d) Wackford Squeers e) Mrs Jellyby?
12. Which novel by Mary Ann Evans was published in eight instalments in 1871-2?
13. If the sixth was the Pastoral, what was the third?
14. John Steinbeck took the name of his famous novel from the line: "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men/ Gang aft agley". Which poet wrote that line? And from which poet was Noël Coward borrowing when he called his play "Blithe Spirit"?

Showbiz

1. Which actor was sacked from "Back to the Future" five weeks into shooting, and replaced by Michael J. Fox? (Clue: a year later, he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in Mask.)
2. "Marty" (1955) was the first film to win both a best picture Oscar and Cannes' Palme d'Or. What was the second film to achieve this double (in 2019/2020)?
3. Phillip Vandamm is the main antagonist in which Hitchcock film? In which 1990s TV show, on what street, might you run into Bree Van de Kamp? In which book did Van Helsing originally appear?
4. Timothée Chalamet plays Willy Wonka in this year's prequel. What two other actors have taken the part in big-screen adaptations?
5. Mark Sinclair is one of Hollywood's highest-grossing actors, best known for his roles in high-octane action thrillers. What is his professional name? And, from an earlier vintage, in which 1965 film did the actor formerly known as Maurice Micklewhite seem to break an egg one-handed, while making an omelette?
6. Tom Cruise made his seventh appearance in a Mission: Impossible film this year. What is the name of his character in the series?
7. Which Bond film is the only one with a country in its title?
8. This year, Joaquin Phoenix took the title role in Ridley Scott's "Napoleon". What was the name of the emperor he played, aged 24, in Scott's epic drama "Gladiator" (2000)?
9. Holly Gennaro, Hans Gruber and Argyle are characters in which Hollywood Christmas favourite? 
10. The following were famously the last films of which stars a) "Giant" (1956) b) "The Misfits" (1961) c) "The Shootist" (1976) d) "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" (2020)?
11. Which of these British actors is the only one not to have appeared in the Harry Potter films: John Cleese, Bill Nighy, Juliet Stevenson, Jim Broadbent, Emma Thompson, Helen McCrory, Helena Bonham Carter, Zoë Wanamaker, Miranda Richardson, John Hurt, Timothy Spall, Kenneth Branagh, Imelda Staunton, Gary Oldman?
12. To which actor (whom she claimed to have discovered) did Mae West  say: "Why don't you come up some time and see me?"

Obituaries

1. Name the four major competitions that the late Bobby Charlton won, either with Manchester United or England. 
2. Which guitarist, who died this year, was not remotely proud of his biggest hit, "Hi Ho Silver Lining"? 
3. Which screen star of the postwar period, described by Humphrey Bogart as making “Marilyn Monroe look like Shirley Temple”, ran for the European Parliament in 1999?
4. It "celebrated life and tremendous opportunity", said Mary Quant, who died in April aged 93. To what was the designer referring?
5. What was the name of Martin Amis's first novel, published in 1973?
6. Which well-loved singer's final performance was with Lady Gaga in 2021, at the Radio City Music Hall?
7. "Everyone thinks I'm mad, but I believe you should only make a record for one reason, and that's because you are going to go crazy if you don't." Who said this?
8. Which late tycoon was described by "Tiny" Rowland, his partner turned rival, as the "hero from zero"?
9. Before finding fame in "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", David McCallum appeared in which all-star film?
10. Michael Gambon was mainly regarded as a stage actor until he appeared in which landmark TV drama, in 1986?

Science and places

1. The completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart is better known as what?
2. What sort of public building is located on Letsby Avenue in Sheffield? (This is guessable.)
3. The following are the colonial-era names for which African countries: a) Upper Volta b) French Sudan c) Gold Coast?
4. What is a Geiger counter most commonly used to detect and measure?
5. The scientist John Snow is associated most closely with efforts to eradicate which disease?
6. The name of which disease comes from the medieval Italian term for "bad air"?
7. Which station on the London Underground is the only one to have six consecutive consonants in its name (Aldwych having closed in 1994)?
8. This Russian city was called Tsaritsyn for hundreds of years from the 16th century. What was it renamed in 1925, and what is it called now?
9. Which two adjoining US states appear on the map to be perfect rectangles?
10. Which country is the only one in the world with a triangular flag?
11. Which two countries have the longest land border?
12. Into which sea does the River Danube flow?
13. In a lake there is a patch of lily pads. The lily pads double in area every day. It takes 100 days to cover the entire lake. How many days did it take for half the lake to be covered?

How did you do? Scroll down for the answers

Looking back on 2023

1. She was the title star of a film, "Barbie" 
2. Bharat
3. "Spare"
4. "Everything Everywhere All at Once"
5. Donald Trump; they're the judges presiding over his various cases 
6. Commander
7. Princess Anne
8. Suella (Sue Ellen) Braverman
9. Carlos Alcaraz (Novak Djokovic; Roger Federer; Andy Murray; Rafael Nadal)
10. It had its U (Universal) certificate changed to PG (Parental Guidance)
11. "Hackney Diamonds"
12. Zadie Smith

History and politics

1. Corsica; St Helena
2. RMS Carpathia; Royal Mail Ship/Steamer (meaning it was contracted to carry mail) 
3. Margaret Thatcher
4. The Battle of the Somme
5. Google
6. Russia, France, Britain
7. Boudica
8. The American Revolutionary War; the Russian Revolution
9. The Dutch East India Company
10. The Pentagon Papers

Sport

1. Florence Griffith Joyner
2. Man United, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, Paris Saint-German. Preston North End
3. Archery
4. Golf
5. Ireland, Wales, England, Scotland, Italy and France. Italy. Ireland
6. Sonny Liston
7. New York Yankees
8. Fred Perry
9. Man United, Blackburn Rovers, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Leicester City, Liverpool

Literature and the arts

1. a) Charlotte, b) Charlotte, c) Emily, d) Anne
2. Gulliver
3. Secondhand booksellers by the Seine
4. "Trilby" 
5. Eric Ravilious. Iceland
6. The Emerald City
7. "Lost Horizon" by James Hilton
8. Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Kubla Khan"
9. "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" by Alan Sillitoe
10. Gormenghast
11. a) "Oliver Twist", b) "The Old Curiosity Shop", c) "A Tale of Two Cities", d) "Nicholas Nicklebye", e) "Bleak House", 
12. "Middlemarch"
13. Heroic ("Eroica")
14. Robert Burns; Shelley

Showbiz

1. Eric Stoltz
2. "Parasite"
3. "North by Northwest"; "Desperate Housewives" (Wisteria Lane); "Dracula"
4. Gene Wilder; Johnny Depp
5. Vin Diesel; "The Ipcress File"
6. Ethan Hunt
7. "From Russia with Love"
8. Commodus
9. "Die Hard"
10. a) James Dean, b) Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable, c) John Wayne, d) Chadwick Boseman
11. Juliet Stevenson
12. Cary Grant

Obituaries

1. World Cup; FA Cup; Football League; European Cup
2. Jeff Beck
3. Gina Lollobrigida
4. The miniskirt
5. "The Rachel Papers" 
6. Tony Bennett
7. Sinéad O’Connor
8. Mohamed Al Fayed
9. "The Great Escape"
10. "The Singing Detective"

Science and places

1. Captcha test
2. A police station
3. a) Burkina Faso, b) Mali, c) Ghana
4. Radiation
5. Cholera
6. Malaria
7. Knightsbridge
8. Stalingrad; Volgograd
9. Wyoming, Colorado
10. Nepal
11. The US and Canada
12. The Black Sea
13. 99

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