1 In August, who said he first lent Tony Blair his Barbados mansion because he was worried at how tired the Prime Minister was looking after the Iraq War?

a) Elton John

b) Cliff Richard

c) Richard Branson

d) Mick Jagger

2 Scientists at the Los Alamos Research Centre claimed to have trained which creatures to detect bombs and explosives in tiny quantities?

a) Dolphins

b) Dogs

c) Pigeons

d) Bees

3 Given the top spot in the NME’s 2006 Cool List, then controversially denied the cover story, Beth Ditto is the 15 stone lesbian lead singer of which American band?

a) Yeah Yeah Yeahs

b) Be Your Own Pet

c) The Gossip

d) The Long Blondes

4 Which Labour MP for Falkirk was revealed to have claimed the most money back in expenses for 2005-06, spending more on travel than any other — £44,985 — mainly to the Orkney and Western Isles constituencies?

a) Alistair Carmichael

b) Alex Salmond

c) Eric Joyce

d) Ian Davidson

5 The former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell gave birth to her first child, a daughter. What is the baby called?

a) Buttercup

b) Bluebell

c) Daisy

d) Rose

6 Which American politician found his bid to be re-elected Senator for Virginia irreparably damaged when he was caught on video calling an opposition campaign worker “macaca”?

a) Michael Steele

b) Conrad Burns

c) Rick Santorum

d) George Allen

7 Ian Gibson, Labour MP for Norwich North, was forced to apologise for making remarks about inbreeding causing high levels of what in his constituency?

a) Diabetes

b) Ugly people

c) Stupidity

d) Down’s syndrome

8 Tony Wright, 52, from Devon, became the first person to be prosecuted successfully for breaching the terms of a 2005 Act of Parliament. What did he do?

a) Happy-slapped someone

b) Broke the terms of his ASBO

c) Made an Islamophobic statement in public

d) Hunted foxes illegally

9 In May, Guy Goma, a business graduate who had arrived at the BBC for a job interview, was mistakenly interviewed live on BBC News 24. His “expertise” was called upon to help with which subject?

a) Apple Computer’s court case with the Beatles’ record label, Apple

b) The humanitarian situation in Darfur

c) The increasing popularity of the social networking website MySpace

d) Salt levels in ready meals

10 The Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus won this year’s Nobel Prize for Peace for developing the concept of “microcredit” and his work in founding which microfinance organisation, whose name means “Bank of Villages” in Bangla?

a) Lameen Bank

b) Trameen Bank

c) Grameen Bank

d) Dalmeen Bank

11 Barbara Bush, one of the twin daughters of the US President, had her credit cards and mobile phone stolen despite a heavy Secret Service detail in a restaurant in which South American capital?

a) Santiago

b) Montevideo

c) Buenos Aires

d) Lima

12 Which Jackson Pollock artwork was sold by the record mogul David Geffen for $140m (£73m), making it the most expensive painting?

a) No. 5 1948

b) No. 4 1947

c) No. 6 1949

d) No. 3 1946

13 Which town in the North West was named in a survey in May by the snack company Whitworths as having the lowest fruit and vegetable intake in England and Wales?

a) Runcorn

b) Rochdale

c) Macclesfield

d) Wigan

14 British Rail was revealed to have filed a patent for a nuclear-powered version of what in 1970?

a) Mag-lev bullet train

b) Spaceship

c) Underground drilling ship

d) Submarine

15 In February, what was revealed to be costing £63,000 a day?

a) The new Wembley stadium

b) The Government’s preparations for ID cards

c) Parking tickets in the City of London

d) The upgrade of the NHS IT system

16 Citizens of which Romanian village, whose name means “hunger”, are suing the makers of the movie Borat, alleging they were tricked into playing country-bumpkin Kazakhs?

a) Plod

b) Blod

c) Glod

d) Slod

17 Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter, died in September when he was fatally pierced in the chest by a spine from which marine creature?

a) Stingray

b) Box jellyfish

c) Dragonfish

d) Sea snake

18 In January, what sum was offered by the Government to asylum-seekers and illegal immigrants to leave Britain voluntarily within six months?

a) £500

b) £1,000

c) £2,000

d) £3,000

19 Alexander Litvinenko, a KGB and FSB operative turned investigative journalist, was murdered by poisoning in London with what radioactive material?

a) Radium-210

b) Uranium-210

c) Polonium-210

d) Plutonium-210

20 Kay Parncutt, 58, a teaching assistant, was stopped in February by a security guard at Tesco in Swindon and told to take off what?

a) Her hoodie

b) A T-shirt with a rude slogan

c) Her crucifix

d) Her large gold chain

21 Going by the nom de plume Abby Lee, who was unmasked as the author of the sex blog Girl with a One-Track Mind by The Sunday Times?

a) Linda Heller

b) Bernice Kerr

c) Zoe Margolis

d) Jenny Grant

22 Which of the following national leaders or heads of government was ousted in a coup this year?

a) Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand

b) Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia

c) Idriss Deby of Chad

d) Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines

23 Through a series of 14 trades, Kyle MacDonald finally ended up with the house he always wanted, which can be found at 503 Main Street in Kipling, Saskatchewan. But what object did he start trading with on July 12, 2005?

a) A red paperclip

b) A blue drawing pin

c) A black thimble

d) A green peg

24 What species of whale swam up the Thames but died during a rescue attempt on January 21?

a) Pilot

b) Northern bottlenose

c) Gray

d) Sperm

25 It was announced that the production of which iconic condiment, manufactured in Britain for 100 years, was to be moved from Aston to Elst in Holland, only weeks after its makers had launched a campaign to “Save the Proper British Café”?

a) Lea and Perrins’ Worcestershire Sauce

b) Colman’s Mustard

c) Branston Pickle

d) HP Sauce

26 Which film company announced it was ending its 14-year-relationship with Tom Cruise in August, citing the economic damage to his value as an actor and producer that resulted from such controversial public behaviour as “jumping the couch” on the Oprah Winfrey show?

a) 20th Century Fox

b) MGM

c) Paramount

d) Sony Pictures

27 Picked up on microphone at the G8 summit, President Bush commented on a gift thought to have been given him by Tony Blair: “I know you picked it out yourself.” What item of clothing was he apparently referring to?

a) A Burberry sweater

b) An Aquascutum coat

c) An Oswald Boateng tie

d) A Jaeger scarf

28 Which philanthropist and financial guru made a commitment to give away his estimated $46 billion fortune, with 85 per cent of it going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation?

a) Larry Ellison

b) Jack Welch

c) Jim Walton

d) Warren Buffett

29 The Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Jan Peter Balkenende, saw his party retain its position as the largest in parliament in November’s elections. However, he is perhaps best known for his supposed resemblance to which fictional character?

a) Gollum

b) Winnie the Pooh

c) Harry Potter

d) Fred Flintstone

30 Who apologised for a “despicable” drunken anti-Semitic rant in which he stated that “the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world”?

a) Michael Richards

b) Mel Gibson

c) Borat

d) Michael Jackson

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