A Christmas quiz for all ages
The Christmas quiz is as traditional as bread sauce and brandy butter in my house. I have been busy compiling this year's offering for domestic consumption, so I thought I would offer it as a bonus feature to loyal readers.
My challenge is to find questions that work for all ages, all interests and for contestants who may be slightly lacking in concentration after a full Christmas dinner.
My solution is numbers.
1) Divide your guests into two or three teams.
2) Each team in turn can guess at the correct number answer to a question.
3) The closest wins the point - three points if they are on the button.
4) If two teams both choose the correct number or are equidistant from the right answer, both teams get the points.
5) That's it.
Some questions are easier than others - the idea is not to make people feel totally stupid.
What might be fun is for people to post a 2008 number question of their own so this blog becomes a source of endless seasonal diversion. Merry Christmas!
Questions:
1) How many complaints did the BBC management receive regarding the Russell Brand show broadcast on Radio 2 in October?
2) How many were received from offended listeners before the Mail on Sunday highlighted the programme?
3) How much of our money did the British government use to bail out the banks this year?
4) How many votes were cast over the entire series OF 'X Factor'?
5) How much did Nathaniel Rothschild claim Tory Shadow Chancellor George Osborne tried to solicit from Oleg Deripaska aboard the Russian oligarch's yacht?
6) Team GB finished fourth in the medals table in the Beijing Olympics. How many medals did the British get in total?
7) In April, Barack Obama and his wife Michelle published their tax return. In dollars, how much did the couple earn in 2007?
8) What does Arsenal FC claim is the average attendance at The Emirates for Premier League games this season?
9) According to the WWF, how many Sumatran tigers are left in the wild?
10) According to the most recent published figures, the average house price in the UK in October was £203,539 -7.4% lower than in October 2007. But what was the average UK house price in the year 2000?
11) What is the recommended retail price (RRP) for a packet of 3 Gogo's Original Crazy Bones?
12) Last year's Doctor Who Christmas special Voyage of the Damned had a record audience. How many watched?
13) This year The Circus by Take That became the fastest selling album and one of the fastest selling ever. How many days did it take to sell a million copies?
14) Lewis Hamilton became the youngest ever F1 Champion. How old was he when he crossed the finishing line in Brazil?
15) The average debt of a working-age British adult is more than double what it was in 2000. How much does the average person owe?
16) Britain's Nicole Cooke crossed the finish line to win Olympic gold in the women's cycling road race. After 120 kilometres and three and a half hours, what was her margin of victory?
17) Between July and September last year, there were 1,082 MRSA infections in England. How many in the same period this year?
18) The prime minister recently announced that the number of British troops in Afghanistan will rise. How many will there be in the country after the increase?
19) Net migration into the UK last year rose 25% on the previous 12 months, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). How many more people arrived than left in 2007?
20) With the death of Oliver Postgate this month, bucket-loads of nostalgia for 'Bagpuss'. But how many episodes of the programme were ever made?
Answers:
1) 42,851
2) 5 from the general public and one from Andrew Sachs
3) £37bn
4) 16,469,064
5) £50,000
6) 47
7) $4.2m (mostly from book sales)
8) 59,983
9) 400-500
10) £101,550
11) £0.99
12) 13.8 million
13) 19
14) 23 years 300 days
15) £40,000 (total £1.5 trillion)
16) 4/100th of a second
17) 725
18) 8,300
19) 237,000
20) Just 13
I'm 
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~45~RS~)
Comments
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cheers mark was looking for a quiz all over the internet and you've just solved all my problems.
Merry Christmas.
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Mark, I take it you a) assume your family don`t read your blog and b) they aren`t allowed to type the question into Google? (Your blog is the first result if they do.)
My 10 questions about events in 2008.
1) Of the total votes cast in the US election, what percentage were cast for Obama?
2) Was Obama`s percentage share of the vote above or below the percentage share of the vote won by G.W. Bush in the 2000 election, and by how much?
3) When Cyclone Nargis struck the Myanmar (Burma) coast what category of strength was it?
4) When Hurricane Gustav struck the Louisiana coast what category of strength was it?
5) How many people died as a result of Cyclone Nargis?
6) How many people died as a result of Hurricane Gustav?
7) How many people died as a result of Sichuan earthquake?
8) How many Chinese performers took part in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics?
9 How many gold medals did GB`s team win in the Beijing Paralympics?
10) How many US banks collapsed in 2008?
Answers
1) 52.9%
2) Above - by 5%. (G.W. Bush won 47.9% of the vote in 2000 [50.7% in 2004].)
3) Category 4. (Wind speeds of 131-155 mph/210-249 kmh.)
4) Category 2. (Wind speeds of 96-110 mph/154-177 kmh.) It had subsided from earlier Category 4 strength over the Caribbean.
5) 130,000 (Source: Doctors Without Frontiers.)
6) 138 in total; 43 in the USA and 95 on Caribbean islands.
7) Official figures give 69,227 confirmed dead and 18,222 still missing.
8) 15,000
9) 42 (GB won 42 Gold, 29 Silver and 31 Bronze medals. They came 2nd overall.)
10) 22
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Question 1b) How many people complaining actually listened to the show in question at the time, and how many just jumped on the bandwagon after it was picked up by a newspaper?
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Oops, somehow missed the 2nd question!
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
My questions:
1. How many perfectly legitimate comments have the bbc censored this year on "have your say"?
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1) Too Many
2) about 6
3) few billio
4) however many it was, it was too many
5)a million?
6) 12
7) guessing a few hundred thousand.
8) 56,000
9) 30?
10) £132,000
11) £4.50
12) 12million.
13) 3
14) 24
15) £3 trillion. We're all in it together, after this year.
16) 0.4 seconds.
17) 876
18) 3,000
19) 25% more.
20) 45
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Mark
I got couple of the questions, wrong!
*Happy Holidays; Merry Christmas*
~Dennis Junior~
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Many thanks for sharing! Perhaps your sharing of this quiz could become a regular annual feature...?
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
@ #6:
Too many! I know exactly what you mean. I have had several HYS comments "rejected" for no reason, even though they were politely-written, non-offensive and on-topic.
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It`s up to readers of these blogs to use the `complain about this comment` link to have comments pulled.
Some readers seem to do so simply because they disagree with it.
I`ve had around six such occurrences this year, I`m glad to say the mod`s disagreed with the complainer on four occasions and put my comment back into full view.
Of the other two, one was off-topic (as was the comment it replied to, which was also pulled) and the other might have been seen as libellous (if true, in my opinion) about an external organisation and they had seen it and decided to take legal action. Laws regarding libel and slander apply to the Internet as they do in the real world.
I`ve yet to complain about a comment, I`m used to robust discussions and most contributors act reasonably; but, as an example, comment 11 above was on a completely unrelated topic and someone must have taken exception to it. Keeping on-topic does make for better discussions.
Just about every discussion board/forum I`ve taken part in on the Web has some form of moderation and mechanisms for contributors to complain about comments/behaviour. The BBC system is usually quite relaxed compared to some other media sites.
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Comment 11, I meant comment 10.
My Apologies.
PS Nice quiz Mark. Perhaps next year give us the answers a few days afterwards? No prizes, just for the fun of it.
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POST 12 Glad to see youve been busy
A silly Quiz whilst Israel knocks HELL out
OF THE PALESTINIANS??
ARE YOU AMERICAN?
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Post 14.
It wasn't me.
And I won't. (I can't vouch for others)
And I'm British.
I recognize you have strong feelings but there is a specific HYS on this.
This blog (one of many) is subtitled 'This is where I'll be discussing the way we live in the ever-changing UK'.
So the middle east tragedy (which I've grown up with and despair of ever seeing a peaceful conclusion to) is off-topic here.
You may also find some people disagree with your viewpoint.
You probably feel that everyone should think the same way as you, but you may notice from taking part in HYS's and comment boards not everyone does.
Part of life is coming to terms with criticism and disagreement and differences in perceptions and priorities.
PS. Both sides should declare an unconditional cease fire and open talks - again.
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post 15
Yawn!
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Post 16 - yet again an example of someone who, when they can't win an argument by reasoned debate, resort to ignoring the facts and simply try to belittle the person they disagree with.
In much the same way that, when neither the Palestinians or the Israelis can win an argument based on debate, they decide to blow eachother up instead.
_________________________________
By the way - thanks for the original quiz, and the subsequent questions in the responses. I thought I had a reasonable grasp of last years news, but I was surprised at how much I had forgotten!
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#14. alexandercurzon: "A silly Quiz whilst Israel knocks HELL out OF THE PALESTINIANS??"
What relevance does that have to life in the UK?
There are plenty of other forums on the Web and BBC sites to argue about Middle East politics, but this isn't one of them. And yes, I live in America - but like to read what's happening "back home". I don't want it sullied by such off-topic comments.
My only criticism would be to ask why is "18) The prime minister . ." in lower case whereas at No. 5, "Tory Shadow Chancellor George Osborne" is in upper case?
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There appears to be some HTML problem with this post, on line one one, so I'll try again.
Here's a question for an armchair statistician.. How often would you change your underwear if you were one of the poor 8,300 squaddies doing a tour out there, as opposed to the "Fag-break" visits by politicians, & so called jounalists?
If you want to preach on these matters, please "walk the walk" before you "talk the talk"
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post 17 nick up north
Yawn?
That was a response to the
DENIAL.
Not to the troubles in the Middle
East.
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Get a brain alexandercurzon, bias over the middle east conflict is as pointless as the conflict itself. Both sides are as bad as each other and numerous groups have fought over the region for 4000+ years with no winners.
Laying blame on just one side is naive at best, neither side will ever admit their own mistakes nor will they ever back down, the fighting is inevitable and will continue until one side has completely obliterated the other.
This is not the view of a pessimist, just that of someone who realises the truth, there are far too many people (in all religions) who believe that if you don't conform to their own rigid belief system, then death is the only solution.
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post 22 fred...
Time you aquired some manners?
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Maybe I am old fashioned but what has Israel got to do with hard working people having a bit of light hearted fun during the Christmas holidays? I for one enjoy this sort of quiz and whilst I look upon world events and worry about where it is all going I am still mindful of the need to enjoy life with my family and not live in a world of doom and gloom...........! Why can people not simply enjoy things like this as opposed to calling it a silly quiz and trying to make us all feel guilty for the errors of others around the world?
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Reference posts:-
10
14
16
20
21
23
24
1. Please get a life.
2. Maybe you could learn to spell.
HAPPY NEW YEAR - MR MISERY
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Reference posts:-
10
14
16
20
21
23
24
1. Please get a life.
2. Maybe you could learn to spell.
HAPPY NEW YEAR - MR MISERY
p.s. Many thanks for the quiz - didnt get many right lol.
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