5 January 2012 Last updated at 23:02 ET

Quiz of the week's news

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It's the Magazine's 7 days, 7 questions quiz - an opportunity to prove to yourself and others that you are a news oracle. Failing that, you can always claim to have had better things to do during the past week than swot up on current affairs.

1.) Multiple Choice Question

A new crab species has been discovered and nicknamed The Hoff, after Baywatch actor David Hasselhoff. Why?

1. Red midriff
   
2. Found off coast of Los Angeles
   
3. Hairy chest
   

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See the resemblance?

2.) Multiple Choice Question

Rupert Murdoch joined Twitter earlier this week and immediately began following four other tweeters, including which Briton?

1. Lord Sugar
   
2. Piers Morgan
   
3. David Cameron
   

3.) Multiple Choice Question

Diet guru Pierre Dukan has been criticised in France for proposals to encourage youngsters to lose weight. Which one of the following was among them?

1. Compulsory 1km run daily
   
2. Chocolate banned in school
   
3. Extra marks for thinner pupils
   

4.) Multiple Choice Question

Who was voted the fictional head of state people would most like to see to run Britain, in a poll conducted by a film rental firm?

1. West Wing's Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen)
   
2. Air Force One's James Marshall (Harrison Ford)
   
3. Dr Strangelove's President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers)
   

5.) Missing Word Question

* 'worse than drink' for drivers

1. A cold
   
2. Drugs
   
3. Talking
   

6.) Multiple Choice Question

What did scientist Stephen Hawking say this week remains the biggest mystery to him?

1. Religion
   
2. String theory
   
3. Women
   

7.) Multiple Choice Question

Speaking of Stephen Hawking, on Sunday he shares a birthday with the musician, David Bowie. What is the age gap?

1. The same
   
2. Hawking five years younger
   
3. Hawking five years older
   
4. Hawking 10 years older
   

Answers

1. It's the hairy chest. They are yeti crabs and will be given a formal scientific name in due course.
2. It's Lord Sugar, although he appeared to have unfollowed him days later. Twitter founder Jack Dorsey was another Murdoch was following early on.
3. It's awarding extra exam marks. In a new book, Dukan proposed higher marks for those who managed to maintain an acceptable Body Mass Index (BMI), in their Baccalaureat, which they take at the age of 17.
4. It was Josiah Bartlet, with almost one-fifth of the votes. Harrison Ford's James Marshall was third and President Merkin Muffley, bizarrely, got 7% of the vote in a poll of 1,515 people.
5. It's a cold. The Daily Telegraph reported on Thursday that motorists afflicted by heavy colds or flu suffer significant loss of concentration. A report by an insurance firm found that reaction times dropped sharply and cornering became erratic.
6. It's women. In an interview with New Scientist magazine, the former Cambridge University professor was asked what he thinks about most. "Women. They are a complete mystery," he replied.
7. Stephen Hawking is five years older. Born on 8 January 1942, he is turning 70 while Bowie will be 65. They share a birthday with Elvis Presley (1935) and North Korea's new leader, Kim Jong-un, who was born in either 1983 or 1984.

Your Score

0 - 3 : Absolute Beginners

4 - 6 : Under Pressure

7 - 7 : Starman

For past quizzes including our weekly news quiz, 7 days 7 questions, expand the grey drop-down below - also available on the Magazine page (and scroll down).