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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.

Planet

1.) Multiple Choice Question

Which Oscar winner joked that they were already rehearsing their acceptance speech when their mother gave birth?

  1. Best Actor Jean Dujardin
    Jean Dujardin
  2. Best Supporting Actress Octavia Spencer
    Octavia Spencer
  3. Best Supporting Actor Christopher Plummer
    Christopher Plummer

2.) Missing Word Question

Bad * used as stem cell tool

  1. breath
  2. fungus
  3. eggs

3.) Multiple Choice Question

"Greece needs a Marshall Plan, not a Versailles treaty," said a politician of which nationality, after the EU's second bailout of Greece was agreed?

Treaty of Versailles
  1. Greek
  2. German
  3. British

4.) Multiple Choice Question

Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe celebrated his 88th birthday, but the authorities failed to see the funny side when a man joked about the president doing what?

President Mugabe eating cake
  1. Getting the bumps
  2. Dancing
  3. Blowing balloons

Info

President Mugabe released 88 balloons in Harare as part of the celebrations. He also blew out all the candles on a cake that was shaped like a crocodile.

President Mugabe

5.) Multiple Choice Question

A low-cost computer - Raspberry Pi - designed to encourage UK children to learn programming skills sold out hours after going on sale. Which of the following inspired the "Pi"?

Raspberry Pi
  1. Pilot
  2. Python
  3. Pi (Greek letter)

6.) Multiple Choice Question

It was reported this week that one of India's richest Hindu temples earnt more than £25.6m ($40.8m) from the sale of what?

Temple
  1. Human hair
  2. Carbon credits
  3. Bat guano
  4. Gold

Info

It was a very sad week for fans of The Monkees, a band which sold more than 60 million records. One of the quartet, Briton Davy Jones, died after a heart attack, aged 66.

Davy Jones

7.) Multiple Choice Question

Which Star Trek character was apparently inspired by Davy Jones?

Star Trek costumes
  1. Spock
  2. Scotty
  3. Chekov
  4. Sulu

Info

Walter Koenig, who played Chekov, did not join the Star Trek cast until the second season. Both The Monkees and Star Trek were aired on NBC in the US.

Davy Jones and Chekov

Answers

  1. It's Plummer, who added: "But it was so long ago, mercifully for you, I've forgotten it." The 82-year-old Canadian became the oldest recipient of an Academy Award, for his role in Beginners.
  2. It's bad breath. Hydrogen sulphide, the gas famed for generating the stench in stink bombs, flatulence and bad breath, has been harnessed by stem cell researchers in Japan.
  3. It's German. The remark, in reference to the painful reparations imposed on Germany after World War I, was made by Left Party leader Gregor Gysi. German MPs backed the 130bn-euro deal, despite being the biggest contributor. The Marshall Plan was the US aid package to Europe after World War II.
  4. It's blowing balloons. According to the group Lawyers for Human Rights, a carpenter was arrested after watching the celebrations in a bar, because he joked whether an 88-year-old could blow up so many balloons. The group says the man has been charged under laws that make it an offence to insult Mr Mugabe.
  5. It's Python. In a recent interview with the Daily Brink website, Eben Upton, project director at the Raspberry Pi foundation, explained that there was a history of "fruit-named computer companies" and Raspberry was one of the few fruits that wasn't taken. And Pi was a "kind of a pun" on the computer's language, Python.
  6. It was human hair. The Daily Telegraph reported that according to recently released data more than 560 tonnes of human hair had been offered to Venkateswara at Tirumala Temple in Andhra Pradesh state in the past few months. The hair was sold to wigmakers around the world.
  7. It's Chekov. Star Trek creator Gene Rodenberry is thought to have come up with the character in response to the popularity of Davy Jones. Click NEXT to see the likeness.

Your Score

0 - 3 : Negative, Doctor

4 - 6 : That is illogical

7 - 7 : Beam you up

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).

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