Mail trainees and the news challenge

At Derry Street for the last two weeks working with seven very bright Mail trainees. It is the third year the Mail's reporting diploma has run and it was fantastic to see former trainees now established as regular bylines. Fay Schlesinger is doing a stint as royal corr, Claire Ellicott has spent a fruitful week on the Rooney saga and Laura Williamson is a fixture on the sports pages. I also bumped into trainees from decades ago, including reporter Sam Greenhill and assistant editor Keith Poole. Richard Edwards, now crime correspondent on the Telegraph, and Matt Chorley on the Sindy joined us at the Elephant and Castle too. The Mail's Magnificent Seven have now left London for a stint on the regionals and I am on my way to Howden to work on the paper's subbing scheme. Best of luck to them all. We finished with the usual newsquiz. Well done Mark Duell, who was top this week with 12.5 out of 21, and John Stevens who collected the Sauvignon Blanc for the best average over the two weeks. It was definitely a low scoring week, see if you can do any better.

Where will the Pope be landing? (see Q 6)

1. Terry Jones is the pastor planning to burn a copy of the Koran. Where is his church (you need town and state to get one point) 

2. David Alvand of Plymouth planted 16 leylandii Cypress trees which have grown to 35ft but why was he in the news in 2003?

3. In which city did David Cameron's father, Ian, die?

4. Which newspaper launched a perfume this week and what is it called (need both answers to get one point; half each)

5. Who did Eamonn Holmes refer to as Miss Stratosphere?

6. The Pope is due in the UK next Thursday. Into which city will he arrive?

7. Why was Robert Hall in the news this week?

8. What song did X-factor favourite Cher Lloyd sing last Saturday?

9. It is the 70th anniversary of what on September 15th?

10. What is the constituency of Foreign Secretary William Hague?

11. Why did Gary Higgs say he killed his girlfriend Jo Kitchen?

12. Who is the Secretary of State for Health? 

13. Where was Jennifer Thompson, aka Juicy Jenny, born? 

14. What was the name of the other girl involved in the Wayne Rooney threesome?

15. Who is the editor of the News of the World?

16. England beat Bulgaria and Switzerland in their first two Euro 2012 qualifying games. Their next game is against another unbeaten side. Who?

17. The chairman of which bank is to take over as an unpaid Government trade minister? For a bonus, name him.

18. Which snooker player was cleared of match fixing?

19. Who is the oldest contestant in the forthcoming Strictly Come Dancing programme?

20. The RMT called a Tube strike in London on Tuesday this week. What does RMT stand for?

Answers