Friday 9 September 2011

Test your news knowledge in this week's quiz

I spent this week in the company of bright trainee journalists on the Mail diploma at Northcliffe House in Kensington. It's been a good week - writing stories, looking at the papers in detail and we have had a stream of doyens including columnist Quentin Letts, head of news Neil Darbyshire, city editor Alex Brummer and managing editor Alex Bannister offering advice. At the same time the Daily Telegraph diploma is being held in Howden, East Yorkshire, and I will be joining them next month. The Mail sub-editing course starts in Howden on September 19, so I will be up there for that too. I have been involved in these courses, run by Press Association Training for eight years. As some of you may remember, at the end of each week we run a newsquiz. I will be posting the questions here each week. It's a bit of fun but the serious side is to ensure the trainees get into the habit of reading the newspapers in detail, rather than just as scanning the headlines. A scratch card went to Rosie Taylor from the Mail who was top this week with 12.5 points out of 20. She narrowly pipped Adam Shergold with 12. But although the Mail had the highest scorer, the Daily Telegraph had the best average. I am expecting improvement all round next week. Try it - no cheating - and see if you can beat Rosie's 12.5.
George Osborne (Question 7) with Christine Lagarde (Question 13)

1. What will not restart as soon as it has finished?

2.  Rebecca Leighton was released without charge after six weeks in custody.  At which hospital does she work?

3.  P J Harvey won this week's Mercury Award - what do the initial stand for? (Half point for each correct name).

4. How many Free Schools are opening this year?

5.  Who came face to face with a toad?

6.  Who is the oldest contestant in this year's Strictly Come Dancing line-up?

7.  George Osborne used which inappropriate word in a joke he told at the GQ awards?

8.  A vet is someone who looks after your pet - but spell the word that it is short for.

9.  The Rugby World Cup starts this weekend. Who are are the overwhelming favourites to win it?

10.  Which will be the first place where you will have to include the area dialing code instead of just the six digit number when making a local call?

11. Who is the editor of The Times? (Half point if you only get the surname; nothing if you get only the first name)

12. Name the Red or Black winner who caused a stir when it was revealed that he beat up his lover.

13. What does Christine Lagarde head up?

14. Which council paid £2,475 to hire security guards to protect members at a town hall - but only ten protestors turned up?

15. The Attorney General said there was a big question mark over allowing cameras into court. Who is the Attorney General?

16. Who are Lokomotiv Yaroslavl and what happened to them this week (Half point for each answer).

17. Why did Rowan Atkinson say he would probably never play the part of Mr Bean again?

18. Stuart Bell was branded Britain's laziest MP after not holding a surgery for 14 years. What is his constituency?

19. Who was laid low with Thames Tummy?

20. What happened to 23-year-old Jeni Anderson this week?

How did you do? The answers are here

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