Why did Europe take a 'bearded lady' to its heart? Who quit her job after a nutty row? And are you clever or AYSOS? Test your knowledge in Roland White's festive challenge...

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Who took 32 seconds to apologise?

Maria Miller

Kim Kardashian

Nigel Farage

Maria Miller, the former culture secretary, lost her job as culture secretary after Commons apology over her expenses

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Who was criticised for visiting the Somerset floods without his wellies?

Ed Miliband

Somerset MP Ian Liddell Grainger

Owen Paterson

Owen Paterson, then environment secretary

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

According to Ukip councillor David Silvester, what caused those floods?

God’s anger at gay marriage

Global warming

Too many hedges

It was God’s anger at gay marriage. The Ukip councillor also chastised David Cameron for acting “arrogantly” against the Gospel by legalising same-sex unions.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Where did the Tour de France start?

London

Leeds

Leicester

The Tour de France starts in Yorkshire. Cyclists will complete a scenic route through Leeds, Scarborough and York.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Which country pluckily became the 18th member of the eurozone?

Latvia

Croatia

Bulgaria

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Which country became the first to legalise euthanasia for all terminally ill children?

Kazakhstan

Belgium

Laos

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Who got married shortly after midnight on March 29?

The first same sex couples

George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

Andrew Wale and Neil Allard became Britain’s first married gay couple at 00:00am on 29 March, tying the knot the second they were legally allowed to do so.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

For how many days was David Moyes the manager of Manchester United before being sacked in April?

285

301

295

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Who lost their job after taking a picture of builder Dan Ware’s house?

Emily Thornberry

A council worker from Essex

Michael Fabricant

Emily Thornberry, shadow attorney-general, tweeted the disastrous snap while campaigning in Rochester. She was accused of being snobby and promptly stepped down

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Why did people get shirty with Matt Taylor?

He took his shirt off in an inappropriate location

He wore a shirt which offended some people

He tried to get a range of offensive shirts banned

The scientist, who helped land a probe on a comet, apologised for wearing a shirt that featured semi-naked women

Famous for 15 minutes

Please complete this question. You must drag and drop at least 5 answer(s).

Why were these people (and animals) briefly in the news in 2014?

drop

Conchita Wurst

Heather Cho

Thokozile Matilda Masipa

Annabel Honeybun

The Hare, the Polar Bear, and the Leopard

drag

Judge in Oscar Pistorius trial

Gardener reportedly employed to remove leaves from parliamentary trees by hand

Korean Air chief's daughter who delayed a flight in anger because angry at how nuts were being served

Drag queen who won Eurovision song contest

Sochi Winter Olympic mascots

Please complete this question. You must drag and drop at least 5 answer(s).

Round Two...

drop

Natasha Bolter

Lewis Clarke

Dean Farley

Constance Briscoe

David Hockaday

drag

At 16, he became youngest person ever to ski to South Pole

Judge jailed for attempting to pervert the course of justice in Vicky Pryce/Chris Huhne case

Non-league football coach who became manager of Leeds United for six games

Woman at centre of sex scandal involving Ukip general secretary Roger Bird

Jogger who bumped into David Cameron

The book bit

Which book features the following fictional characters?

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Kitty Skimpole, Watt Rouncewell, Mrs Snagsby?

David Copperfield

Nicholas Nickleby

Bleak House

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Spadge Hopkins, Granny Trill, Cabbage-Stump Charlie?

Cider with Rosie

My Family and Other Animals

Pigs in Heaven

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Gia Matteo, Leila Williams, Dr Grace Trevelyan Grey?

Fifty Shades of Grey

Lady Chatterley's Lover

Bared to You

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Grunthos the Flatulent, Lunkwill, Majikthise?

Beowulf

How to Train a Dragon

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Penny Husbands-Bosworth, Perpetua, Una Alconbury?

Us

Bridget Jones’s Diary

The Age of Innocence

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Sir Jocelyn Hitchcock, Lady Trilby, Mr Wenlock Jakes?

The Great Gatsby

Scoop

The Beautiful and the Damned

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Valentine Wannop, Potty Perowne, General Campion?

Parade’s End

Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Birds Without Wings

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Lord Stannis Baratheon, Ser Helman Tallhart, Utherydes Wayn?

The Hobbit

Game of Thrones

Wolf Hall

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Jane Fairfax, Mrs Goddard, Colonel Campbell?

Emma

Dracula

Wuthering Heights

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Albert Bloch, Dr Cottard, Charlie Morel

Everything is Illuminated

A la Recherche du Temps Perdu

Les Misérables

Nicknames

Which public figures were known as:

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

The Swedish Nightingale?

Anni-Frid Lyngstad

Jenny Lind

Ingrid Bergman

Jenny Lind (1820 - 1887), the Stockholm-born soprano, became known as “the Swedish Nightingale” after her powerful but natural sounding voice.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

The Little Sparrow?

Edith Piaf

Cara Delevingne

Audrey Tautou

The nightclub owner who discovered Edith Piaf nicknamed her “The Little Sparrow” after persuading the diminutive Parisian to sing despite her extreme stage fright.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Bambi?

Tony Blair

Audrey Hepburn

Cristiano Ronaldo

The adoring British media dubbed Tony Blair a political “bambi” when he was still doe-eyed and inexperienced as leader of the opposition.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

The Great She-Elephant?

Boudicca

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Margaret Thatcher

Sir Julian Critchley, one of Thatcher's most vocal critics, gave her the nickname.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

The Desert Fox?

Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

Field Marshal General Erwin Rommel

Dwight D. Eisenhower

German field marshal Erwin Rommel’s skilled leadership of German and Italian forces in North Africa during World War II earnt him the nickname “Desert Fox”.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

The Flea?

Lionel Messi

Frankie Dettori

James Taylor

It was wrongly assumed that Lionel Messi would be squashed like a “Little Flea” by opposition defenders after the Argentine footballer was diagnosed with a growth-hormone disorder as a child.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

The Great Bear?

Handel

Grigori Rasputin

Ludwig van Beethoven

German composer George Frideric Handel was nicknamed the ‘Great Bear’ for his enormous size and appetite, and awkward gait.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

The Raging Bull?

Mike Tyson

Sugar Ray Robinson

Jake LaMotta

American-Italian boxer Jake LaMotta was called the “Raging Bull” after his famed aggression inside - and outside - of the ring.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

The Big Bird?

Joel Garner

Tom Jones

Albert Einstein

Legendary West-Indian cricketer Joel Garner stood at 6 ft 8 and was known by fans as “the Big Bird” because of his towering stature.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

The Welsh Goat?

John Rhys-Davies

Gavin Henson

David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George was monikered “The Goat” by a parliamentary colleague because of his notorious womanising.

In the country

Which countries are being described here by the CIA World Factbook?

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

A province and then a grand duchy under Sweden from the 12th to the 19th centuries. Slightly smaller than Montana

Finland

Norway

Denmark

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

The world’s largest country that borders only one country. Slightly larger than the US

Russia

India

Canada

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Settlement of free slaves from the US began here in 1822. Slightly larger than Tennessee

Liberia

Sierra Leone

Guinea

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Part of the Norwegian kingdom of the Hebrides until the 13th century. Slightly more than three times the size of Washington DC

Isle of Wight

Isle of Man

Guernsey

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

The world’s largest island. Slightly more than three times the size of Texas

Australia

Greenland

Iceland

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

One of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830. Slightly more than twice the size of California

Venezuela

Columbia

Ecuador

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

For centuries, stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world. Slightly smaller than the US

India

Greece

China

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Played a leading role in developing parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science. Slightly smaller than Oregon

Italy

The UK

Denmark

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

The country served as a buffer between the British and Russian empires. Slightly smaller than Texas

Afghanistan

Pakistan

Kazakhstan

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Lost much of its wealth and status with the destruction of its capital city in a 1755 earthquake. Slightly smaller than Indiana

Portugal

Spain

France

In which county would you find?

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Bottom Flash?

Cheshire

Gloucestershire

Merseyside

Bottom Flash is one of three freshwater lakes found in Winsford, Cheshire. Its sisters are Top Flash and the rather more conservatively named Middle Flash.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Lickey End?

West Midlands

Worcestershire

Herefordshire

Lickey End is the village tucked between the M42 and M5 in County Worcestershire.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

River Piddle?

Berkshire

Kent

Dorset

The Piddle may be mentioned in the Domesday Book, but its unfortunate name never gets old. The river froths through Piddletrenthide.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Six Mile Bottom?

Cambridgeshire

Northumberland

Orkney

Six Mile Bottom is a hamlet butted up against a small church in Cambridge.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Lord Hereford’s Knob?

Powys

Londonderry

Cheshire

Lord Hereford’s Knob pokes out of the Black Mountains in Powys, Wales.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Nether Wallop?

Belfast

Hampshire

Middlesex

Nether Wallop is at least 1575 years old and located in west Hampshire.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Effingham?

Lincolnshire

Caerphilly

Surrey

Effingham, a rural village in Surrey, has been branded ‘dull’ by Lonely Planet.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Brokenwind?

Aberdeenshire

Glasgow

Kent

Whichever way you spell it - Brokenwind or the traditional Brokenwynd - the name of this hamlet in Aberdeenshire arguably stinks.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Weedon?

Oxfordshire

Devon

Buckinghamshire

The motto of Buckinghamshire, “No Turning Back”, may curse the residents of its civil parish, Weedon, for perpetuity.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Badgers Mount?

Somerset

Kent

Perthshire

Badgers Mount is a village in Kent.

The royals

Please complete this question. You must drag and drop at least 10 answer(s).

Name that Monarch

drop
drag

Henry VII

Louis XVI of France

Good King Wenceslas

William II

Queen Victoria

Haile Selassie of Ethiopia

James I

Richard III

Queen Anne

Catherine the Great of Russia

Architecture

Please complete this question. You must drag and drop at least 5 answer(s).

Name these buildings:

drop
drag

Guggenheim museum, Bilbao

Elysée Palace, Paris

Ely Cathedral

Balmoral Castle

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Initial training

What do these computer-related initials stand for?

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

PDF

Processed Disk File

Portable Document Format

Printable Document Format

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

JPEG

Joint Photographic Experts Group

Joint Picture Expansion Group

Joint Photograph Exposure Gain

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

ASCII

Advanced Status Code for Integrated Information

American Standard Code for Information Interchange

Application Service for Information Interchange

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

SMS

Short Message Service

Standardised Message Service

Serial Message Service

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

HTTPS

Hypertext Technology Permissions Service

Hightext Transfer Protocol Standard

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure

FYI

Translate this text speak (from the TalkTalk dictionary) into standard English:

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

AYSOS

Act young, silly or stupid

Are you stupid or something?

Are you serious or something?

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

CID

Consider it done

Calm it down

Crack it down

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

DIKU

Did I kiss you?

Dude I killed you

Do I know you?

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

PIR

Picture it real

Paint it red

Parents in room

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

FF

Friends forever

Feeling fine

Friendly feelings

What connects?

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Jarrow, Chichester and Millfield?

Tyne and Wear metro stations

London tube stations

Oxford train stations

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Beverley Hills, Croydon, and Fairy Meadow?

California metro stations

Swansea train stations

Sydney metro stations

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Military Museum, Temple of Heaven, Biomedical Base?

Beijing metro stations

Berlin metro stations

Madrid metro stations

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Canberra, Somerset, Mayflower?

Vancouver metro stations

Singapore metro stations

Copenhagen metro stations

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

St Andrew, St George, St Clair?

Prague metro stations

Rome metro stations

Toronto metro stations

I don't know much about art but...

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Which painting shows Jean de Dinteville, George de Selve, a globe, a sundial, and a skull?

Pitcher, Globe and State, by Ernest Harold Jones

Vanitas, Still Life with a Globe, by Petrus Schotanus

The Ambassadors, by Hans Holbein the Younger

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Which painting shows Nan Wood Graham, Dr Byron McKeeby, and a pitchfork?

American Gothic, by Grant Wood

The Nightmare, Henry Fuseli

The Arnolfini Portrait, by Jan Van Eyck

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

What is the reverend Robert Walker doing in a portrait by Sir Henry Raeburn?

Staring

Ice skating

Farming

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Who recorded Dr Tulp’s anatomy lesson?

Picasso

Leonardo da Vinci

Rembrandt

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

By what name is Arrangement in Grey and Black No 1 by James Whistler better known?

Whistler’s Mother

Guernica

The Night Watch

Final words

Whose reported last words were:

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

You must pardon me, gentlemen, for being a most unconscionable time a-dying

Christopher Marlowe

Charles II

Samuel Pepys

The words uttered by King Charles II (1630–1685) on his deathbed demonstrated the etiquette expected of any true English monarch. With fourteen illegitimate offspring, the royal, who died of kidney disease, was possibly deficient elsewhere.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go

J. D. Salinger

Allen Ginsberg

Oscar Wilde

Eternally witty , Oscar Wilde (1854) died of cerebral meningitis in 1900.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Monks! Monks! Monks!

Martin Luther

Henry VIII

William of Orange

No friend of the Vatican - and the Vatican no friend of his - the terrified Henry VIII (1491 – 1547) apparently suffered visions of scowling monks in the corner of his chamber shortly before dying.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

This is not a good time for making enemies

Voltaire

Andy Warhol

Charlie Chaplin

Voltaire (1694 - 1778), on being asked to renounce Satan by a visiting priest.

Please complete this question. You must select 1 answer(s).

Two eggs, lightly poached

Winston Churchill

H. H. Asquith

Roy Jenkins

Roy Jenkins’ last words were to his wife, Jennifer, before he died of a heart attack in 2003.

Please complete all of the questions.

How did you do?

You scored {{score}} out of 100!

0-20: Terrible, truly terrible. Have you even opened a paper this year? Must try harder next year.

21-40: Not bad, but not exactly good either. Try looking at more than just the pictures of Kim Kardashian’s bottom and Ed Miliband failing to eat a bacon sandwich.

41-60: A solid score. Perhaps if you spent less time having a life of your own, you might have done even better!

61-80: Very good. You clearly know your Farages from your garages and your twits from Twitter rows. Brush up a little more and you’ll be doing as well as Boris Johnson in a room of people who know nothing about politics.

81-100: Impressive, if a little sad. Either way, you can be on our pub quiz team any day.

Answers

Who took 32 seconds to apologise?

Maria Miller

Who was criticised for visiting the Somerset floods without his wellies?

Owen Paterson

According to Ukip councillor David Silvester, what caused those floods?

God’s anger at gay marriage

Where did the Tour de France start?

Leeds

Which country pluckily became the 18th member of the eurozone?

Latvia

Which country became the first to legalise euthanasia for all terminally ill children?

Belgium

Who got married shortly after midnight on March 29?

The first same sex couples

For how many days was David Moyes the manager of Manchester United before being sacked in April?

295

Who lost their job after taking a picture of builder Dan Ware’s house?

Emily Thornberry

Why did people get shirty with Matt Taylor?

He wore a shirt which offended some people

Why were these people (and animals) briefly in the news in 2014?

Judge in Oscar Pistorius trial

Thokozile Matilda Masipa

Gardener reportedly employed to remove leaves from parliamentary trees by hand

Annabel Honeybun

Korean Air chief's daughter who delayed a flight in anger because angry at how nuts were being served

Heather Cho

Drag queen who won Eurovision song contest

Conchita Wurst

Sochi Winter Olympic mascots

The Hare, the Polar Bear, and the Leopard

Round Two...

At 16, he became youngest person ever to ski to South Pole

Lewis Clarke

Judge jailed for attempting to pervert the course of justice in Vicky Pryce/Chris Huhne case

Constance Briscoe

Non-league football coach who became manager of Leeds United for six games

David Hockaday

Woman at centre of sex scandal involving Ukip general secretary Roger Bird

Natasha Bolter

Jogger who bumped into David Cameron

Dean Farley

Kitty Skimpole, Watt Rouncewell, Mrs Snagsby?

Bleak House

Spadge Hopkins, Granny Trill, Cabbage-Stump Charlie?

Cider with Rosie

Gia Matteo, Leila Williams, Dr Grace Trevelyan Grey?

Fifty Shades of Grey

Grunthos the Flatulent, Lunkwill, Majikthise?

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Penny Husbands-Bosworth, Perpetua, Una Alconbury?

Bridget Jones’s Diary

Sir Jocelyn Hitchcock, Lady Trilby, Mr Wenlock Jakes?

Scoop

Valentine Wannop, Potty Perowne, General Campion?

Parade’s End

Lord Stannis Baratheon, Ser Helman Tallhart, Utherydes Wayn?

Game of Thrones

Jane Fairfax, Mrs Goddard, Colonel Campbell?

Emma

Albert Bloch, Dr Cottard, Charlie Morel

A la Recherche du Temps Perdu

The Swedish Nightingale?

Jenny Lind

The Little Sparrow?

Edith Piaf

Bambi?

Tony Blair

The Great She-Elephant?

Margaret Thatcher

The Desert Fox?

Field Marshal General Erwin Rommel

The Flea?

Lionel Messi

The Great Bear?

Handel

The Raging Bull?

Jake LaMotta

The Big Bird?

Joel Garner

The Welsh Goat?

David Lloyd George

A province and then a grand duchy under Sweden from the 12th to the 19th centuries. Slightly smaller than Montana

Finland

The world’s largest country that borders only one country. Slightly larger than the US

Canada

Settlement of free slaves from the US began here in 1822. Slightly larger than Tennessee

Liberia

Part of the Norwegian kingdom of the Hebrides until the 13th century. Slightly more than three times the size of Washington DC

Isle of Man

The world’s largest island. Slightly more than three times the size of Texas

Greenland

One of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830. Slightly more than twice the size of California

Venezuela

For centuries, stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world. Slightly smaller than the US

China

Played a leading role in developing parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science. Slightly smaller than Oregon

The UK

The country served as a buffer between the British and Russian empires. Slightly smaller than Texas

Afghanistan

Lost much of its wealth and status with the destruction of its capital city in a 1755 earthquake. Slightly smaller than Indiana

Portugal

Bottom Flash?

Cheshire

Lickey End?

Worcestershire

River Piddle?

Dorset

Six Mile Bottom?

Cambridgeshire

Lord Hereford’s Knob?

Powys

Nether Wallop?

Hampshire

Effingham?

Surrey

Brokenwind?

Aberdeenshire

Weedon?

Buckinghamshire

Badgers Mount?

Kent

Name that Monarch

Henry VII

Louis XVI of France

Good King Wenceslas

William II

Queen Victoria

Haile Selassie of Ethiopia

James I

Richard III

Catherine the Great of Russia

Name these buildings:

Guggenheim museum, Bilbao

Elysée Palace, Paris

Ely Cathedral

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

PDF

Portable Document Format

JPEG

Joint Photographic Experts Group

ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange

SMS

Short Message Service

HTTPS

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure

AYSOS

Are you stupid or something?

CID

Consider it done

DIKU

Do I know you?

PIR

Parents in room

FF

Friends forever

Jarrow, Chichester and Millfield?

Tyne and Wear metro stations

Beverley Hills, Croydon, and Fairy Meadow?

Sydney metro stations

Military Museum, Temple of Heaven, Biomedical Base?

Beijing metro stations

Canberra, Somerset, Mayflower?

Singapore metro stations

St Andrew, St George, St Clair?

Toronto metro stations

Which painting shows Jean de Dinteville, George de Selve, a globe, a sundial, and a skull?

The Ambassadors, by Hans Holbein the Younger

Which painting shows Nan Wood Graham, Dr Byron McKeeby, and a pitchfork?

American Gothic, by Grant Wood

What is the reverend Robert Walker doing in a portrait by Sir Henry Raeburn?

Ice skating

Who recorded Dr Tulp’s anatomy lesson?

Rembrandt

By what name is Arrangement in Grey and Black No 1 by James Whistler better known?

Whistler’s Mother

You must pardon me, gentlemen, for being a most unconscionable time a-dying

Charles II

My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go

Oscar Wilde

Monks! Monks! Monks!

Henry VIII

This is not a good time for making enemies

Voltaire

Two eggs, lightly poached

Roy Jenkins