Saga Magazine pub quiz of the year

From mayoral elections and marriages to missed birthdays and moggie millionaires, our bumper set of teasers will test your knowledge of the past 12 months.

Questions

Question 1

The American version of which long-running BBC panel show, which launched in the US in September, is compered by a comedian called Roy Wood Jr?

Question 2

Whose entire senior team forgot to wish him ‘happy birthday’ at their morning meeting on 2 September?

Question 3

Five people, including a drug dealer and doctors, were arrested in August in connection with the death last year of which 54-year-old actor?

Question 4

When Rishi Sunak stood outside 10 Downing Street to announce the date of the general election, which song – associated with the Labour Party – could be heard?

Question 5

What date did Sunak announce for the 2024 general election?

Question 6

Who, according to The Sunday Times Rich List, published in May, became the first ever billionaire British musician?

Question 7

What was the title of Richard Gadd’s drama series released on Netflix in April, in which he played himself being stalked?

Question 8

Whose book, published in April and described by The Guardian as ‘unstoppably self-serving’, ‘cliché-ridden’ and ‘petulant’, was entitled Ten Years to Save the West?

Question 9

What is the name of the former co-host of That’s Life, the BBC TV series that ran from the 1970s to the 1990s, who died in September aged 81?

Question 10

The Black Dog pub in Vauxhall was inundated by fans after it was mentioned on whose album The Tortured Poets Department, released in April?

Question 11

In May’s mayoral elections, Labour’s Richard Parker beat the Tory incumbent Andy Street to become mayor of where?

Question 12

Which small West Indian nation celebrated its first ever Olympic medal in August when Julien Alfred won the women’s 100 metres in 10.72 seconds?

Question 13

Which British city revealed in late September it has agreed to host a scaled-down 2026 Commonwealth Games? 

Question 14

In April, Rachel Woolford won season 18 of which British reality show, beating Phil Turner in the final?

Question 15

Which Tory MP lost his seat to Labour’s Dan Norris in the general election in the redrawn constituency of North East Somerset and Hanham?

Question 16

Which 72-year-old former comedian, who announced in the summer he was moving to Barcelona, has reinvented himself as a TikTok star? He has more than three million followers on the social media site.

Question 17

Who was found to have contracted Covid the day after winning silver in the 100m breaststroke at the Olympics?

Question 18

In March, which Scandinavian country joined NATO, becoming its 32nd member?

Question 19

Who in July became the new children’s laureate, the 13th person to hold the post since it was instituted in 1999?

Question 20

Which TV presenter split from her husband Eamonn Holmes in May after 27 years together and 14 years of marriage?

Question 21

The film Twisters, a sequel to the 1996 disaster movie Twister, was released in July in the UK. It starred which British actress?

Question 22

And in which 2020 mini-series, based on a novel by Sally Rooney, did this actress became famous?

Question 23

In which law-abiding Far East country was a 34-year-old ban on cats in flats due to be lifted late this year after it was revealed that everyone had cats already and no one really minded?

Question 24

Which TV journalist was played by Gillian Anderson in Netflix film Scoop, released in April?

Question 25

Simon Cowell celebrated a big birthday in October. How old is he now?

Question 26

Which politician and former intelligence officer, now 72, won his fifth presidential term in March with 88.5% of the vote? A few people may have actually voted for him.

Question 27

In January, the longest-serving manager in the Premier League announced he would be leaving his club at the end of the season. Who was it?

Question 28

Which epic science fiction film sequel, released in March and directed by Denis Villeneuve, starred Timothée Chalamet?

Question 29

What are Liberty, Lioness, Mildmay, Weaver Suffragette and Windrush?

Question 30

Who won his second Masters golf tournament in April, four strokes ahead of Ludvig Åberg?

Question 31

In June, a new Michael Crichton novel called Eruption was published. Crichton, though, died in 2008 and left the book unfinished. Which prolific American thriller writer finished it for him?

Question 32

Who, an answer to a previous question, owns two Scottish Fold cats called Olivia Benson and Meredith Grey? Olivia Benson, who has appeared with her owner in several ads, is said to be worth $97 million in her own right.

Question 33

Which 35-year-old TV presenter and personality announced in May that she plans to give up her broadcasting career to become a stay-at-home mum to her five children?

Question 34

In July, which Canadian singer performed for the first time since she revealed she had been diagnosed with a rare condition called ‘stiff person syndrome’?

Question 35

Which much-loved British cosmetics company went into administration in February and was bought by a consortium in September? The consortium promised to keep all the remaining stores open.

Question 36

A year and a half’s rain fell in a single day in April on which desert city?

Question 37

Which former Spice Girl celebrated her 50th birthday in April?

Question 38

It was announced in April that Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman will star in a remake – or ‘reimagining’ – of which 1989 comedy film? The original starred Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.

Question 39

Which of the Hairy Bikers died in March after a two-year battle against an unspecified cancer?

Question 40

In the summer, the socialite and influencer Paris Hilton brought her baby daughter to the world capital after which the one-year-old is named. What city did they visit?