Christmas quiz round one: Can you remember what happened this year?

A lot has happened in the past 12 months. Chris Maume tests your memory

(Getty)

1. Who are the above, and how were they linked in April?  

2. In January TOI 1338, a rare circumbinary planet about 1,320 light years from Earth, was discovered. What’s a circumbinary planet?

3. In February a painting was sold for £23m at auction, one of a series of three made by a British artist in 1966 and 1967. What word is common to all three paintings?  

4. Country Life magazine has a tradition of featuring “girls with pearls” on its frontispiece page. Which artist featured in February’s edition?

5. In March, who won a pig along with his teammates in a prison football tournament?

6. Who in May was arrested for allegedly passing counterfeit currency in Minneapolis?

7. In May, which country became the first in Central America to legalise same-sex marriage? The country in question ranks 13th on the UN World Happiness Report, and is one of the few nations without a standing army.  

8. Where in June were several dozen Chinese soldiers killed or injured in skirmishes?

9. What did the Dixie Chicks become in June?

10. In July, who became prisoner 02879-579?

11. What historic landmark did the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos pass in August?

12. How did the slightly archaic Burofax communication system make the headlines in August?

13. “It’s time we stopped this general bout of self-recrimination and wetness.” What was Boris Johnson talking about in August?

14. Which government legislation broke international law “in a very limited and specific way”, as described by Brandon Lewis in September?

15. In September a copy of the play The Two Noble Kinsmen, co-written by John Fletcher, was discovered in the library of the Royal Scots College in Salamanca. Who was Fletcher’s co-author?

16. What was the name given to the day in September when 590 books were published in the UK?

17. In October, which Atlantic archipelago was finally declared to be free of landmines, several decades after conflict there?

18. Which jailbird’s wife said following the UK publication of her memoir in October: “I will deck out in leper’s clothes with a warning bell when I return to London”?

19. In November it was announced that the number of Covid deaths in the UK had passed the 50,000 mark. Which five countries had already passed that total?

20. Where did Adolf Hitler win a local election in December?

Tap here for answers

1. They were all among the numerous musicians who took part in the televised One World: Together at Home broadcast, described by Lady Gaga as “a love letter to the world”.

2. A planet that orbits two stars.

3. “Splash”. A Little Splash and Splash were painted by David Hockney in 1966, A Bigger Splash the following year.  

4. Grayson Perry.

5. The former Brazilian international Ronaldinho, who was in a Paraguayan prison on charges of entering the country with a false passport. His team won the football final 11-2, with Ronaldinho registering five goals and six assists. He was released with his brother in August following a plea deal.  

6. George Floyd, who subsequently died while being arrested by police.

7. Costa Rica.

8. Along the Sino-Indian border in the disputed Galwan Valley. About 20 Indian soldiers were also killed.

9. The Chicks; they dropped the “Dixie” appellation following criticism that it carried connotations of slavery.  

10. Ghislaine Maxwell, who was charged with enticement of minors, sex trafficking of children and perjury, and incarcerated on remand at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn.

11. He became the first person to have declared wealth of more than $200bn.

12. It was the means by which Lionel Messi chose to inform Barcelona of his wish to leave the club.

13. Speculation that at the Last Night of the Proms “Rule, Britannia!” and “Land of Hope and Glory” would be performed in orchestral versions but not sung. The concert went ahead with sung versions.  

14. The secretary of state for Northern Ireland made the admission during a Brexit debate about the government’s proposal to break the EU Withdrawal Agreement.  

15. William Shakespeare; it is believed to be his final play, written three years before he retired to Stratford.

16. “Super Thursday”.

17. The Falkland Islands, after an 11-year de-mining process.

18. Barbara Amiel, wife of Conrad Black; her autobiography is entitled Friends and Enemies: A Memoir.

19. The US, Brazil, India and Mexico.

20. Namibia: Adolf Hitler Uunona was elected in the town of Ompundja; “It was a perfectly normal name for me when I was a kid,” he said. “It wasn’t until I grew older that I realised that this man wanted to subjugate the whole world and killed millions of Jews.”

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Click here for round two: remembering this year’s late greats