Bumper business Christmas quiz 2016

A Bank of England employee holds up a £5 note. Photograph: Frank Augstein/AP

1. Which substance, to the embarrassment of the Bank of England, was found in the new plastic £5 note?

   1. Cocaine

   2. Tallow

   3. Bones

2. Which of the following will NOT be demolished by Heathrow’s third runway, as approved in October?

   1. About 900 homes

   2. The Norman church in the neighbouring village of Harmondsworth

   3. British Airways’ head office

3. What did Liverpool offer to pay £2bn for?

   1. Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar

   2. A direct connection to HS2

   3. Relocating the London Stock Exchange after Brexit

4. What is a “twodio”?

   1. Developer speak for a small newbuild flat for two people

   2. A droid that will eventually replace two workers

   3. A new dating app from Amazon

5. 

   Hofmeister beer, once advertised by George the bear, is back. Who directed a famous advert featuring the slogan “Follow the bear”?

   1. Ridley Scott

   2. Sergio Leone

   3. Orson Welles

6. What did unions win for cabin crew at British Airways in 2016?

   1. M&S sandwiches

   2. An inflation-busting 2.5% pay rise

   3. Trousers

7. The very public spat between Tesco and Unilever over price increases was dubbed what?

   1. Marmageddon

   2. Tescogate

   3. Persil wars

8. Landlords were rushing to buy properties before the end of March – what were they trying to avoid?

   1. A new tax on rental income

   2. Tougher affordability checks on buy-to-let mortgages

   3. Higher stamp duty rates on second homes

9. The Brent crude oil price has been at rock bottom for most of 2016 but how low did it go, to the nearest dollar, in January?

   1. $35

   2. $27

   3. $18

10. 

    What surprise did George Osborne spring on Tracey McDermott, acting head of the Financial Conduct Authority?

    1. He turned up for a meeting wearing a hard hat and goggles

    2. He announced she wasn’t a candidate for the permanent job

    3. He said if banks didn’t like tough regulation they could leave

11. Three footballers teamed up to build affordable housing near Luton – Rio Ferdinand, Mark Noble and Bobby Zamora. Which club have they all played for?

    1. Machester United

    2. Luton Town

    3. West Ham

12. Austin Reed, which went into administration in April, made Sir Winston Churchill’s famous one-piece “siren suits”. Why were they so named?

    1. Because their dashing cut was designed to attract admirers

    2. They were designed to be put on at speed, such as when an air raid siren sounded

    3. They were created by Sir Simon Siren

13. Which Brexiteer told BBC Newsnight: “There’s a great line from Cicero that there’s nothing so absurd that it hasn’t been said by some philosopher. I think suspicion of experts goes back into antiquity. It’s a very healthy thing to have. Experts, soothsayers, astrologers are all in much the same category.”

    1. Jacob Rees-Mogg

    2. Michael Gove

    3. Boris Johnson

14. What product kept tills ringing at WH Smith?

    1. Giant chocolate bars for £1

    2. Colouring books for grown-ups

    3. Sir Craig Oliver’s book about the EU referendum

15. 

    How much were two tickets to see Barcelona v Real Madrid advertised for on controversial ticketing website Viagogo?

    1. £196,150

    2. £19,615

    3. £1,961

16. What did Anna Turley MP, a member of the business select committee, find hidden in a meeting room at Sports Direct’s Derbyshire headquarters when MPs made an impromptu inspection of the sportswear group’s warehouse?

    1. A Newcastle United shirt

    2. A video camera

    3. Mike Ashley

17. Which of the following did not hit Foxtons’ share price in 2016?

    1. Brexit

    2. The rising cost of Minis

    3. Government plans to ban letting agents' fees

18. At the start of 2016, long before a referendum called by his party resulted in a vote for Brexit, what did former chancellor George Osborne say the year had opened with?

    1. “The promise of a Britain stronger than ever in Europe”

    2. “A dangerous cocktail of new threats”

    3. “Hope for hardworking families”

19. What was Bank of England governor Mark Carney photographed reading on the tube?

    1. Freedom, Responsibility and the State by Jacob Rees-Mogg

    2. The End of Alchemy by Mervyn King

    3. Dethroning Mammon by Justin Welby

20. 

    What is the name of Sir Philip Green’s new £100m superyacht?

    1. Dun retailing

    2. Lionheart

    3. I'm alright Jack

21. What did Lord Wolfson, Next’s chief executive, say 2016 might feel like?

    1. Going round and round in a revolving door

    2. Walking up the down escalator

    3. Wearing a badly fitting suit

22. Which bank didn’t say it would contribute money to the remain campaign?

    1. Goldman Sachs

    2. Barclays

    3. JP Morgan

23. Which company announced it would have an employee on its board?

    1. Sports Direct

    2. Asos

    3. Tesco

24. Who raised the prospect of free air travel in the next decade?

    1. Sir Richard Branson

    2. Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary

    3. Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou

25. 

    What did Deliveroo boss William Shu apologise for?

    1. Working at Morgan Stanley before launching Deliveroo

    2. Allowing a dispute with his delivery riders to escalate

    3. Too many late deliveries

26. Who did an anonymous bidder pay $3.5m to have lunch with?

    1. Sir Richard Branson

    2. George Soros

    3. Warren Buffett

27. Talking to schoolchildren in September, Bank of England governor Mark Carney revealed his childhood nickname was “Carnage”. What did he say his dream job would be?

    1. Celine Dion’s drummer

    2. Prime minister of his native Canada

    3. Ice hockey goalie in North America's National Hockey League

28. How did Warren Buffett cause a surprise?

    1. Kicking his Coca-Cola habit

    2. Buying shares in Apple

    3. Buying shares in Tesco

29. What did the Treasury refuse to reveal to the Office for Budget Responsibility?

    1. Philip Hammond’s hairdressing bill

    2. The potential cost of a deal to save Tata Steel

    3. The potential cost of keeping Nissan in the UK

30. Who dismissed the idea that Britain could have its cake and eat it in Brexit discussions by saying “To all who believe [in that] I propose a simple experiment. Buy a cake, eat it and see if it is still there on the plate”?

    1. ECB president Mario Draghi

    2. EC president Donald Tusk

    3. Remain backer Lord Rose

31. 

    Who called for model train manufacturer Hornby to be saved when it was in financial trouble?

    1. James May

    2. Michael Portillo

    3. Rod Stewart

32. Who said “We do not discuss politics at our meetings”?

    1. Bank of England governor Mark Carney

    2. Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen

    3. Nigel Farage

33. A store belonging to which chain was described by veteran City retail analyst Tony Shiret as “a shocker … a disappointingly poor store where the trading strategy was unclear to customers”?

    1. B&Q

    2. WH Smith

    3. Argos

34. Who admitted that taking popular items off its menus had hit its sales?

    1. Frankie & Benny’s owner Restaurant Group

    2. McDonald's

    3. Pizza Express

35. 

    What did Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley pull out of his pocket at the firm’s open day for the press?

    1. A platinum Amex card

    2. A wad of £50 notes

    3. A huge mug

36. Two days before the US presidential election, who said: “In previous presidential elections the favourite at this point has always gone on to become the president of the United States. So with Trump’s odds drifting despite huge support for the Republican and several six figure bets in the week prior to election day, all signs point firmly towards a Clinton victory”?

    1. Betfair spokesman Barry Orr

    2. Ousted William Hill boss James Henderson

    3. Michael Fish

37. In his first autumn statement, chancellor Philip Hammond said his ability to pull rabbits from hats was on a par with what?

    1. Theresa May’s chances of walking out of a shoe shop empty handed

    2. George Osborne’s ability to balance the UK’s public finances

    3. Boris Johnson’s ability to retrieve a rugby ball from the back of a scrum

38. As commodity price swings and the weak pound keep UK food producers under pressure, which Christmas dinner staple is in peril because of an 18% increase in wholesale prices?

    1. Christmas pudding

    2. Pigs in blankets

    3. Sage and onion stuffing

39. How much was Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising company WPP, paid for 2015?

    1. £7.4m

    2. £17.4m

    3. £70.4m

40. 

    Who has become too powerful, according to former Labour shadow chancellor and Strictly Come Dancing contestant Ed Balls?

    1. The Bank of England

    2. Conservative chancellor Philip Hammond

    3. Craig Revel Horwood

41. How did Tidjane Thiam, the boss of Credit Suisse, describe European banks?

    1. Fit for purpose

    2. Not really investable

    3. Difficult to understand

42. What rumour, since denied, caused consternation for John Lewis shoppers?

    1. Abandoning the “never knowingly undersold” policy

    2. Closing the haberdashery departments

    3. Scrapping the company’s partnership structure

43. Why did Kevin Roberts quit suddenly as the boss of Saatchi & Saatchi?

    1. He claimed sexism wasn’t a problem in the advertising industry

    2. He said the company’s ads for the Tories in the 80s were regrettable

    3. He claimed racism wasn’t a problem in the advertising industry

44. What did Sir Philip Green tell Richard Fuller MP to do at the Treasury committee?

    1. Stop tweeting while Green was talking

    2. Stop looking at him

    3. Show some respect

45. 

    How did JD Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin campaign for Brexit?

    1. He printed 700,000 anti-EU beermats

    2. He threatened to ban all EU-produced beer

    3. He had 100,000 pint glasses embossed with “vote leave”

46. Where was then business secretary Sajid Javid when Tata Steel held crisis talks in Mumbai before announcing it would pull out of the UK?

    1. On a trade trip to Australia with his daughter

    2. On a trade trip to Miami with his son

    3. At a JP Morgan dinner with his wife

47. When ITV’s programming chief heard that Channel 4 had failed to sign up nearly all of the Great British Bake Off on-screen team in its £75m poaching of the hit BBC show, he said they had effectively bought what?

    1. A soggy bottom souffle

    2. The world’s most expensive blank recipe book

    3. Baking powder and a tent

48. Supermarket chain Edeka was accused of what when it launched its Christmas TV campaign?

    1. Not including enough ethnically diverse actors

    2. Including neo-Nazi symbolism

    3. Failing to include its best food deals

49. What didn’t Tesco run short of in 2016?

    1. Pot Noodle

    2. London Calling by the Clash

    3. Quinoa

50. 

    David Bowie, who died in January, was associated with which financial innovation?

    1. Starman shares – Bowie pioneered crowdfunding to finance an album

    2. Ziggy zero – Bowie extracted the first 0% overdraft from his private bank

    3. Bowie bonds – Bowie parcelled up song revenues for sale to investors

Solutions

1:B, 2:B, 3:B, 4:A, 5:C, 6:C, 7:A, 8:C, 9:B, 10:B, 11:C, 12:B, 13:A, 14:B, 15:A, 16:B, 17:B, 18:B, 19:C, 20:B, 21:B, 22:B, 23:A, 24:B, 25:B, 26:C, 27:C, 28:B, 29:C, 30:B, 31:A, 32:B, 33:A, 34:A, 35:B, 36:A, 37:C, 38:B, 39:C, 40:A, 41:B, 42:B, 43:A, 44:B, 45:A, 46:A, 47:C, 48:B, 49:C, 50:C

Scores

1. 40 and above.

   Excellent. Are these answers rigged?

2. 30 and above.

   Very good. Like Hornby trains, you're on the right track

3. 20 and above.

   Not bad. Though we suggest you spend more time on the business website next year

4. 10 and above.

   So-so. Your knowledge is shakier than an Italian bank

5. 0 and above.

   Poor. What an (Ed) Balls-up

For your overall score, please complete all the questions