Bumper business Christmas quiz 2017

Which popular high street food retailer prompted uproar over this cheeky advent calendar entry Photograph: Taylor Herring/PA

1. Which of the following did Sainsbury’s add to its food shelves this year?

   1. Mealworm burgers

   2. Edible flowers

   3. Horse meat

2. 

   What did bagless vacuum cleaner inventor James Dyson pledge to build next?

   1. An electric vehicle

   2. Hybrid microwave toasters

   3. A screenless smartphone

3. Chocolate bars, drink cartons, toilet rolls and tinsel have all been hit by what phenomenon?

   1. A consumer boycott over ethical concerns

   2. Shrinkflation

   3. Shortages in the run-up to Christmas

4. 

   Which speculative bubble has the price surge in bitcoin been likened to?

   1. The Icelandic rose bubble

   2. The Dutch tulip mania

   3. The Danish snowdrop craze

5. How much of the UK’s power came from coal in the first half of 2017?

   1. 2%

   2. 11%

   3. 23%

6. Which major chocolate brand sparked a row in the summer by announcing plans to launch its first UK chocolate bar that is neither organic nor Fairtrade-certified?

   1. Lindt

   2. Green & Black’s

   3. Divine

7. Which tycoon was accused of vomiting into a fireplace after a top management meeting that was 'effectively a pub lock-in', during a high court case in 2017?

   1. James Dyson

   2. Sir Philip Green

   3. Mike Ashley

8. Which company told managers always to refer to ‘independent suppliers’ instead of ‘staff’ and to always say ‘onboarding’ instead of ‘hiring’?

   1. Southern rail

   2. Deliveroo

   3. Uber

9. 

   What did Poundland name its totally dissimilar tribute to the Toblerone bar?

   1. River Deep

   2. Mountain High

   3. Twin Peaks

10. Rock band Elbow provided the soundtrack to the John Lewis Christmas advert with a cover of The Beatles’ Golden Slumbers. But which Beatles album is the track from?

    1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

    2. Abbey Road

    3. A Hard Day's Night

11. 

    Britain is currently suffering its worst wage squeeze since...

    1. The Crimean war

    2. The Napoleonic war

    3. The Boer war

12. How is Coutts, the bankers to the British royal family, trying to lure younger rich clients?

    1. Holding special events for computer gamers

    2. Offering free membership to Mahiki

    3. Only hiring bankers under the age of 36

13. 

    United Airlines apologised over the death of a giant rabbit during one of its transatlantic flights. What was the rabbit’s name?

    1. Colin

    2. Simon

    3. Peter

14. Who is the new chairman of the Federal Reserve?

    1. James Powell

    2. Jerome Powell

    3. Jonathan Powell

15. What stranded tens of thousands of British Airways passengers at the start of summer half-term holiday?

    1. Hurricane Irma

    2. A flock of pigeons in the main aircraft hangar

    3. An IT failure caused by someone pulling out a plug at HQ

16. 

    Where in Geneva were €100,000 of shredded €500 notes discovered?

    1. In Swiss bank safety deposit boxes

    2. Inside cuckoo clocks

    3. Flushed down toilets

17. Which company hit the headlines for banning some of its workers for having beards?

    1. Gillette

    2. JD Wetherspoon

    3. Mears

18. 

    M&S’s fabled Percy Pig, who is now married with children, celebrated his birthday this year. How old is the chewy porker?

    1. 25

    2. 50

    3. 133 (the same as M&S)

19. What did Sir Howard Davies, chairman of RBS, say about bitcoin?

    1. ‘It’s like Dante’s Inferno’

    2. ‘It’s like Frankenstein’s monster’

    3. ‘Bit what?’

20. What has been tipped as 2017’s key Christmas partywear item?

    1. Adult ‘Elf’ pyjamas from Asda

    2. It’s still the Christmas jumper, you can’t beat it. Quality lasts!

    3. The Christmas suit, the sartorial equivalent of wearing wrapping pape

21. How many times in a year did a gambler lose more than £1,000 on a bookmaker's fixed-odds betting terminal, according to figures released this year?

    1. 233,071

    2. 23,071

    3. 2,371

22. 

    Amazon paid $1bn for the rights to which franchise it hopes to turn into the next global blockbuster TV series?

    1. Harry Potter

    2. Lord of the Rings

    3. James Bond

23. What was the most-read Guardian business story of 2017?

    1. John Lewis Xmas ad 2017 - meet Moz the monster

    2. Cyber attack on Deloitte reveals clients’ secret emails

    3. Hard times for Whole Foods: what went wrong?

24. How many electric car charging points are there in the UK now?

    1. 1,300

    2. 13,000

    3. 130,000

25. ITV named which high-flying executive to become its first-ever female chief?

    1. Alex Mahon

    2. Carolyn McCall

    3. Dawn Airey

26. Which popular eatery started a delivery service to City of London bankers?

    1. Greggs

    2. Pret a Manger

    3. Square Meal in the Square Mile

27. Who tweeted to say they would be spending more time in Frankfurt after Brexit?

    1. Michael O’Leary, Ryanair boss

    2. Lloyd Blankfein, head of Goldman Sachs

    3. Ralf Speth, boss of Jaguar Land Rover

28. 

    What prompted Charlotte Hogg to quit as deputy governor of the Bank of England?

    1. The use of animal fat in the new plastic banknotes

    2. A lack of diversity at the Bank

    3. Her failure to declare a potential conflict of interest

29. Richard Desmond is to sell his Express and Star titles to Trinity Mirror, the owner of the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror, for £130m. How much has Desmond personally made over the last 17 years as proprietor?

    1. More than £500m

    2. More than £400m

    3. More than £300m

30. A revised way for calculating insurance and medical payouts was revealed in February, provoking uproar among insurers. What is it called?

    1. The Sharples rate

    2. The Lynch rate

    3. The Ogden rate

31. When the Bank of England raised interest rates in November, it was the first increase in the cost of borrowing since when?

    1. 2007

    2. 2008

    3. 2009

32. In his spring budget, Philip Hammond announced a major overhaul of National Insurance for the self-employed. How many days later did he abandon the changes?

    1. Three

    2. Five

    3. Seven

33. 

    The new £10 note went into circulation in September. The Queen was given the first (AA01 000001), while Theresa May got the third. Who was handed the second?

    1. HRH Prince Philip

    2. The chancellor of the exchequer, Philip Hammond

    3. Bank of England governor Mark Carney

34. 

    Marks & Spencer unveiled which of the following to help halt the painful phenomenon known as ‘avocado hand’?

    1. Frozen, pre-stoned avocados

    2. Freeze-dried avocado powder

    3. Stoneless ‘cocktail’ avocados

35. 

    How many of the 10 multimillion-pound flats in the Shard have been sold five years after the building opened its doors?

    1. 5

    2. 10

    3. Nil

36. Which high street food retailer provoked an unholy row over its decision to substitute the baby Jesus with a sausage roll in its 2017 advent calendar?

    1. Pret in a Manger

    2. Gregg's

    3. Subway

37. 

    How many sides does the new £1 coin have (no peeking in wallets, purses etc)?

    1. 8

    2. 10

    3. 12

38. Which companies have oil and gas firm Ineos bought this year?

    1. A boutique milliner and a Swiss cricket club

    2. A jacket maker and a Swiss football team

    3. A suit-makers and a Swiss tennis club

39. 

    What does the term The Paradise Papers refer to?

    1. The name of Vanessa Paradis’s greatest hits album

    2. A special investigation into global tax avoidance, conducted by the Guardian, among others

    3. The term used to describe left-wing, liberal newspapers with a heavy utopian bias

40. Which of the below correctly names three leading food courier services?

    1. Delivenoo, Just Ate, UberEast

    2. Just Eaten, OverEats, Deliveree

    3. Deliveroo, Just Eat, UberEats

41. What is the main business of the international listed company funkily rebranded as GetLink?

    1. Telecommunications

    2. Corporate matchmaking

    3. A tunnel

42. If you’re looking to buy a ‘Snake Pit’ standing ticket for one of Taylor Swift’s 2018 Wembley Stadium shows, what is the official Ticketmaster price?

    1. £185

    2. £385

    3. £585

43. 

    Which drink, say experts, will follow gin and be the next to surge in popularity?

    1. Advocaat

    2. Midori

    3. Rum

44. How long will it take for the gender pay gap to close, according to the World Economic Forum?

    1. 217 years

    2. 49 years

    3. 21 years

45. Which pop star, according to Unilever chief Paul Polman, offered to write a protest song to help block a Kraft Heinz takeover?

    1. Bono

    2. Ed Sheeran

    3. Paloma Faith

46. How will Monaco house the expected 2,700 millionaires expected to move there by 2026?

    1. Build a new 45-storey apartment complex atop the train station

    2. Reclaim six hectares from the sea

    3. Pay poorer residents to move to France

47. How many of the UK’s new large nuclear power stations will be built by a UK developer?

    1. 0

    2. 1

    3. 3

48. Who wanted to hand his brother £11m in back pay?

    1. James Murdoch

    2. Mike Ashley

    3. David Barclay

49. Richard Thaler won this year’s Nobel prize for economics. Thaler was one of the economists behind what?

    1. Drudge theory

    2. Nudge theory

    3. Fudge theory

50. In July, holidaymakers jetting off from Cardiff airport were offered how many euros to the pound?

    1. €1.15

    2. €1.01

    3. €0.88

Solutions

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

Scores

1. 50 and above.

   You are a bona fide business guru! Is that the phone we can hear ringing? That's right ... and it's Warren Buffet asking for advice

2. 49 and above.

   Well done. You are so boardroom!

3. 48 and above.

   Well done. You are so boardroom!

4. 47 and above.

   Well done. You are so boardroom!

5. 46 and above.

   Well done. You are so boardroom!

6. 45 and above.

   Well done. You are so boardroom!

7. 44 and above.

   Well done. You are so boardroom!

8. 43 and above.

   Well done. You are so boardroom!

9. 42 and above.

   Well done. You are so boardroom!

10. 41 and above.

    Well done. You are so boardroom!

11. 40 and above.

    Great stuff. If you were on a plane you'd be in business class on the Red Eye from NYC, doing deals with the big shots.

12. 39 and above.

    Great stuff. If you were on a plane you'd be in business class on the Red Eye from NYC, doing deals with the big shots.

13. 38 and above.

    Great stuff. If you were on a plane you'd be in business class on the Red Eye from NYC, doing deals with the big shots.

14. 37 and above.

    Great stuff. If you were on a plane you'd be in business class on the Red Eye from NYC, doing deals with the big shots.

15. 36 and above.

    Great stuff. If you were on a plane you'd be in business class on the Red Eye from NYC, doing deals with the big shots.

16. 35 and above.

    Great stuff. If you were on a plane you'd be in business class on the Red Eye from NYC, doing deals with the big shots.

17. 34 and above.

    Great stuff. If you were on a plane you'd be in business class on the Red Eye from NYC, doing deals with the big shots.

18. 33 and above.

    Great stuff. If you were on a plane you'd be in business class on the Red Eye from NYC, doing deals with the big shots.

19. 32 and above.

    Great stuff. If you were on a plane you'd be in business class on the Red Eye from NYC, doing deals with the big shots.

20. 31 and above.

    Great stuff. If you were on a plane you'd be in business class on the Red Eye from NYC, doing deals with the big shots.

21. 30 and above.

    Great stuff. If you were on a plane you'd be in business class on the Red Eye from NYC, doing deals with the big shots.

22. 29 and above.

    Great stuff. If you were on a plane you'd be in business class on the Red Eye from NYC, doing deals with the big shots.

23. 28 and above.

    Great stuff. If you were on a plane you'd be in business class on the Red Eye from NYC, doing deals with the big shots.

24. 27 and above.

    Great stuff. If you were on a plane you'd be in business class on the Red Eye from NYC, doing deals with the big shots.

25. 26 and above.

    Great stuff. If you were on a plane you'd be in business class on the Red Eye from NYC, doing deals with the big shots.

26. 25 and above.

    Fair attempt. You need to read the Guardian business website more often

27. 24 and above.

    Fair attempt. You need to read the Guardian business website more often

28. 23 and above.

    Fair attempt. You need to read the Guardian business website more often

29. 22 and above.

    Fair attempt. You need to read the Guardian business website more often

30. 21 and above.

    Fair attempt. You need to read the Guardian business website more often

31. 20 and above.

    Fair attempt. You need to read the Guardian business website more often

32. 19 and above.

    Fair attempt. You need to read the Guardian business website more often

33. 18 and above.

    Fair attempt. You need to read the Guardian business website more often

34. 17 and above.

    Fair attempt. You need to read the Guardian business website more often

35. 16 and above.

    Fair attempt. You need to read the Guardian business website more often

36. 15 and above.

    Fair attempt. You need to read the Guardian business website more often

37. 14 and above.

    Fair attempt. You need to read the Guardian business website more often

38. 13 and above.

    Fair attempt. You need to read the Guardian business website more often

39. 12 and above.

    Fair attempt. You need to read the Guardian business website more often

40. 11 and above.

    Fair attempt. You need to read the Guardian business website more often

41. 10 and above.

    A low, low score indeed – but comfort yourself that it is still enough to graduate with a first from the Liam Fox school of business.

42. 9 and above.

    A low, low score indeed – but comfort yourself that it is still enough to graduate with a first from the Liam Fox school of business.

43. 8 and above.

    A low, low score indeed – but comfort yourself that it is still enough to graduate with a first from the Liam Fox school of business.

44. 7 and above.

    A low, low score indeed – but comfort yourself that it is still enough to graduate with a first from the Liam Fox school of business.

45. 6 and above.

    A low, low score indeed – but comfort yourself that it is still enough to graduate with a first from the Liam Fox school of business.

46. 5 and above.

    A low, low score indeed – but comfort yourself that it is still enough to graduate with a first from the Liam Fox school of business.

47. 4 and above.

    A low, low score indeed – but comfort yourself that it is still enough to graduate with a first from the Liam Fox school of business.

48. 3 and above.

    A low, low score indeed – but comfort yourself that it is still enough to graduate with a first from the Liam Fox school of business.

49. 2 and above.

    A low, low score indeed – but comfort yourself that it is still enough to graduate with a first from the Liam Fox school of business.

50. 0 and above.

    A low, low score indeed – but comfort yourself that it is still enough to graduate with a first from the Liam Fox school of business.

51. 1 and above.

    A low, low score indeed – but comfort yourself that it is still enough to graduate with a first from the Liam Fox school of business.

For your overall score, please complete all the questions