Quiz: are you a general election expert?

Larry the cat, John Major, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Theresa May. Illustration: Guardian Design/Guardian Design/Rex/Shutterstock/Getty

They say a week is a long time in politics – so how much harder is it to remember the election campaigns of decades past? Try our general election expert quiz to see if you can still remember the people and events that shaped election campaigns over the last 50 years.

There are no prizes – except a warm feeling of smugness – so let us know how you get on in the comments.

Quiz: Are you a general election expert?

1. An easy one to start with. In 2015, David Cameron posted on social media that the election was 'a simple and inescapable choice' between 'stability and strong government with me' or what with Ed Miliband?

   1. Coalition

   2. Chaos

   3. Catastrophe

   4. Bacon sandwiches

2. 

   Michael Portillo losing his seat was an iconic moment in which election?

   1. 1983

   2. 1987

   3. 1992

   4. 1997

3. 

   This woman went viral in 2017 after exclaiming 'Not another one!' to news of Theresa May's decision to call a snap election. But what was her name?

   1. Brenda

   2. Barbara

   3. Bernadette

   4. Briana

4. 

   David Dimbleby won't be hosting the BBC election coverage this year. Which year did he start hosting election coverage?

   1. 1974

   2. 1979

   3. 1983

   4. 1987

5. 

   Margaret Thatcher was prime minister from 1979 to 1990, and an MP from 1959 to 1992. But which constituency was she MP for?

   1. Northampton South

   2. Nottingham East

   3. Grantham and Stamford

   4. Finchley

6. 

   In 2017's ITV leaders' debate, Ukip's Paul Nuttall kept calling Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood by the wrong name. What did he keep calling her?

   1. Caroline

   2. Margaret

   3. Nadine

   4. Natalie

7. 

   In 1983 Michael Foot led the Labour Party to their lowest number of seats in a postwar election. How many was it?

   1. 197

   2. 209

   3. 229

   4. 232

8. On two occasions in the 20th century, Britain went to the polls twice in a year. Which years?

   1. 1910 & 1973

   2. 1910 & 1974

   3. 1922 & 1974

   4. 1922 & 1975

9. 

   2010 was the first election where both Twitter and Facebook existed. One of the trending hashtags was #nickcleggsfault. Why?

   1. Because the Lib Dems had forced Gordon Brown to call the election

   2. Because of broken Liberal Democrat promises

   3. It was added to every photo of a misleading bar chart

   4. It was an ironic swipe at media coverage of the Lib Dem leader

10. 

    Lord Buckethead has been a fixture of British elections for decades, typically running against the prime minister. But which of these constituencies HASN'T Lord Buckethead stood in?

    1. Finchley

    2. Sedgefield

    3. Huntingdon

    4. Maidenhead

11. 

    What was the slogan on this advert?

    1. "New Labour, New Danger"

    2. "Tony Bliar"

    3. "Labour's Tax Bombshell"

    4. "We Can Master The Future"

12. Gordon Brown's comments about Gillian Duffy became a key moment of the 2010 election. But where did Brown meet Duffy?

    1. Rochdale

    2. Blackburn

    3. Hebden Bridge

    4. Glossop

13. John Major was MP for Huntingdon for many years. But where did he first twice unsuccessfully stand for election?

    1. Islington South and Finsbury

    2. St Pancras South

    3. St Pancras North

    4. Kings Cross and Camden

14. What is the most MPs Ukip have ever won at a general election?

    1. 0

    2. 1

    3. 2

    4. 3

15. In 2017 the SNP's Stephen Gethins held North East Fife with the smallest majority of any seat in the country. How much was it?

    1. 1

    2. 2

    3. 5

    4. 7

16. 

    Larry the cat is one member of the cabinet that doesn't have to stand for re-election. But which prime minister did he first serve as "Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office"?

    1. Tony Blair

    2. Gordon Brown

    3. David Cameron

    4. Theresa May

Solutions

1:B - "Don't blame me, I voted for chaos with Ed Miliband" T-shirts remain our favourite bit of election merchandise, 2:D - Known as "the Portillo moment", at around 3am on election night, Conservative cabinet minister Michael Portillo lost Enfield Southgate to Labour's Stephen Twigg, indicating that after 18 years of Conservative government, the country was about to elect Tony Blair with a substantial majority., 3:A - "Brenda from Bristol" caught the mood of the nation. There was even a social media move to try to make #BrendaDay an annual event in her honour., 4:B - 1979 was the Dimbleby debut. The picture above features Robin Day and Peter Snow alongside Dimbleby in 1987. It looks like a lifetime ago., 5:D - Margaret Thatcher won the Finchley seat at nine general elections. She came from Grantham, but was never MP there. , 6:D - Nuttall was possibly confusing her with Natalie Bennet of the Green party? Or maybe he was just very, very bad at TV debates., 7:B - It was 209. 229 was Neil Kinnock's tally in 1987. Ed Miliband led the party to 232 MPs in 2015., 8:B - Asquith narrowly managed to form a government after the January 1910 election, but was forced to call another before the year was out. 1974 also saw two elections, as Wilson's minority government took over from Heath's Conservatives, and then attempted to strengthen their position. , 9:D - After Clegg's TV debate performances sparked an up-tick for the Lib Dems in the polls. People reacted to a sudden glut of negative Clegg scare coverage on the front pages of the rightwing press., 10:B - Lord Buckethead never stood against Tony Blair. Which begs the question – has anyone ever seen them in the same place at the same time, hmmmmm?, 11:A - The 1997 Conservative party ad campaign included a quote from Labour's Clare Short claiming that 'dark forces' were manipulating Tony Blair, 12:A - Then prime minister, Brown, was on a campaign walkabout in Rochdale when the fateful encounter took place. After they met she told reporters that Brown was a "very nice man" and that she had voted Labour all her life and intended to do so again the following week. But then Brown's comments about her, calling her "bigoted", were caught on microphone., 13:C - Major contested the North London constituency twice in the 1970s before eventually becoming an MP and going on to become prime minister., 14:B - Ukip won one seat at the 2015 general election when Douglas Carswell was re-elected. They did at one point have two MPs, when Mark Reckless defected from the Conservatives and then successfully won a byelection, but he lost his seat in the 2015 campaign., 15:B - Just two votes separated Gethins from Liberal Democrat challenger Elizabeth Riches. It will be one of the most closely watched constituencies in the 2019 election., 16:C - A rescued stray cat chosen by Downing Street staff, Larry the cat moved into Number 10 in February 2011, when Cameron was in office.

Scores

1. 4 and above.

   Not so great. Like a politician just repeating "Well, let's wait for the results to come in" after a disastrous exit poll

2. 11 and above.

   Excellent effort. Graceful like Jeremy Vine coping with whatever ludicrous graphics they've given him

3. 15 and above.

   Brilliant, well done. You should be doing Huw Edwards' job on the 12th

4. 0 and above.

   Terrible. Like that BBC election night boat party in 2010

5. 7 and above.

   Solid performance. Like an MP in a safe seat who increase their majority slightly