The big 2023 quiz of the year

Think pink: Barbie was the highest-grossing movie of the year, but what was second? See question 7, Photograph: Moviestore Collection/Alamy

1. In November, a team of marine biologists at Southampton University made which alarming discovery about starfish?

   1. Their genome contains no connection to any other animal

   2. They are immortal

   3. Their entire body is, in fact, a head

   4. They are impervious to nuclear radiation

2. Cate Blanchett gave one of 2023’s standout movie performances, as which embattled fictional orchestra conductor?

   1. Sylvia Grável

   2. Belinda Macadám

   3. Lydia Tár

   4. Fionnuala Asphált

3. This year’s publishing blockbuster was Prince Harry’s memoir Spare. It claims his best man duties for Prince William were hindered by which unfortunate injury on Harry’s person?

   1. An infected scorpion bite on his bottom from his travels in South America

   2. An inflamed nipple caused by body boarding in Costa Rica

   3. Inflamed testicles from getting his Covid vaccine in Trinidad

   4. A frostbitten penis from a trip to the Arctic

4. Which secondhand items did the Barnardo’s charity shop in Gorseinon, Swansea, ask people not to donate any more?

   1. Pornography

   2. Firearms

   3. Sex toys

   4. Cat litter

5. 

   Why did Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson object to the waxwork of him unveiled in the Grévin Museum in Paris in October?

   1. It was at least a foot shorter than his 6ft 5in height

   2. It appeared to be Caucasian, rather than his dual Samoan/African-American ethnicity

   3. The sculptor had used an inverted photograph as a model, meaning his tattoos were on the wrong limbs and backwards

   4. As a follower of Polynesian Animism, he is opposed to effigies of any kind

6. Tom Cruise continued his run of blockbuster success with the seventh film in a punctuation-laden franchise. What was the movie’s full and correct name, as written?

   1. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

   2. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part 1

   3. Mission – Impossible: Dead Reckoning Pt One

   4. Mission? Impossible! Dead-Reckoning, Part: 1

7. Box office news was dominated by the simultaneous releases of Barbie and Oppenheimer. Barbie remains the highest-grossing film of the year worldwide, with Oppenheimer in third. What movie, in second place, breaks up the Barbenheimer duopoly?

   1. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3

   2. Fast X

   3. The Super Mario Bros. Movie

   4. The Little Mermaid

8. The 2023 Mercury music prize was awarded to London jazz quintet Ezra Collective, for which album?

   1. Where I Know I’m Going

   2. Where I’m Meant To Be

   3. Where The Heart Is

   4. Where Everybody Knows Your Name

9. 

   2023 was a banner year for Taylor Swift. Which record does she not now currently hold?

   1. Most number one albums by a woman in history

   2. The first and second bestselling vinyl records since 1991

   3. First concert tour to gross $2bn

   4. Most streamed country album in a single day on Spotify

10. Spanish duke Fernando Fitz-James Stuart found himself in court and received which stern legal instruction?

    1. He was to cease using the DUKE name for his clothing brand, pending a legal challenge from the American university of the same name

    2. He was to shorten his daughter’s 25-word name

    3. He was to stop sending emails demanding an invite to King Charles’s coronation

    4. He was to cease calling himself His Royal Highness on official paperwork

11. We said goodbye to Irish actor Michael Gambon, whose passing was marked with a flurry of glorious anecdotes. Which of the following was not one of them?

    1. He faked a heart attack while flying a plane to scare the actor Terence Rigby

    2. He told director Peter Hall he was late because his mother had died, then feigned ignorance about her turning up to his opening nights for decades

    3. At an evening with Daniel Craig, he told everyone that his mother had operated the cranes that built the Titanic in Belfast

    4. After a night’s drinking with the actor Peter Finch, he bought a small pub in Dublin rather than leaving said premises when asked

12. Michael “Bully Boy” Smith won the PDC World Darts Championship with a thrilling finish against Michael “Mighty Mike/ The Notorious MVG” Van Gerwen. What other accolade did he achieve in 2023?

    1. An MBE, for services to the arrows

    2. A star on Blackpool Promenade, celebrating his celebrity in Lancashire

    3. The Freedom of the Borough of St Helens

    4. A legendary Nando’s “black card”, granting him free Nando’s for life

13. The final episode of BBC’s Happy Valley was the most watched drama on British TV this year. A whopping 7.5m viewers tuned in to say goodbye to its heroine Sgt Catherine Cawood, played by which actor?

    1. Sarah Lancashire

    2. Delia Derbyshire

    3. Kelly Oxford

    4. Lala Kent

14. 

    In “didn’t we already have a collection for you?” news, David Cameron became the first former prime minister to join another’s cabinet since who?

    1. Edward Heath

    2. Harold Macmillan

    3. Winston Churchill

    4. Alec Douglas-Home

15. Staying with reshuffles, Lee Rowley became the 16th person in the last decade to hold which post?

    1. Housing minister

    2. Minister for Schools Improvement

    3. Minister for Exports

    4. Bass player in the pop group The Fall

16. One of 2023’s biggest TV moments was the finale of HBO drama Succession. Long considered to have been based on the internecine squabbles of the Murdoch dynasty, this appeared to be given weight by which allegation in April?

    1. Lachlan Murdoch claimed his brother James leaked lines to the show’s writers

    2. Actor Brian Cox was accused of eavesdropping on Rupert Murdoch in a fancy restaurant

    3. Showrunner Jesse Armstrong was said to have impersonated a Murdoch exec on a conference call

    4. Director Mark Mylod was accused of hiring Murdoch’s security team to pump them for information

17. The Booker prize was won by Paul Lynch for his fifth novel Prophet Song. Who was a surprise addition to the judging panel?

    1. David Mitchell (author, but not comedian/actor)

    2. David Mitchell (comedian/actor/author)

    3. Robert Webb (comedian/actor/author and comedy partner of David Mitchell, comedian/actor/author)

    4. Robert Webb (ex Bradford City striker)

18. 

    Hip-hop legend André 3000 released his first album of new music in almost two decades. Why else was it remarkable?

    1. He refused to rap on the record because, at 48, he said he didn’t want to rap about his colonoscopies

    2. It was formed entirely from samples of his previous works

    3. He recreated the voice of his erstwhile OutKast partner Big Boi with AI

    4. He issued it via a cryptocurrency token that was defunct by the time of release

19. Spain won this year’s Women’s World Cup, beating England 1-0 in the final. But which player won the Golden Boot?

    1. Hinata Miyazawa

    2. Olga Carmona

    3. Kadidiatou Diani

    4. Amanda Ilestedt

20. Football’s Copa Libertadores was won by Fluminense. Their veteran midfielder Felipe Melo’s oldest son is named what?

    1. Gazcoayn, after Paul Gascoigne

    2. Letijiar, after Matthew Le Tissier

    3. Linyker, after Gary Lineker

    4. Brayanrobson, after Bryan Robson

21. The Academy Award for Best Picture went to Everything Everywhere All At Once. Which other notable achievement did this film manage?

    1. With 266 awards out of 405 nominations, it is the most awarded film of all time

    2. Its soundtrack is the best-selling album ever in Macau

    3. The verse-jumping theory posited in the film was deemed possible though not proven by eggheads at Stanford University

    4. It’s the highest-grossing English language film with all non-white leads

22. Collins Dictionary designated which acronym its “most notable word of 2023”?

    1. NFT

    2. IQ

    3. ULEZ

    4. AI

23. Which of the following was 2023 not a designated “Year of”?

    1. The UN’s International Year of Dialogue as a Guarantee of Peace

    2. The EU’s Year of Skills

    3. The Commonwealth’s Year of Youth

    4. Canada’s Year of The Moose

24. Which of the following items was not removed from the Consumer Price Index shopping basket this year, to reflect a change in public consumption?

    1. Tampons

    2. Digital Compact Cameras

    3. A pack of 20 cigarettes

    4. A men’s belt

25. 

    In June, one of the strangest cheating scandals in chess history appeared resolved when the lawsuit between rising star Hans Niemann and world champion Magnus Carlsen was dismissed. The furore gained prominence due to allegations that Niemann had cheated during his victory over Carlsen in 2020, using which unlikely method?

    1. Communing with a psychic before every match

    2. Through the use of anal beads that were connected to a remote computer

    3. Seducing two different members of the adjudication panel

    4. Methodically passing wind to put his opponent off

26. England managed to recover from losing the first two Tests of the Ashes by implementing a super-aggressive style of play invented by their coach Brendon McCullum, known by which name?

    1. Brendonball

    2. Bazball

    3. Stokesball

    4. McCullumball

27. It’s been quite a year for Elon Musk, who has seen the valuation of X (formerly Twitter) half during his tenure as owner, its ad revenue decrease by 89% and he received growing condemnation for racist and antisemitic posts on the platform. He did, however, make it into the Guinness Book of Records for which notable achievement in January?

    1. He was named the world’s most divorced man

    2. He registered the single biggest loss of net worth in financial history

    3. His hair transplant was named the most successful in medical history

    4. The emeralds in his father’s mine were judged to be the purest ever discovered

28. Shakira’s Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol 53, widely considered to be a “diss track” about her former husband, Barcelona and Spain legend Gerard Pique, won Song of The Year and Best Pop Song at this year’s Latin Grammys. Who presented her with the award for the former?

    1. Her ex-husband’s former Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi

    2. Her ex-husband’s former Manchester United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo

    3. Her ex-husband’s former Spain teammate Sergio Ramos

    4. Her ex-husband himself

29. It was a banner year for celebrity auctions, but which of the below items garnered the highest price when it went under the hammer in 2023?

    1. A two-cornered hat owned by Napoleon

    2. A pair of jeans worn by Kurt Cobain

    3. A silver moustache comb belonging to Freddie Mercury

    4. An LA Lakers jersey belonging to Wilt Chamberlain

30. 2023’s biggest global pop hit was a defiant disco banger by Miley Cyrus that shares its name with a premier league-winning goalkeeper. What was it called?

    1. Schmeichel

    2. Flowers

    3. Seaman

    4. Allison

Solutions

1:C, 2:C, 3:D, 4:C - We presume the others remain permitted, 5:B, 6:A, 7:C, 8:B, 9:C, 10:B - The name in question being Sofia Fernanda Dolores Cayetana Teresa Angela de la Cruz Micaela del Santisimo Sacramento del Perpetuo Socorro de la Santisima Trinidad y de Todos Los Santos, 11:D - This incident was the work of Gambon’s thespian compatriot, Peter O’Toole, 12:C, 13:A, 14:D, 15:A, 16:A, 17:C, 18:A, 19:A, 20:C, 21:A, 22:D, 23:D - This is every year, 24:D - The men’s belt was added for the first time (tampons were replaced with sanitary towels), 25:B, 26:B, 27:B - Around $200bn, 28:C, 29:D - Wilt Chamberlain’s Lakers jersey sold for $4.9m, Napoleon’s hat $2.1m, Freddie Mercury’s moustache comb $194,000, while Kurt’s jeans went for $412,750, 30:B

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   Well done!