How will you fare in the MSE Christmas pub quiz 2015…?

Every year, in the run up to Christmas, the team at MSE get the great joy (oh yes indeedy) of facing my annual pub quiz. This long and proud tradition is in its sixth year and I continue to take their groans as encouragement.

Some of the rounds don’t work in print (eg, the round where I asked celebs I bumped into to ask a question and then the teams had to guess the voice) so this is a pruned down version. Let’s see how you compare to them. Feel free to put your answers in the discussion below.

Thanks to MSE Yasin and MSE Catherine for all their help with this.

Round 1: Do you remember your GCSEs?

1. Food tech: What family does the apple belong to?
2. English: What are the top three books read in the world in the last 50 years?
3. Music: What does RAP (music) stand for?
4. Geography: What is a typical granite landform called?
5. ICT: Translate decimal 157 into its binary equivalent.
6. Physics: Nuclear power stations generate about 14% of the world’s electricity. Uranium is used as a fuel in some nuclear reactors. Name the other main substance used as a fuel in some nuclear reactors.
7. History: In what year were women over the age of 21 given the vote in the UK?
8. Biology: What is the equation for photosynthesis?
9. Chemistry: The reaction to produce magnesium from magnesium oxide is endothermic. What is meant by an endothermic reaction?
10. Religious studies: When was Jedi first recorded as an option on the national census?

Round 2: Martin’s Round

This is the one they really hate. All are questions I set without needing to reference research. You can probably tell a lot about me because of it!

1. The Flintstones broke a major taboo on US television. What was it?
2. Shirley Crabtree was a big name in the 1980s. What was Shirley best known for doing?
3. What has more calories – ice cream or gelato?
4. What’s the trendy restaurant area of Manhattan just east of Greenwich Village called – clue it’s similar to the situation a man with only a spade to do his garden would have?
5. How many steps are there to the MoneySavingExpert office? (OK bit difficult for you this one, we’re on the fourth floor so you can guess.)
6. What’s the name of the female character who runs the nursery in Peppa Pig [bonus point if you know her first name]?
7. What’s the maximum number of points you can have in your rack in Scrabble?
8. What is a pomace?
9. How many wives did Henry VIII legally have?
10. What is the lowest score you can’t checkout with in darts?

Round 3: When did it happen in 2015?

1. When was the first storm officially named by the Met Office this year?
2. What month did Cilla Black pass away?
3. When did China announce the end to the one-child per family policy?
4. When did season five of Game of Thrones air in the UK?
5. What month was Princess Charlotte born?
6. When did the New Horizons probe fly by Pluto?
7. What month did Elizabeth II became the longest reigning monarch?
8. When did British Airways have to turn around due to someone doing a really smelly poo?
9. When did Madonna fall off the stage at an awards ceremony in the UK?
10. What three months are missing?

Round 4: European Union Countries Map

Quite simple this one, can you put the right country in the right place. The scoring here was deliberate – there are 28 countries but only 10 points available. So you got 1 point if you got 19 right, 2 for 20, 3 for 21… up to the full 10 for getting all 28 correct.

See the MSE Christmas pub quiz 2015 ANSWERS to find out how you did.

Past year’s quizzes
The MSE Christmas pub quiz 2014
The MSE Christmas pub quiz 2013
The MSE Christmas pub quiz 2012
The MSE Christmas pub quiz 2011…can you beat the team?
The MSE Christmas pub quiz…can you beat the team?