Christmas may be a time of rest for Santa’s little helpers at the North Pole. But the fiendishly clever elves behind the quirky TV quiz show QI have been working overtime to compile a Quite Interesting festive puzzler just for you.
Round One: The Quiz of 2017
An old Chinese curse says ‘may you live in interesting times’; we think that we are blessed to live in ‘Quite Interesting’ times. Here are 12 questions loosely based on the news of 2017. One QI point for each correct answer:
In January, Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States, but who was inaugurated mayor of the Kentucky town of Rabbit Hash on the same day?
a) A dog called Brynneth Pawltro
b) A chicken called Cluck Norris
c) An orangutan called Meringue-Utan
In February, there was a mix-up as La La Land was mistakenly named as best picture at the Oscars; but an almost identical mix-up happened at which other award ceremony on the same day?
a) British Sewing Awards
b) British Kebab Awards
c) The US Award-Makers Awards
In February, there was a mix-up as La La Land was mistakenly named as best picture at the Oscars
In March, President Park Geun-hye was removed from office in South Korea; but what was she accused of injecting into her face?
a) Sheep embryo cells
b) Pig placenta cells
c) Cow brain cells
In April, the first round of the French Presidential Election took place. Marine Le Pen ended up coming second, but which of the following did her father introduce to France?
a) Darts
b) Cornish pasties
c) Duffel coats
In May, the world was hit by a huge ransomware cyber attack, but what unexpected consequence did it have in Australia?
a) More than 500 speeding fines were cancelled
b) Parliament’s fire alarms wouldn’t stop beeping
c) All TV channels started broadcasting The Sound Of Music
In June, the UK held a General Election, but who of the following garnered the most votes?
a) Lord Buckethead
b) Elmo
c) Mr Fish Finger
In July, North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, but what else did they launch that month?
a) A new fleet of taxis
b) A new tourism website
c) A new brand of candy bar
An almost identical mix-up to the Oscars mishap happened at which other award ceremony?
In August, what happened that caused giraffes in zoos to run around their enclosures, rhinos run to their pens and flamingos to huddle together?
a) Children playing with fidget spinners
b) Zookeepers wearing Little Mix-branded perfume
c) A solar eclipse
In September, there was a federal election in Germany. But why did Angela Merkel read a copy of Playboy magazine this year?
a) To learn more about Donald Trump’s views on trade
b) She was pranked into thinking it was an economic report
c) It was the only publication to correctly predict the election result
In October, Catalonia voted for independence. But how did Spain house the extra police sent to the region to stop the vote?
a) In four hundred different Airbnb properties
b) In a cruise ship decorated with cartoon canaries
c) In the Museum of the Catalan Nation
In November, Peru qualified for the 2018 World Cup, their first since 1982. What happened during the celebrations?
a) An earthquake alert was accidentally sent out
b) The Amazon River was dyed red and white
c) The President vomited over the Vice President
In December, Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, but what is the nickname of special counsel Robert Mueller III who headed the investigation?
a) Muller Corner
b) Robbie the Robot
c) Bobby Three Sticks
What did Angelina Jolie give Brad Pitt for Christmas 2012?
Round Three: Personalities
Here are ten questions about notable characters – all taken from the latest QI Fact Book 1,423 QI Facts To Bowl You Over. Can you work out the answers? One QI point for each you get correct.
1. What did Angelina Jolie give Brad Pitt for Christmas 2012?
a) A Californian waterfall
b) A remote Scottish island
c) A collection of Lara Croft action figures
2. Who performs outside the Queen’s window for 15 minutes every morning?
a) A bugler
b) A bagpiper
c) Prince Philip
3. My Adventures As A Spy by Lord Baden-Powell has a chapter on:
a) The Importance Of Being Prepared
b) How To Use The Force
c) The Value Of Being Stupid
4. What did Doris Day discover in 2017?
a) She had the oldest known recipe for pumpkin pie
b) She was two years older than she thought
c) She invented Post-it notes
How many Maltesers can Ed Sheeran fit in his mouth?
5. What is the name of the head of the UK police task force on knife crime?
a) Alfred Hitchcock
b) Dan Brown
c) James Bond
6. Sandra the orangutan was the first non-human to:
a) Ride a bicycle
b) Learn Esperanto
c) Become a legal person
7. What is the name of the cat owned by John Bercow MP, Speaker of the House of Commons?
a) Order
b) Hansard
c) Jeremy
8. 30,000 of what are stolen from Jamie Oliver’s restaurants each month?
a) Napkins
b) Spoons
c) Tins of tomatoes
9. What is the most illegally watched programme of all time?
a) Grey’s Anatomy
b) Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life
c) Jeremy Clarkson’s The Grand Tour
10. How many Maltesers can Ed Sheeran fit in his mouth?
a) 22
b) 55
c) 77
Sandra the orangutan was the first non-human to do what?
Round Five: General Ignorance
It’s Christmas, but that doesn’t stop us from blasting our dreaded klaxon! It’s one QI point per correct answer – but minus ten if you hit a forfeit.
Q1: In 2001 there were 6,809 known languages. Since then they’ve gone extinct at a rate of about two per month. To the nearest 100, how many are there now?
Q2: At what age are musicians most likely to die?
Q3: In which country is the highest peak of the Alps?
Q4: Which country has the most call centres?
Q5: What is the most dangerous fault line in California?
Q6: What colour is hippopotamus milk?
Q7: Name one of the four capitals of the Roman Empire under Roman Emperor Diocletian
Q8: What is the busiest online shopping day of the year commonly known as?
Q9: Who has 421 words for snow?
Q10: In which country is there an official National Tartan Day?
What colour is hippopotamus milk?
Round six: Complete the Christmas fact
These are difficult questions all about Christmas. So it’s two QI points for a correct answer, but you can also have a bonus QI point if you manage to make someone laugh with your answer:
Q1: There are seven classifications of ______: plates, stellar crystals, columns, needles, spatical dendrites, capped columns and irregular forms.
Q2: At Merton College, Oxford, it was formerly a custom for the college butcher to invite the scholars to his house at Christmas where he would provide a _____ for the college steward ‘to knock down with his own hands’.
Q3: The ‘Christmas ______’ landed in the Leicestershire town of Barwell on Christmas Eve in 1965. Thankfully, due to the sparsely populated nature of the village, no one was hurt.
Q4: According to newspaper reports, staff at the Sea Life Centre in Weymouth, Dorset, fed their turtles ______ in December 2006 and the flatulant animals set off an emergency sensor inside their tank.
Q5; In 2004, the world’s largest gathering of Santa Clauses in Newtown, Wales ended with ______.
Q6: In 2016, a woman in Australia found a metre-long ____ in her Christmas tree.
Q7: There was a 1964 Christmas single by the Go-Gos called I’m Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek. Oddly it has the lyric ‘Hang a Christmas stocking from his ____’, a body part that Daleks don’t have.
Q8: Robert Scott’s Antarctic team had a Christmas dinner on Midwinter’s Day (June 22). He wrote: ‘We had the most splendid dinner, with soup, stewed _____, plum pudding and mince pies.’
Q9: ‘Handschuhschneeballwerfer’ is German for ‘someone who uses ______ to throw snowballs’.
Q10: One acre of Christmas trees produces enough ______ each day to sustain 18 people.
Henry Hoovers were named after Prince Harry – true or false?
How did you do?
50+ QI points: Your brain is the size of a planet, and Sandi Toksvig should be a little bit scared that you could be the next host of QI.
40-49 QI points: Very well done. You’re one smart cookie, and you should probably be applying to get a job as one of the QI Elves.
20-39 QI points: Not bad at all. Maybe you stumbled into one too many heffalump traps. Just remember to keep your eyes peeled for those myths and misconceptions.
0-19 QI points: Any positive score in a QI quiz should be applauded. Even zero is perfectly respectable, so well done!
Fewer than zero QI points
Oh dear. Even Alan Davies finishes above zero sometimes. Well never mind. Keep watching QI and reading our books, and you’re sure to improve by next Christmas!
1,423 QI Facts To Bowl You Over is published by Faber, priced £9.99.