Boxing Day Family Puzzler 2010
Once is instigation.
Twice is repetition.
Thrice is tradition.
Now in its third year, my annual festive quiz is woven into the fabric of the 大象传媒 online Yuletide celebrations.
The quiz is unusual in that no-one is expected to know the answers. All the solutions are numbers and the idea is to see who gets closest. This gives all participants a chance to win, irrespective of age or festive state of repair.
The way I do it with my family is to divide the players into two or four teams depending on the size of the party. There are 20 questions and, to make it fair, each player/team should write their guesses down before revealing them.
The questions are below; the answers are here and there is a version of both that is easier to print here [53 Kb PDF].
Good luck and Merry Christmas!
1 There has been much fury at the government鈥檚 plans to introduce higher tuition fees for university students in England. What would be the weekly repayment for a graduate earning 拢500 a week?
2 The Royal Opera House saw its grant from the Arts Council slashed this year as part of the government鈥檚 Spending Review. How much money will it get next year?
3 Figures released this year compare the average annual mileage of cars today with that of 1995. Back then it was 9,700 a year. What is it now?
4 Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure became the highest paid Premier League footballer ever when he signed from Barcelona this year. How much was his five-year deal worth?
5 It has been suggested that more people vote in the X Factor than at Parliamentary elections. It is not true. How many more votes were cast in the 2010 general election than in the 2010 X Factor series?
A festive 大象传媒 message from bygone days
6 Peter Colat, a Swiss freediver, smashed the world record for holding his breath underwater this year. How long did he manage to stay submerged?
7 Bosnian cobblers made special shoes made of goat skin as a Christmas present for the Chilean miners who were rescued in October after spending 69 days deep underground. In feet, how deep were they?
8 Susan Boyle鈥檚 debut album I Dreamed A Dream smashed the Arctic Monkeys' UK record for the most albums sold in the first week. How many did she sell?
9 Figures out this year show that only 1% of 16-24 year-olds in Britain have never used the internet. What proportion of over 65-year-olds have never logged on?
10 How many Polish-born people are now resident in the UK, according to the latest official figures?
11 How much did Prince Charles receive from the National Offender Management Service this summer in rent for Dartmoor prison?
12 In 2000, the UK had the third-highest graduation rate among OECD countries with 37% of young people getting a degree compared with an average of 28%. The latest figures show the average is now 38%. What proportion of British young people currently graduate?
13 How much do the Russians say they will spend building new football grounds for the 2018 World Cup (in US dollars)?
14 In Greece, just 6% of children are born outside wedlock. What, according to the latest statistics, is the figure for the UK?
15 The latest unemployment figures show that the jobless rate for people aged 16-24 (including students) is 17.6%. What is the figure for people aged over 50?
16 The noise of a standard alarm clock is about 80 decibels, the level at which sustained exposure can cause hearing loss. A chainsaw is 100 decibels. A jet plane taking off is 120 decibels. The sound of the 2010 World Cup, the vuvuzela, was recorded as producing what level of noise at close proximity?
17 According to the Grocer magazine, by what percentage did sales of rhubarb increase in March as a consequence of Delia Smith鈥檚 recipe for rhubarb and ginger brulee?
18 According to new official survey data, out of 1,000 British adults, how many say they are gay or bisexual?
19 At Wimbledon this year, the American 23rd seed John Isner eventually beat the French qualifier Nicolas Mahut in the longest match in tennis history. The fifth set finished 70-68. Played over three days, how many minutes did they play?
20 Melissa Thompson, a 27-year-old from Salford, broke the world record for the fastest text message ever this year. Using a touchscreen keyboard, she wrote the phrase: 鈥淭he razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human鈥. How long did it take her?
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