The Spectator’s 2024 Christmas quiz

Events, dear boy

In 2024:

1. Twenty-two tons of what were stolen from Neal’s Yard in London?

2. Down which steep, grassy hill in Gloucestershire was a Double Gloucester cheese wildly pursued by competitors?

3. Which film from 1964 had its classification changed from U to PG because the eccentric character Admiral Boom exclaims: ‘We’re being attacked by Hottentots!’

4. How did the black horse Quaker and the grey Vida attract wide attention?

5. A dental plate with seven false teeth set in gold was bought at auction for £23,184. To whom had it belonged?

6. Which London gallery escaped harm when a fire broke out in Somerset House?

7. In which European capital did the 17th-century building that had housed the stock exchange burn down, its 180ft spire plunging into the flames?

8. A bronze statue of which woman comedian was knocked down by a taxi in Bury, Lancashire?

9. Nasa launched the Europa Clipper spacecraft, due to reach a moon orbiting which planet in 2030?

10. Who ended his campaign to become president of America and endorsed Donald Trump after revealing how he had dumped a dead bear cub in Central Park, New York?

You don’t say

In 2024, who said:

1. ‘Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak are two cheeks of the same backside and they both got well and truly spanked tonight.’

2. ‘Galloway is repulsive. He always has been… I’ve known him since 1983 and he is repellent.’

3. ‘Well Charlotte didn’t like it the first time. I got floods of tears, so I had to shave it off. And then I grew it back. I thought, hang on a second, and I convinced her it was going to be OK.’

4. ‘One final thought, from Caractacus Potts, and that is from the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success. So thank you very much everybody, and good night.’

5. ‘To the country I would like to say first and foremost I am sorry.