c) Alex Beresford
to Piers Morgan
d) Piers Morgan to Prince
William17
In July 30.95 million
people watched a
football match. Who were
England playing?
a) Ukraine
b) Germany
c) Scotland
d) Italy(^18)
Which Welsh-language
programme on S4C
had more viewers than
GB News in September?
a) Pobol y Cwm
b) Patrol Pawennau
c) Sgorio Rhyngwladol
d) All of the above
19
Lionel Blair died at the
age of 92 in November;
with whom did he dance at
the 1961 Royal Variety
Performance?
a) Gene Kelly
b) His sister, Joyce
c) Sammy Davis Jr
d) Una Stubbs
20
In Mare of Easttown,
what does Mare’s
mother, Helen, hide in
a bag of vegetables?
a) A bottle of Rolling Rock
b) A pack of Marlboro
c) A tub of Rocky Road
d) A quart of Jack Daniels
(^21)
The famed TV composer
Alan Hawkshaw died in
October at the age of 84;
which of these famous TV
tunes did he not write?
a) The Grange Hill/Give Us a
Clue theme tune
b) Countdown’s chimes
c) The music for the
Cadbury’s Milk Tray
advertisement
d) The Grandstand theme tune
In The Great,
what does
Catherine
take to distribute
to the troops dying
on the Russian
front in their
war with
Sweden?
a) Warm
blankets
b) Macaroons
c) Vodka
d) Ammunition
Which TV
event
generated
109,741 complaints
to the BBC this year?
a) Boris Johnson’s
Covid press
conference
b) A T-shirt
promoting Black
Lives Matter
c) Coverage of the
death of Prince Philip
d) The last episode of
Line of Duty
14
Including the most
recent, how many series
of Have I Got News for You
have there been since 1990?
a) 62
b) 52
c) 42
d) 32
(^15)
Which chef ’s “bank
balance” took a pasting
after a TV flop?
a) James Martin
b) Gordon Ramsay
c) Nigella Lawson
d) Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
16
Who said this to whom?
“I understand you’ve got
a personal relationship with
Meghan — or had one — and
she cut you off.”
a) Susanna Reid to Piers
Morgan
b) Oprah Winfrey to Piers
Morgan
24
Which fictional ice
hockey team became
a key clue in the maritime
thriller Vigil?
a) Glasgow Hurricanes
b) Edinburgh Eagles
c) Aberdeen Angels
d) Dundee Dinosaurs
25
Which TV show was
originally turned down
by three channels?
a) Dopesick
b) It’s a Sin
c) Showtrial
d) Only Murders in the Building
Questions set by Jake Helm,
Sarah Crompton, David
Hutcheon and Roland White
Here are the highlights of
what we’ve learnt from our
interviews and reviews in
2021, a year of revelations.
l When Yann Martel was
writing Life of Pi, he posed
as a student and sneaked
into McGill University’s
library for his research.
Yann Martel on adapting
Life of Pi for the stage
l Will Smith spent three
years planning a 40th
birthday party for his wife,
Jada that included the voice
of her dead grandmother
and Mary J Blige. Jada
said it was “the most
disgusting display of
ego I have ever seen”.
Will by Will Smith
l In The Beatles: Get Back,
below, John Lennon, Paul
McCartney and George
Harrison play around with
the lyrics to Something. One
suggestion was: “Something
in the way she moves/
Attracts me like a
pomegranate.”
Jonathan Dean interviews
Paul McCartney and
Peter Jackson
l In 2000 a businessman
offered Britney Spears’s
record label £7.5 million in
exchange for the 18-year-old
pop star’s virginity. “It’s a
disgusting offer,” she said.
Being Britney by Jennifer
Otter Bickerdike
l The director James Ivory
discovered he was adopted
when the gossiping nuns at
his school spread the word
across the playground.
Solid Ivory by James Ivory
l In 1967 Billie Jean King
won all three Wimbledon
titles. If a female player
had done that this year
they would have received
£2.3 million. King got a
£45 gift voucher.
All In by Billie Jean King
l Princess Diana, below,
was so paranoid about
being spied on that she got
a butler to help her to move
her furniture and pull up
the floorboards in a search
for microphones.
The Secret Royals by
Richard J Aldrich and
Rory Cormac
l Gordon Brown’s dinner
with Tony Blair at Granita
in Islington, north London,
defined both their careers.
Yet Brown was thrown by
the menu: “What exactly
is polenta?” he growled.
Appetite by Ed Balls
l We learnt a lot about sex
in the Middle Ages. Men
who had too much sex were
deemed to be at risk of the
plague and the remedy was
to sit in a bath of raw eggs.
The Fires of Lust by
Katherine Harvey
l Cliff Richard’s 2022
calendar offered a
fascinating insight into
his life. He likes sitting on
boats and drinking orange
squash in a pool, below.
Disappointingly, there
was no sign of mistletoe
or wine in December.
The Official Sir Cliff Richard
2022 Calendar
Jake Helm, Laura Hackett
10 THINGS WE’VE LEARNT THIS YEAR
23
22
ANSWERS
b
d
1 a)
2 d)
3 a)
4 c)
5 b)
6 c)
7 a)
8 c)
9 d)
10 c)
11 b)
12 a)
13 d)
14 a)
15 b)
16 c)
17 d)
18 d)
19 c)
20 c)
21 d)
22 b)
23 c)
24 a)
25 b)
Samuel West, who
plays Siegfried in
All Creatures Great
and Small. All the
others appeared in
either The Darling
Buds of May (1991) or
The Larkins (2021),
both based on
the same book
by HE Bates
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