There are three top quizzes to test your knowledge of 2008. One quiz each from the Telegraph, The Independent and the Scotsman. Answers to each quiz are after each quiz.

This quiz appeared on the Daily Telegraph site. See how you do.
Answers are at the end of the quiz

1 What reached $100 for the first time on January 2?

A The cost of a US passport

B The price of a barrel of oil

C The earnings per millisecond of Jonathan Ross

2 Which planet received a Messenger in the New Year?

A Venus

B Uranus

C Mercury

3 Which city roped in two Beatles and a giant spider for its year as European Capital of Culture?

A Liverpool

B Manchester

C Wolverhampton

4 Which actor's promising career ended tragically with an accidental overdose on January 22?

A Keith Ledger

B Seth Ledger

C Heath Ledger

5 Derek Conway MP was suspended from the Commons over expenses – but his flamboyant son Henry grabbed the headlines. What was his nickname?

A Queen Sloane

B Big Ben

C Sponger Sam

6 Who preferred the front line to "sitting around in Windsor"?

A Prince Harry

B Prince William

C Prince Charles

7 Who replaced Fidel Castro as president of Cuba in February?

A Raul Castro

B Ramón Castro

C Roberto Castro

8 Which rock was annexed by the British government in the same month?

A Tristan da Cunha

B Rockall

C Northern Rock

9 Which region declared independence on February 17?

A Transdniestria

B South Ossetia

C Kosovo

10 A B2 Stealth Bomber, the world's most expensive aircraft, crashed on Guam on February 22. How much was it worth?

A $700 million

B $1.2 billion

C $1.6 billion

11 Who discovered in March that money couldn't buy love, but could purchase a merciful divorce?

A Bernie Ecclestone

B Paul McCartney

C Donald Trump

12 And how big was the divorce settlement?

A £12.8 million

B £24.3 million

C £75.3 million

13 "The opening of Heathrow's Terminal 5 will change the way international travellers look at Britain." Prophetic words from:

A BA chief executive Willie Walsh

B Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly

C An anonymous Milanese luggage-handler

14 Which country held its first-ever general election in March?

A Uzbekistan

B Bahrein

C Bhutan

15 "If it hadn't been for bribery and illegal acts, this wouldn't have come out." Name the speaker:

A Damian Green

B Max Mosley

C Rod Blagojevich

16 The first female member of Labour to answer Prime Minister's Questions stood at the Despatch Box on April 2. Who was it?

A Jacqui Smith

B Harriet Harman

C Ruth Kelly

17 Charlton Heston died on April 5. What did he spend his later years fighting?

A Gay marriage

B Abortion

C Gun control

18 Protests over which country hampered the passage of the Olympic flame?

A Tibet

B Taiwan

C Thailand

19 Also in April, surgeons in London performed the first operation to implant a bionic what?

A Eardrum

B Voicebox

C Eye

20 Which country abolished its monarchy in May?

A Nepal

B Thailand

C Tonga

21 Three English teams reached the Champions League semi-finals. Which won the cup?

A Chelsea

B Liverpool

C Manchester United

22 Whose number came up in July when she was offered a 90 per cent "take it or leave it" pay cut?

A Anne Robinson

B Carol Vorderman

C Cilla Black

23 Whom did Jennifer Aniston call "really uncool"?

A Matt LeBlanc

B Brad Pitt

C Angelina Jolie

24 The earthquake that struck China in May had its epicentre in which province?

A Sichuan

B Hunan

C Guandong

25 Which great-great-grandson of a Circassian slave
made good in the same month?

A Dmitry Medvedev

B Boris Johnson

C Vladimir Putin

26 The Oscar-winning film There Will Be Blood was based in the cut-throat world of…

A The oil business

B The movie business

C The hedge-fund business

27 Who was elected president of Zimbabwe in a "second round contest" in June?

A Robert Mugabe

B Robert Mugabe

C Robert Mugabe

28 Who earned a prestigious apprenticeship thanks to the "reverse pterodactyl"?

A Lee McQueen

B Chelsea Clinton

C Charles Darwin

29 Which American, on stage at Glastonbury, admitted to being "pretty ----ing awesome"?

A Jay-Z

B Bruce Springsteen

C Axl Rose

30 Who risked his political career for 42 days?

A David Davies

B David Cameron

C David Davis

31 Who said: "Love lasts a long time, but burning desire . . . two to three weeks"?

A Jacqui Smith

B Nancy Dell'Olio

C Carla Bruni

32 Which action hero creaked his way out of retirement for one last caper?

A Sir Tom Jones

B Indiana Jones

C Peter Mandelson

33 Which "alternative therapist" had his collar felt in July?

A Radovan Karadžic´

B Derren Brown

C Raj Persaud

34 Who were ageing playboy Hugh Hefner's three favourite bunnies?

A Holly, Kendra and Bridget

B Suzy, Busty and Betsy

C Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail

35 Nick Clegg can lay claim to "a lot less than 30" what?

A Percentage points in the polls

B Charismatic MPs

C Lovers

36 The French hostage Ingrid Betancourt was rescued on July 2 from guerillas in which country?

A Ecuador

B Bolivia

C Colombia

37 Which country won the most medals in the Beijing Olympics?

A United States

B China

C Russia

38 And which country won the most golds?

A United States

B China

C Russia

39 In which sport did the United Kingdom win most gold medals?

A Rowing

B Cycling

C Swimming

40 The American swimmer Michael Phelps this year surpassed Mark Spitz in gold medals won during a single Olympics. How many did he win?

A 7

B 8

C 9

41 Olympic gold medal winner and BBC Sports Personality of the Year Chris Hoy dressed up as what for the closing ceremony?

A Boris Johnson

B A Beefeater

C A City gent

42 Who couldn't get on his bike in July, because it had been stolen while he was in Tesco?

A Bradley Wiggins

B David Cameron

C Boris Johnson

43 Russia invaded which country in August?

A Moldova

B Azerbaijan

C Georgia

44 Kevin Pietersen, appointed England cricket captain in August, has a tattoo on his arm of:

A The South African flag

B The England crest

C His own face

45 What was activated on September 10?

A The Large Boson Collider

B The Large Hadron Collider

C The Large Meson Collider

46 What happened next?

A The world ended

B The world didn't end

C The collider worked for two weeks then broke down

47 The largest bankruptcy in American history was declared on September 15 by whom?

A Lehman Brothers

B Merrill Lynch

C Morgan Stanley

48 Who saw his popularity plummet after insisting that "the fundamentals of our economy are sound"?

A Gordon Brown

B John McCain

C George Bush

49 Theo Walcott lifted England with a hat-trick against which country?

A Croatia

B Germany

C Scotland

50 Which son of Dunblane caused Andymonium?

A Andy Stewart

B Andy Murray

C Andy Williams

51 Paul Newman, who died in September, had a second career as a maker of:

A Wine

B Salad dressing

C Boiled eggs

52 The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in October. To whom?

A Aung San Suu Kyi

B Kofi Annan

C Martti Ahtisaari

53 Who, after the near-collapse of the world financial system, admitted that he had found a "flaw" in his analysis of how the markets worked?

A Gordon Brown

B Alan Greenspan

C Sir Fred Goodwin

54 Two of these raced into the sporting record books – but which one fell short?

A Lewis Hamilton

B Usain Bolt

C Paula Radcliffe

55 Which profession did not appear on the leaked BNP membership list?

A A race relations co-ordinator

B A male witch

C A vicar

56 October might not have been the best time to open a new £1.6 billion shopping complex in west London. But what was it called?

A Leftfield

B Westfield

C Frankfield

57 Three men who like to dress as women – but which got to No 2 in the same month?

A David Walliams

B Peter Kay

C Eddie Izzard

58 What, according to Barack Obama, do they cling to in small towns?

A Chai lattes and organic produce

B Racism and prejudice

C Guns and religion

59 "I can see Russia from my house!" Who is speaking?

A Sarah Palin

B Comedian Tina Fey as
Sarah Palin

C Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili

60 Whom did Hillary Clinton claim lacked the qualifications to be president?

A Her husband, Bill Clinton

B Her opponent, John McCain

C Her new boss, Barack Obama

61 'Joe the Plumber' agreed that a victory for Barack Obama would result in:

A The death of Israel

B A victory for socialism

C The worst parts of the Bible

62 Which transplanted organ, grown from stem cells, proved a medical marvel in November?

A Brain

B Windpipe

C Liver

63 Whom did George Osborne regret gossiping about?

A Oleg Deripaska

B Peter Mandelson

C The Bullingdon Club

64 What do lorry drivers spend time doing, according to Jeremy Clarkson?

A Murdering prostitutes

B Fiddling with sat-nav

C Blockading ports in France

65 Newspapers claimed that Madonna had imposed a list of rules on her ex-husband, Guy Ritchie. Which of these was not among those reported?

A Their sons should drink water blessed by leaders of the Kabbalah religion

B Their sons should not be allowed to read newspapers or watch TV

C Their sons should be taught all the lyrics of her songs

66 Who put his career on pause to investigate little green men?

A David Duchovny

B Robbie Williams

C Lembit Opik

67 Which superstar diva confessed to the Telegraph that he takes two hours to get ready for a night out?

A Jonathan Ross

B P Diddy

C Gordon Brown

68 Three heroes – but which one actually claimed to have saved the world?

A David Tennant

B Barack Obama

C Gordon Brown

69 James Bond rescued which country from evil environmentalists in Quantum of Solace?

A Great Britain

B Bolivia

C Venezuela

70 Under the plans unveiled in Alistair Darling's Pre-Budget Report, government debt by 2013 will be approximately:

A £30,000 per household

B £40,000 per household

C £50,000 per household

71 "The modern market economy does not always operate at maximum efficiency, and smart government intervention can raise the game to deliver an optimum result" – the words of which supporter of John Maynard Keynes?

A Barack Obama

B Alistair Darling

C Nancy Dell'Olio

72 Georgina Baillie, granddaughter of Andrew Sachs, is a member of which group?

A The Satanic Sluts

B The Vicious Vixens

C Girls Aloud

73 Which Daily Telegraph columnist demanded a national insurrection against the licence fee in the wake of the Ross-Brand affair?

A Boris Johnson

B Charles Moore

C Simon Heffer

74 Which of these was John Sergeant not accused of being by the Strictly Come Dancing judges?

A A dancing pig

B An arrogant coward

C Devilishly handsome

75 As the economy tanked, Britain became more of a credit risk than:

A Italy

B Russia

C McDonald's

76 Police accused Tory front-bencher Damian Green of which unparliamentary activity?

A Grooming a Civil Service mole

B Driving under the influence

C Scrupulous honesty

77 Which Frenchman took fright after a voodoo doll with his features appeared?

A Gérard Depardieu

B Nicolas Sarkozy

C Arsène Wenger

78 David Tennant played Hamlet. Who played the skull?

A André Tchaikowsky

B André Previn

C André the Giant

79 Which musical movie became Britain's highest-grossing film ever?

A High School
Musical 3

B Mamma Mia!

C Simon!: The Simon Cowell Story

80 What has Barack Obama promised his children when they get to the White House?

A A puppy

B A Nintendo Wii

C A reading of Harry Potter

Answers

1 b
2 c
3 a
4 c
5 a
6 a
7 a
8 c
9 c
10 b
11 b
12 b
13 a
14 c
15 b
16 b
17 c
18 a
19 c
20 a
21 c
22 b
23 c
24 a
25 b
26 a
27 a, b or c
28 a
29 a
30 c
31 c
32 b
33 a
34 a
35 c
36 c
37 a
38 b
39 b
40 b
41 c
42 b
43 c
44 b
45 b
46 c
47 a
48 b
49 a
50 b
51 b
52 c
53 b
54 c
55 a
56 b
57 b
58 c
59 b
60 c
61 a
62 b
63 b
64 a
65 c
66 b
67 b
68 c
69 b
70 b
71 c
72 a
73 b
74 c
75 c
76 a
77 b
78 a
79 b
80 a

This Quiz comes from the Independent newspaper and is drawn from the Whitaker’s Almanac

Sherlock Holmes used it to crack codes, Churchill relied on it to get him through the Blitz. For 140 years, Whitaker's Almanack has been the definitive source of facts, trivia and ephemera. So who better than its compilers to test your knowledge of 2008? Fingers on buzzers...

  The Whitaker's Almanack quiz 2008

Art & design

1) Which art gallery reopened in new premises on the King's Road in Chelsea in October?

2) How did 51-year-old Sue Tilley become worth £17m this year?

3) Why did two of Mark Rothko's artworks attract particular attention in an exhibition at Tate Modern?

4) What was the "Cans Festival" and where was it held?

5) A company from which country designed "airbags for the elderly", which inflate when the wearer falls over?

6) What did Tim Knox, the director of Sir John Soane's museum, describe as "horrors and Frankenstein monster memorials"?

7) Who gave away 1,000 of his paintings by leaving them on the streets of London?

8) Where in the world did the new Museum of Islamic Art open?

9) Which Roman Emperor featured in a blockbuster exhibition at the British Museum?

10) Which twisted supermodel became a golden girl?

11) Which nation announced plans to build a 1km-high skyscraper?

12) Which recent exhibition in London featured a boating lake on the roof?

Media

1) What replaced the unprofitable spoken-word radio station, Oneword, and attracted more listeners?

2) Which well-known TV presenter resigned after discovering that their fee was to be cut by 90 per cent?

3) Who will replace Terry Wogan as the presenter of the Eurovision song contest?

4) The BBC Olympics coverage title theme was composed by which music artist?

5) Virgin radio changed its name, to what?

6) Which US newspaper's managing editor stepped down only four months after it was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp?

7) Which superhero's alter ego was killed in an issue of a comic this year?

8) Which British TV comedy series did US magazine Variety criticise, noting that the show's wit "seldom rises above what's scrawled on a school bathroom wall"?

9) What linked the two programmes Echo Beach and Moving Wallpaper?

10) Name the Blair-era figures who wrote the following in their memoirs:

a) "Each culture brings its problems. In countries where sexual activity is rife, you have HIV/Aids."

b) On Gordon Brown: "frustrating, annoying, bewildering and prickly".

c) "He [Peter Mandelson] started to leave then came back over, pushed at me, then threw a punch, then another."

11) What was it that linked Voluptua to Lesley Douglas?

Business & the economy

1) If February was 5.25 per cent, October was 4.5 per cent and November 3 per cent, what is December?

2) Which holiday company collapsed in September stranding around 85,000 holiday-makers abroad?

3) What was raised to £175,000 for a period of one year from 3 September?

4) Which company caused around 2,000 recently married couples to be rather short on wedding gifts after it went into administration in August?

5) What is the name of Iceland's second-largest bank and parent company of Icesave, which went into receivership and was nationalised in October?

6) Which bank, founded in Alabama, USA, in the 1850s, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September?

7) Which German-owned retailer reported a 20 per cent increase in sales in June?

8) Why was it hoped that shoppers will be more likely to spend, spend, spend between 1 December 2008 and 31 December 2009?

International affairs

1) What landmark ruling did the US supreme court make in June regarding the legal rights of Guantanamo Bay inmates?

2) Which two countries established formal diplomatic relations for the first time?

a) China and Taiwan

b) Israel and Iran

c) Syria and Lebanon

3) Which was the first nation officially to recognise "internet addiction" as a clinical psychological disorder?

4) Whom did Vladimir Putin threaten to "hang by the balls" in an overheard conversation with Nicolas Sarkozy in August?

5) Which country's prime minister was forced to step down because of his cookery show?

6) Name the ailing Communist leader who retired from public life and, secondly, the ailing Communist leader who was apparently Photoshopped back into it?

7) In the week after his election win, President-elect Barack Obama urged President Bush to bail out which three stricken carmakers?

8) Who are Jigme Thinley and Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk?

9) What may or may not be the world's newest nation state – depending on who you ask?

10) Which waterway has become known as "pirate alley"?

a) The Gulf of Aden

b) The Gulf of Carpentaria

c) The Persian Gulf

11) Who mounted and lost a court case against the manufacturer of a voodoo doll in his likeness, the packaging of which is now legally bound to carry a warning that piercing it with needles "constitutes an attack on the personal dignity of ___"?

12) What did George W Bush admit to being unprepared for during an "exit interview" on ABC News in December?

a) Historically low approval ratings

b) War

c) Swallowing that pretzel rather than chewing it a little more

Film

1) Why did the Queen and Prince Philip have to see A Bunch of Amateurs?

2) Which two US presidents featured in eponymous movies released this year?

3) Which actress was condemned by the Communist Party of St Petersburg for aiding "the killer of hundreds of Soviet people and their allies"?

4) Which ageing adventurer went looking for a crystal skull?

5) Which brothers scooped four Oscars for a film at the 2008 Academy Awards?

6) Name the three actors who played the "fathers" in Mamma Mia!

7) What links the 2008 films Be Kind Rewind, Kung Fu Panda and Tropic Thunder?

8) In what film did the character Two-Face feature this year?

9) It "proposes, conventionally enough, that war is a nightmare, yet few films have evoked the texture of nightmare so specifically". Which film, directed by Ari Folman, was being described by the critic Jonathan Romney?

10) Where are two hapless Irish hitmen, played by Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell, sent to in the 2008 film of the same name?

11) Put the following people in the order that they appeared in the Hollywood Reporter's 2008 list of highest-earning female actors:

a) Julia Roberts

b) Reese Witherspoon

c) Angelina Jolie

12) "She has made a movie so incredibly bad that Berlin festivalgoers were staggering around yesterday in a state of clinical shock, deathly pale and mewing like maltreated kittens." Whose new film was the critic Peter Bradshaw describing back in February of this year?

Celebrity

1) In a survey for the Association of British Teachers, 60 per cent of the teachers interviewed said their pupils aspired to be like which celebrity?

2) Which fruity member of the British bratpack did Chester French frontman Max Drummey marry in Las Vegas after a month-long relationship?

3) Which couple named their newborn twins Knox and Vivienne?

4) Who won the 2008 series of The Apprentice, despite their "reverse pterodactyl" impression?

5) What do Robert Kilroy-Silk, Joe Swash and Martina Navratilova have in common?

6) Which British celebrity entered the Indian version of the Big Brother house this year?

7) How did the pianist André Tchaikowsky make an unconventional cameo appearance in the RSC production of Hamlet?

8) Such was the success of her debut fashion designs, stocked by Selfridges, that there were accusations that she had the help of designer Roland Mouret. Who is the designer?

9) Who had to be carried out of one awards ceremony earlier this year, and had a spat with co-host Sir Elton John at another?

10) Princess Beatrice enrolled at Goldsmiths College in September. What is she studying?

a) History of Ideas

b) Maths

c) Textiles

11) What links Lily Cole, Gary Barlow, David Jason and Macy Gray?

12) Match the celebrities to the Christmas lights they switched on:

I) Oxford Street, London II) Regent Street, London III) Banbury, Oxfordshire IV) Bond Street, London V) Newcastle-upon-Tyne

a) Cheeky Girls b) Hairy Bikers c) Kelly Brook d) McFly e) Sugababes

Environment & science

1) Which country planted its flag on the Moon for the first time this year?

2) Which US entrepreneur won the right to build a billion-pound golf course in Aberdeenshire, despite opposition from locals?

3) How were the results of a 20-year study, released in January, good news for moderate drinkers?

4) What did Boris Johnson want to relocate to the Thames Estuary?

5) Which of the following was not a 2008 theory about Stonehenge?

a) It was a centre of healing

b) It was a cemetery for a single ruling dynasty

c) It was an early form of "theatre in the round"

d) It was the site for a "bring your own beef" barbecue

6) Why was the world going to end on 10 September?

7) Thomas Beatie became the first man to:

a) Get a national identity card

b) Achieve a government-accredited zero-carbon lifestyle

c) Give birth

8) Where did Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper drop her tool bag?

9) Eddie Adcock had brain surgery to correct a hand tremor in 2008. How did he help doctors to monitor the operation's progress?

10) Which of these medical milestones was not achieved this year?

a) First successful double arm transplant

b) First successful womb transplant

c) First successful trachea transplant

d) First ovary-transplant recipient to give birth

Music

1) X Factor winner Leon Jackson reached No 3 in the charts earlier this year. Whose song beat him to No 2?

2) Which legend of British pop music resigned as life president of Watford Football Club in November?

3) Who became the first British female solo artist to release an album that went straight to No 1 in the US charts?

4) Sheikh Abdulla, second son of the King of Bahrain, claimed that he had written new music for which pop star?

5) Which new album was denounced as part of a Western plot to "grasp and control the world using democracy as a pawn"?

6) Who achieved the biggest first-day album sales of the year with their album The Circus?

7) Which anarchic musician starred in an advertising campaign for butter featuring the slogan, "It's not about Great Britain, it's about Great Butter"?

8) Which synthpop group were named as best artists of 2008 by Last.fm?

9) Which band announced that their first live performances since 2002 would be on 2 and 3 June 2009?

10) What particularly dismayed Noel Gallagher about Glastonbury?

Go figure

Why were these numbers in the news in 2008? Match each with the correct description

9.69 seconds

$20m

22 miles

1,500 metres

10,024,724,896,912

231 million per cent

89.7 sextillion (1,021) per cent

a) Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate (as a percentage) as of 14 November 2008, according to a study by the Cato Institute

b)The highest ever one-off prize (in US dollars) awarded for a team sport, to the winners of the Stanford Super Series Twenty20 cricket tournament

c)The length of the world’s largest ostrich sandwich (in metres), made in Tehran

d) Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate (as a percentage) as of July 2008

e) The time (in seconds) in which Usain Bolt won the 100m race and set a new world record at the Olympics

f) The distance (in miles) travelled by “Fusionman”, Yves Rossy, who became the first person to cross the English Channel using a single jet-propelled wing

g) A snapshot of the US national debt (in dollars) on 30 September

Literature

1) Choose the fake book title from the real shortlist for the 2008 Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year:

a) I Was Tortured by the Pygmy Love Queen

b) If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start with Your Legs

c) Cheese Problems Solved

d) The Essential Guide to Chechen Farming Equipment

2) Which cookbook published in 2008 weighed about a stone (6.3kg)?

3) What links the novels East of the Sun, The Pirate's Daughter and Down River?

4) Whose new book is aptly called Why Do I Say These Things??

5) Why did authors Philip Pullman, Jacqueline Wilson, JK Rowling and Terry Pratchett all sign a petition this summer?

6) Why did Katie Price cause controversy at the British Book Awards?

7) Who may have caused a politician to blush by winning the Literary Review's Bad Sex in Fiction Award?

8) Whose autobiography discussed a lack of "contraceptive equipment"?

9) The phrase "too isolated, too insular" caused a literary firestorm at a major prize. Who said it, at which prize, and to what did the description refer?

10) Which Booker-shortlisted novel featured the Chelsea Hotel, estranged marriage, cricket and post-September 11 New York?

11) Why did Rhodri Glyn Thomas, then Welsh Minister for Heritage, have to apologise to author Tom Bullough?

US election

1) Which of the following is not a Sarah Palin-related scandal to which the media gave the "-gate" suffix:

a) Babygate

b) Troopergate

c) Hockeygate

2) During the campaign, lipstick was famously applied to which two animals?

3) Put these four failed candidates for the Republican nomination in the order in which they dropped out of the race:

a) Rudy Giuliani

b) Mike Huckabee

c) Ron Paul

d) Mitt Romney

4) In which state did Hillary Clinton famously come close to tears, and later win, during the primaries?

5) What is the "Bradley effect"?

6) Who was Barack Obama repeatedly accused of "palling around with"?

a) Bill Ayers

b) Bill Clinton

c) Bill Cosby

7) Who came up with the following phrases:

a) "Drill, baby, drill!"

b) "Bomb, bomb, bomb ... Bomb, bomb Iran" [to the tune of the Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann"]

c) "I can see Russia from my house"

8) Which was the only battleground state won by John McCain?

9) Which US intellectual berated David Dimbleby during the BBC's election-night coverage?

10) By approving Proposition 8, what did voters inCalifornia choose to ban on 4 November?

11) Which of the following is not the name of one of Sarah Palin's children: Track, Aspen, Bristol, Willow, Trig, Piper

Obituaries

1) Which soul singer, who died in August, found fame in later life providing the voice of "Chef" in the cartoon comedy South Park?

2) The Austrian politician Jörg Haider died in a car crash in October. What is the name of the far-right political party he founded in 2005?

3) Famous for her comical paintings of large, often naked people, which artist died in May?

4) Which actor, who died in January, played roles as diverse as Ned Kelly, Casanova and Bob Dylan?

5) Name the author of the novel Infinite Jest and the essay collection A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, who died in September.

6) The crash site of adventurer Steve Fossett's plane was eventually discovered in which mountain range in early October?

7) Whose obituary was accidentally published online by the Bloomberg business news wire while they were still very much alive?

8) Which former guitarist with the Manic Street Preachers, missing since 1995, was officially "presumed dead" in November?

9) Which Russian writer, who died in August, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970?

10) Which American author, historian and broadcaster, who died this year aged 96, won a Pulitzer Prize for The Good War: An Oral History of World War II?

Politics

1) What was revealed to be the most common name among female members of the BNP, and how did we discover this information?

2) What mode of transport did Lembit Opik use to deliver a petition to the Department for Transport?

3) "Conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office" and "aiding and abetting, counselling or procuring misconduct in a public office": who was arrested on suspicion of these offences?

4) At the Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Awards, who presented Lord Mandelson with his award for Newcomer of the Year?

5) In January, what did 38 MPs admit to doing?

6) Which politician discovered that he was distantly related to King George II during the filming of a TV series?

7) Why was an image of Gordon Brown with a red flower tucked behind his right ear projected on to the Houses of Parliament in February?

8) How did Home Secretary Jacqui Smith attract criticism while touring Peckham, her own constituency?

9) Who became the first married couple to serve as Cabinet members?

10) Where did a Cabinet Office employee leave secret documents containing intelligence on al-Qa'ida?

11) Which politician reportedly became the highest-paid public speaker in the world?

Sport

1) In tennis, to whom did Andy Murray lose at the US Open, his first ever grand slam final?

2) Which snooker player made the ninth maximum break (147) of his professional career in April?

3) Which means of communication did Roy Keane allegedly use to quit as manager of Sunderland FC?

a) email

b) text message

c) newspaper interview

4) Brian Lara's record as highest-ever run scorer in the history of cricket was beaten earlier this year, by whom?

5) How many grands prix did Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton win in 2008, and how many did world championship runner-up Felipe Massa win?

6) Which poet won a third Ascot Gold Cup in June?

7) Which Formula One team became the first casualty of the global financial crisis?

8) The governing body of which major UK sport became the first to sign up to a gay equality in sport campaign run by the pressure group Stonewall?

9) A legend of football became the new manager of his national side. Who was it?

10) Which marauding darts player announced his intention to make a comeback after losing ten stone since his collapse at the World Championships in January 2007?

11) For how many fights has boxer Joe Calzaghe been unbeaten?

a) 42

b) 46

c) 52

12) Which Premiership football manager was fuming after his team captain was pictured smoking a cigarette outside a nightclub?

13) Which famous cricket personality is the subject of a new musical?

Olympics

1) What was the nickname given to the iconic Beijing National Stadium?

2) Michael Phelps won the greatest ever number of gold medals at a single Olympics, collecting eight in Beijing. Whose record did he beat?

3) How did the South African swimmer Natalie du Toit make history in Beijing?

4) Who quit his role as artistic adviser for the Olympic Games in protest at the Chinese government's handling of the Darfur conflict in Sudan?

5) The British team came fourth in the Olympic medal table, its best result in a century. What was the equivalent medal-table position achieved by the British Paralympians?

6) The men's team from Hungary won a ninth gold medal, with six players experiencing Olympic glory for the third time. In which sport?

Gift horses (and other beasts)

Each of the animals below were given as gifts this year. Can you match each to its correct recipient?

1. A Lipizzaner horse

2. Two pandas

3. A goat and a deer

A. China

B. Vladimir Putin

C. Barack Obama & family

D. The Queen

D. Taiwan

5. A Peruvian hairless dog

4. A Siberian tiger cub

Quiz of the Year answers

Art & design

1) The Saatchi Gallery 2) She was the subject of Lucian Freud's Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, the painting that broke the record for a work sold at auction by a living artist 3) They were hung the wrong way up 4) An exhibition of works by Banksy and other graffiti artists, held in a disused road tunnel in Leak Street, London SE1 5) Japan 6) Newly commissioned public art works, particularly the statue of Lloyd George in Parliament Square, the Monument to the Unknown Construction Worker near the Tower of London and the embracing couple at St Pancras station, which he described as "truly horrific" 7) British painter Adam Neate 8) Doha, capital of Qatar 9) Hadrian 10) Kate Moss. Marc Quinn's golden sculpture Sphinx showed the model with feet behind her head 11) Dubai 12) Psycho Buildings at the Hayward Gallery

Media

1) Birdsong – a looped track featuring the sound of birdsong from a British country garden 2) Carol Vorderman 3) Graham Norton 4) Damon Albarn 5) Absolute 6) The Wall Street Journal's 7) Batman 8) Little Britain USA 9) Moving Wallpaper was a comedy drama series about the production of the soap opera Echo Beach 10) a) Cherie Blair, Speaking for Myself b) John Prescott, Prezza c) Alastair Campbell, The Blair Years 11) Voluptua, aka Georgina Baillie, was the subject of Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross's lewd phone messages left for her grandfather Andrew Sachs during a Radio 2 show; Lesley Douglas, controller of Radio 2, resigned in the aftermath of the controversy

Business & the economy

1) 2 per cent (interest rates) 2) XL Leisure 3) The threshold at which stamp duty becomes payable 4) WrapIt 5) Landsbanki 6) Lehman Brothers 7) Aldi 8) VAT is reduced from 17.5 per cent to 15 per cent for this 13-month period

International affairs

1) They have the constitutional right to be tried by a US civilian court rather than a military court 2) c 3) China 4) President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia 5) Thailand: a court ruled that Samak Sundaravej had breached the constitution by accepting payment for work as a TV chef 6) Fidel Castro, who stepped down as President of Cuba in February, and Kim Jong-il, who appeared in a badly doctored photograph in early November amid reports of ill-health 7) General Motors (GM), Ford and Chrysler 8) The new prime minister and king of Bhutan, respectively 9) Kosovo, which declared its independence in February, but which Serbia still considers part of its sovereign territory 10) a 11) Nicolas Sarkozy 12) b – He admitted to being unprepared for war at the beginning of his presidency

Film

1) It was the title of the film shown at the annual Royal Film Performance 2) Richard Nixon (Frost/Nixon) and George W Bush (W) 3) Olga Kurylenko, for collaborating with James Bond in Quantum of Solace: "a man who worked for decades under the orders of Thatcher and Reagan to destroy the USSR" 4) Indiana Jones 5) Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men) 6) Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan and Stellan Skarsgard 7) Jack Black starred in all three films 8) The Dark Knight 9) Waltz with Bashir 10) Bruges, in In Bruges 11) c, a, b 12) Madonna's Filth and Wisdom

Celebrity

1) David Beckham 2) Peaches Geldof 3) Brangelina 4) Lee McQueen 5) They were contestants on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! 6) Jade Goody 7) His skull was used in the "Alas, poor Yorick" scene 8) Victoria Beckham 9) Lily Allen 10) a 11) They all featured in adverts for M&S this year 12) I-E; II-D; III-A; IV-C; V-B

Environment & science

1) India 2) Donald Trump 3) It found that moderate drinkers are at a 30 per cent lower risk of developing heart disease than teetotallers 4) Heathrow Airport 5) c 6) Scientists switched on the Large Hadron Collider, which some feared could create black holes that would expand to engulf the Earth 7) c 8) In space, during repair work on the International Space Station. It is now in orbit 9) The operation was conducted under local anaesthetic, and Adcock played the banjo throughout the operation 10) b

Music

1) Peter Kay's "The Winner's Song", taken from his spoof reality show, Britain's Got the Pop Factor... 2) Sir Elton John 3) Leona Lewis 4) Michael Jackson 5) Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy, in the Chinese Communist Party's newspaper Global Times 6) Take That 7) John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) 8) MGMT 9) Blur 10) That it was headlined by a hip-hop artist (Jay-Z) rather than a rock band

Prize winners

1) Best of the Booker, for Midnight's Children 2) The building that won the Riba Stirling prize (for Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Alison Brooks architects, and Macreanor Lavington) 3) Brit Award for best British group 4) Mercury Prize, for their album The Seldom Seen Kid 5) Nobel Peace Prize 6) Turner Prize 7) The Palme d'Or at Cannes was won by Entre les murs (aka The Class), directed by Laurent Cantet 8) Best actor Oscar, for There Will be Blood 9) Duncan Lawrie Dagger for crime fiction for Blood from Stone 10) The Killers frontman was named GQ's most stylish man of the year 11) Rear of the Year 12) They were the stars of the Worst TV advert of 2008, for Gillette

Go figure

9.69 seconds

e) The time in which Usain Bolt won the 100m race and set a new world record at the Olympics

$20m

b) The highest-ever one-off prize awarded for a team sport, to the winners of the Stanford Super Series Twenty20 cricket tournament

22 miles

f) The distance travelled by "Fusionman", Yves Rossy, who became the first person to cross the English Channel using a single jet-propelled wing

1,500 metres

c) The length of the world's largest ostrich sandwich, made in Tehran

10,024,724,896,912

g) A snapshot of the US national debt, in dollars, on 30 September – the day the National Debt Clock in Times Square ran out of digits

231 million per cent

d) Zimbabwe's inflation rate of as of July 2008

89.7 sextillion (1,021) per cent

a) Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate as of 14 November 2008, according to a study by the Cato Institute

Literature

1) d 2) Heston Blumenthal's Big Fat Duck Cookbook 3) They were all on the shortlist of Richard and Judy's Summer Reads 4) Jonathan Ross 5) They were against the introduction of age-banding on children's books 6) She was nominated for an award for her children's book, Perfect Ponies: My Pony Care Book, even though she didn't write it all herself 7) Rachel Johnson (sister of Boris) for her novel Shire Hell 8) Cherie Blair's Speaking for Myself, in which she discussed a memorable trip to Balmoral 9) Horace Engdahl, permanent secretary of the jury of the Nobel Prize, was describing American literature 10) Netherland by Joseph O'Connor 11) He wrongly named Mr Bullough as the winner of Wales' Book of the Year at the awards ceremony, only realising his mistake when the author was moments away from the stage

US election

1) c; Hockeygate was coined after a scandal in Indian hockey 2) Pitbull and pig 3) a (30 Jan); d (7 Feb); b (4 Mar); c (12 Jun) 4) New Hampshire 5) The theory that a significant minority of voters tell opinion polls that they intend to vote for a non-white candidate, yet vote for his white opponent on election day 6) a 7) a) Michael Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland, said it first on the third day of the Republican National Convention; Rudy Giuliani picked up the chant later b) John McCain, in answer to the question, "When do we send them an airmail message to Tehran?", during the primaries in April 2007 c) Tina Fey, in her first appearance as Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live. The real Palin line was, "You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska", from an early September interview with ABC News 8) Missouri 9) Gore Vidal 10) Same-sex marriage 11) Aspen

Obituaries

1) Isaac Hayes 2) Alliance for the Future of Austria 3) Beryl Cook 4) Heath Ledger 5) David Foster Wallace 6) Sierra Nevada 7) Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple 8) Richard James Edwards, aka Richey James 9) Alexander Solzhenitsyn 10) Studs Terkel

Politics

1) Susan, according to a membership list leaked earlier this year 2) A Segway stand-up electric scooter 3) Damien Green MP 4) George Osborne 5) Employing family members, and using their parliamentary allowance to pay them 6) London Mayor Boris Johnson, as revealed in an episode of the BBC's Who Do You Think You Are? 7) The Labour party gave permission for his image to be used in an advertising campaign promoting Fiji as a holiday destination 8) She wore a stab-proof vest 9) Yvette Cooper and Ed Balls 10) On a train from London Waterloo to Surrey 11) Tony Blair

Sport

1) Roger Federer 2) Ronnie O'Sullivan 3) b 4) Sachin Tendulkar (India) 5) Hamilton won five; Massa won six 6) Yeats (that was the name of the horse) 7) Honda 8) Rugby League 9) Diego Maradona (Argentina) 10) Andy Fordham, aka "The Viking" 11) b 12) Arsene Wenger, his captain was William Gallas 13) Shane Warne

Olympics

1) The Bird's Nest 2) Mark Spitz 3) She took part in both the Olympics and the Paralympics 4) Steven Spielberg 5) Second 6) Water polo

Gift horses (and other beasts)

1) d A rare Lipizzaner horse named Kanizo was given to the Queen on the second day of her state visit to Slovenia in October. The Queen requested that Kanizo remain at the stud farm in Lipica to be cared for, but accepted a plaque acknowledging her ownership 2) e Taiwan finally accepted a pair of pandas as a gift of friendship from China in August: the pandas had originally been offered to Taiwan three years previously 3) a Taiwan reciprocated China's gift of two pandas with a rare Formosan serow mountain goat and a sika deer 4) b A Siberian tiger cub was given to Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin for his 56th birthday in October; he later donated it to a zoo in southern Russia 5) c The Peruvian Hairless Dog Association offered the dog to President-elect Barack Obama and family in a letter to the US embassy in Lima in November, stating that the breed would be perfect for Obama's daughter Malia, who is allergic to most breeds

This one is from the Scotsman

PICK OF THE POPS

1 Leona Lewis reached No1 in the US charts with Bleeding Love. She was the sixth UK solo female artist to achieve the feat. Who were the other five?

2 Who may have needed a little Cracklin' Rosie before he too

3 As whom did Aimee Ann "beg for mercy" in February?

4 Which two songbirds reprised Satchmo's No1?

5 In March in New York, which British Sixties band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

6 Who was voted the Best Act Ever at the MTV Europe Music Awards?

FRONT PAGE NEWS

1 Who is Voluptua's grandad?

2 Where was the Haut de la Garenne children's home?

3 In August which country launched an attack on South Ossetia?

4 The husband of which assassinated leader won the presidential election in Pakistan?

5 Sir Ian Blair resigned from which post?

6 The planned overhaul to the exam system in Scotland was postponed in October for a year. What is this initiative called?

WINNERS ALL

1 Lee McQueen became the fourth winner of what?

2 Which country won the Eurovision Song Contest?

3 Why was George Sampson "Singing In The Rain" in May?

4 Why did Jason Grimshaw receive a "bum deal"?

5 Who won Britain's first gold in Beijing?

6 What did Ch Jafrak Philippe Olivier win in 2008?

WHO SAID THAT?

1 Who, in August, did Alex Salmond label a "gowk" for his ridicule of Robert Burns?

2 What, according to their father, did Sasha and Malia deserve?

3 Which SNP MP's comment on the Budget was "a subprime Budget from a subprime Chancellor"?

4 Who told Tatler magazine: "Mummy, Bea and I call ourselves The Tripod"?

5 Who lost £500 and admitted: "I was wrong and I have been punished for my mistake"?

6 While he was Down Under, his wife Lynda took the opportunity to let the rest of us know that "he can be an annoying git". Who?

LITERARY CORNER

1 What was the title of Aravind Adiga's novel that won the Man Booker Prize?

2 Whose latest book, Wartime Courage, sold only 193 copies in the fortnight after its launch in November?

3 Which book originated because the author "wanted to thank six people connected to the Harry Potter series"?

4 Audacity of Hope and Dreams of My Father became best-sellers this year. Which Edinburgh-based company publish the books?

5 Whose novel, Netherland, revolved around a character's attempt to introduce cricket to New York?

6 Which prestigious literary prize was won by French writer Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio?

MATCHES

1 Which couple married in June in Portofino on the Italian Riveria?

2 Who married a Canadian, Autumn Kelly, in May?

3 Whom did the chanteuse of Comme si de rien n'était marry after weeks of speculation in February?

4 Beyoncé Knowles married Shawn Carter in April. By what sobriquet is he better known?

5 The granddaughter of Hughie Green married American musician Donny Tourette in Las Vegas. What is her name?

6 Whose match was extinguished in Court 10 with the separation from Ciccone ML?

WORLD AFFAIRS

1 Which two cities hosted the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention respectively?

2 Which group picked up their pencils again in February?

3 Who succeeded Fidel?

4 The "mother of all targets" returned to his motherland and his Grandmother in March. Who?

5 Who was stripped of his honorary knighthood in June?

6 Europe's most wanted man, Radovan Karadzic, was arrested in July. Where was he at the time?

SCOTS IN THE NEWS

1 Who moved from Ohio to Edinburgh after a 20-year stretch?

2 Edinburgh-based Lucinda Ledgerwood hit the television screens in the spring as part of which series?

3 Which singer was honoured by the Red Cross for her humanitarian work?

4 What did dominie Roy swap his seat of learning for?

5 Alex Salmond presented Blairs Museum in Aberdeen with a copy of whose death warrant in November?

6 Where was 65-year-old Jim O'Neill when he suffered a stroke?

THE YEAR IN NUMBERS

1 How many candidates stood in Zimbabwe's leadership election in June?

2 When exactly did the XXIX Olympics open in Beijing?

3 Which terminal did the Queen open in August?

4 According to Forbes' 2008 Rich List, who is now the richest man with an estimated fortune of $62 billion?

5 How much did Heather Mills receive as part of her divorce settlement from Sir Paul McCartney?

6 What will the year 2009 be in Roman numerals?

TELEVISION

1 Who played the part of Mary Whitehouse in Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story drama?

2 The 5,000th episode of which soap was broadcast in May?

3 Which Reporting Scotland presenter left the programme after eight years?

4 When did the residents of Ramsay Street move from BBC1 to Five?

5 In November it was reported that which show was the world's most watched television programme?

6 Which new channel pulled in more than 600,000 viewers in its first week?

BACK PAGE

1 Who, in August, became the most successful Olympian of all time?

2 At which course did Tiger Woods beat Rocco Mediate in a sudden-death play-off at the 2008 US Open?

3 Which two Scots were shortlisted for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year title?

4 Who triumphed for a third time in New York with a time of two hours 23 minutes and 55 seconds?

5 Which rugby team won the Heineken European Cup final?

6 At Beijing in September, which team, with 102 medals, came second to China?

NAMING NAMES

1 By what nickname did Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher come to be commonly known during the 2008 US presidential election campaign?

2 In July, a judge in New Zealand made a nine-year-old girl a ward of court so that the name she had been given by her parents could be changed. What was her given name?

3 What is the name of Barack Obama's wife?

4 Who was christened "The Dancing Pig"?

5 Why was Bilal Abdulla sentenced to at least 32 years?

6 What rhyming nickname was acquired by Wendy Alexander after she swithered over supporting the idea of a referendum on Scottish independence?

THE POLITICAL WORLD

1 How was it possible to find out how many far-Right sympathisers lived in your town?

2 Who, in October, was named as the new Scottish Secretary in Gordon Brown's Cabinet?

3 Peter Mandelson returned to the government as Baron Mandelson of where?

4 Wendy Alexander resigned as leader of the Scottish Labour Party. Which constituency does she represent?

5 Where were each of the SNP, Scottish Labour Party and the Scottish Conservative Party conferences held in 2008?

6 In June, which country rejected the Treaty of Rome?

IT'S IN THE STARS

1 On 1 January which country will take over the presidency of the Council of the European Union?

2 Where in February will the 81st Academy Awards be held?

3 In March, the Formula 1 World Championship will begin in which city?

4 Which "International Year" will be celebrated in 2009 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo Galilei?

5 Where will the Eurovision Song Contest be held in May?

6 Homecoming Scotland will mark the 250th anniversary of whose birth?

POLLS OF THE YEAR

1 Which British car was named the worst ever?

2 Which children's author was voted the most popular?

3 At the London Games Festival, which character was crowned the UK's favourite video game character?

4 According to a BBC/ICM poll, what were 21 per cent of children banned from playing at school?

5 What was revealed as the UK's best-selling board game for the first time in 15 years?

6 In a poll carried out by cashback.co.uk , in the run-up to Christmas what topped the list as the most wanted present this year?

THE WORLD OF BUSINESS

1 Who endeavoured to avoid the demise of Woolies by purchasing a near 4 per cent stake of the company in October?

2 In August which company crashed and blamed the soaring cost of fuel?

3 Which siblings filed for bankruptcy on 15 September?

4 Why did Simon Empson, the managing director of Broadspeed.com tell his customers to "Bogof" in November?

5 Which company purchased panthera onca in March?

6 In February, the Chancellor announced that the government had decided to take which organisation into a period of temporary public ownership?

ANSWERS

FRONT PAGE NEWS 1 Andrew Sachs. 2 Jersey. 3 Georgia. 4 Benazir Bhutto. 5 Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. 6 A Curriculum for Excellence

PICK OF THE POPS 1 Petula Clark, Downtown; Lulu, To Sir With Love; Sheena Easton, Morning Train (Nine To Five); Bonnie Tyler, Total Eclipse Of The Heart; Kim Wilde, You Keep Me Hanging On. 2 Neil Diamond at Glastonbury. 3 Duffy. 4 Eva Cassidy & Katie Melua, Wonderful World. 5 The Dave Clark Five. 6 Rick Astley.

IT'S IN THE STARS 1 Czech Republic. 2 Kodak Theatre, Los Angeles. 3 Melbourne. 4 Astronomy. 5 Moscow. 6 Robert Burns.

WINNERS ALL 1 The Apprentice. 2 Russia. 3 He won Britain's Got Talent by dancing to Singin' In The Rain. 4 The actor who plays him, Ryan Thomas, was voted Male Rear of the Year. 5 Cyclist Nicole Cooke. 6 Best in Show at Crufts.

WHO SAID THAT? 1 Jeremy Paxman. 2 A new puppy. 3 Stewart Hosie. 4 Princess Eugenie, daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. 5 Jeremy Clarkson, by printing his bank details in an attempt to discredit the lost data furore. 6 Timmy Mallett.

WORLD AFFAIRS 1 Denver and Minneapolis-St Paul. 2 The Writers Guild of America (after their strike). 3 Raúl Castro. 4 Prince Harry. 5 Robert Mugabe. 6 On a bus in Belgrade

MATCHES 1 Wayne Rooney and Coleen McLoughlin. 2 Peter Phillips. 3 Nicolas Sarkozy. 4 Jay-Z. 5 Peaches Geldof. 6 Guy Ritchie's.

NAMING NAMES 1 Joe the Plumber. 2 Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. 3 Michelle. 4 John Sergeant. 5 Plotting car-bomb attacks in Glasgow and London. 6 "Bendy Wendy".

LITERARY CORNER 1 The White Tiger. 2 Gordon Brown. 3 The Tales of Beedle the Bard (JK Rowling). 4 Canongate. 5 Joseph O'Neill. 6 The Nobel Prize for Literature.

THE WORLD OF BUSINESS 1 Alan Sugar. 2 Zoom. 3 Lehman Brothers. 4 Buyers using his on-line car-broker company were able to buy two Dodge Avengers for the price of one. 5 Indian company Tata purchased Jaguar from Ford. 6 Northern Rock.

BACK PAGE 1 American swimmer Michael Phelps. 2 Torrey Pines. 3 Andy Murray and Chris Hoy. 4 Paula Radcliffe, New York marathon. 5 Munster. 6 Great Britain, Paralympics.

THE POLITICAL WORLD 1 By looking at the publication on the internet of the entire membership of the British National Party (later removed). 2 Jim Murphy. 3 Foy and Hartlepool. 4 Paisley North. 5 SNP, Perth; Scottish Labour, Aviemore; Scottish Conservatives, Ayr. 6 Ireland.

SCOTS IN THE NEWS 1 Kenny Richey, the death row prisoner. 2 The Apprentice. 3 Annie Lennox. 4 Headteacher Lindsay Roy won the Glenrothes by-election against the odds for Labour. 5 Mary, Queen of Scots. 6 In his Cessna aircraft flying from Glasgow to Colchester.

THE YEAR IN NUMBERS 1 One – Robert Mugabe (he won!). 2 8:08pm on 08/08/08. 3 Heathrow's Terminal 5. 4 Warren Buffett. 5 £24.3 million. 6 MMIX.

POLLS OF THE YEAR 1 Austin Allegro. 2 Enid Blyton. 3 Sonic the Hedgehog. 4 Conkers. 5 Scrabble. 6 Apple iPod.

TELEVISION 1 Julie Walters. 2 Emmerdale. 3 David Robertson. 4 11 February – Neighbours moved from BBC1 to Five. 5 Strictly Come Dancing. 6 BBC Alba.