GBMD: The Decade

Today's fresh blue sky from our back bedroom window

If Christmas is all about our families, then New Year's Eve has always been about friends and neighbours for NAH and me. For most of our life together it's been simply a massive party with something suitably fizzy at midnight, first footing and a quick burst of Auld Lang Syne. Last night was no exception, but in the past few years things have also become a little more structured.

Our neighbours started it all off by hosting a thrilling murder mystery evening one year. I played the part of a titled WWII codebreaker and we had to find the murderous spy in our midst. Lately we've had a quiz, with each family invited to bring a round of questions on a given theme decided by our hosts. For last night's events NAH and I were given the task of summing up the first decade of this millennium in just 10-20 questions.

We had great fun putting our list together yesterday and finally decided to keep things short and sweet by selecting 10 questions out of our shortlist of around 30. Just as well, because the previous rounds combined with lots of drink and yummy food breaks meant we became quiz masters at around 11.30pm. I thought you'd like to muse over them too for GBMD - they're rather GB-centric and non-gardeny, but I hope you'll find them a bit of fun after a hard night of celebrations and all of you should be able to find out the answers by fair means or foul! You're welcome to leave your answers in the comments and I'll add the 'official' ones in a couple of days time.

Unlike The Constant Gardener's fiendish Christmas quiz, I'm afraid I have no lovely prize to award. Just the kudos of being Veg Plotting's new year quiz champion :)
  1. Who was 50 in 2009, but doesn't look a day older than at birth?
  2. 2001 was the year of the foot & mouth outbreak: in which month was the first case officially identified?
  3. In 2004, Tony Blair was hit by a flour bomb during Prime Minister's Question Time. What was the colour of the flour?
  4. Name the British author who won the Nobel prize for literature in 2007
  5. In which year did the euro replace the franc and 11 other currencies, but not the pound?
  6. At the Beijing Olympics last year, which event did Rebecca Adlington win in world record time?
  7. What was recorded on 10th August 2003 at Brogdale, near Faversham in Kent?
  8. Who resigned in 2006, over a drink problem?
  9. In which year was London awarded the 2012 Olympic games?
  10. In 2009, 'The Last Tommy', Harry Patch died. What was his age?

Happy New Year everyone! Garden Bloggers' Muse Day is hosted by Carolyn Choi at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago.

Comments

  1. petoskystone1 January 2010 at 14:03

    i missed seeing the flour bomb. dang.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown1 January 2010 at 14:35

    Holy cow, that's a tough quiz. I guess I don't pay close enough attention to the news when it's on. Too many distractions.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tony Wildish1 January 2010 at 16:02

    I think I can answer one of those questions, but only one! The 50-year old wouldn't be Asterix, would it?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rothschild Orchid1 January 2010 at 18:02

    Happy New Year xxx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Helen/patientgardener1 January 2010 at 19:17

    Happy New Year - too tired to try and decipher the questions

    ReplyDelete
  6. Simon1 January 2010 at 22:05

    Ha ha, I got 0 out of 10. Happy new year, let's hope it's a good one

    ReplyDelete
  7. Gail2 January 2010 at 03:44

    Happy New Year! gail

    ReplyDelete
  8. Rose2 January 2010 at 15:21

    Glad to see I'm not the only one who didn't score well on this quiz:) I didn't even know that London was hosting the Olympics in 2012! Sounds like a great party--wishing you a very happy New Year, VP!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous2 January 2010 at 19:27

    Suggested answers, obtained by foul means:
    1.Alan Titchmarsh
    2. Feb 19th
    3. Purple
    4. Doris Lessing
    5. 1 Jan 2002
    6. 800m freestyle
    7. don't know
    8. don't know
    9. 6 July 2005
    10. 25 Jul2009, aged 111
    Can't imagine how your neighbours did. We only knew 3 answers ourselves.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous2 January 2010 at 19:56

    Sorry,
    I don't mean to be anonymous above but my google accounts seem to be in a muddle.
    Daphne

    ReplyDelete
  11. Phoenix C.3 January 2010 at 01:05

    Oh dear, I'm hopeless at knowledge! Is no 1 Simon Cowell?

    Have a great 2010 and looking forward to your postings!

    ReplyDelete
  12. VP4 January 2010 at 11:55

    Tee hee - I see I've flummoxed most of you as well! Our neighbours all got 3 of them right and between them they got most of them.

    I declare Daphne is quiz champion with 7 out of 10.

    I've put in links to all of the answers, but here they are for those of you who don't want to look them up.

    1. Barbie
    2. February (though 20th is the date I have)
    3. Purple
    4. Doris Lessing
    5. 2002
    6. 800m Freestyle
    7. Britain's highest ever temperature
    8.Charles Kennedy
    9. 2005
    10. 111

    ReplyDelete
  13. Unknown4 January 2010 at 17:21

    The answer to these questions, of course, is 42. Which is the meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything. Should about cover Doris Lessing et. al.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous4 January 2010 at 19:59

    Thanks! I obviously did not 'read the question carefully' on the first question. Still would not have achieved the missing two. You must live in a very interesting neighbourbood.
    Anyway I love your blog and have learned quite a lot from it.
    Daphne

    ReplyDelete
  15. VP5 January 2010 at 20:12

    Jodi - that made me smile so much: I used to share my birthday with Douglas Adams :)

    Anonymous aka Daphne aka quiz champion - welcome and I'm glad you're enjoying it here :D

    ReplyDelete

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