The News Quiz

1 It's been a bad week for... Why?

a) Patrizia Reggiani

b) Marks & Spencer

c) Tory wives

d) Pamela Phelps

2 What British invention is battling for pride of place in the Millennium Dome exhibition? (See pictures, right)

a) Cluedo

b) the Polo mint

c) the Mini

d) Dualit toasters

3 What are we told that single women will have

on their Christmas lists

this year?

a) Silicone implants

b) the Dancing Baby toy

c) Chanel's new "bean" handbag

d) Tiffany's "teardrop" necklace

4 It's been a good week

for... Why?

a) the beaver

b) Bill Clinton

c) Julie Mills

d) Tiny Rowland's widow

5 Who was it said that the biographer Andrew Morton has in his sights as his next compelling subject? (See pictures, above.)

a) Myra Hindley

b) Gazza

c) Louise Woodward

d) Monica Lewinsky

6 Who was arrested after 24 hours of "hell-raising" that finally ended in a pub fight?

a) Robbie Williams

b) Gazza

c) Liam Gallagher

d) Mike Hollingsworth, Anne Diamond's hubby

7 And who then leapt to his defence on national radio?

a) Chris Evans

b) Robbie Williams

c) Patsy Kensit

d) Noel Gallagher

8 Who confessed to having been a smoker, but said they had given it up at the age of 11?

a) Glenys Kinnock

b) the Prince of Wales

c) Prince William

d) Cliff Richard

9 What has been described as looking like "a leaky garden shed"?

a) an outdoor artwork called "Physics of Place"

b) the lavatories on Clapham Common

c) the Millennium Dome's new exhibition space

10 Caught red-handed...

a) Who was "framed" when an reporter posed as an Arab prince?

b) How much, in total, was the blackmail threat that Ron Davies received - allegedly, of course?

11 Who are offended and why, because of a certain London railway station's name?

12 What is the title of Germaine Greer's book, to be published next year?

a) The Whole Woman

b) The Real Woman

c) Beyond the Womb

d) Beyond Gender

Answers

1 a) Reggiani, dubbed the "black widow", was convicted of murdering her ex-husband Maurizio and jailed for 29 years;

b) M&S this week reported its first fall in profits for six years;

c) after a decision by Conservative Central Office, Tory wives were told to downgrade their role in public life;

d) judges overturned the pounds 46,650 damages previously awarded to Phelps, a dyslexic single mother.

2 b) The Polo mint

3 b) The Dancing Baby toy, based on an Internet greeting that then went on to star in Ally McBeal

4 a) The European beaver is set to make a return to Britain after an absence of 400 years;

b) President Clinton celebrated his party's election success, making a net gain of four in the House of Representatives;

c) Mills, 21, was the world's first person to be saved by a metal heart;

d) Mohammed Al Fayed agreed to pay her damages for the breaking open of Mr Rowland's safe deposit box.

5 c) Monica Lewinsky.

6 c) Liam Gallagher.

7 a) Chris Evans.

8 b) the Prince of Wales.

9 a) The outdoor artwork, partly funded by National Lottery money, in the grounds of Nottingham's Castle Museum.

10 a) John Alford, former star of London's Burning, caught supplying drugs after an undercover reporter posed as an Arab prince;

b) pounds 2,000.

11 The French - campaigners are demanding a change of name for Waterloo to spare their feelings over a humiliating defeat.

12 The Whole Woman