Start the year with a quiz from Dennis Leeds-George.
1. What six-letter term beginning with S is a water channel controlled at its head by a gate?
2. Not to be confused with a similarly-named Brat Pack actor, who is the current MP for Great Yarmouth, and one of five Reform UK MPs elected in this year’s general election?
3. The Wimbledon tennis tournament has announced that this year it is replacing what with robots?
4. Who ran away together in the rhyme The Cat and The Fiddle?
5. The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 will be held in which country, following their victory in 2024?
6. Who has served as the chief medical officer for England since 2019, and has had rather more prominence than most of his predecessors in the post?
7. The last Tudor monarch was Elizabeth I, but who was the last Tudor king?
8. The 2025 Ryder Cup will be played in which country?
9. The Oasis Live ’25 Tour will begin on 4 July 2025 at which venue?
10. In which English city in 2020 was a statue of slave-trader Edward Colston torn down as part of anti-racism riots?
11. Who has been one of the main hosts of Strictly Come Dancing since the show began in 2004?
12. Lewis Hamilton will compete for which team in 2025?
13. Which medical procedure involves inserting a thin tube with a camera to examine the body internally derived from a root word meaning within?
14. What name is usually given to the performer in a circus, typically dressed in a red tailcoat and top hat, who serves as an MC?
15. The World Conker Championships has been plunged into scandal after what was discovered in the pocket of the men’s champion?
16. The literary character Moby Dick was what type of animal?
17. What word, of Anglo-Indian origin, refers to an amateur equestrian sports meeting, and is particularly associated with Pony Club events?
18. Four-letter word precedes ‘market’ to refer to an economic system where the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand?
19. Haydn’s Symphony No. 101 in D major is known by what nickname, a reference to the very regular rhythm of plucked strings and bassoons in the second movement?
20. An American ice-cream company, named for its two founders and known for their inventive flavour names, also produce dog-friendly treats. What are the treats called?
21. What name given to a type of bedside machine for making hot drinks, whose use has declined since their 1970s peak, was actually a genericised trademark belonging to the company Goblin?
22. What is the name of the situation in which the economic growth is stagnant, but prices are rising?
23. For which novel did Kingsley Amis win his only Booker Prize?
24. Who met his double act partner Hugh Laurie while the two were students and members of Cambridge Footlights in 1980?
25. May 2020, craft beer giant Brew Dog released the beer Barnard Castle Eye Test – inspired by whose journey?
1. Sluice
2. Rupert Lowe
3. Line judges
4. The dish and the spoon
5. Switzerland
6. Chris Whitty
7. Edward VII
8. USA
9. Principality Stadium in Cardiff
10. Bristol
11. Tess Daly
12. Ferrari
13. Endoscopy
14. Ringmaster (Ringmistress or Ringleader)
15. A metal replica conker
16. Whale (White Whale or Sperm)
17. Gymkhana
18. Free
19. The Clock Symphony
20. Ben & Jerry Doggie Desserts
21. Teasmade
22. Stagflation
23. The Old Devils
24. Stephen Fry
25. Dominic Cummings
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