In January, Boris Johnson promised the nation that Britain had “quite a phenomenal year” ahead of it. Well, he certainly got that right. In fact, 2021 has proven to be the most extraordinary year since, well, 2020.

But how much of it do you remember? Test your knowledge of the strangest moments from the past 12 months in my annual Christmas quiz…

1. The rapper Nicki Minaj was rebuked by Chris Whitty at a Downing Street press conference, after she told her 23 million followers on Twitter that her cousin was refusing to get vaccinated. What highly questionable reason did she say this cousin had given?

a. He believes that the pandemic is a hoax

b. He doesn’t need a vaccine because he’s young, fit and healthy

c. He’s naturally immune to Covid

d. A male friend had claimed that the vaccine caused his testicles to swell monstrously in size, leading his horrified fiancée to call off their wedding

2. Disillusioned supporters of Jeremy Corbyn launched the Northern Independence Party, which aims to win the votes of working-class northerners, wants the North to secede from the South, and has a logo depicting a whippet. Where does the party’s founder live?

a. Rotherham

b. Hull

c. Grimsby

d. Brighton

3. To avoid upsetting students, Aberdeen University added a trigger warning to Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic adventure novel of 1886. What did the warning say?

a. “Not based on the author’s lived experience”

b. “Author freely admitted to voting Tory”

c. “Contains long words”

d. “Contains depictions of kidnapping”

4. Andrew Lloyd Webber told an airline that he needed to bring a “therapy dog” with him on a long-haul flight. What reason did he give?

a. He has a fear of flying

b. He was lonely

c. He couldn’t find a dog-sitter for it

d. He’d been “emotionally damaged” by watching the Hollywood film adaptation of Cats

5. After a night out drinking, a 50-year-old man from Turkey was involved in an unfortunate misunderstanding. What was it?

a. He sent his mother a text message that was intended for his girlfriend

b. He forgot the code for his burglar alarm and woke up the entire street

c. He got a tattoo of a Chinese symbol that translates as “Six spring rolls, one chicken chow mein and a bag of prawn crackers, please”

d. He spent several hours trying to help a search party look for a missing man, without realising that the missing man was him

6. A 21-year-old Nazi sympathiser from Lincoln was convicted of downloading instructions to make a bomb. But instead of sending him to prison, what did Judge Timothy Spencer QC do?

a. Sentence him to 200 hours’ community service

b. Fine him £5,000

c. Confiscate his laptop

d. Order him to read the works of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope and William Shakespeare, which the judge will test him on in the new year

7. After removing the chairman of Handforth Parish Council from a Zoom meeting for telling her she had “no authority here”, how did Jackie Weaver tell the remaining councillors to address her in future?

a. “Mrs Weaver”

b. “Ma’am”

c. “The Guv’nor”

d. “Britney Spears”

8. To encourage the public to keep fit, who said at a news conference: “Exercise is important. It’s important for people’s health and wellbeing. And that equally applies to exercise”?

a. Gareth Southgate

b. Harry Kane

c. Jack Grealish

d. Priti Patel

9. Time magazine’s Person of the Year, Elon Musk, announced that he had “semi-separated” from his girlfriend Grimes, a Canadian pop star. What is the name of their son?

a. John

b. Bill

c. Geoff

d. X Æ A-Xii

10. Shortly after he and his wife Meghan Markle “spoke their truth” to Oprah Winfrey, the Duke of Sussex was appointed chief impact officer at BetterUp, a Californian life-coaching firm. According to its website, which of the following does BetterUp aim to do?

a. “Pioneer growth for the whole person”

b. “Help people become the best version of themselves”

c. “Find meaning in what we do through crafting excellence”

d. “Build an authentic workplace where people bring their full selves to the table”

Answers

1d, 2d, 3d, 4d, 5d, 6d, 7d, 8d, 9d, 10: all of them.

Now you’ve finished Michael Deacon’s quiz, try The Telegraph Christmas Quiz: