2008: The year that was

The M&G‘s 101 questions to test your knowledge of events in 2008

1. What does the acronym of the new political party Cope stand for?

2. Which South African band was forced to change its name to ‘Dear Reader” by a Scottish material manufacturer?

3. Which two premiers supporting Thabo Mbeki’s bid to stand as ANC president for a third term were purged after the ANC’s Polokwane conference?

4. Name the winner of this year’s Man Booker prize?

5. What is the name of the Swiss adventurer who drove the first solar-powered car around the world, in 2008?

6. Who has United States president elect Barack Obama nominated as his secretary of state?

7. Which United Kingdom high street retailer went into administration in the wake of the financial crisis, just as the festive shopping season kicked off? Clue: It shares the same name with a local retailer.

8. Who said ‘the country is groaning and moaning and screaming for change”?

9. Who was the first black man to win the Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2008?

10. Eskom has recently reversed a controversial decision to invest in what form of power generation?

11. Of which department did prisons boss Vernie Petersen become director general after Cabinet decided to move him?

12. Before Barack Obama became Barack Obama, what was his name?

13. The Argentina football team has a new manager. What is his name?

14. The person in question 13 has a famous football-playing son-in-law. Who is he?

15. Which country’s Constitutional Court banned women from wearing headscarves at university?

16. Where did Team SA finish on the Beijing Paralympic’s log?

17. Who is the world’s longest-serving ruler?

18. What is the name of the ‘new Scorpions” unit to be established in the South African Police Service?

19. What is the name of Africa’s first electric car, which was developed by Cape Town-based company Optimal Energy?

20. Which US comedian became renowned for the ‘Feylin Effect”, due to her spoof portrayal of US Republican vice-president nominee Sarah Palin?

21. Who said of the violent xenophobic attacks: ‘Most of these incidents were as a result of private arguments and conflict. However, it cannot be denied that these private arguments took on a xenophobic character, but then descended into general lawlessness, looting and criminality”?

22. Morocco is the occupying power in ———..

23. Which carmaker has pulled out of Formula 1 before the start of the next season because of the global financial crisis?

24. Which South African electronic act signed with International label Pacha?

25. What is the name of the machine that was switched on at Cern earlier this year with the intention of understanding the Big Bang theory?

26. Which government director general and daughter of prominent ANC leaders recently defected to the newly formed Congress of the People?

27. What disaster happened on May 12 and how many people are said to have died?

28. What is the name of the first BMX rider from South Africa to compete in the Olympics whose efforts at a medal were hampered when he fell off his bike in his final race?

29. What is the title of the JK Rowling’s latest book, which is said to be a Harry Potter spin-off and sales of which will benefit charity?

30. Which squatter community in Cape Town took government to the Constitutional Court this year and refused to vacate their shacks?

31. What is the title of Afrikaans folk-singer Koos Kombuis’s controversial protest album released this year?

32. Who is the newly elected South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) president?

33. What Eighties rock band released their new album Chinese Democracy, 17 years after their last album?

34. What is the name of the Reserve Bank minority shareholder who has threatened to sue Governor Tito Mboweni?

35. What were the names of two of the hotels attacked in Mumbai recently?

36. Who did socialite Edith Venter marry as her fourth husband earlier this year?

37. Who are the African football champions?

38. Which supercar had its world unveiling at the Johannesburg International Motor Show and how much does it cost?

39. Which team did Bafana Bafana beat to win the Nelson Mandela Challenge and by how many goals did they win?

40. Which British TV presenter brought traffic to a standstill when he drove a tank into central London to announce plans for a new season of his show?

41. Who won the 2008 Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City?

42. What’s the name of the Capetonian who shocked the ultra runner world by winning the ultra marathon race, The Sahara Race and the Gobi Desert race?

43. Who is Thailand’s new prime minister?

44. What is the name of the Iraqi journalist who was jailed after throwing his shoe (an insult in Arab culture) at outgoing US president George W Bush?

45. How did the person in 44 describe his shoe-throwing?

46. Which two judges of the Constitutional Court did Cape Judge President John Hlophe allegedly try to lobby in favour of ANC president Jacob Zuma’s case?

47. Name the two Fokofpolisiekar spin-off bands?

48. By what percentage was Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni’s salary increased this year as he struggled to maintain an inflation target between 3% and 6%?

49. Which team recently won the Uefa Champions league?

50. Who was found to be a distant relation of Sarah Palin, according to an internet genealogy firm based in Provo, Utah?

51. How much does the United Nations estimate Somali pirates have netted this year in ransom payments?

52. Which Volkswagen-owned motoring marque, that has sold more than 2 000 cars in South Africa since coming into the market two years ago, has decided to pull out of the country?

53. Which TV show did the person in number 20 star in?

54. Who won South Africa’s only medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics?

55. What is the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD)?

56. Which mega pop star divorced her movie director husband this year?

57. Which country is the person in number 4 from?

58. Which famous prisoners’ rights activist was jailed in September after being convicted of corruption?

59. Which minister took over the running of the Land Bank in July after control was taken away from Land and Agriculture Minister Lulu Xingwana?

60. Who won the South African Music Award for best female artist?

61. Who are the reigning Absa Premiership Champions?

62. Since when has the person in number 17 been in power?

63. Thabo Mbeki’s HIV/Aids policy is responsible for the avoidable deaths of how many South Africans, according to the Harvard School of Public Health?

64. Which former US football star was jailed this month for a bungled robbery attempt to get back memorabilia from his sports career?

65. Which country has not had a government since March this year?

66. Which South African rugby team was recently crowned the Currie Cup champions?

67. Which South African sequel is said to have out-grossed the James Bond film Quantum of Solace?

68. Who was the head of Lehman Brothers when it crashed?

69. Who is Thomas Beatie?

70. Despite the global slowdown in car sales, which company has increased its sales volume by 38% in 2008?

71. Which university is going to be hosting former President Thabo Mbeki’s leadership institute?

72. Which other deposed leader earned a doctorate at the same university after being granted political asylum by Mbeki?

73. Which country was the deposed leader president of?

74. Which former SACP leader joined Cope and is now its national spokesperson?

75. Under which title was Jonny Steinberg’s latest book Three-Letter Plague sold in the US market?

76. What was the song that Miriam Makeba was most famous for?

77. Which famous South African musician was Makeba once married to?

78. Which prominent economist admitted his actions over the past decade may have contributed to the global financial crisis?

79. Who was the drunk superhero of the year?

80. Who was voted world football player of the year?

81. What was the name of Robert Downey Jnr’s character in Tropic Thunder?

82.What South African black business organisation distributed pamphlets calling for foreign nationals to stop trading in townships?

83. Which South African swimmer made history when she swam in both the Olympics and Paralympics in Beijing?

84. At what price did oil peak this year?

85. Which famous South African advocate represented Vusi Pikoli at the hearings of the Ginwala inquiry?

86. How many years in prison was OJ Simpson sentenced to in November?

87. Which South African high court judge famously remarked that he had been having tea after crashing into the wall of a Hurlingham house?

88. Who was the first woman to win the 2008 Indy Car race?

89. What 4×4 does Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour drive?

90. Who replaced Vladimir Putin as the new president of Russia?

91. Who won the South African Music Award for best male artist?

92. Who owns the Springbok emblem — the government or the South African Rugby Union?

93. What initiative will be launched in Hawaii’s bid to be the greenest state in the US?

94. Which international insurance company took 70 of its top performers on a $400 000 spa holiday after its bailout was announced?

95. Who are the European football champions?

96. Which local music festival was cancelled this year?

97. How many South Africans were charged and have appeared in court and convicted for their role in the xenophobic violence which swept across South Africa displacing 100 000 people and killing 120 people?

98. Who won the South African Music Award for record of the year?

99. How many Aston Martin DBSs were destroyed during the production of the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace?

100. What percentage of the popular vote did the victorious Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, win in the US elections?

101. Who said ‘bitch is the new black” when referring to Hillary Clinton?

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