Here are 100 questions to test your knowledge of the people, events, milestones and disappointments of the past decade. Remember, no cheating — and you may not resort to Google.
If you get:
75 (or more) correct: You’re a general knowledge genius with the memory of an elephant. Wikipedia’s got nothing on you.
50 — 74: You’ve been paying attention to the world but not quite enough to earn the know-it-all title. But hey, who wants to be
a elephant anyway?
30 — 49: This is a clear a sign that next time you’re in the supermarket queue you might want to choose a newspaper instead of a chocolate bar.
29 — 15: You’re the person noone wants on the team, whether it’s 30 seconds or a history quiz. But cheer up, you might as well buy the chocolate bar.
Less than 15: In the words of Nobel laureate Kinky Friedman: ‘When the horse is dead, get off.”
2000
1. Which South African politician reputedly told a female colleague: ‘I could lick you the whole night long from your toes right up to
your head”?
2. Name the four South African cricketers implicated in match-fixing by Delhi police in 2000.
3. On which island did Abu Sayyaf rebels hold Monique and Callie Strydom hostage?
4. Who were named the Fifa soccer players of the century?
5. Who meekly went to jail after saying goodbye to his horse?
6. Which actress won an Oscar for playing a woman playing a man — and in which film?
7. What ‘extinct fish” species was found live off the coast of
St Lucia?
8. Who said: ‘If we don’t succeed, we run the risk of failure”?
9. What did scientists working on the human genome project manage to do using a technique developed by Cambridge scientist
Frederick Sanger?
10. Who said at the opening of the International Aids 2000 conference in Durban that he wondered whether the questions raised had been folly or grace?
2001
1. How much was former South African Airways chief executive Coleman Andrews paid to go away?
2. What is the name of Harry Potter’s owl?
3. How many skilled South Africans have left South Africa since 1994?
4. Which two Cape former politicians were released from jail in 2001 after serving time for fraud and theft of donor money?
5. What is the name of the international initiative to stop the distribution of conflict diamonds?
6. Who were the three applicants who took government to court for its failure to provide nevirapine to HIV-positive pregnant women?
7. Which South African emigrated to Britain en route to space?
8. Who won the Nobel Peace Prize after failing to stop mass murder in Rwanda, Kosovo and Sierra Leone?
9. Which country is entering its fourth recession in a decade?
10. Which three political businessmen were effectively accused of treason — and subsequently received apologies from minister Steve Tshwete?
2002
1. Who became the Mail & Guardian‘s new proprietor and chief executive?
2. How long has Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi been in power and who did he succeed?
3. Rand Afrikaans University bitterly opposed the government’s proposal that it merge with which technikon?
4. Which South African rock band landed a major deal in New York that resulted in a name change?
5. How old were Orlando Pirates in this year?
6. ‘[He] seems to have gone bonkers in a big way.” Who was speaking and about whom?
7. When will the next total eclipse of the sun occur over South Africa?
8.The son of a Southern African head of state was implicated in the assassination of well-known investigative journalist Carlos Cardoso. Who was he?
9. Who is the world’s youngest president and how old is he?
10. Name the African dance extravaganza, produced by porn king Joe Theron, that had to move venues when it played in London’s West End because residents complained about the noise?
2003
1. What did Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic change (MDC) call its mass action campaign?
2. National director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka was rumoured to have been an apartheid spy. His accusers claimed he may have been ‘Agent RS 452” — then the real RS 452 came out of the closet. What is her name?
3. In the South African tertiary education merger process, technikons have been renamed. What are they now called?
4. French fries were banned at the White House after French opposition to the United States’s attack on Iraq. What was the new name given to fried potato chips?
5. What was the name of the Nasa space shuttle that disintegrated on February 1 about 15 minutes before its scheduled landing at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, and how many astronauts
were killed?
6. What ‘national flower” faced extinction in South Africa this year?
7. What is the name of the Nigerian woman who was saved at the last minute from being stoned to
death for adultery?
8. JK Rowling published the fifth book in the Harry Potter series this year. What’s it called?
9. Nelson Mandela used his old cell number to start a cellphone campaign to raise funds to fight HIV/Aids. What is the number?
10. Which beer emerged as South Africa’s top thirst quencher
this year?
2004
1. Name the African state and head of state that was targeted for a coup this year by South African-
based mercenaries.
2. Who won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize?
3. Scientists are seeking what they regard as the ultimate subatomic particle. What is it called?
4. Which South African newspaper carried the front-page headline ‘Woman gives birth to spoons”?
5. Where did the Cape-based opera company Dimpho di Kopane set its acclaimed reworking of the
opera Carmen?
6. Which famous South African died this year after allegedly taking benzodiazepine?
7. Which university employed former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in this year?
8. Which American woman soldier was accused of torturing Iraqi prisoners?
9. Which South African parastatal had its entire board sacked
this year?
10. Which of these names — Leon Schuster, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Mandoza, JM Coetzee, PJ Powers — did not appear on the SABC’s list of 100 greatest South Africans?
2005
1. What is the name of Africa’s first female president?
2. Which political party with a long history in South African politics was disbanded in this year?
3. Who was named the new South African chief justice this year?
4. What major international agreement regulating greenhouse gases came into effect in February?
5. Which South African politician-turned-businessman made an attempt to emulate Donald Trump in a local version
of The Apprentice?
6. Which pay channel was the first to run Crazy Monkey spoofs?
7. Which organisation called for a fresh investigation into Chris Hani’s death?
8. Who won the 2005 South African Idols competition?
9. Which South African artist was nominated for an MTV Europe music award?
10. Which South African swimmer was offered $3-million to change
his citizenship?
2006
1. Which former Afrikaner leader made headlines after washing the feet of the Reverend Frank Chikane?
2. Why did the Sudanese government expel Jan Pronk, the United Nations special representative
to Sudan?
3. Which former Filipino first lady launched her own shoe line?
4. Which country won the 2006 Fifa World Cup? Who did they play in the finals?
5. Which celestial body was downgraded from ‘planet” status? What is its new status?
6. Which African country became the first to legalise gay and lesbian marriages?
7. Which Southern African country changed its flag this year?
8. Who was the infamous ‘landlord” being investigated by the Scorpions?
9. What was the pseudonym used for the complainant in the Jacob Zuma rape trial?
10. Education department figures showed how many undergraduates drop out in 2006 before completing their studies — 15%, 30% or 50%?
2007
1. Following the success of the iPod, Apple unveiled which new gadget in January 2007?
2. Which British toddler disappeared from a hotel room in Portugal in May, sparking an international investigation?
3. Which millionaire adventurer went missing in September in a small plane over the Nevada desert?
4. What percentage of South Africa’s power supply comes from coal?
5. What is the title of the movie directed by Oscar-winning South African Gavin Hood and starring Reese Witherspoon and Meryl Streep?
6. Who was this year’s recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize?
7. Who was voted international rugby player of the year by the IRB in 2007?
8. Which European head of state referred to ‘African peasants” and commented: ‘The tragedy of Africa is that the African has never really entered into history”?
9. Which African head of state subsequently sent the person in Question 8 a congratulatory letter, calling him ‘a friend of Africa”?
10. Who was appointed by President Thabo Mbeki to investigate suspended NPA boss Vusi Pikoli’s fitness to hold office?
2008
1. Who replaced Vladimir Putin as president of Russia?
2. Which government director general and daughter of prominent ANC leaders defected to the Congress of the People?
3. What disaster happened on May 12 and how many people are said to have died?
4. What is the name of the Iraqi journalist who was jailed after throwing his shoe at former US president George W Bush?
5. Who won South Africa’s only medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics?
6. Which South African movie sequel released this year is said to have outgrossed the James Bond film
Quantum of Solace?
7. Despite the global slowdown in car sales, which company increased its sales volume by 38% in 2008?
8. Which South African high court judge famously remarked that he had been having tea after crashing into the wall of a Hurlingham house?
9. What percentage of the popular vote did President Barack Obama win in the US elections?
10. Name the winner of the 2008 Man Booker Prize.
2009
1. New police National Commissioner Bheki Cele has a penchant for what expensive clothing item?
2. Which ANC politician said: ‘Use the freedom of the press we gave you properly, because we can take it from you”?
3. Who swam across a lake to visit a Nobel Peace laureate, and why?
4. What colour underpants was former Springbok captain Joost van der Westhuizen wearing in the infamous sex tape released by Heat magazine in February?
5. Which 2009 Oscar-winning blockbuster movie had a strong local connection, and why?
6. Which investment bank chief executive told the Times of London that he was just ‘doing God’s work”?
7. What did the Los Angeles County coroner’s office determine to be the cause of Michael Jackson’s death?
8. Which towering figure of anthropology died in 2009 at the age of 100?
9. What item of clothing was sold for $350 000 to a Hong Kong businessman in November 2009?
10. Who was the French-based South African singer who ‘butchered” the South African national anthem when the Boks played France in November?
Answers
2000
1. Peter Marais to Freda Adams
2. Hansie Cronjé, Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje and Pieter Strydom
3. Jolo Island in the Philippines
4. Pelé and Diego Maradona
5. Eugene Terre’Blanche
6. Hilary Swank in the film Boys Don’t Cry
7. Coelacanth
8. United States president-elect George W Bush
9. To decipher the human genome, obtaining a DNA blueprint
10. Thabo Mbeki
2001
1. $232-million
2. Hedwig
3. 54 000
4. Allan Boesak and Abe Williams
5. The Kimberley Process
6. The Treatment Action Campaign, Hoosan Saloojee and the Children’s Rights Centre
7. Mark Shuttleworth
8. The United Nations and its secretary general, Kofi Annan
9. Japan
10. Cyril Ramaphosa, Mathews Phosa and Tokyo Sexwale
2002
1. Trevor Ncube
2. Since 1978. He succeeded Jomo Kenyatta
3. Technikon Witwatersrand
4. Seether (formerly Saron Gas)
5. 65 years
6. Desmond Tutu, referring to Robert Mugabe
7. November 25 2030
8. Nyimpine Chissano, eldest son of Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano
9. Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo, aged 29
10. Umoja
2003
1. The Final Push
2. Vanessa Brereton
3. Universities of Technology
4. Freedom Fries
5. Colombia. Seven astronauts were killed
6. The plastic bag
7. Amina Lawal
8. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
9. 46664
10. Carling Black Label knocked Castle from its perch, according to AC Nielsen
2004
1. Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea
2. Wangari Maathai
3. Higgs boson or the ‘God particle”
4. Daily Sun
5. Khayelitsha
6. Brenda Fassie
7. Unisa
8. Private (first class) Lynndie England
9. Transnet
10. JM Coetzee
2005
1. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
2. New National Party
3. Pius Langa
4. The Kyoto Protocol
5. Tokyo Sexwale
6. MTV
7. The Young Communist League
8. Karin Kortjé
9. Zamajobe
10. Roland Schoeman
2006
1. Adriaan Vlok
2. For writing in his personal blog that the Sudanese government had suffered recent military defeats in Darfur
3. Imelda Marcos
4. Italy, France
5. Pluto, dwarf planet
6. South Africa
7. Lesotho
8. Glenn Agliotti
9. ‘Kwezi”
10. 50%
2007
1. The iPhone
2. Madeleine McCann
3. Steve Fossett
4. Roughly 90%
5. Rendition
6. Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
7. Bryan Habana
8. France’s Nicolas Sarkozy
9. Thabo Mbeki
10. Frene Ginwala
2008
1. Dmitri A Medvedev
2. Lyndall Shope-Mafole
3. Earthquake in China, killing 70000 people
4. Muntadhar al-Zaidi
5. Kgotso Mokoena
6. Mr Bones II
7. Rolls-Royce
8. Nkola Motata
9. 52%
10. Aravind Adiga
2009
1. Panama hats
2. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
3. Vietnam war veteran John Yettaw. He claimed he was trying to ‘rescue” Burma’s detained pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi
4. White
5. Slumdog Millionaire. It was based on the book by Vikas Swarup, India’s deputy high commissioner to South Africa
6. Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and chief executive of Goldman Sachs
7. Acute propofol intoxication
8. Claude Lévi-Strauss
9. King of Pop, Michael Jacksons trademark white glove. Hoffman Ma of Hong Kong, bought it.
10. Ras Dumisani