Here are 101 questions to test your knowledge of the people, events, milestones and disappointments of 2010. No cheating!
- What is Eyjafjallajökull?
- In December, the M&G won a court bid to obtain a report to former president Thabo Mbeki about what?
- Who played Nelson Mandela in the movie Invictus?
- The girl who kicked the hornets’ nest also played with what?
- Name the character in Question 4 and the actress who played her.
- What economic policy did Minister Ebrahim Patel launch this year?
- The TV comedy South Park caused a furore by depicting the prophet Muhammad as what?
- “Money for jam” rejoiced which beneficiary of a deal that included Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzile, ArcelorMittal and Sishen Iron Ore?
- Arms-deal money allegedly bought a R4-million house for which former Cabinet minister?
- Andile Lungisa, deputy president of the ANC Youth League, heads which state agency?
- In the 2010 Fifa World Cup, which player reportedly called which manager “a son of a whore”?
- Which two half-brothers played against each other in the 2010 Fifa World Cup?
- Who was named Player of the 2010 Fifa World Cup?
- What was the name given to the fossil, Australopithecus sediba, discovered in the Cradle of Humankind this year?
- Which ANC provincial chairperson did the Hawks arrest this year on charges of corruption?
- Hugh Grant was suggested for what role in the movie of John van de Ruit’s novel Spud, and who got the part (half point each)?
- To within 10, how many municipalities does South Africa have?
- Jaap Cillers SC was the lead advocate for the defence in whose corruption trial?
- Which former Constitutional Court judge won the Alan Paton award for non-fiction? A bonus point for the title.
- Which film about the Iraq conflict won the 2010 Oscar for best movie?
- The director of the movie in Question 20 became the first woman ever to win an Oscar for best movie. Who is she?
- Who was acquitted in November of the murder of mining magnate Brett Kebble?
- Web designer Paul D Ceglia faced up to which lucrative internet operation in court this year, claiming he had bought 83% of the business for $1 000 seven years earlier?
- Zimbabwean-born artist Yiull Damaso caused a furore by taking whom as his subject in his painting of a corpse undergoing an autopsy?
- Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga proclaimed the death of what this year?
- As a result of the demise in Question 25, “learning areas” at school are now to be known as what?
- Name the two Gautrain stations between Sandton and OR Tambo International Airport (half point each).
- Which country launched a mission to Venus in May?
- Which US state made it a crime not to carry immigration papers?
- General Stanley McChrystal was forced to resign as commander of the US forces in Afghanistan for his unflattering comments about government officials to which publication?
- In what month were the first WikiLeaks war documents released?
- Which family of Indian origin caused dismay among their neighbours in affluent Saxonwold, Johannesburg, by allegedly landing their helicopter in the area?
- Name both the computer company and the newspaper the family in Question 32 own.
- To which court did Justice Minister Jeff Radebe appoint former acting National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) boss Mokotedi Mpshe as an acting judge?
- Which auditors appointed former NPA head Vusi Pikoli to head its forensic department?
- 3rd Degree’s Debora Patta apologised to Freedom Front Plus student leader Chrisna de Kock for accusing her of what?
- “Dirty-looking stones” were allegedly the gift of which ex-dictator to supermodel Naomi Campbell?
- Which artist’s work Bahora Girl set a new record for the auction sale of South African art?
- Of suspected Israeli origin and intended to sabotage an Iranian nuclear plant, Stuxnet is what?
- American Richard F Heck and Japan’s Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Sukuzi won which Nobel Prize?
- Nine Russians were deported from the US in June for what?
- Who was appointed police commissioner of Gauteng this year?
- New Zealand stadium Eden Park banned what for Test matches and the 2011 Rugby World Cup?
- Which genetically modified fish sparked debate in the US as to whether it should be so labelled?
- Which Nobel Prize-winning African author said this year he wanted to become a politican?
- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il gave whom the title of “general” in a move seen as the first stage of dynastic succession?
- How many times has Holland made it to the Fifa World Cup final and how many times has it lost?
- Oberhausen in Germany was the watery abode of which late, lamented sporting psychic?
- Who wrote Conversation in the Cathedral and The Feast of the Goat?
- Which two mobile phone companies account for two-thirds of the industry’s worldwide profits?
- Which mobile phone and PDA manufacturer did Hewlett Packard acquire for $1.2-billion?
- Who did the South African Human Rights Commission fine R50 000 for sexist hate speech?
- Government appointed independent assessors to investigate which two local universities this year?
- Name the Zimbabwean diamond fields where human rights abuses and looting by Zanu-PF officials are alleged to be taking place.
- Which vice-chancellor was accused of plagiarism in relation to a book about his university?
- Who became deputy minister of higher education and training after October’s Cabinet reshuffle?
- In October, Blade Nzimande controversially shunted out which two members of his department?
- Name the South African shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize.
- How did Reuben van Assouw enter aviation history this year?
- Which policeman did KwaZulu-Natal kwaito act Big Nuz thank when receiving their 2010 Sama award for Record of the Year?
- “Make the circle bigger” is the chorus of which now infamous South African hip-hop song by JR?
- Who won the 2010 Fifa World Cup?
- Who will host the next Fifa World Cup?
- Only one provincial premier lost his or her job this year. Who was it?
- Who replaced the premier in Question 64?
- Which municipality was rated the best in South Africa this year?
- In what year will South Africa’s next municipal elections be held?
- Which foreign-born Springbok rugby player was granted South African citizenship?
- British grandmother Gillian Duffy was a “bigoted woman”, said which electioneering politician in April who thought his microphone was turned off?
- Which Côte d’Ivorean politician won the presidential election in November and then found that incumbent Laurent Gbagbo refused to stand down?
- Which court named six Kenyan politicians in connection with 2008’s post-election violence?
- What is the occupation of the father of Die Antwoord’s Yo-Landi Vi$$er?
- Mapona is the title of South Africa’s first black what?
- Which of the following did not hire comedian Trevor Noah this year – Simba, Sars, Kulula, Nandos, Cell C, M-Net?
- “I fucking love your music, vibe and chemistry. Take them by the fucking neck and choke’m down!” tweeted Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst on which local band?
- In which three countries was Paris Hilton detained for drug possession?
- Which African island state was involved in the scandal involving L’Oréal heir Lillian Bettencourt that rocked France?
- In December, Nasa said it had discovered a new life form in California based on what?
- A “house slave”, said Zimbabwe’s ambassador in Washington DC of which US official?
- “False, scandalous, malicious and bent on damaging her reputation [as the] mother of the nation” was whose lawyer’s description of a report on what?
- What does US monetary policy have in common with cruising the high seas?
- Which South African satirical news site shut down this year?
- Which two countries received bailouts from their fellow Eurozone countries this year?
- Nigerian Henry Okah is being held in a South African prison for what?
- Which fast-food chain said it wants to have 1 200 outlets across Africa by 2014?
- It took 69 days to free 33 workers trapped in a mine where?
- Bianca Jagger, John Pilger, Ken Loach and Jemima Khan supported whom in London’s Westminster Magistrate’s Court in December?
- What was the most popular music video on YouTube in 2010?
- E.tv’s new weekly satirical show is Late Nite News with … who?
- Which Ugandan publication published the names of “known gays” in November?
- “Money is not so important to us,” declared who (surprisingly) at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium in December?
- “Fick Fufa” was one T-shirted protest against who and what?
- Which local millionaire’s gastronomic tastes ran to sushi served on near-naked models?
- Cartoonist Zapiro was sued by whom in December?
- Which mining company owes about 5 500 workers an estimated R15-million in salaries?
- How much did the National Lottery give the National Youth Development Agency for its festival in December?
- A Cape judge ordered that “exotic dancers” at the Arabesque nightclub must be issued with what?
- Some Nigerians deem Goodluck Jonathan an unsuitable presidential candidate because he defies the principle of rotation in coming from (a) the Christian south or (b) the Muslim north?
- Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said in December he was “quite ecstatic” about what?
- Tara Klamp is (a) a Russian villain in a 007 film, (b) a stapler or (c) a male circumcision device?
- Shortly after the murder of his wife Anni, Shrien Dewani hired which British PR guru?
Answers to our 101 quiz questions
- The volcano in Iceland that erupted, disrupting air travel across Europe for several days
- Zimbabwe’s 2002 presidential election
- Morgan Freeman
- Fire
- Lisbeth Salander, Noomi Rapace
- New Growth Path
- A bear
- Businessman Sandile Zungu
- Siphiwe Nyanda
- National Youth Development Agency
- French striker Nicolas Anelka; French manager Raymond Domenech
- Kevin-Prince Boateng (Ghana) and Jerome Boateng (Germany)
- Diego Forlán of Uruguay
- Karabo
- John Block
- The Guv, John Cleese
- 283
- Jackie Selebi’s
- Albie Sachs, The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law
- The Hurt Locker
- Kathryn Bigelow
- Glenn Agliotti
- Facebook
- Nelson Mandela
- Outcomes-based education (OBE)
- Subjects
- Marlboro and Rhodesfield
- Japan
- Arizona
- Rolling Stone
- July
- The Guptas
- Sahara Computers, New Age
- North West High Court
- Gobodo
- Racism
- Charles Taylor of Liberia
- Irma Stern
- A computer virus
- Chemistry
- Spying
- Mzwandile Petros, former Western Cape police boss
- Vuvuzelas
- Salmon
- Wole Soyinka
- His youngest son, Kim Jong-un
- Three and three
- Paul the Octopus
- This year’s Nobel Prize for Literature laureate, Mario Vargas Llosa
- Apple (with its iPhone) and Research in Motion (Blackberry)
- Palm
- Julius Malema
- Tshwane University of Technology and University of Zululand
- Marange
- UKZN’s Malegapuru Makgoba
- Hlengiwe Mkhize
- Mary Metcalfe and Ranjeni Munusamy
- Damon Galgut (for In a Strange Room)
- The nine-year-old Dutch boy was the sole survivor of Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771, which crashed near Tripoli airport on May 12
- General Bheki Cele, national police commissioner
- Show Dem
- Spain
- Brazil
- Maureen Modiselle (North West)
- Thandi Modise
- City of Cape Town
- 2011
- Zimbabwean Tendai ‘The Beast” Mtawarira
- Gordon Brown, then UK prime minister
- Alassane Ouattara
- International Criminal Court
- Dominee
- Porn movie
- Sars (it has used Noah’s services but not this year)
- Die Antwoord
- South Africa, France and the United States
- Seychelles
- Arsenic
- Johnnie Carson (assistant secretary of African affairs)
- Grace Mugabe’s; of a cable released by WikiLeaks linking her to diamond-smugglingcartels
- Its name, QE2, also refers to the cruise liner RMS Queen Elizabeth II that was retired in 2008
- Hayibo.com
- Greece and Ireland
- Alleged involvement in the Independence Day bombings in Abuja
- Kentucky Fried Chicken
- Chile
- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (at his bail hearing)
- Justin Bieber’s Baby
- Loyiso Gola
- Rolling Stone
- Fifa president Sepp Blatter
- Fifa, its marketing policies
- Kenny Kunene
- President Jacob Zuma
- Aurora
- R40-million
- Work permits (from home affairs)
- (a) The Christian south
- That South Africa can now afford twice as many ARVs following price negotiations
- (c) A male circumcision device
- Max Clifford