Quiz of the week 28 November – 4 December

1. Administrators have been seeking a deal since the summer, but after discussions were ended by their one potential buyer, which department store will close all 124 locations?

a. John Lewis,

b. Debenhams,

c. House of Fraser,

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

d. Matalan

2. Which area saw a 78% year-on-year increase in property sales as people clamoured for its “fashionable enclaves”?

a. Mayfar in London,

b. Sandbanks in Poole,

c. The Cotswolds,

d. Cornwall

3. Which Western nation became the first to approve the coronavirus vaccine, which it will roll out in the coming weeks?

a. France,

b. Germany,

c. Italy,

d. United Kingdom

4. Gitanjali Rao, a 15-year-old scientist, was named Time magazine’s first kid of the year for her invention of which new technologies?

a. A device that identifies lead in drinking water,

b. An app that uses artificial intelligence to detect cyberbullying,

c. A genetic engineering device that helps the early diagnosis of prescription opioid addiction,

d. All of the above

5. The Oxford home of which famous novelist inspired fans – including Sir Ian McKellen, who starred in the film adaptation of the author’s most famous series – to come together to raise £4.5m to turn it into a literary centre in honour of the author?

a. George RR Martin, author of books that inspired HBO’s Game of Thrones,

b. JRR Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings series,

c. JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series,

d. CS Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia

6. A widow who lived in a small German hamlet stunned fellow villagers after she left them what on her death?

a. Millions of euros in shares and property,

b. Dozens of fines for excessive noise,

c. €100 cheques each,

d. Her house to turn into a village museum

7. How much is Nasa paying Colorado-based company Lunar Outpost to collect a small sample of rocks from the moon?

a. $500,

b. $500,000,

c. $1,

d. $25

8. People criticised airline easyJet on social media after it announced what changes to its services?

a. That passengers would have to pay to use the toilet on its planes,

b. That it would launch cheaper short-haul flights where passengers had to stand,

c. That it was replacing human stewards with robots,

d. That passengers would have to pay extra to use the overhead storage units

9. New York City’s property market has been hard hit by the pandemic, with developers set to lose millions of dollars as luxury apartments in the super-tall towers that seen 57th Street rechristened as “Billionaires’ Row” remain unsold. In 2014, one of the penthouses sold for a record $100.5m. Who bought the property?

a. US president Donald Trump,

b. Computer mogul Michael Dell,

c. Tesla founder Elon Musk,

d. Rapper Kanye West

10. Which video streaming service production enjoyed a £16m tax break from the government due to its contribution to culture and heritage?

a. HBO’S Westworld,

b. Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit,

c. Netflix’s The Crown,

d. Hulu’s Normal People

Answers

1. b. Debenhams. Debenhams was in talks with JD Sports over a rescue deal but a negative market reaction which saw JD’s shares slide 10% prompted the buyer to pull out, leaving the department store with no choice but to wind down all of its shops.

2. c. The Cotswolds. Estate agent Savills reported 1,636 agreed sales in the Cotswolds between June and November, a 78% increase from the same time last year, says Hugo Cox in the Financial Times. Much of the buying was fuelled by “affluent city dwellers”, mostly from London.

3. d. United Kingdom. Britain approved the vaccine this week, triggering the mass rollout of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Approval is expected to follow in the US and Europe.

4. d. All of the above. Rao first attracted public attention three years ago when she invented the lead-identifying device, which won her a $25,000 prize in 2017.

5. b. JRR Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings series. The crowdfunding drive will aim to transform the author’s home into a centre to inspire future generations of writers. Alongside Sir Ian McKellen, Annie Lennox and Martin Freeman are also among the group of celebrity fundraisers.

6. a. Millions of euros in shares and property. Renate Wedel, who lived on the edge of Weiperfelden, a hamlet north of Frankfurt, left €6.2m in shares and property to the Waldsolms municipality, a collection of six villages in the Taunus nature park. The mayor said the amount is twice the council’s annual budget for investments, and is tax free as local authorities are exempt from inheritance tax.

7. c. $1. The Colorado-based startup bid $1 and won a Nasa contract to complete the mission under the agency’s low-cost lunar resource collection programme announced earlier this year.

8. d. That passengers would have to pay extra to use the overhead storage units. Twitter uses were quick to criticise the airline’s announcement, which will see passengers who don’t buy the add-on restricted to a small bag. Changes to its luggage policy will start on 10 February.

9. b. Computer mogul Michael Dell. A developer’s loss is a buyer’s gain, however, as developers slash the prices of luxury apartments in an attempt to shift unsold property.

10. c. Netflix’s The Crown. Producers are eligible for tax breaks under a scheme that allows scripted productions to claim up to £2m of tax relief per hour of drama if it costs over £10m to produce.