simply-blogging's 2008 quiz

Everyone is winding down for the holiday season about now, so what better way to relax and take stock of 2008 than by taking the simply-blogging 2008 quiz.

We've come up with a range of questions covering subjects from sport to politics and (almost) everything in between, with a heavy emphasis on communications.

Print it out and get some your friends and family to give you a hand seeing how much of 2008 you remember. 

Make a note of your answers and send them to me at daniel.penton@simply-goodadvice.com.

All entries before close of play Tuesday 6 January will be put into a draw to win a $50 Amazon voucher.

I'll post the answers in the New Year, so you can see for yourself how you did. 

Best of luck and happy holidays!

Here are the questions:

Travel

1. Which company’s spokesman put the chaos of a €5.6bn opening down to “staff familiarization” and “luggage performance issues”?    
2.  How did Facebook get some Virgins into trouble for speaking their minds?
3. Who said: "As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where– where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border"?

Politics 

1. Which world leader celebrated their birthday by releasing a martial arts DVD?
2. How did Jesse Jackson say he wanted to make Barack Obama’s eyes water and how did Obama actually make Jackson’s eyes water?  
3. What was the name of the now-famous Ohio resident who received more than his fifteen minutes of fame during the third U.S. Presidential Debate in October ’08?
4. Who communicated a bit too much ‘pure poison’ at a Greek tavern this summer?
5. Who said: "Rarely is the question asked – is our children learning?"
6. Which question did George Bush duck at his final Iraq press conference?

Sports

1. Who coined the phrase: “Ping pong is coming home” in August this year and why?
2. Which French soccer player found himself ill-L’Equip(ed) to lead his team mates and why?
3. How did the US media turn the tables in Beijing?
4. Who’s getting back in the saddle after retiring in order to raise cancer awareness? 
5. Which sporting chairman said, in the press: "If it had been about Bernie Ecclestone, it would not have been a "sick Nazi orgy"?

Culture/Arts

1. Which divorce lawyer described in the Daily Mail as: "…careful to put as much presentation into her appearance and manner as she does to her cases," ended up with a notoriously unplanned ‘wet look’?
2. Entertainment Blog – allieiswired.com reported that a major headline artist gave `’an odd rendition of the Oasis classic “Wonderwall”. Who sang it where and why? 
3. Who went from frantic media circus to top selling CD ‘Circus’ in 2008?
4. What’s the link between a singing secret agent, Sweden and a taverna? 

Economics

1. Which leader’s mid sentence pause transformed him from bankers back-up to saviour of the world?
2. Who said at a rally in Jacksonville, US: “The fundamentals of our economy are sound”, on the day that Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy?
3.  What faux pas embarrassed World Bank leader Paul Wolfowitz on a trip to Turkey this year?
4. On October 6^, 2008 a Times Online reader, Andrew Shackleton, posted a comment “this is just the tip of the iceberg…” which particular financial iceberg was Mr Shackleton referring to?

Communications

1. Whose sexual bragging upset the people who weren't listening?
2. Who bigged up Pope Benedict in the following way: "Thank you, your Holiness. Awesome speech!"?
3. Who took over as chair of the International Association of Business Communicators in 2008?
4. What percentage of communicators in Britain expect to move jobs over the next 12 months according to a survey conducted by Communicators in Business?
5.  Who won the CIPR's excellence award for internal communications in 2008?  
6. What percentage of people in an October YouGov poll said that they were first alerted to change by secret meetings and hushed conversations by their managers?
7.  In February this year, what percentage of senior agency PR officers believed there would be no recession in 2008, according to PR Week?
8. Who was accused of being out of touch after calling people at 6 am who had written letters to him?
9. According to the UK edition of PR Week, in what month did the alarm bells start ringing for the PR industry? 
10.  David Ferrabee brought out his highly anticipated second book, what was it called?
11.  In what city did communicators gather for the 2008 IABC conference?
12. Who said in 2008: "The credit crunch is an enormous opportunity for internal communicators. When the senior guys do not know what to say, they call for internal communications. It's the only time you get them knocking on your door"?
13. What company’s internal video podcasting platform made headlines at Simply’s Employee Communication Summit in June 2008 and what is it called?
14. Name two companies whose 2007 film festivals won raves in the field of employee communications in ’08?
15. Which longtime Employee Communications expert was quoted as saying, “My concern is with the “social” aspect of social media. It becomes a distraction to people and a potential obstacle to productivity”?   
16. What was the name of the ship that hosted the 2008 Marketing Forum?
17. What U.S. production company stirred up a load of controversy when it released Wal-Mart’s corporate video archive to the public?
18. Which senior company blogger tarnished his reputation with "a crock of shit"?