As in previous years, we posted a quiz concerning events in law and religion during the previous 12 months or so, many of which have featured in our posts. The answers and explanations are below:

1. Why in December 2021 was it necessary for Amazon to update its Alexa voice assistant?

Following its advice, a 10-year-old girl who asked for a challenge was told to poke metal into a power outlet, [BBC News].

2. Following changes to social distancing provisions in Wales, it was legal for only 50 fans to attended a Welsh rugby match outside,  but 140 people watched it indoors from the clubhouse on Boxing Day.

True or Bluff? True. But its from the same bungling administration that suggested tenor generated more aerosols than other singer, having picked up this gem from In Quires & Places Where They Meme@QuireMemes which subsequently carried the strap line ” Please do not use our tweets for the basis of government.”

3. Which light links Latin scholars with Harry Potter?

The iPhone torch, which is turned off with the command “nox” (nox noctis 3f, “night”),  preceded by “Hey, Siri”. The more mundane “Torch off” work equally well though!

4. What is the connection between a newspaper column, an Oxfordshire brewery and intelligent design? 

“Loose Canon”: This is the name given to “The scriptures of the “Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster”, De Wilde v The Netherlands [2021] ECHR No 9476/19 at 25; it is also the column in The Guardian written by The Revd Giles Fraser; and is the Loose Cannon Brewery in Abingdon, Oxon.

5. In January 2022, what institution ceased to regard itself as “No 1”?

Canterbury Cathedral, which changed its Twitter name from @no1cathedral to @CburyCathedral.

6. Ceci n’est pas un “Boxing Day Quiz”? On 26 December 2021, we posted our Boxing Day Quiz 2021 followed by the Answers on 1 January 2022. However, since Boxing Day 2022 fell on a Sunday, and the substitute day for the associated Bank Holiday was not until 28 December after Boxing Day, we posted the Quiz on 24 December.

Perhaps we should return to our former heading of End of Year Quiz?

7. What have Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, George B Shaw, and William B Yeats in common?

They are all patrol vessel in the Irish Navy,

8. Name a church, featured in an early post of 2022, which over its history: has transferred from the Diocese of Lichfield, to the Diocese of Southwell, then to the Diocese of Derby and finally to the Diocese of Sheffield. This last move means the church is has transferred from the Province of Canterbury to the Province of York. 

It’s St. John the Evangelist Abbeydale, Sheffield which has been transferred at each move: Lichfield is in Canterbury, Southwell in York, Derby in Canterbury and Sheffield in York.

9. What is the correct style for the Bishop of Meath and Kildare?

Uniquely for bishops, Bishop Pat Storey, the Bishop of Meath and Kildare is styled ‘the Most Reverend’.

10. What was unusual about Holy Week in 2022?

Vaisakhi, Passover, Ramadan and Easter all coincide.

11. New city status was conferred on eight towns to mark the Platinum Jubilee. Many wrongly assumed that this would result in the creation of additional cathedrals in the four towns currently without one. Which towns already had a cathedral?

Milton Keynes, Dunfermline, Bangor in Northern Ireland, and Wrexham, Colchester and Doncaster, Stanley, in the Falklands.

1. Milton Keynes, No
2. Dunfermline, No, Dunfermline Abbey is a Church of Scotland Parish Church
3. Bangor, No.
4. Wrexham , Yes. St Mary’s Cathedral, Wrexham, the Cathedral Church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wrexham.
5. Colchester No
6. Doncaster No, St George’s Minster (from 2004)
7. Stanley, in the Falklands, Yes. Christ Church Cathedral, Southernmost Anglican cathedral in the world. It is the parish church of the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the British Antarctic Territories

With regard to Douglas, Isle of Man, Ken Gumbley commented: “Douglas in the Isle of Man does not have, and never has had, a cathedral. ‘Cathedral Isle of Man’ (the Cathedral Church of St German is its proper title) is at Peel, nearly 11 miles away. Nevertheless Douglas is now a city, and Peel is not”.

12. Link: Andrea Jenkyns, Baroness Trumpington, and John Prescott. But in what aspect was Andrea Jenkyns different?

All were recorded as having made “a hand gesture”, Andrea Jenkyns, Baroness Trumpington, John Prescott. The gesture given by Andrea Jenkyns was with single middle finger, whilst Baroness Trumpington and John Prescott used the two finger “V sign”.

13. What links Jaswat Singh Chail, William Joyce a.k.a Lord Haw Haw, and Marcus Sarjaent?

All have been charged under the Treason Act inter alia, although Jaswat Singh Chail has yet to stand trial. Marcus Sarjaent was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to firing blank shots at the Queen in 1981 at the Trooping of the Colour ceremony. The last person to be convicted under the more serious Treason Act 1351 was William Joyce (a.k.a. Lord Haw Haw), who collaborated with Germany during World War II.

14. The longest word ever recorded in Hansard had how many letters? 18, 24 or 29.