1. Fake news stories about animals abounded in 2020. One tweet that went viral claimed which creatures had been spotted in the canals of Venice?

   1. Dolphins

   2. Flying fish

   3. Otters

   4. Sharks

2. A herd of which animal really did venture into Llandudno’s empty town centre during the first lockdown?

   1. Friesian cows

   2. Fallow deer

   3. Kashmiri goats

   4. Black Welsh mountain sheep

3. This summer, who allegedly pitched a tent in a farmer’s field in Scotland without permission?

   1. Michael Gove

   2. Matt Hancock

   3. Boris Johnson

   4. Preeti Patel

4. 

   Dominic Cummings made a surprise trip from his London home to Durham during lockdown 1. Including his eyesight-testing day trip to Barnard Castle (pictured), what was the total mileage for the trip according to Google Maps?

   1. 481 miles

   2. 531 miles

   3. 581 miles

   4. 631 miles

5. 

   A tribute to the NHS by Banksy went on display in a hospital earlier this year in which UK city?

   1. Bristol

   2. Nottingham

   3. Southampton

   4. Norwich

6. 

   Rita Ora broke two lockdown rules in November; one for throwing a birthday party, another because she should have been self-isolating anyway after returning from a private gig in which country?

   1. Cyprus

   2. Dubai

   3. Egypt

   4. Kosovo

7. 

   Sean Connery, who died in October, was the first actor to portray James Bond, in Dr No (1962). Where does most of the film’s action take place?

   1. Cuba

   2. Hawaii

   3. Ibiza

   4. Jamaica

8. 

   Monty Python’s Terry Jones directed The Life of Brian, as well as playing the protagonist’s carping mother (pictured). In which country was the film shot?

   1. Lebanon

   2. Tunisia

   3. Spain

   4. Jordan

9. 

   Which of these cities is NOT closely associated with Diego Maradona, who died in November?

   1. Bogota

   2. Buenos Aires

   3. Mexico City

   4. Naples

10. 

    The travel writer Jan Morris, who died this year, was a member of which of these famous teams?

    1. The 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition by raft across the Pacific Ocean

    2. The Ronnie Scott orchestra (on baritone sax)

    3. The England 1966 World Cup-winning squad

    4. The 1953 Mount Everest expedition, the first to reach the summit

11. 

    Sally Rooney’s novel Normal People (and this year’s acclaimed BBC adaption) was set partly in Dublin, but lovers Marianne and Connell are originally from which Irish county?

    1. Cork

    2. Donegal

    3. Kilkenny

    4. Sligo

12. 

    The Crown sees the royals flit all over the place, but which of these four places is NOT featured in the most recent series?

    1. Australia

    2. Monaco

    3. Mustique

    4. New York

13. 

    Which British airline, already struggling prior to the pandemic, entered into administration in March?

    1. British Airways

    2. easyJet

    3. Flybe

    4. Virgin Atlantic

14. 

    The Spy Who Came in from the Cold was one of many John le Carré novels successfully adapted for the big screen. Which former country is “the cold”?

    1. Czechoslovakia

    2. East Germany

    3. Soviet Union

    4. Yugoslavia

15. Footage of the almost extinct asprete fish – a species believed to be around 65 million years old (making it a contemporary with the last dinosaurs) and a so-called living fossil – was filmed in a river in which European country in October?

    1. Cyprus

    2. Portugal

    3. Romania

    4. Sweden

16. 

    Nemonte Nenquimo is an indigenous leader who this year won a Goldman environmental prize for saving 500,000 acres of rainforest from oil extraction. Which South American country is she from?

    1. Brazil

    2. Columbia

    3. Ecuador

    4. Peru

17. 

    Which city’s zoo this year saw the birth of its first elephant in 138 years?

    1. Berlin

    2. Philadelphia

    3. Pretoria

    4. Tokyo

18. 

    In Christopher Nolan’s would-be blockbuster Tenet, Russian oligarch Andrei Sator had an opulent home in which popular European location?

    1. Monte Carlo

    2. Lake Geneva

    3. Costa Brava

    4. Amalfi Coast

19. 

    Which Greek island, made hip by Leonard Cohen and friends, is the setting for Polly Samson’s novel A Theatre for Dreamers, published in April?

    1. Mykonos

    2. Santorini

    3. Crete

    4. Hydra

20. 

    Which British company, once based in the seaside town of Margate and still with a visitor centre there, returned to profit in 2020 after a lockdown sales boom?

    1. Airfix

    2. Aston Martin

    3. Hornby

    5. Qualcast

Solutions

1:A - A viral tweet showing pictures of dolphins in the city's waterways, which were clearer than usual after a slowdown in boat traffic, were untrue. The "Venetian" dolphins were filmed in Sardinia!, 2:C - Ancestors of the goats that roam the Great Orme, just inland from the north Welsh town, once roamed the mountains of northern India, 3:C - Farmer Kenny Cameron claimed the prime minister pitched a tent in his field without permission while on holiday in Applecross. Johnson was staying at an adjacent cottage., 4:C, 5:C, 6:C, 7:D - Ian Fleming wrote the first 12 Bond novels while living on the island and credits Jamaica's beauty as his inspiration. The first film was shot almost entirely in Jamaica; the most memorable scene was filmed on a tropical paradise beach called Laughing Waters, pictured, 8:B - The film was shot in 1978 on location in Monastir, Tunisia, which allowed the production to reuse sets from Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth. Many locals who had been extras in the latter film also appeared in Life of Brian, 9:A - He was born in Buenos Aires, played for Naples and won the World Cup in Mexico City., 10:D - Morris (then James Humphry Morris) was the only journalist to accompany the expedition, climbing with the team up the mountain to a camp at 22,000, 11:D, 12:B, 13:C, 14:B, 15:C - The asprete, which was only discovered in 1956, still survives in the Valsan River but is critically endangered. It is thought there are only about 20 of them left., 16:C, 17:D - The male calf, whose parents were sent from Thailand as a gift to Japan, was born on 31 October at the Ueno Zoological Gardens., 18:D, 19:D, 20:C - After years of losses, the train set maker made a profit of £200,000 in the six months to September

Scores

1. 18 and above.

   Sterling effort. You have hit travel gold

2. 14 and above.

   Getting closer to travel knowhow greatness, but yet…

3. 7 and above.

   Could do better (harsh but fair?)

4. 0 and above.

   I know we can't go anywhere but this is ridiculous