Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 31-12-2021: The Big, Fat Review of 2021.

31st December, 2021.

Right … it’s New Years Eve.

And, frankly?   I’m not necessarily planning anything big.

Beyond wishing you a Happy New Year: and expressing the hope that 2022 is an improvement on 2021.

Oh … 

And mention it’s a Friday: for me, that means another episode of Evil of The Daleks.

~≈Ê≈~

There’s times weird coincidences happen.

Or, at least, ones that seem significant: to me.

Yesterday?   I wrote a teaser for 16th January.

One with a theme: the late Dian Fossey, the primatologist who inspired the film, Gorillas in the Mist, and whose best known study group were the ones met by Sir David Attenborough.

Today?

I’ve got today’s Today programme on in the background.

As ever, for the time of year?   The show’s being run by a series of guest editors.

In what seems to me, like a meaningful coincidence?

Today’s episode is being guest edited by Fossey’s old friend and colleague, Dr Jane Goodall.

You have to love synchronicity, don’t you … ?

~≈Ê≈~

Let’s move on, shall we?

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Olga*, Mum† and Debbi‡ putting in their answers: with everyone scoring five out of five.

The day also saw Mum wishing everyone a happy new year.

Let’s see how everyone does with today’s questions, shall we?

Here they are, along with the How To, License and video … 

Q1)        January, 2021, saw Trump supporters attack where: the White House, the Capitol or the World Trade Centre?

Q2)        February saw the Perseverance Rover, and the Ingenuity Drone, land at the Jezero Crater.   Where is that crater: Mars, Venus or Mercury?

Q3)        March, 2021, saw the Ever Given get stuck.   Where: the Panama Canal, the Grand Union Canal or the Suez Canal?

Q4)        April, 2021, saw three leagues try and form the breakaway European Super League.   In which sport: football, cricket or rugby union?

Q5)        The 2021 Eurovision Song Contest was held: in May of 2021.   It was held in which European city: Rotterdam, Liverpool or Rome?

Q6)        Benjamin Netanyahu was voted out of office, in June of 2021.   As Prime Minister of where: Lebanon, Jordan or Israel?

Q7)        July, 2021, saw whom allowed to go to the Islamic Hajj, without a guardian, for the first time, this year: men, women or children?

Q8)        The end of August, 2021, saw US troops leave where: the UK, Afghanistan or Syria?

Q9)        The AUKUS security pact went in to force: in August of August, 2021.   Name any one of the three English speaking countries that signed the pact.

Q10)        October 2021, saw who going into space on a Blue Origins spaceship: Kate Mulgrew, Patrick Stewart or William Shatner?

Q11)        November saw the World Health Organisation convene an emergency meeting.   About which version of COVID 19: Alpha, Delta or Omicron?

Q12)        Finally … ?   The USA, Canada, Australia and the UK, announced they would be boycotting what: the Winter Olympics, the COP 26 Climate Conference or the World Cup?

Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers … 

Q1)        30th December saw the death of Grigori Rasputin.   In which year?

A1)        1916.

Q2)        In which (then) Empire: Russia, China or Rome?

A2)        The Empire of Russia.

Q3)        That country’s ruler, Nicholas 2nd, had what title: Kaiser, Tsar or King?

A3)        Tsar.

Q4)        Rasputin was apparently able to ease Nicholas 2nd’s son’s medical condition.   Which medical condition: HIV/AIDS, haemophilia or schizophrenia?

A4)        Haemophilia.

Q5)        Finally … ?   His killers threw Rasputin’s body off of the Bolshoi Petrovsky Bridge: into the Malaya Nevka River.   The bridge is in which city: Moscow, Saint Petersburg or Yekaterinburg?

A5)        Saint Petersburg.

As a final note?

Some sources will give the date of Rasputin’s death as 17th December, 1916.

This latter date is the equivalent to the 30th December: in the older, Julian calendar.

Here’s a thought … 

“The theatre is not for sissies.   It separates the men from the boys.”

Christopher Plummer, December 13, 1929 – February 5, 2021.

And as it’s the biggest TikTok song of the year …?   This …

Today’s questions will be answered in tomorrow’s Teaser.

The quizmaster’s decisions about scores are final.

Thank you for coming: Happy New Year.

*        It went well enough, Olga: it helped that the nurse jabbing a pin into my foot liked my jokes.   About the only downside?   Was that she suggested visiting a podiatrist: which could cost.   I’ll have to see what help’s available, there, if I’m going to go for that.

        Oh, very true, very true: and my sympathies, there!   I think that’s why the Yakuza chop off the tip of the little finger, as a punishment: it makes it harder for an offending member to hold a sword.   I’m assuming you’re not planning to wave a katana about … ?

†        Hello, Mum!

‡        I’m not surprised, Debbi!   About the only Latin phrases I remember are ‘pro bono,’ and QED, ‘quod erat demonstrandum … !’   Which gives me something in common with Peter Cook …