2022 What Happened in You? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Earlier

Barbados is an island nation in the Caribbean that became independent from the UK in 1966. It retained the UK sovereign as the head of state. On 30 November, 2021, Dame Sandra Mason was sworn in as president of the Republic of Barbados. This brought an end to nearly 400 years of having the UK monarch as head of state.

The ceremony was attended by Prince Charles, representing Queen Elizabeth II.

Answer: Earlier

After many attempts, the UK joined the then European Economic Community in 1973. This status was confirmed by the country's first referendum in 1975, where remaining in the EEC was the position of all the major political parties and achieved a vote of 67%.

The EEC became the European Union in 1993. The union became less popular within the UK for various reasons and another referendum was called in 2016 by Prime Minister David Cameron. This time, the vote was to leave, with 52% of the electorate favoring what became known as Brexit.

Answer: Earlier

Prince Harry, the second son of the then Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, married Meghan Markle on 19 May 2018. On the day, Prince Harry was made Duke of Sussex by his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. Meghan Markle had been best known as the star of the TV series "Suits".

The Prince and Princess kept the destination of their honeymoon secret, later disclosing that they spent it somewhere around the Mediterranean Sea.

Answer: Earlier

On 15 April 2019 a fire in the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris caused extensive damage to the cathedral which is one of Paris's best known landmarks. The wooden spire was destroyed, and priceless religious works of art and artefacts were lost or damaged. President Macron announced that the cathedral would be rebuilt, and after a huge money raising and construction effort it reopened in December 2024.

Answer: Earlier

On 23 March 2021, one of the largest container ships in the world, the Ever Given, ran aground and became stuck in the Suez Canal. The Japanese owned, Taiwanese operated, Panama registered vessel had been en route from Malaysia to the Netherlands. It became wedged diagonally, causing all traffic through the canal to be blocked for six days.

Answer: 2022

The XXIV Olympic Winter Games were held in Beijing, China in February 2022. Nearly 2,900 athletes competed across 109 events. Norway topped the medal table, with 16 gold medals, ahead of Germany, USA, and the hosts. Haiti and Saudi Arabia sent athletes for the first time.

Answer: 2022

On 24 February 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine. This was eight years after the Russian annexation of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea. The Russo-Ukrainian war became the deadliest war in Europe since World War II.

Answer: 2022

A startling incident occurred on 27 March 2022 during the annual Academy Awards ceremony. The comedian Chris Rock was assaulted on stage by actor Will Smith. Even more astonishing, Smith was not charged for an act of violence with millions of witnesses, and was allowed to return to the stage to accept an Oscar for Best Actor in the Williams biopic "King Richard". Rock had made a joke about Smith's wife's bald head.

Answer: 2022

Roe v. Wade was a landmark 1973 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that the Constitution gave a woman the right to an abortion before the fetus she was carrying was viable to survive outside of her body. This was a matter of great controversy within the USA, and there was a long campaign waged by anti-abortion activists that, despite a popular majority against change, succeeded in getting the Supreme Court to reverse its decision, and return control of the matter to the states on 24 June 2022.

Answer: 2022

The James Webb Space Telescope, named after NASA's second administrator, was a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. It was built with the purpose of viewing objects fainter, more distant and older than Hubble, with a larger mirror and designed to operate using infra-red radiation. Launched into space on Christmas Day 2021, James Webb's first images were released on 15 July 2022, They included views of the Carina Nebula.

Answer: 2022

The Queen of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II, died on 8 September 2022. She had been on the throne since February 1952. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days was the second longest by a monarch of a sovereign state in history. She was 96. Elizabeth II was succeeded by her son, who became Charles III.
(The longest reign was 72 years 110 days by King Louis XIV of France from 1643 to 1715).

Answer: 2022

ChatGPT, a generative AI chatbot, was released by its owner OpenAI on 30 November 2022. Its introduction marked a public start of the boom in the use of artificial intelligence in many aspects of business and social life.

Answer: 2022

Liz Truss became Prime Minister of the UK on 6 September 2022. She succeeded Boris Johnson, who had been brought down by a mass resignation across his administration due to their lass of confidence in him. Truss, who had been Foreign Secretary, defeated Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer in a leadership election within the Conservative party. Liz Truss had campaigned as the more radical tax cutting candidate.

Her first mini-budget enacting her policies caused a financial crisis and brought a rapid end to her premiership. Liz Truss resigned as Prime Minister on 25 October 2022, having only served 49 days, which was the shortest ever tenure for a British PM.

Answer: 2022

Elon Musk, one of the richest men in the world, concluded his purchase of the social networking site Twitter on 27 October 2022. He enacted a swathe of cost cutting measures, rebranded the site as "X", reinstated several high profile accounts that had been barred for inappropriate behavior, and reduced much of the apparatus of guardrails and organisation around safeguarding vulnerable groups.

Answer: 2022

The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar was notable for being the first to take place in the Middle East. Because of concerns about the playing conditions, the tournament was moved from its usual summer slot to take place in November and December 2022.

The hosts were the only team playing in the finals for the first time, They lost all three of their matches, scoring a single goal. Morocco became the first African team to reach the semi-finals. The final between Argentina and France on 18 December was a thrilling 3-3 draw after extra time (it was 2-2 at full time), with Kylian Mbappé becoming the second player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final. His team, France, came up short, losing 4-2 to Argentina on penalties. Mbappé scored the most goals in the tournament (8), and Lionel Messi of Argentina was voted the best player at the tournament.

Answer: Later

The Eras Tour was the sixth by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It began on 17 March 2023 in Glendale, Arizona, and concluded on 8 December 2024 in Vancouver, Canada. The tour was seen by an audience of over 10 million people and was said to be the first to gross over 2 billion dollars.

Answer: Later

The XXXIII Summer Olympics took place between 24 July and 11 August 2024 with the host city Paris, the capital of France. Events were distributed throughout French territory, with the sailing centre based on the Mediterranean coast, and the surfing events taking place in Tahiti. The host nation finished fifth in the medal table, which was topped by USA with China second and Japan third.

Answer: Later

The Beatles released "Now and Then" on 2 November 2023. Marketed as the last Beatles song, it originated from a 1977 demo by John Lennon, who died in 1980. The three members of the group who survived Lennon worked on the song in 1995-96, but abandoned it. George Harrison died in 2001. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr completed the record in 2022, using some of George Harrison's guitar parts from the 1990s sessions.

The song was a worldwide hit.

Answer: Later

Dame Maggie Smith died on 27 September 2024. She was 89. Maggie Smith was a celebrated actor, achieving the triple crown of acting awards - winning two Academy Awards, four Emmys and a Tony Award. In later life she became best known for portraying Professor Minerva McGonagall in the "Harry Potter" movies, as well as Violet Crawley in the "Downton Abbey" TV shows and movies.

Answer: Later

Super Bowl LVIII was held on 11 February 2024 at Allegiant Stadium, Las Vega NV. The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in the second Super Bowl to go to overtime. Kansas City, who had won the previous year, earned its fourth Super Bowl, with quarterback Patrick Mahomes named MVP.