Boom or bust? Test your knowledge of 2022

Anyone hoping for a return to normal this year following the ravages of Covid would have been bitterly disappointed. 

Ukraine, runaway inflation, soaring energy bills, higher interest rates, crypto collapse and financial market turmoil – not least in the UK where we had two monarchs, three prime ministers and four chancellors – took their toll. 

Test your knowledge on the events of the last 12 months in our City quiz. 

1) Elon Musk bought which social media platform this year? A) Facebook; B) Twitter; C) Friends Reunited; D) Snap 

2) Who overtook Morrisons to become the UK’s fourth-largest grocer? A) Lidl; B) Aldi; C) Asda; D) Sainsbury’s 

3) What was the Bank of England interest rate at the start of 2022? A) 0 per cent; B) 0.1 per cent; C) 0.25 per cent; D) 0.5 per cent 

4) How much will the collapse of Bulb, founded by Hayden Wood and Amit Gudka, cost the taxpayer? A) £65m; B) £650m; C) £6.5billion; D) £6.5trillion 

5) Which Labour figure sits on the advisory board of Giant Ventures, where Hayden Wood is a venture partner? A) Sir Keir Starmer; B) Angela Rayner; C) Ed Miliband; D) David Miliband 

6) Which of the following was not one of the UK’s four Chancellors of the Exchequer this year? A) Sajid Javid; B) Rishi Sunak; C) Nadhim Zahawi; D) Kwasi Kwarteng; E) Jeremy Hunt 

7) What does LDI stand for? A) Leveraged derivative indices; B) Liability driven investment; C) Liability driven insurance; D ) Limited derivative instruments 

8) THG was formerly known as: A) The Hut Group; B) The Hit Group; C) The Hot Group; D) The Hat Group 

9) Who is the new boss of Frasers Group, and also Mike Ashley’s son-in-law? A) Jack Jarvis; B ) Michael Murray (right); C ) Darren Davis; D) Robin Rogers 

10) What is the name of the energy company run by Stephen Fitzpatrick? A) Ocado; B) Oval; C) Ovo; D) Octopus 

11) What rate of tax are North Sea oil and gas firms paying? A) 40 per cent; B) 50 per cent; C) 65 per cent; D) 75 per cent

12) Vodafone is in merger talks with which other UK telecoms firm? A) Three; B) BT; C) Talktalk; D) O2 

13) Glencore was issued the largest penalty ever from a UK court following a bribery scandal. How much was the amount? A) £105m; B) £1.6billion; C) £281m; D) £510m 

14) Who is Labour’s shadow chancellor? A) David Lammy; B) Gordon Brown; C) Rachel Reeves (pictured right); D) Ed Balls 

15) What do Liv Garfield, Sarah Bentley and Susan Davy have in common? A) They are all chief executives of energy companies; B) they are all former members of Bananarama; C) they all chair water companies; D) they are all chief executives of water companies 

16) Who bought collapsed furniture retailer Made.com out of administration? A) Frasers Group; B) Next; C) Dunelm; D) DFS 

17) What was the official title of Kwasi Kwarteng’s doomed September statement? A) Mini-budget; B) Fiscal event; C) Autumn review; D) The Growth Plan 

18) Where was Kwarteng when he was ordered back to London for the sack? A) IMF headquarters; B) Meeting Janet Yellen of the US Treasury; C) Chatting to bankers at the British Embassy in Washington; D) Out with his staff at the historic Old Ebbitt Grill in downtown DC 

19) Who said higher taxes on oil and gas firms are ‘inevitable’ to help the poorest? A) Centrica’s Chris O’Shea; B) BP’s Bernard Looney; C) Shell’s Ben van Beurden; D) Harbour Energy’s Linda Cook 

20) Which British company was accused by Ukraine of standing to receive ‘blood money’ over its stake in the Russian energy giant Rosneft? A) Barclays; B) BP; C) Shell; D) Glencore

21) The fastest-selling wine brand in the UK belongs to which pop princess? A) Dua Lipa; B ) Natalie Imbruglia; C) Shakira; D) Kylie Minogue (pictured) 

22) Which renowned financier died in 2022? A) John Pierpoint Morgan; B) Evelyn de Rothschild; C) Joseph Safra; D) Bernie Madoff 

23) Tony Blair’s son is a multi-millionaire but how much is Euan worth? A) £1.2billion; B) £850m; C) £420m; D) £2m 

24) Who was ousted from the top job at JD Sports after a boardroom bust-up? A) Peter Cowgill; B) Mike Ashley; C) Philip Green; D) Amanda Staveley 

25) How much will interest payments on the national debt cost taxpayers this year? A) £10billion; B) £50billion; C) £100billion; D) £120billion 

26) What year was the Bank of England founded? A) 1066; B) 1415; C) 1694; D) 1997 

27) Where was collapsed crypto firm FTX based? A) Bahamas; B) New York; C) London; D) Luxembourg