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You're listening to Luke's English podcast.
For more information, visit teacheluk.co.uk.
Hello listeners, welcome back to Luke's English podcast.
This is part two of the 2023 World News Quiz.
Okay? And first of all, I think you should listen to part one of this first.
Okay? If you're wondering where part one is, where do I find part one,
then you will see it there, right there in your episode list in your podcast app.
If you're listening in a podcast app, just check the episode list.
It's right next to this one, of course, as you would expect.
The rest of you, if you're still here, that means that you've already checked out part one.
So let's get, let's crack on with part two.
So just a quick recap or reminder, this is the World News Quiz 2023 Part Two.
Stephen Devon Chenzie from the Send 7 podcast.
That's simple English news daily in seven minutes.
So Stephen is the main host of the Send 7 News podcast.
He is the quiz master for this episode.
He's written 20 questions on World News events from 2023.
The questions are roughly in chronological order.
In part one, we had the first 10 questions, basically from the first half of the year, more or less.
Let's now continue with 10 more questions covering various other events from the rest of the year.
Obviously, Stephen has had to be very selective about the events covered in his quiz.
How could he choose considering so many different things happened?
So he had to be very selective.
He couldn't cover every single thing because a lot of things happened this year.
But Stephen has made an effort to do a fair balance of questions on topics from different parts of the world.
Some things are very serious.
There are a few slightly lighter questions as well.
But anyway, let's get on with it.
I'm on nine out of ten, which is not bad.
I'm hoping to beat last year's score, which is, I think, 16 out of 20.
Let's see if I can do that.
Can I maintain the level which I've achieved so far, getting only one question wrong?
Can I do that?
What questions is Stephen going to throw at me in this half?
And can you beat my score?
Okay? Well, let's now find out.
And here we go.
Number 13.
Have you got your audio clip ready to go?
Because we're going to listen to that in a second, Luke.
Shall I say the question whilst you get that ready?
Yeah, go ahead.
Okay, here we go.
Question 13.
The women's football world cup took place in Australia and New Zealand.
And it was won by Spain for the first time.
However, there was some controversy after the awards ceremony, which lasted for a few weeks.
I'm going to play a clip of a man at a press conference.
I want you to tell me who the man is.
And if you can't remember his name, that's okay.
You can just give me his position instead.
Okay.
Okay, so you can play the clip.
Let's play the clip.
Okay, here we go.
No voy a de mi dir.
No voy a de mi dir.
No voy a de mi dir.
No voy a de mi dir.
No voy a de mi dir.
Okay.
So, tell me the question again.
Okay.
The women's football world cup took place in Australia and New Zealand.
And it was won by Spain for the first time.
However, there was some controversy after the awards ceremony, which lasted for a few weeks.
Yes.
I'm going to play a clip of a man at a press conference.
I want you to tell me who that man is.
And if you can't remember his name, then you can give his position instead.
Yeah.
Okay. So, I'm just going to listen to that clip again just quickly, because he's saying,
you know, blah, blah, blah, something.
It's, shall I tell you?
Your boy, you know, something gone.
I can tell.
I think I can tell.
He's saying, not voy a de mi dir, which means I am not going to resign.
Right.
Yeah, I know who this is.
Listen, as you've got to know, I mean, if you follow the women's world cup this year,
and then the resulting sort of fall out from what happened at the end of the game,
then you'll know who this is as well.
By the way, it was England who got to the final against Spain.
And lost, lost on penalties, didn't we?
Yeah.
Did we lose by, it was a penalty related loss through a goal assisted.
No, it wasn't a penalty.
Okay.
So, we can come back in.
So, according to Wikipedia, so I'm wrong.
It wasn't a penalty.
It was the, the, the match was between Spain and England took place in front of 75,784 supporters
in the stadium and Spain won the final one-nil through a goal from Olga Carmona, assisted by Mariona Caldente.
Well, congratulations, Spain.
Spain did have a penalty that was missed, but there we go in the zone.
Yeah. And so, anyway, England knocked out again more.
I mean, the whole new generation of football fans was born with this women's world cup,
and English fans, a whole new generation of English football fans were born with this.
And, and, and, and instantly experienced a typical level of English disappointment in football.
You know, they, the generation arrived and felt the pain immediately.
At least we got to the final.
That's, that's really good.
Yeah. Yeah. So, it's time England would have got to a final for, well, a long, long time, I think.
66 since 1966.
66. There you go.
Yeah. Well, long time.
So, who is he? Who is he?
If you remember his name, great.
If you can't remember his name, you can give his position instead.
I can't remember his name. I'm sorry, people of Spain, although some people in Spain are
like, great, you don't remember his name. That's fantastic.
But he was the president of the Spanish Football Association.
That is absolutely right. Yeah. Well done. Well done, Luke.
You gave yourself a ring.
Yeah. His name was, his name was, well, is Luis Rubialis.
Luis Rubialis.
Of course.
And he's just got you to 10 out of 13.
19.
19.
19.
What did he do wrong, then, Steven?
Well, yeah. He, during the award ceremony, which I was watching, I was, I was in Spain,
actually, for that, for that great match.
Wow.
And watching it, he's blind me. He's a bit, he's a bit touchy, isn't he?
Even for us, but I mean, Spanish people, they are a little bit warmer, a little bit more,
you know, more likely to, you know, give kisses on the cheek and a bit touchy.
But I did think, actually, watching that, wow, he's really, really in everyone's face.
And there was one moment when he kissed the footballer, Jenny Ferris,
a footballer, Jennifer Hermoso, on the lips, briefly.
And afterwards, she said that that was not consented, that that was just, that he just did that
without, without, well, without consent.
And so, but he actually said, no, it was, he even said in that same press conference
where you just listened to that clip. He actually said, it was, it was consented.
Yeah, I said, um, like a little kiss and she said yes, which is a quite an incredible thing
to, to make up because, you know, everybody's looking at it anyway.
So he said again and again in that press conference, nor vor, yadim y díur,
I'm not going to resign. And there was a big, big controversy in Spain
for a few weeks. Everybody got involved. And eventually he did resign.
And that was the end of it, I suppose.
Yeah, I don't know what to say about it. I mean,
Jenny, a lot of the time these things come down to like, you know,
how does one actually work out what the true version of reality is?
And this guy is in, apparently in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary,
even being filmed and being, you know, there in front of thousands of people in a stadium
he's claiming that he asked her if it was okay and she said yes.
And, you know, and then of course she is saying, no, that's not what happened.
And the entire case rests upon this, this detail of whether there was consent or not
or whether what he considers to be a question and what she can, you know,
like he may have said something and she may have responded in some way.
And in his mind he's constructed that to be, you know, asking for consent and then getting it.
But you know, so many complex things about perspective and about, you know,
how we perceive the truth and so on. I mean, I don't mean to,
what's the word for it sort of suggest that, you know,
that something happened when it didn't happen. I don't really know.
But it was certainly an extraordinary thing. And if you did do that without consent,
then that is a bit, you know, I mean, it's, you didn't ask her to suck his tongue.
But it's sort of in the same ballpark.
I suppose it is. Well, maybe it's not, I don't know.
It's too complicated to work it out really.
But it was certainly, certainly, certainly news. It was certainly news, wasn't it?
It was news. It's okay, Luke. I'm not going to force you to choose a position right now.
That's fine. Okay. Question 14.
So by the way, everybody, Luke's got 10 out of 13 so far.
Question 14. In October, the actor Matthew Perry, best known for being in the TV series Friends,
died aged 54. What was the name of his character in Friends?
Ah, okay. That's it. That's like the like when you play cricket, guys, listeners.
And the baller just decides to just throw the ball under arm.
There you go. Just a little under arm for you.
It's like when you're playing cricket with children, there's like some of the players
are children, some of the players are adults. If you're, if one of the adults is batting,
you do the full run up and over arm, speed bowling.
Right. And then there's a child who comes on with the cricket bat.
And you're like, okay, I can't do a full on body line speed bowling to this child.
So I'll just gently lock the ball under arm.
Okay. Again, I don't mean to be glib.
Well, people of all types are going to be listening to this.
So, you know, just in case this somebody who really not been following much news,
but is for some reason still listening to this place in the podcast, you know, this one's for them.
Yeah. Okay. So the actor Matthew Perry, yeah, it's really sad.
It's just really sad that we lost him this year because he was great.
And obviously had a very, you know, tough life with addiction issues that played him
his entire life. And, you know, we a lot of us, so many of us have a, have so much warmth.
And, you know, we love Matthew, we love Matthew Perry because of the character he portrayed, you know,
like Chandler was his name. Chandler, bang, right?
Bang. Bang. Chandler, bang.
Bang.
Which is his character's name. And he, yeah, it was for so many of us, he was our favourite
character. He was the funniest one and so on. And so it was really sad that when we got the news that he died.
So Chandler was the character's name, yeah.
Yeah. I think it was the reason that so many of us were able to use sarcasm growing up, right?
Because he really taught us what that was, what that was like.
Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Well done. That was too easy. Okay. All right. I've got a difficult one for you then after that.
So you're on 11 out of 14 at the moment. Okay. Okay.
All right. Good.
Yeah. Here we go. Question 15. Back in Africa.
In Western Africa and Central Africa, eight countries have had a military coups in the last three years.
But democracy is still going well in some places. I'm going to name four African countries.
And I want you to tell me which one had a peaceful election this year in which the president lost and gave away power to someone else.
If fancy that, fancy that. This is an election. The president loses and he goes, oh, I see that I lost the election. Here you are.
And just hands over power. Just like that. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly.
This happened in one of these countries and beware the other three countries are still being run by the military governments from the which took over after the coup.
So here we go. Here are four countries. You've got to tell me which one is a democracy today and which one, as I say, had a peaceful election just a few months ago, actually.
Okay. Here they are.
Niger. Liberia. Marley.
Guinea.
Oh my goodness.
Let's say that again. So it's either Niger, Liberia, Marley or Guinea. One of them had a peaceful election this year.
And the president lost and actually just gave away power to the other person.
I don't know. I'm just going to be straight up clear at the beginning. I don't know for sure. I'm pretty sure it's not Marley because I know that there's been fighting there.
In terms of the other places, I can't say for sure. I don't know. Shall I just pick one at random? I'm going to say Liberia.
You got it right.
It's Liberia. Well done.
That was pure fluke fluke. That was pure fluke fluke.
Fluke.
Fluke.
Fluke.
Yeah.
Well done. Lucky. Luke. Fluke. Luke. You've got it right. So in Liberia, president George Weir, who used to be a footballer, actually, and played for Paris, Saint-Germain and AC Milan.
And he also played a few games for Manchester City and Chelsea.
He won the presidency four or five years ago. And just a few months ago now, he was in his, it would have been his second election.
And he lost. And what's even more impressive about this is that he lost by such a tiny amount. It was, you know, the opposition leader, Joseph Borkai, who is now president.
One by just over 50% and George Weir got just under 50% and George Weir didn't even kick up a fuss. He just went, I've lost.
And he handed it over to Joseph Borkai. So well done, George Weir.
Well done. And well done, Luke, for getting right question, question 15.
So just have an instinct for events for international events, don't I? I don't think so, just joking.
Right. And talking of events, this was an event which is impossible to avoid. I actually had to spend ages working out how to write a question about this because it's been such an important topic this year.
And I'll give a preface just in case some people don't, don't remember. I run a podcast where I talk about the news every day or five days a week.
And I've been doing that for about three and a half years. And during the whole time I've been running it, I've got almost no complaints about the, the topics that I've put in or the things that I've said.
Maybe maybe two or three complaints in the whole time that I've ever run it, even though it gets, you know, hundreds of thousands of downloads.
And yet this year since October, I've received loads of complaints about one topic. And of course it is the situation in Israel and Palestine.
And I've had complaints from people telling me that I'm too pro Palestinian that I've said that podcast is covering it from a, from a Palestinian perspective.
And then I've had other people saying that it's too pro Israeli. I've even had a couple of emails telling me that it's a Zionist podcast from being too pro Israeli.
And it's just been impossible to get the right balance here. And so, yeah, it's been difficult to try and write a question about this. But at the same time, I knew that not mentioning it would also be a problem because it has been such a key event.
And people don't like it when things are not mentioned either. It's kind of a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation.
And so, I'm not going to go through any way. I've gone for this for question 16.
Other than Israel, what is the only other country which has a border with Gaza and has been the root of humanitarian aid going into Gaza?
Yeah. That is what's called a dramatic pause, listen, but also this is how to stop me from rambling. Just bring up this subject because, you know, as you just said, it's so serious.
And so, what's the word for it? Fraud with danger in so many ways. It's damned if you don't, damned if you do. If you talk about it, then you end up being criticized for taking one particular perspective.
If you don't talk about it, then that's equally bad. I've also, you know, struggled significantly with this issue to this year. But anyway, the question.
So, yeah, that one channel for refugees to leave Gaza to another country, which country is it?
Yeah, well, in fact, there haven't, there's been a few people that have left through this way, but mostly it's been the way that aid has gone into Gaza.
Essentially, what is the only country other than Israel that has a border with Gaza? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is it Egypt?
It is Egypt. Well done, Luke. It is Egypt. It is a very muted ding.
There we go. Like, hit a piece of metal there. Okay.
I don't feel it's appropriate to give a full ding. So I'm just going to do that. Yeah, good. Yeah, well, it's really impossible to find the right words for this subject.
Yeah, I don't want to leave now.
People have asked me, you know, to talk about this. Some people have asked me to talk about this too.
And, you know, all I will say is like, there are so many, it's just horrific. Right?
So from the point of view of just, from just from my point of view, and from, you know, it's just horrific.
It's just a huge horrendous tragedy that is in unfolding in real time.
It's just completely horrible. It is a human tragedy. And it's a huge failing, I think, of the human race.
You know, that's how profound it is. And I think that, you know, we can look at the past.
We can look at the causes of this.
We can do that. We can start blaming. You know, we can look at cause and effect and stuff. But I think we have to just look to the future.
I think we have to basically like my position on it is I just, I just wish that the violence would stop the killing of innocent civilians.
Women and children, you know, innocent civilians, women and children have been killed and continue to be killed. Right? Do you know what I mean?
Horrible, horrible things have occurred. Right? And they continue to occur. I think I don't know how, I don't know what kind of resolution can come from what's going on at the moment.
You know, this, this, it feels odd to be talking about it now after we've been having this lighthearted discussion.
Yeah. You know, we've been trying to navigate our way through these complex and controversial events and stuff.
But we knew that we would end up talking about this. You said before you'd spent so much time trying to prepare that question.
Yeah. And wrestling with the whole question and thinking, well, we can't just not talk about it. That would be, you know, that would be terrible.
Yeah.
So yeah, I don't know. I just, I just hope that there's a way to find a route to peace and to end what's been going on.
I mean, I know that people have their reasons, you know, people feel that they have their reasons to justify what's what has happened and what continues to happen.
But I just find it horrific the entire thing. So that's, that's all I really feel I can say about it.
Yeah.
Yeah. I just wish it would stop and I just hope there's a way that it can, you know, understand people's feelings are incredibly strong about this.
Yeah. I mean, yeah. Well said, Luke, I really, I don't think I can add anything more to that. That's great. I agree with you completely. I feel exactly the same way.
I don't, I don't feel it's well said, actually, Stephen. I think that even, even still, you know, I've been wrestling with this subject as well. And every single time I've, you know, tried to think about it, I feel like I'm, I don't have the vocabulary or the,
sort of statesmen like ability to talk about these things, you know, and I get required to require something extraordinary in a way to be able to talk about the subject.
But, but, so even, even though I've done my best there, I still those far from what I would like to be able to achieve, you know, but what can you do? You know, what, what can I do? I mean, you know, you know, people also asked me to talk about it as if I am some sort of state.
The statesmen, I'm an English teacher who does funny videos, you know, and, you know, that, you know what I mean? So, you know, what can I do? I can't even get people to click a PDF, you know what I mean?
Yeah.
So, what is it that makes my words so significant? I don't know, but anyway, yeah, it's terribly sad.
Yeah, totally. Yeah. And if there is anybody listening who is in that part of the world and has been affected by this, then you have my complete sympathy and I'm so sorry that it's happening.
And my best wishes for you and your family and that everything improves as soon as possible.
Yeah, for what has happened and for what, you know, it continues to happen. Yeah.
Okay. Right. Number 17. So you want to 13 out of 16, by the way.
13 out of 16. I think I'm doing a bit better than I did last year. So I'm on.
Yeah, I could beat my previous score. This is this is a positive thing.
That's right. I actually, this one took me a while as well for a completely different reason because I really wanted to put a question about the Beatles.
New song in there somehow, but then I thought it's just not fair because you are the biggest Beatles fan that I know you absolutely love the Beatles.
And to expect to give you one, which is, you know, like relatively difficult, would just be impossible for your audience.
So I decided that I wouldn't instead I'd make this one didn't make a bit Beatles question, which English rock group released the album Hackney Diamonds this year?
59 years after they released their first album.
So I mean, I'm sure you're not going to find that one too difficult either. At least there's not a Beatles one and, you know, maybe the audience can.
I might not know the answer to that. So which English rock group released the album Hackney Diamonds?
59 years after they released their first album.
So a lot of my listeners are going to know this because they are sort of, you know, quite big music fans, I guess.
But then, you know, a lot of them won't perhaps. So listeners, right, let me just sort of like talk us through this one. So Stephen was going to ask a question about the Beatles, but then he realized that I know so much about them.
And, you know, it's easy for me.
I remember asking you before what podcasts you listen to and you basically just listed a bunch of podcasts where people are just talking about the Beatles all the time.
Yeah, that's right. It is my, it is my happy place. That's right. But, yeah. So Stephen was, Stephen, listen, Stephen was going to ask me about the Beatles, but then he thought, no, I can't ask him about the Beatles, but he wanted to ask a pop music question.
So which other band could he talk about? If it's not the Beatles, which band traditionally have always been sort of like up there, competing with the Beatles in terms of popularity, but probably ultimately have come second, although lots of people will disagree.
And I'll say, no, I much prefer this other band than the Beatles. You can't dance to the Beatles arguably. So Hackney Diamonds listeners. So this is a group I've actually seen them live three times. They are absolutely extraordinary.
I don't know where they get their energy from. I mean, I know where they used to get their energy from. You know, they got it from Columbia, I suppose.
Indirectly. Now, now maybe they're getting it from the same place that the Japanese are getting it from.
Yeah, I mean, you know, just a rich, a rich caffeinated Bruno, they just drank a lot of coffee, obviously, that's what I mean. But, but maybe now they're just very healthy.
But so the answer is it's the answer is the Rolling Stones, of course, of course it is. Of course it is. You can give yourself a ding.
Yeah. Okay. And that actually leads nicely into the next question. So that you've got 14 out of 17, by the way.
Okay. So question 18 and I didn't think about this until right now, but Javier Mille recently became the president of Argentina. And I think he, if I've got this right, I think he used to be in a Rolling Stones cover group, I think.
Have you heard? I think you're right. I think you're right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I don't know what instrument he played. Do you know?
I don't know. I don't know, but I can imagine him doing that. I'm just, I'm googling it right in his late teen. This is from Wikipedia. In his late teens, an early adulthood, Millay, another controversial figure, saying in the cover band Everest, which mostly played Rolling Stones covers. He was the singer.
I was saying, there you go. Great. I'll be looking to see if there's any videos of him on YouTube singing any any of that soon. Anyway, question 18. In Argentina, Javier Mille recently became president.
During his election rallies this year, what thing did he sometimes bring and hold in the air to symbolize how he would destroy the current political and
economic system in Argentina? What thing did he bring to his rallies and hold in the air to symbolize the fact he was going to, you know, dismantle the current political system in Argentina? What was this thing?
What would it be, listeners? I don't know the answer. I'm sorry, Argentinian listeners. I don't know the answer.
What would it be, guys? What's he going to use? It's not going to be a cricket bat. I mean, that's what I would use. If I was going to smash a system, I'd use a cricket bat, maybe. I don't know.
Or a guitar. Let's use like a fender-based guitar and smash it with that. But what's he using? Is it a hammer? Would you think, could it be a hammer?
Is that too? Is a hammer too symbolic already? Because of the hammer and sickle, which is a communist thing, and he is not a communist. No way. It's not going to be a hammer then, is it?
What else? It's not going to be like a football boot. That would be ridiculous.
It's not going to be like an empanada or something like an empanada made of iron. I don't know, Stephen. I'm going to say it is an accordion.
An accordion? Is that your final answer? It's a good one. It's not the right answer, I'm afraid. It's not an accordion, but an interesting choice.
I'm afraid it was a chainsaw. Oh my god. That's frightening.
It is frightening. In fact, the first couple of times I saw him holding this up, I was like, wow, blind me. That's pretty violent. But even at his inauguration, which was just on Sunday actually,
we're recording this on the 15th of December, so it was just the last Sunday gone. There were some people in the crowd who had cardboard cutouts of chainsaws with them.
That was his symbol. Really, the things that he said that he would do are pretty radical. And he's definitely not a communist, as you rightly said there.
Oh my god. His fans like chainsaw wielding, I wouldn't say maniacs. That's a bit harsh, isn't it?
No, I think a bit harsh on them. But I mean, also, he won by a lot. He got more than 55% in the last vote.
So I think there's been a lot of people who voted for him that are not super in love with all of his craziness. But they actually, this is my opinion now.
I'm quite likely to have just voted for him just because they want complete economic reform because the truth is Argentina's economy has been just terrible for decades for such a long time.
I think people were quite interested in just voting for something completely different to just, yeah, chainsaw the whole thing and start again in many ways, which is what he's promised to do.
Right.
Yeah.
Okay.
Interesting to, it'll be interesting to see how that goes and I wish everyone in Argentina all the very best.
Yes, so do I absolutely. And question 19 in late November, I might have to swear for this one by accident. Is that okay?
Fucking fine.
Well, you didn't get much, didn't get much warning there if there are any missing.
Oh, sorry, everyone.
I'm sorry, but you know, it's all right. It's just four letters. It's not the end of the world.
I mean, it's many words. In fact, it's the same one that I'm about to use as well. So there we go.
If you didn't like that word, the first time that Luke just said it, then you won't like it when I'm about to say it. Number 19 in late November.
Why did a newspaper in Greece have a picture of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the front cover with the main headline, fuck you bastard.
Oh my god, did you say Rishi Sunak?
I did.
Oh god.
So it was genuinely just the so imagine the front cover of a newspaper.
And it was just the picture of of Rishi Sunak and the words in English, fuck you bastard.
And of course, everything else is in Greek because it's a Greek newspaper.
So why did that newspaper choose to have that as their front cover that day?
Well, because Rishi Sunak snubbed the Greek PM.
Is it Greek Prime Minister? It's not Presidents. Is it Prime Minister?
Prime Minister. So it's because Rishi Sunak snubbed the Greek Prime Minister.
Listeners, do you know what snubbed means?
So this is the sort of thing that's used in the media, this word, to snub someone.
It's when perhaps two people were going to meet, but one of them refused to meet that person.
And sort of rejected them publicly.
Right? So in this case, Rishi Sunak snubbed him.
Or at least just didn't turn up to the meeting.
I can't remember exactly the...
Yeah, so the Greek PM was in England. Is that what you said?
And he even met the opposition leader, Kierstama.
They even had a meeting.
But Rishi Sunak didn't chose not to meet him.
Was there another reason why he was there?
Yeah, I kind of... I should have been more clear with myself as a little...
How I was going to give you this point because...
I know the reason, but...
You do. In that case, I think that's the key thing.
What's the key?
But you've got the first half-right is that he cancelled Sunak cancelled the meeting with Prime Minister Kieryakus Mitatakis.
So if you're listening and you're trying to score your own points then that's half of the point there.
If you want the other half of the point, why did that meeting get cancelled?
Yeah, so basically, just to give everyone the story, because obviously you're listening to me sort of give it in little bits.
So the whole story is that the Greek Prime Minister was in London, right?
He did meet Kierstama, the Labour leader.
He had a meeting planned with the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
But Rishi Sunak cancelled the meeting.
Now, I can't remember the main reason they had the meeting.
But I know that the context is that there is this ongoing argument about the...
What are known as the Elgin marbles?
There are actually parts of the Parthenon Fries, right?
In Greece, the Parthenon, right?
There's ancient building.
Elements of that building.
Parts of a marble Fries that used to be on the front or part of the Parthenon building.
Those big pieces of marble were taken by a guy called Elgin.
I can't remember his first name.
Lord Elgin.
A British...
A British Lord Explora.
What do you want to call him?
I suppose back in those days, they were kind of the same thing.
Very rich people. They would have been lords.
And also, they were the only people that would have had the money and that to take themselves exploring and around the world and things like that.
I think this was 200 years ago.
Like, about 200 years ago, okay.
And he took these parts of...
These pieces of marble and brought them back to Britain.
And they were put in the British Museum.
And they've been there ever since.
And you can see enough. You can go to the British Museum in London.
It's free to go in.
And you can see the Elgin marbles, parts of the Parthenon Fries.
And it is a wonderful thing to be able to see.
But the Greeks argue that those pieces of marble should be...
Why are they not...
Why are they not on the Parthenon?
Why are they still in the British Museum in London?
Like, how does Britain justify just keeping them?
So surely the Greek Prime Minister was going to...
You know, try and have a conversation with Rishi Sunak about this.
But Rishi Sunak apparently just cancelled the meeting.
Yeah, that's exactly right.
And in fact, I think it was compounded by the fact that before their meeting,
a Kiddiyakos Mittertaakis had an interview with the BBC.
And during this interview, he spoke about the Elgin marbles, as you say, the Parthenon marbles.
And mentioned again how he was hoping to talk to Rishi Sunak about the possibility of either moving them back
or having some kind of sharing arrangements with the British Museum.
And Rishi Sunak said that he told...
That he'd said that to Mittertaakis that he shouldn't talk about that.
And so I think he was annoyed that Mittertaakis had spoken about this on the BBC in this interview.
And so that's why he cancelled the meeting really at the last minute when he was already there in England, which is...
So Mittertaakis was in England already to talk about something else, right?
That's the thing. I don't know what that was actually.
Yeah, I'm not sure what the main theme of his trip or anything like that.
Right.
But it was really cancelled.
I think the BBC interview was late at night and the meeting with Rishi Sunak was supposed to be the following morning.
And it was cancelled just in that amount of time.
But that seems so...
Petty?
Petty. That's the word.
Yeah, so Petty, you talked about a thing I didn't want you to talk about.
So I'm not going to come and see you.
And also a bit pathetic because it just...
I mean, why do that?
I mean, why be so extreme about it?
To me, it just shows that Rishi Sunak just doesn't really have an argument.
He doesn't really have a negotiating position on that.
Beyond just...
No, sorry, no.
You know...
Yeah, I agree with you.
So, a whole other story for another time.
And I've been thinking about doing a podcast episode about this very subject for ages because it's fascinating.
It's been a bit of a heavy one and it also relates to...
It breaks down.
The argument breaks down to things like how does Britain really sort of feel about its colonial past?
And how does Britain feel about...
And how should we feel about...
The things that were done 200 years ago?
Yeah, basically, should these things stay in the British Museum?
And there are arguments for and against.
Yeah, totally.
And much too complicated for us to get into now.
I could give a talk on either side of that as well, but I'm not going to start.
Sure, OK.
I'm going to ask you question 20, the final question.
This is it, the final question, OK.
So you've got 15 out of 19 so far, very impressive, Luke, well done.
So, if you listen as a cat up, then that's fantastic.
15 out of 19, you've got the moon.
I think you mentioned last year, I think I've got 16.
I think so, yeah, yeah.
I have to go back and...
I have to get this question right if I'm going to match my previous score.
If indeed 16 is the right.
Well, it's happened relatively recently.
So, maybe it's still up there in the brain.
Here we go.
Question 20, who did Time Magazine name its person of the year for 2023?
Who did Time Magazine name as their person of the year 2023?
Who could that be, listeners?
What do you think?
Is it going to be one of the world leaders?
Is it going to be an extraordinary scientist who came up with this vaccine
for malaria?
Is it going to be a Ghanaian laboratory worker who's been
slaving away in a hot laboratory for all this time trying to come up with a vaccine?
Or whoever it was, I don't know if it was a Ghanaian person who actually did that vaccine development.
Anyway, who's it going to be?
Is it going to be an astronaut?
Is it going to be Elon Musk because he ruined Twitter?
I don't know.
Did he make it better?
Is it going to be Luke Thompson from Luke's English podcast?
I don't think so.
Is it going to be Leonardo DiCaprio for acting really well in another film?
Or could it be a pop star?
Is it going to be Ringo Star for still being alive and having a really good beard
even when he's like really old?
Is it going to be Keith Richards for still managing to stay alive
and be the most amazing rock star on the planet?
No, it's not listeners.
It was who drumroll?
Taylor Swift.
Yeah, it was Taylor Swift.
Well done.
Well done.
Well done for running through a bunch of people that you actually thought maybe deserved it more than he did as well.
I don't mean to have a go at Taylor Swift.
I actually quite like her.
My daughter's a big fan of her music.
So I don't mind Taylor Swift.
Everybody in the corner is a big fan of Taylor Swift, aren't they?
I think so.
She seems to be so incredibly popular, it's amazing.
Apparently, I can't remember what I've heard that a university is doing a course on Taylor Swift,
like a Master's course or something, and also some newspapers or media organisations have got journalists
who are dedicated to Taylor Swift.
It seems to just be that popular, yeah.
What do you do?
I'm a journalist already.
What sort of stories Taylor Swift has about pop music stuff?
No, no, just Taylor Swift.
I'm a Taylor Swift journalist.
Yeah, although I think if I had to tell my grandparents what my job was, I'd probably be happier saying that
than if they said to me, what are you going to study at university?
Taylor Swift.
I think that would probably be in even more difficult conversation to have.
Again, we're being glib about it, but that is a valid thing to study, because you're not just studying
what did you have for breakfast?
It's not that.
You're studying the whole thing, right?
The marketing, music industry stuff.
If these jobs exist or these courses exist, it shows that people are genuinely interested enough.
And there's a huge industry here.
By using Taylor Swift as a case study, you can learn so much about how the entertainment business works.
All of the many facets of the entertainment industry, and that is a huge industry.
There's no doubt.
I'm sure the subject to Taylor Swift would touch on so many things.
You'd end up getting into things like AI in music and law, the legal issues related to being a pop star,
intellectual property rights, and image rights, and all those sorts of things.
I'm sure it's actually a fascinating course to be fair.
Yeah, you've convinced me.
I think I'm going to go and do that now.
I'm going to go and study that.
Wow, look at that.
Look, you got 16 out of 20.
That is a really good score.
Do you think that my questions are too easy?
If any listeners are, then you will look so like that.
If any listeners want to tell me whether they should be more difficult for the future for 2024,
then I will consider that.
But if you actually did manage to beat Luke, and you got more than 16, then give yourself a massive round of applause.
Then go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go,
go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go
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go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go
go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go
go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go
go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go
go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go
go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go
go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go
go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go
go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go
