After tomorrow, there are 116 days before we enjoy our next bank holiday – Christmas. That sounds like a long time away. So, hopefully our Weekly readers will be making the most of this one. Here are five stimulating quiz questions to help brighten up your penultimate long weekend of 2021.

Questions:

1. Prior to 1834, we had thirty-three public holidays in the UK. No doubt in pursuit of greater productivity, the number was then slashed to four. In 1871 though, Sir John Lubbock, a liberal politician, banker and supposedly a dead-keen cricket buff who wanted to be able to head off to matches in August, introduced the Bank Holidays Act - and hence the August Bank Holiday. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the day was moved from the first Monday to the last Monday of the month in 1971. The UK now has eight bank holidays which, by international standards, is still pretty miserable. For instance, Cambodia has twenty-nine, India has twenty-one and even the US has ten. Only one country has fewer bank holidays than the UK. Who is it?

2. After a stormy debate, it was decided that at midnight on Tuesday, Fleur, Gavin, Heulwen, Iain, Julia, Klaas, Lilah, Minne, Naia, Oscar, Phoebe, Ravi, Saidhbhin, Tobias, Veronica and Wilson would all have their roles made redundant - not only here in the UK, but also in Ireland and The Netherlands. A spokesperson for the group is reported to have said ‘’Although we have been committed to this project for six years now, everyone always viewed it as a series of twelve months gigs. This year, we only had to call on Aiden, Bella, Christoph, Darcy and Evert. To be frank, given the current climate, things could easily have been far worse. After seeking new applicants in June, the full list of replacements for the next twelve months will be announced on Wednesday.’’ Who is imposing these changes?

3. How confident are we feeling about the UK economy? The latest GDP numbers (Q2 2021) are almost back to where they were in Q3 2019 (£521bn), unemployment is 4.7%, 10 year gilt yields are still hovering around 0.6% and Public Sector Net Borrowing in July was a (mere!) £10.4 bn - about half of the July 2020 number - albeit the second-highest level since monthly records began in 1993. Moreover, the Statista Consumer Confidence Index is back into positive territory (103.3). In light of all this positive news, since 1 January 2021:

a. How much has sterling moved against the US dollar?
b. Can you place the following in order of their performance? - Average UK House prices (to end-June 2021), Bitcoin, CBRE Monthly Index (to end-July), Derwent (London Offices), FTSE 100, Gold, Hammerson (Retail), Segro (Industrial) and Unite (Student Accommodation).

4. Tokyo has been a terrific Olympic and Paralympic host. It is widely agreed that the new sports introduced (climbing, skateboarding and surfing) were great additions to the Games. They will be joined by breakdancing and kiteboarding in Paris 2024. However, can you name (any of) the ten sports that have been dropped from the Olympics programme (and which have not returned) since the first Games in 1896?

Answers:

1. Mexico has the least number of bank holidays – seven - just one less than the UK.

2. Based on public suggestions, the Met Office (UK), Met Eireann (Ireland) and KNMI (Netherlands) collaborate to select names for the storms for the coming season. To date, they have alternated genders and, since the last name for 2020/21 was Wilson, the first storm will almost certainly be a female one - but, it won’t be Abigail (2015), Aileen (2017) or Atiyah (2019) as they have already been used.

3a. The sterling/dollar exchange rate is almost exactly the same ($1.37 vs $1.38) as it was at the start of the year. And, against the Euro, the rate has only crept up a smidgin from €1.12 to €1.17 now.

3b. On the other hand, there has been a huge divergence in investment performance numbers so far this year. In order: Bitcoin +65.6%, Hammerson +55.0%, Segro +31.2%, Derwent +22.4%, Unite +21.0%, Average UK House Prices +5.2%, FTSE 100 +8.8%, CBRE Monthly Index +6.8% and Gold -4.6%.

4. The ten sports that have been dropped from the Olympics are croquet, cricket, jeu de Paume (real tennis), lacrosse, motor boating, pelota (similar to squash but played with your hands), polo, roque (similar to croquet), rackets and tug-of-war. However, there is a big push for cricket to be re-introduced at the Los Angeles Games in 2028.