theartsdesk Christmas Quiz

You're going to test your stomach and sweet temper to the maximum today - test your brain and memory too with our monster quiz about the arts covered by theartsdesk in 2011. Every artform is represented here in 12 dozen questions. Settle down between courses, films and presents and see how many you and your near and dear can do.

There's a linkable clue to each question where you will find an article that furnishes the answer. All the answers are on another page here [3]- which will become live at noon today to give you a start.

1. In film, what is “the Great Whatsit?” Clue [4]
2. Which shuttered cultural institution suffered a sexual scandal, lost two major stars, and reopened its doors after restoration to the tune of roughly $1 billion (with decorations in gold leaf washed by vodka-soaked squirrel tails)? Clue [5]
3. In the film We Need to Talk About Kevin, which Buddy Holly song is playing on the soundtrack when Eva (Tilda Swinton) finds herself terrorised on Halloween? Clue [6]
4. At what age did Tim Minchin start making audiences laugh? Clue [7]
5. How many national anthems have been recorded by the London Philharmonic to play at the London 2012 Olympics? Clue [8] 
6. Which rock star asked a concert audience to stop singing his first name because “it’s a shit chant - not enough syllables”?  Clue [9]
7. Who gave the actor Christopher Eccleston his first career break by casting him as Pablo Gonzales in A Streetcar Named Desire at Bristol Old Vic? Clue [10]
8. When did the last train run on the High Line track in New York City?  Clue [11]             
9. What shape was the egg from which Brazilian artist Lygia Pape emerged? Clue [12]      
10. What is a luthier? Clue [13]            
11. Name the Scottish artist who painted the philosophers David Hume and Jean-Jacques Rousseau? Clue [14]      
12. What medium is Tacita Dean obsessed with? Clue [15]
13. Name the rodents from another planet who performed at the Barbican in a musical event? Clue [16]    
14. Alumni of Alan Bennett's play The History Boys were everywhere on stage during 2011. Theatre buffs, see if you can name four sightings of them and the productions they were in. Clue [17] 
15. On Peter Gabriel’s new version of “Don’t Give Up” which female singer took the part originally sung by Kate Bush? And where does she come from? Clue [18]     
16. In the belly of whose whale did Parisians walk? Clue [19]    
17. Which new opera divided critics in its depiction of senile sex, boob jobs and drug overdoses? Clue [20]
18. Where in the world did massed fiddles overwhelm theartsdesk?  Clue [21]       
19. Where on a warm operatic night did a wood become a 1960s schoolhouse, and a fairy king a paedophile master? Clue [22]       
20. Jane Eyre star Mia Wasikowska originally hails from which country? Clue [23]       
21. Of which nationality was Egon Schiele who had a very popular show at Richard Nagy this year? Clue [24]
22. Which British artist made sculptures out of sand? Clue [25]
23. The 400th anniversary of the King James Bible yielded an extremely long play. The performer who played God had one other theatrical role this year. Name the performer and the role. Clue [26]
24. Who borrowed, plagiarised or downright stole (according to taste) some dance moves from a very unlikely source? Name both pilferer and pilfered parties. Clue [27]
25. Which city in 2011 branded itself “Home of Metal”? Clue [28]
26. What colour is shared by a god dubiously resurrected by a Russian ballet company, a sea seen in several UK theatres in summer, and a Robert Lepage production at the Barbican? Clue [29]
27. Which musical intellectual curated the Brighton Festival back in May? Clue [30]  
28. Which California dude did a version of Gershwin's "Summertime" on his last album? Clue [31]
29. The pop artist Richard Hamilton, who died this year, was tutor to which glamrock star? Clue [32]
30. Which singer told theartsdesk that “I am a lady of the sea, I’m a lady of the water”? Clue [33]       
31. Which building used a million cubic metres of Transylvanian marble? Clue [34]     
32. Which barefoot diva died last week?  Clue [35]      
33. Which Oscar-winning Brit played a boxer living on his past glories? Clue [36]
34. Identify the artist-duo known for wrapping famous buildings and landmarks. Clue [37]     
35. Which former Just a Minute team member was a school with the radio show's host, Nicholas Parsons? Clue [38]   
36. Which distinguished news photographer likened ballet dancers to coal miners, in terms of hard work? Clue [39]
37. He won an Oscar playing the author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. When he made his debut as a director, what two new skills did his character learn? Clue [40]
38. He was an American in Rome, his favourite painter was Poussin, and he had a show this year with his hero. Name that artist. Clue [41]
39. Which director introduced a bull terrier and tomato ketchup to an operatic staple? And name the production. Clue [42]
40. Lizzie Siddal was the mistress of which English artist? Clue [43]
41. Which threatened West End café was volubly championed by theatregoers and artists against developers? Clue [44]
42. Which 14th-century Great Hall hosted an acoustic music festival? Clue [45]       
43. Björk’s new songs were introduced live by whose disembodied voice? Clue [46]      
44. Name the husky-voiced thespian Dame who returned to an erstwhile stage success about a social climber - this time in a different role from her original one. Clue [47]      
45. Which Ukrainian composer thought that cowboys and Cossacks had much in common? (Clue: he was the man who kept them dogies rolling) Clue [48]  
46. Which opera by which 13-year-old composer was performed in May to mark Europe Day and Hungary’s presidency of the EU Council? Clue [49]      
47. Whose historic piano roll performances were recreated by Sigurd Slattebrekk? Clue [50]
48. Which 20th-century artist painted a series of popes after Velázquez? Clue [51]     
49. Name the German artist who sometimes uses a squeegee instead of a brush. Clue [52]
50. Tony Bennett's Duets II featured Amy Winehouse on "Body and Soul", but which London-born star of stage and screen was the song written for back in 1930? Clue [53]  
51. An eccentric Canadian pianist was revealed in a new documentary to have had a more active love life than was previously known. Who? Clue [54]     
52. Which unlikely indie rocker appears on Jesca Hoop’s song “Murder of Birds”? Clue [55]      
53. Name the Shakespeare tragedy set in a psychiatric hospital this year which starred a Welshman. Clue [56]
54. Which Nineties pop boy band is soon to be releasing its own beer brew, derivatively titled "MMMHop"? Clue [57]       
55. Which monster symphony called upon a record number of performers to fill not just the stage and choir but also the side stalls of the Albert Hall? Clue [58]        
56. Who played with Glen Campbell on his 2011 farewell tour? Clue [59]
57. How did Los Angeles artist Paul McCarthy chop off his own legs? Clue [60]
58. What piece of kitchen crockery is used in a laugh in One Man, Two Guvnors? Clue [61]      
59. Which punk rock icon mutated into a shrill ventriloquist's dummy with a fixation for vehicular financial affairs? Clue [62]
60. Which cast member was Oscar-nominated for the Australian film Animal Kingdom? Clue [63]       
61. Name two West End stars of current farces who were concurrently represented during the year as the authors of new books. And name their shows. Clue 1 [61] - clue 2 [64]      
62. Which member of Take That has been linked to television funny woman Catherine Tate?      
63. Who designed a maternity dress for Grace Jones? Clue [65]      
64. Who won the inaugural Nordic Music Prize?  Clue [66]
65. Who played Vivien Leigh in which movie? Clue [67]     
66. With whom did Banksy engage in a tit-for-tat graffiti war before he (not Banksy) fell into a coma? Clue [68]
67. Who caused contention by appearing on the back of their second album as part woman, part motorbike?  Clue [69]      
68. Which rapper declared "I'm Gay" in 2011? Clue [70]
69. What name was YouTube sensation Lana Del Ray (best known for “Videogames” and her Bardot-esque looks) formerly known as? Clue [71]      
70. Where did Naomi Watts meet a tall dark stranger and who was he? Clue [72]       
71. What bloodline did Tracey Emin discover she had this year? Clue [73]
72. Which septuagenarian English folk singer and guitarist earned his musical stripes as a chorister at the Queen's Chapel of the Savoy? Clue [74]      
73. Which French celluloid visionary did Martin Scorsese pay homage to? Clue [75]
74. Name the two flour-covered arbiters - not the presenters - of The Great British Bake-Off. Clue [76]
75. Name the young heroine whose name contains within it a Russian word that brings the show of the same title to a rousing climax. Clue [77]       
76. Who played the libidinous Christopher Isherwood in Christopher and His Kind on BBC Two? Clue [78]
77. Jarvis Cocker got Pulp back together in 2011. What was the band's original name? Clue [79]
78. Which globe-straddling electronic dance musician released his new album alongside a coffee table book of his photography? Clue [80]   
79. Name three outings for an orang-utan in the movies (not including sequels). Clue [81]       
80. Anselm Kiefer came to prominence on the back of which 1980s art phenomenon? Clue [82]       
81. To which region in which country did you go to buy a stringed instrument in the 16th century? Clue [13]     
82. Which stand-up comedian told this joke this year: "Suicide bombing - it's a cultural thing for us. It's like jury service - you say you want to do it but you don't really." Clue [83]      
83. Which architect is responsible for the sci-fi look of Brasilia? Clue [84]  
84. Which show was designed by Jean Cocteau, had music by Erik Satie and costumes by Pablo Picasso? Clue [85]       
85. Which angelically named friend of Nelson Mandela's made a fortune from the online music distribution system OD2? Clue [86]      
86. What office machines does techno producer Carl Craig cite as most influential on his music? Clue [87]
87. Who designed the plantings on the High Line? Clue [11]      
88. Which contemporary dancemaker was enshrined in a 3D movie by a leading Germany film director?  Clue [88]   
89. Concepts were everywhere in the theatre during 2011. With that in mind, name the venerable Broadway musical updated into a video game this autumn. Clue [89]       
90. Numerous plays were represented twice over in London theatre this year. Name at least three of them. Clue [90]
91. Nashi made a British TV debut. Who, what or where is Nashi? Clue [91]
92. Which Kink went to the William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School, in the manor of Muswell Hill? Clue [92]
93. Which icy capital saw the inauguration of an 1,800-seater concert hall described by several leading musicians as possessing one of the finest acoustics in the world? Clue [93] 
94. What was Salford-born LS Lowry’s day job? Clue [94]     
95. Name the playwright who gave us a heretic's response to both climate change and Goldoni in two plays across the year. And name the plays. Clue [95]    
96. Before he become a director, Nicolas Roeg honed his filmmaking skills as a cinematographer. Name two European film directors he worked with. Clue [96]
97. Which distinguished animal with theatrical connections died this year? Clue [97]
98. Female TV detectives 1: which beauteous French undercover cop did Ben Miller find himself working alongside in a West Indian island? Clue [98]  
99. Which deluxe Alpine spa provided the setting for a Mercury-nominated jazz piano album? Clue [99]       
100. Female TV detectives 2: which legendary US copper turned up in a London theatre rediscovering her libido? Clue [100]
101. Name the performer who went from Harvard's hallowed halls to playing Doris, a former barmaid now married to a Polish Count. Clue [101]      
102. Which folktronica band put their mini-album inside a ball of home-spun wool? Clue [102]    
103. Which 80-year-old saxophone colossus opened a jazz festival describing improvisation as "the highest form of being able to create music"? Clue [103]     
104. Female TV detectives 3: which northerly police hound put knitted jumpers firmly back on the fashion map? Clue [104]     
105. Where did the star of this year's Last Night of the Proms find her first piano? Clue [105]
106. Which unusual combination of languages feature in a film directed by Marc Evans and co-written with Laurence Coriat? Clue [106]
107. Which famous depressive read out a list of names for the white stuff? Clue [107]  
108. Whose four organs caused fights to break out in Carnegie Hall? Clue [108]       
109. Which Beatles were brought back to life on the West End stage? Clue [109]     
110. What classical ballet did actress Natalie Portman pretend to dance in a controversial film? Clue [110]
111. On which novel did director Pedro Almodóvar base his 2011 film The Skin I Live In? Clue [111]      
112. What did Bell take over from Marriner? Clue [112]
113. Which event does Andrew Logan host in a half-male, half-female costume? Clue [113]
114. The Ides of March is a film that "superbly anatomises political chicanery", according to our critic. But what are/is the Ides of March?" Clue [114]
115. What is the name of Harry Shearer’s new documentary on Hurricane Katrina? Clue [115]     
116. What inspirational landscape does the singer Feist describe as "like an armadillo"? Clue [116] 
117. Name the film that unabashedly serves up shit in its forward march to this year's Oscars. Clue [117]      
118. Which northerly contemporary art museum doubles as the town's flood defences? Clue [118]      
119. Not content with scripting the forthcoming Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady, Abi Morgan wrote a new play and a new TV series in 2011: name them. Clue [119] 
120. What natural catastrophe earlier this year inspired the ballerina Sylvie Guillem to create a show? Clue [120]
121. Which radical choreographer's company will close forever on 31 December 2011?  Clue [121]
122. Leeds schoolchildren provided the voices for what in an opera? Clue [122]
123. Scholars of Irish drama could have got a PhD just from going to the theatre this year. Name three Irish theatre classics that were revived during the year. Clue [123]       
124. Annie Nightingale said that the Beatles changed everything but nothing was as exciting as The Who until which band came along? Clue [124] 
125. Which offbeat German fantasy film, released this year on DVD, was shown to Kurdish children by documentary-maker Mark Cousins? Clue [125]  
126. Which Doctor Who played a Shakespearean wit - at his own expense? Clue [126]      
127. Which super-group was David Leland associated with? Clue [127] 
128. Name at least three plays by a centenary-celebrating playwright that were seen during the year. Clue [128]
129. What did some German cows do when they heard the pianist Mitsuko Uchida? Clue [129]
130. How many female portraits is Leonardo da Vinci known to have completed in his life? Clue
     [130]
131. Where is the housing estate that features in this year’s Turner Prize exhibition? Clue [131]      
132. Identify the diminutive 19th-century French artist whose favourite muse was known by the nickname La Mélinite. Clue [132]  
133. In the film Tinker Tailor Solider Spy what type of mint do we see George Smiley (Gary Oldman) eating as he prepares to confront the mole?  Clue [133]   
134. Room in a cowslip bell for two? Name two productions of a Shakespeare island romance that turned a speedy spirit into twins. Clue [134]
135. Who headlined the main Pyramid Stage on Glastonbury's Friday night amidst a rainstorm? Clue [135]
136. What's the external architectural feature of Frank Gehry's Spruce Flats? Clue [136]     
137. Art dealer and star of Fake or Fortune? Philip Mould uncovered a valuable lost painting by which American artist this year? Clue [137]
138. In which London gallery did Mark Rothko have a ground-breaking exhibition in 1961? Clue [138]
139. Which American virtuoso jazz trumpet player is "one of Time magazine's 25 most influential people"? Clue [139]    
140. Which opera by two Holocaust survivors was finally heard in London? Clue [140]
141. Which Hollywood starlet is Death Cab for Cutie’s lead singer Ben Gibbard married to? Clue [141]
142. Name the Russian painter whose greatest works were thought lost for decades, before making their way back to Moscow's Tretyakov this year. Clue [142]
143. On which author's works has the actor Simon Callow based three one-man shows? Clue [143]
144. Name all the versions and productions of the ballet The Nutcracker have been offered to British audiences this Christmas. Clue [144]