Originally the On London 2020 Christmas Quiz – compiled with the expert assistance of On London contributors, Richard Derecki, Alexander Jan, Vic Keegan and Professor Tony Travers – it was available first only to qualifying On London supporters. Then it became the free-to-air On London Boxing Day Quiz and was updated here with answers on the afternoon of 28 December.
Q1: What proportion of the London Underground is actually under the ground?
A: Only 45% of it (defined as the amount of the network that is inside tunnels. See Tube facts footnote here).
Q2: Which famous London company invented the Scotch Egg?
A: Fortnum and Mason in 1738 (they graciously acknowledge the delicacy’s antecedents).
Q3: Who was the second black British woman to become an MP and which London seat did she win?
A: Oona King, who won Bethnal Green & Bow in 1997.
Q4: In 2013, Mayor Boris Johnson published an agenda for London’s future called 2020 Vision: The Greatest City On Earth. It included the goal of reaching “at least 15 per cent modal share for cycling in inner London” by this year (see transport section of 2020 Vision document, page 16). What has the modal share for cycling in Inner London by 2020 turned out to be?
A: It was 4% (see TfL Travel In London report 13, page 67, figure 2.19.)
Q5: In the same 2013 document Mayor Johnson named the year in which he wanted the construction of Crossrail 2 to start. Which year was it?
A: 2019. (See page 16).
Q6: The 1971 children’s film Bedknobs and Broomsticks stars Angela Lansbury, granddaughter of Labour Party leader and Poplar rates rebel George Lansbury. It also contains a scene set in a famous London street market. Which one?
A: Portobello Road.
Q7: The main site of the London School of Economics lies along Sardinia Street, WC2. Which two parliamentary constituencies meet there?
A: Cities of London & Westminster and Holborn & St Pancras.
Q8: In which London hotel was Peach Melba first created?
A: The Savoy.
Q9: High up on a wall on King Charles Street in Whitehall is a modest plaque to a Londoner who escaped slavery to become a writer, composer and feted figure of London society. What was his name?
A: Ignatius Sancho (See Vic Keegan’s Lost London here and here).
Q10: Two of the remaining three original members of the London Assembly, elected 0n 4 May 2000, will stand down at the re-scheduled 6 May 2021 elections. Who are they?
A: Tony Arbour, who has represented South West constituency throughout, and Nicky Gavron, who represented Enfield & Haringey from 2000 until 2004 and has since then been a Londonwide AM.
Hope you got them right!
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