With nothing better to do than wonder what to do with all the leftovers, find drawer space for yet more unwanted gifts and pale at the prospect of another year of all this, you will no doubt want the distraction of these 36 questions about what happened last year.  Googling not allowed, asking the significant other for guidance not allowed, kicking the cat out of frustration not allowed.  Answers next week.

1. What did Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, Rwanda and South Korea all do on New Year’s Day?
2. At President Obama’s public inauguration in January, he placed his left hand on two bibles once owned by which famous Americans?
3. A cleaning woman was badly injured while cleaning an empty commuter train in the middle of the night in Sweden in January.  What caused her injuries?
4. Whose remains, found under a local government car park, were identified in February?
5. Where did the British Prime Minister in February express remorse, but not apologize, for an event that happened 94 years earlier?
6. A 74-year-old poet, literary critic and translator was elected to seat 32 in the 40-member Académie Française in February.  Why is the new member unusual?
7. Forbes annual list of the richest people in the world was released in March with the same name at the top as in the past 4 years.  Where is he from?
8. President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai in March accused the Afghan Taliban of joining a conspiracy to destabilize his country.  Who, according to Karzai, were the Taliban conspiring with?
9. More than 220 people had to be rescued from the sea off the coast of Latvia in March.  Why were they in danger?
10. A Golden Fresh Land was seen for the first time on April 1^st.  Where would you look for it?
11. Which 75-year-old woman worth an estimated 300 million dollars retired in April after 33 years, following the example of her mother and grandmother?
12. A 1975 State Department cable, published by Wikileaks in April, described who as “the personification of a British middle class dream come true”?
13. The last 30 rhinos in Mozambique were found in May shot dead by poachers who removed their horns.  How did they know where the animals were?
14. Which former actor was elected in May as the mayor of the capital city of the country where he was once president, having in the meantime been impeached and convicted on corruption charges?
15. When AS Monaco won promotion to the top division in French football in May, the other Ligue 1 teams did not want to let them in.  Why?
16. Which former head of state was paid half a million dollars to give a 45-minute speech in honour of the 90^th birthday in June of Israeli president Shimon Peres?
17. Nine North Korean teenagers were forcibly returned to Pyongyang in June after being captured in which country?
18. A number of journalists took a plane from Moscow to Cuba in June in the belief that NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden was on board.  He didn’t take the flight.  What made their wasted 11-hour trip even less pleasant?
19. In his first official trip outside Rome, Pope Francis went to a small island in July where he threw a wreath into the sea.  What was he doing?
20. A British multinational drug manufacturer admitted in July that senior executives in one country appear to have paid bribes to officials and doctors.  In which country did this happen?
21. The president of which country met the EU foreign policy representative in July, although neither of them could say where the meeting took place.
22. Which Asian country in August carried out its first execution by lethal injection on a prisoner convicted of murder and robbery?
23. Why in August did the British NGO Karma Nirvana advise young women leaving the UK to hide a spoon in their underwear?
24. An 800 kilometre long canyon that is up to 800 metres deep was discovered in August.  Where is it located and why was it not found before?
25. Asaram Bapu, a controversial spiritual guru in India, was criticized for claiming that victims of rape would not be attacked if they addressed their attackers as brothers.  Why was he arrested in September?
26. A 64-year-old woman travelled from Cuba to Florida in September.  It took her three days.  How did she travel?
27. After voting to remove wrestling from the 28 Olympic sports in February, the International Olympic Committee in September selected which sport as a replacement?
28. Who in October went half way round the world and back on a weekend trip to Australia and what was the purpose?
29. The former President of Liberia Charles Taylor flew into London in October.  What was the purpose of his visit?
30. Who in October threatened to go on strike over French plans for a 75% tax on those earning over one million euros?
31. Who wrote a book that in November was banned in Pakistani private schools for being anti-Pakistan and anti-Islamic?
32. In November, Albania, Germany and Belgium all refused to help Syria in what activity?
33. The November agreement with Iran over its nuclear programme was negotiated with a group of countries called the P5 plus 1.  The P5 are the permanent members of the UN Security Council.  Who is the one?
34. It was revealed in December that so many spies were involved in a certain activity that special measures had to be taken to ensure they didn’t spy on each other.  What were they all doing?
35. What were the US President and the Prime Ministers of Demark and the United Kingdom caught doing together at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in December?
36. 59 recordings of songs performed 50 years ago were officially released in December.  Who made the recordings and why are they being released now?