Edinburgh-based speechwriter, Rodger Evans, wrote this speech for our autumn conference in Berlin.
1 Who wrote a widely praised book detailing the ordeal of being speechwriter for the Governor of South Carolina?
a) Barton Swain
b) Barton Fink
c) Joey Barton
2 What does TED stand for?
a) Training Education Drama
b) Technology Entertainment Design
c) Teaching Economics Development
3 How many people have watched “baby of the House” Mairi Black MP’s maiden speech in the House of Commons?
a) Less than 1 million
b) Around 5 million
c) More than 10 million
4 Who said “We did this. We made it happen. We believed. We trusted ourselves and trusted each other”? Only, they didn’t say it, because the speech was never given.
a) David Milliband – if he’d been elected leader of the Labour party
b) Alex Salmond – if he’d won the independence referendum
c) Sarah Palin – if she’d become Vice-President
5 What is the troonrede?
a) The annual speech by the Dutch monarch to parliament
b) A time for prominent women in the Netherlands to wear silly hats
c) An occasion to declare hieperdepiep hoera!
6 Robert Mugabe recently delivered the wrong speech to the Zimbabwean parliament, repeating one he’d given the previous month. What happened to the perpetrator of the mix up?
a) They were put on the naughty step
b) They were put in front of a firing squad
c) They were subject to “corrective measures”
7 Who began an Oscar acceptance speech with “I’m so in love with my brother right now”?
a) Angelina Jolie
b) Jane Fonda
c) Ethan Coen
8 Which singer encouraged her friend to “tell them about the dream, Martin!”?
a) Aretha Franklin
b) Mahalia Jackson
c) Joan Baez
9 Who was Edgar Julius Jung?
a) The speechwriter who stood up to Hitler
b) The occultist whose work inspired Aleister Crowley
c) The author of Archetypes & the Collective Unconscious
10 Which of these musicians has not given the memorial John Peel lecture?
a) Brian Eno
b) Iggy Pop
c) David Bowie
11 Which of the following films features at least 17 uses of the f-word?
a) Lincoln
b) Selma
c) The King’s Speech
12 Whose team talk for a European Cup final consisted of these seven words: “Right lads, go out and enjoy yourselves”
a) Jock Stein (Celtic)
b) Brian Clough (Nottingham Forrest)
c) Matt Busby (Manchester United)
13 Which non-Berlin born resident of the city wrote: “I was, I am, I shall be!”
a) Christopher Isherwood
b) Rosa Luxemburg
c) David Bowie
14 Where in Berlin did JFK make his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech?
a) Rathaus Schöneberg
b) The Brandenburg Gate
c) The Reichstag
15 Who gave a recent speech in which he described “unbridled capitalism” as the “dung of the devil’?
a) Pope Francis
b) Evo Morales
c) Raúl Castro
Answers: