Christmas 2014 & New Year's Quiz

A friend asked me to write a quiz for him for Christmas & New Year, so I've decided to share it here too.  You can download the Qs, answers and pictures here

I'll try to do this every year...

News
Who is Matt Taylor, and why did he have to apologise over something he wore?
What is ‘Serial’?
Why was David Mellor at Buckingham Palace the day of the infamous taxi row?
Which political party has selected former head of the DPP to be a candidate in 2015?
Who broke royal Royal protocol by putting his arm around Duchess of Cambridge in their recent US tour?
What was Oxford Dictionary’s new word of 2014?
Which member of the Top Gear team has a book out called ‘What Could Possibly Go Wrong?’
What is special about the new café opened in Brick Lane by twins Gary & Alan Keery?
Which stage musical is Nicole Scherzinger currently starring in in London?
Which 2014 film, maybe surprisingly, had a 9.9 out of 10 rating on IMDB in mid-late December?

Christmas
Which Mexican plant is associated with Christmas?
Cheese - Which county is Stilton in?
In which year was Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol published? 1843, 1863, 1883?
Which Scandinavian country has a Christmas figure Joulupukki (or Christmas Goat)?
The Christmas short story The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle features which famous literacy character?
How many Geese-a-laying?
Which film has sponsored the Regent Street lights this year?
Who played the Bond girl Christmas Jones in 1999’s The World is Not Enough?
Chocolates - How many years between Quality Street and Roses first appearing? (To nearest 5 years)
In the cracker joke, how does Good King Wenceslas like his pizza?

2014 in Review
What is Simon Cowell’s son called?  (First name only)
Which British man did GQ name as Philanthropist of The Year?
Which cause was the Ice Bucket Challenge raising money & awareness for?
What was the nationality of the winner of the 2014 Booker Prize for Fiction?
Of whom did Eddie Izzard say ‘From every comedian here at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, we salute him & we say goodbye’
Who was the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize?
Who scored the winning goal in the World Cup?
Why was Russia temporarily suspended from the G8 on 24th March 2014?
Who sang the song on this year’s John Lewis Christmas ad?
Which headline-grabbing comedian’s catchphrases included (I won’t do the voice) ‘She Knows’ and ‘Proper Moist’