Cool January 2022 Quiz of the Month: From Potter to Grammys

HBO Max named its 2022 Harry Potter reunion “Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts.” The special aired on Jan. 1, 2022, 20 years after the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone — the first film of J.K. Rowling’s franchise. Watch the trailer.

After more than 100 years, Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team, The Cleveland Indians, is getting a new name — The Cleveland Guardians. The ballclub announced Friday, July 23, 2021, that by the end of 2021, the Indians would transition from the name they held since 1915.

What about the Washington Redskins?

The Washington Football Team – Formerly the Redskins – continues to work toward their makeover. The franchise recently said it would reveal a new name and logo in 2022.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s largest and most powerful space telescope, a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The $10-billion observatory rocketed from French Guiana on South America’s northeastern coast on Dec. 25, 2021. The Webb Telescope is on a million miles (1.6 million kilometers) search to find light from the first stars, galaxies, and hints of life.

Who was James Webb?

James E. Webb was the first NASA Administrator, serving from Feb. 1961 to Oct.1968.

Apple became the first US company to be valued at over $3 trillion on Jan. 3, 2022. The company became the world’s first trillion-dollar company in August 2018 and passed $2 trillion in 2020. Apple alone is more valuable than Boeing, Coca-Cola, Disney, Exxon-Mobil, McDonald’s, Netflix, and Walmart combined.

Is Apple still the most valuable company in the world?

By May 2022, Apple shares have fallen nearly 20%. On May 11, Oil giant Saudi Aramco surpassed Apple as the world’s most valuable firm with a market valuation of just under $2.43 trillion. Apple is, as of May 2022, worth $2.37 trillion.

You’re looking at a BlackBerry Bold 9000 smartphone, launched in 2008. Boasting a physical keyboard and instant messaging, BlackBerry was in the first decade of the 2000s the device of choice by white-collar professionals and then-President Barack Obama. On Jan. 4, 2022, the company discontinued service on its classic smartphones.

Sidney Poitier was the first African American and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for Lilies of the Field. He died on Jan. 6, 2022, in Los Angeles. He was 94.

How long did it take for the second African American to win the Academy Award for Best Actor?

It took seven years for James Earl Jones to become the second Black person to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in 1970. It took some extra three decades for Denzel Washington to win the category in 2001 (for “Training Day”), becoming the second African-American actor to receive the award for Best Actor. The same year saw the first time two African-American performers won Oscars in the same year, the other being Halle Berry, for “Monster’s Ball.” Berry is the first African-American actress to win Best Actress.

In a speech to mark the first anniversary of Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots, US President Joe Biden declared Donald Trump was “holding a dagger” at the throat of American democracy. Biden said that Trump “rallied the mob to attack,” then did nothing to stop the ensuing lethal violence. Watch the speech.

David Bowie’s 75th birth anniversary is on Jan. 8, 2022. Bowie died in 2016, aged 69.

What’s Bowie’s catalog’s worth in 2022?

In Jan. 2022, Warner Music Group announced it has bought David Bowie’s entire catalog spanning six decades, including songs from the 26 studio albums released during his lifetime and hits such as “Heroes” and “Let’s Dance.” A person familiar with the deal told Reuters the purchase was worth about $250 million.

Kate Middleton, AKA Catherine, The Princess of Wales, was born on Jan. 9, 1982 – making her 41 in 2023.

How did the Princess celebrate?

The Royal Family’s official Twitter and Instagram accounts shared a post on Jan. 9, 2023, to celebrate Kate Middleton’s 41st birthday. “Wishing The Princess of Wales a very Happy Birthday today!” they wrote, along with a birthday cake emoji.

Last year, when she was still the Duchess of Cambridge, she released three new portraits of herself, taken by acclaimed fashion photographer Paolo Roversi, to mark her 40th birthday.

The Green Planet is a five-part series presented by the veteran naturalist David Attenborough about plants. The series started airing on the UK’s BBC One on Jan. 9, 2022.

Andrew Garfield won the 2022 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical, or Comedy for his appearance in the Netflix biographical musical “tick, tick…BOOM!”, based on the autobiographical broadway musical created by “Rent” writer, Jonathan Larson. The movie is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s (“Hamilton”) feature directorial debut. “tick, tock…BOOM!” also earned Garfield a second Oscar nomination, following up 2017’s Hacksaw Ridge nod.

Was there a Golden Globe Awards ceremony in 2022?

The Golden Globe Awards were announced in a live-blog event for its 79th edition, Jan. 9, 2022 – without a telecast, nominees, a red carpet, a host, press, or live stream. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association came under fire in 2021 after a Los Angeles Times report revealed ethical lapses and a lack of diversity. There was not a single Black journalist in the 87-person group.

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai is a volcanic island, one of Tonga’s Polynesian archipelago of 176 islands. On Jan. 15, 2022, the underwater volcano erupted, causing a Pacific-wide tsunami of about 1 meter (3 feet) that smashed boats in New Zealand, caused an oil spill and two drownings in Peru, and coated Tonga with acidic (but not poisonous) ash. New Zealand and other nations came forward to get water and other supplies to Tonga as quickly as possible.

Novak Djokovic has won nine Australian Open titles. He had hoped to secure his 21st Grand Slam singles trophy in 2022, breaking the record he shares with rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for the most in the history of men’s tennis.

Why was Djokovic out of the 2022 Australian Open?

The Australian government prevented the No. 1-ranked tennis player, Djokovic, from defending his Australian Open title after authorities revoked his visa for not being vaccinated against Covid-19, saying that ousting him was necessary to keep Australians safe. On Jan. 16, 2022, Djokovic was deported one day before the Melbourne tournament.

The late Wes Craven directed the original “Scream,” which premiered in 1996. Following its box office success, “Scream” spawned three more installments, each starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette and directed by Craven. Executive producer Kevin Williamson of “Dawson Creek” fame wrote the original “Scream.”

Scream 2022 fact

The new “Scream” will hit theaters on Jan. 14, 2022. The film was written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick and directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who helmed 2019’s horror-comedy “Ready or Not.” Watch the trailer.

Jim Carrey was born in Canada on Jan. 17, 1962 – which means he just turned 60 in 2022.

James Earl Jones was born in Mississippi on Jan. 17, 1931, making him 91 in 2022.

Does Jones still voice Star War’s Darth Vader?

The Ukrainian startup Respeecher worked with Jones on the 2022 Obi-Wan Kenobi series, using clips from his past performances. An AI “clone” of his voice was then layered over the sound of another actor reading the lines as Darth Vader.

“How I Met Your Father” features Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall as “the mom” recounting the how-I-met-your-dad story to her unseen son. The younger version of Cattrall, Sophie, is played by Hilary Duff. “How I Met Your Father” premiered on Hulu on Jan. 18, 2022. Cattral famously doesn’t participate in the “Sex and the City” reboot, “…And Just Like That.”

“Weekends With Adele” was supposed to find singer Adele performing two shows every weekend between Jan. 21 and Apr. 16, 2022, at the Colosseum at Las Vegas’s Caesars Palace. In a July 2022 interview, the singer revealed that the “show was not good enough.” Adele eventually postponed her Las Vegas residency on Jan. 20, a day before it was due to begin. “I’m so sorry, but my show ain’t ready,” Adele said in a video posted to Instagram, blaming “delivery delays and Covid.” Adele later announced that her “Weekends with Adele” concerts start on Nov. 18, 2022, running to Mar. 25, 2023, taking in 32 shows.

Jim Henson created Fraggle Rock, which aired for 96 episodes on HBO from 1983 to 1987.

Is Fraggle Rock rebooted in 2022?

“Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock” is available from Jan. 21, 2022, on Apple TV+. Watch the trailer!

Xiomara Castro is the president-elect of Honduras. She takes office on 27 January 2022. Castro will be Honduras’s first female president and the first president not to be a member of either the Liberal Party or the National Party since Honduran democracy was restored in 1982.

Who’s Honduras’s first First-Husband?

Manuel Zelaya, Xiomara Castro’s husband, was President of Honduras from 2006 to 2009 until exiled in the 2009 Honduran coup d’état. Castro was a leader of the movement resisting the coup.

Jon Batiste scored the most nominations for the 2022 Grammy Awards, with 11. He won five Grammys at the Apr. 3 ceremony, including the prestigious album of the year — to beat pop stars like Lil Nas X, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, and Doja Cat. Bieber, Doja Cat, and H.E.R. came into the ceremony with the second-most nominations with eight, while Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo had seven nods each.