Natalie 'amazed' to be quiz of the year winner

THE winner of our Quiz of the Year, published in the Journal on December 27, is Natalie Brettell.

Natalie, from Barnstaple, correctly answered all 29 questions about stories reported in the Journal in 2012.

Hers was the first correct entry pulled from the hat after the January 3 closing date.

She wins a bottle of bubbly to help beat the new year blues.

The 35-year-old said: "I was amazed to win, I never win anything.

"I do read the Journal every week so I knew most of the answers.

"I did have to guess the Elkie Brooks one though. I don't remember reading that story."

The answers were:

1. Rob Braddick's fibreglass diving bell was from the film Warlords Of Atlantis.

2. A message in a bottle had been thrown into the sea at Newfoundland.

3. Beer was free at the Chichester Arms in Bishops Tawton after a licensing mix-up.

4. A boutique hotel plan was based on a pebble found on a beach.

5. Michel Burton made five hand-painted scale models of The Titanic.

6. Farmer Ted Bath introduced us to pickled Brussels sprouts.

7. The escapees from Combe Martin Wildlife and Dinosaur Park were ring-tailed lemurs.

8. Anthony Larson proposed by carving Will You Marry Me? in the sand at Woolacombe.

9. People in North Devon were described as "a naughty bunch" by the Playboy TV Chat boss.

10. Lyn and Martin Shepherd marked the Queen's Diamond Jubilee by painting the Union Jack on the fleece of some sheep.

11. The lawnmower at Arlington Court was unusual because it was pulled by horse.

12. The Turner's Tours bus to Exeter was squeaking because there was a kitten in the dashboard.

13. An enormous wasp has not (yet) been suggested for the Heywood Roundabout at Bideford.

14. Dr Ben Waterfall gave mouth to mouth resuscitation to his pet tortoise.

15. The Olympic torch went out as it passed through Torrington.

16. Councillors in Bideford were told they could no longer start meetings with prayers.

17. Estate agent Colin Thorne was upset because solicitors threatened legal action over an Olympic rings window display made from hula hoops.

18. Barrie Hayman and his duck Star upset the council by not having a licence to collect for charity in town centres.

19. Ozzy Cooper made the headlines by buying his 34th Skoda car.

20. Damien Hirst's statue Verity stands on a pile of books.

21. Adam Ant is the 80s pop star heading for the Queen's Theatre in Barnstaple.

22. Barnstaple pantomime star Laura Main appears in hit TV drama Call The Midwife.

23. Appledore folk took exception to a planned steel wave sculpture.

24. The first vessel into the re-opened Richmond Dry Dock was the Newlyn fishing boat Anneliese.

25. The pet menaced by an eagle owl in Northam was a poodle called Minnie.

26. The old packet of crisps found on a North Devon beach dated from 1967.

27. Jonathan Tiernan-Locke won the Tour of Britain's Devon leg.

28. Hugh Grant was the celebrity spotted playing golf at Saunton Sands.

29. Elkie Brooks revealed she spread jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton's ashes from a paraglider over Devon.