RSSeNEWS to be determined...

The Significance Crystal Ball competition, which closed at the end of May, asked competitors to predict (with standard deviations for their predictions) the results of ten sporting, business and cultural events of the summer. All of those events have now taken place. If you entered, and if you did not, you may want to know what happened. A full report, with analysis and the names of the winners, will appear in the December edition of Significance, but you need not wait quite so long. Here, to put you out of your misery, are the results.

Question 1: How many goals (excluding penalty shoot-outs) would be scored in all 64 matches of the 2010 World Cup?

145 goals were scored in total (not including the goal which England scored but was disallowed).

Question 2: The duration of the men’s singles final match at Wimbledon on 4 July 2010?

If we had asked about the longest singles match this year no-one would have got even close – this was, of course, the astonishing marathon between Nicolas Mahut and John Isner which lasted 11 hours 5 minutes and in the words of the official Wimbledon website ‘smashed every record in the book.’ In contrast, the final, between Berdytch and Nadal, was a straight sets victory for Nadal in a mere 2 hours 13 minutes.

Question 3: The winning score in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010?

It was a contest which was doubtless unforgettable for those who cannot forget such things – and many are probably trying to forget the UK’s entry, which was called ‘That sounds good to me’ and gained a mere 10 points. Germany won; their singer Lena scored 246 points.

Question 4: The number of Twitter followers that Arnold Schwarzenegger had at midday (UK time) on 30 June?

An amazing result here. The correct answer, from the website, on 30 June at mid-day, was 1,719,905. One entrant, predicted, a month ahead, a figure of 1,720,000 – just 95, or 0.005 per cent, out. Congratulations to her. More in our final report.

Question 5: The return, in dollars, at the US box office of the most successful film of the weekend of 2 July?

The return, for the film The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, was $83,637,242.

Question 6: The number of hours of sunshine in Scotland in May?

According to the Met Office, the answer is 187.1 hours – which is 107 per cent up on the 1971-2000 regional average.

Question 7: The Dow Jones index at the close of business on 11 July?

In fact, 11 July was a Sunday so the relevant figure was for Friday 9 July: 10,079.05.

Question 8: The number of passengers passing through Heathrow in June?

The figure was 5,783,051; down on last year.

Question 9: The number of viewers of the Friday 4 June episode of Eastenders?

BARB, the Broadcasters Audience Research Board, gives the figure as 4.99 million – way down on last winter’s figures, which hovered around the 8 million mark.

Question 10: The number of entries in the Crystal Ball competition?

The answer is 51. If you didn’t enter, you should have done, to have made it 52.