A Very Christmas Quiz
Thank you for your excellent
responses: some very good scores,
particularly as several of you, I know, were relying on memory rather than
Google. The overall winner was Curls,
ably assisted by Babs, and they win the trophy. Other good scores came from Bill, Furby, Mick and Pat, and
Eccles. I must also give a mention to
Teresa, who did the quiz without any inside knowledge, and achieved a highly
competitive score, only to be disqualified under the usual rules for family and
friends. So here are the awards for the
winners and the other top five finishers
|
Winners – Curls, with Babs |
|||
|
Bill |
Furby |
Mick and Pat |
Eccles |
And here are the answers.
I. Christmas Celebrations
1. When and where was Christmas celebrated with
an informal game of football, and an English barber cut a German’s hair?
In the First World War, an informal truce saw a football game and other fraternisation in No Man’s Land on Christmas Day 1914
2. Who described whose Christmas celebrations
thus:
‘Let
him in! It is a mercy he didn't shake his arm off. He was at home in five
minutes. Nothing could be heartier. His niece looked just the same. So did
Topper when he came.
So did the plump sister when she
came. So did every one when they
came. Wonderful party, wonderful games, wonderful unanimity, won-der-ful
happiness!’
Charles Dickens describing
Ebenezer Scrooge’s Christmas, at his nephew Fred’s, in A Christmas Carol
3. When and where did the Christmas menu feature Consommé Seal and Buzzard’s Cake?
Cape Evans in
Antarctica during the last Scott Expedition, mid-winter’s day 1911, ie actually
22 June
4. Who described his Christmas thus, and when (to the nearest decade)? ‘We had to dinner, my wife and I, a fine turkey and a mince-pie, and dined in state, poor wretch, she and I; and have thus kept our Christmas together, all alone almost – having not once been out.’
Samuel Pepys, 31 December 1663
5. Whose Christmas Day began with gifts of a coin, a chocolate frog, a sweater and a cloak, and who ended the day in a snowball fight?
Harry Potter, in Harry Potter and
the Philosopher’s Stone; the Weasleys played snowballs
II. Links
6. What links the sky at night with the night
before Christmas?
Clement Clarke Moore
wrote the popular poem ‘Twas the night before Christmas, while Sir
Patrick Moore presents the long-running television programme, The Sky
At Night
7. What, seasonally, links Premium Bonds with the hit parade?
The computer used to select the winning Premium Bond
numbers is known as Ernie, and Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In
The West) was a Christmas number one for Benny Hill in 1971
8. What links the exchange of Christmas greetings with the fictional Potteries town of Bursley?
The Christmas card, used to exchange greetings,
and The Card by Arnold Bennett, whose eponymous hero, Denry
Machin, becomes mayor of Bursley; also a made into a Pinewood film in 1952
starring Alec Guinness
9. What links a
Christmas cracker and a type of cured pork?
Bacon is the cured pork and gunpowder (used for
the ‘crack’) was introduced to the Western world from China by the English monk
and philosopher, Roger Bacon, in the 13th century
10. What links the traditional Christmas dinner with a great conflagration?
The traditional Christmas dinner
includes Christmas pudding; the Great Fire of London, 1666, began in a baker’s
shop in Pudding Lane
III. Trivia
11. Who returned to which square on Christmas Day 1995?
Frank Butcher, to Albert Square in Eastenders
12. Who discovered Christmas Island and when?
Either Captain Cook in 1777 or Captain William Mynors in 1643 (There are two Christmas Islands, one in the Pacific discovered by Captain Cook, and the other in the Indian Ocean; I must admit that I had only heard of the first until your answers came rolling in, and obviously either wins the points)
13. Which notable scientist was born on Christmas Day 1642? Which other notable scientist died in the same year?
Isaac Newton and Galileo
14. Which famous novelist wrote a New Year letter to her niece, beginning ‘Ym raed Yssac, I hsiw uoy a yppah wen raey. Ruoy xis snisuoc emac ereh yadretsey …’ What happened to her the following year?
Jane Austen, writing to her niece,
Cassandra; she died the following year
15. Who, for Christmas in which year, addressed his fans as follows:
‘Hello, this is John, speaking with his voice. We're all very happy to be able to talk to you like this on this little bit of plastic. This record reaches you at the end of a really gear year for us and it's all due to you.’
John Lennon, of the Beatles, on the Beatles Christmas record in 1963: for seven years, starting in 1963, the Beatles released a special Christmas album only to members of their fan club
IV. Anagrams
16. GOD’S GLANCE WOKE SIN GOOD KING WENCESLAS
17.
O SAD LADY, CRY IN EVICTION ONCE IN ROYAL
DAVID’S CITY
18.
ACCLAIMED TOUGH THEME IN PRINT IT CAME UPON THE MIDNIGHT CLEAR
19. DARK NIGHT SHALL SHE ENRAGE HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING
20. MANY WEAR AGAIN AWAY IN A MANGER
V. Picture round
21. 
Morecambe and Wise, famous for television
Christmas shows
22. 
King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, famous for
the service of carols
23. 
Manger Square, Bethlehem, birthplace of
Christ
24. 
St Nicholas, believed to be the original
Santa Claus
25. 
Trafalgar Square, with the Christmas tree
donated by Norway
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