Christmas Quiz

Here is my Christmas Quiz for this year.

Round 1 Father Christmas

Question 1. What colour coat did the original Father Christmas have?

a] silver
b] red
c] brown
d] green

Question 2 How did Santa Claus get his red coat? Was it:

a] Because he derives from the story of Robin Redbreast – the robin, of course has a red breast?
b] Because he featured in a Coca Cola advert from 1931 drawn by Haddon Sundblom who put him in Coca Cola livery?
c] As St Nicolas and Bishop of Smyrna he wore a Cardinal’s red robe
d] Thomas Nast a civil war artist drew him for Harper’s weekly for 30 years from 1862 and gradually changed the colour from brown to red.

Question3. Which is true?

a] Father Christmas and Santa Claus are the same person.
b] Father Christmas is from a pagan tradition; Santa Claus is from a Christian tradition.
c] Father Christmas is the protestant name and Santa Claus the Catholic name
d] Father Christmas traditionally brings gifts for children.

Question 4. Father Christmas features in books by JR Tolkien and CS Lewis. In the Terry Pratchett Discworld books there is a Father Christmas-like figure.

a] Father Pig
b] Rinceweed
c] Hogfather
d] Father Mincemeat

Round 2. Reindeer.

Question 1 We know the names from
a] The venerable Bede
b] The poem ‘Twas the night before Christmas’
c] The film ‘The nightmare before Christmas’
d] The song ‘Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer’

Question 2 Which of the reindeer were female?
a] None of them.
b] All of them.
c] Vixen and Cupid.
d] Rudolph

Question 3 Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer first appeared in

a] A song by Gene Autry in 1949
b] A give-away advertising feature by the Montgomery Ward Department store in 1939
c] A poem by Robert May in 1941
d] The film “A Miracle on 34th Street in 1947

Question 4 In Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather the sleigh is pulled by

a] 4 reindeer called Thunder, Lightning, Rudoph and Olive
b] 4 elephants called Tusker, Trunker, Thunder and Trumpeter
c] 4 wild boar called Gouger, Tusker, Snouter and Rooter
d] 4 hippopotamuses called Binkey, Broomstick, Snowdrop and Susan

Round 3 Turkeys

Question 1 Turkeys are so called

a] After the country
b] The country is called after the bird (it used to be called Osman.)
c] The turkey was brought to England via the Levant which was then part of the Turkish Empire.
d] From the noise it makes which sounds like turk, turk, turk.
e] Christopher Columbus adapted the Indian word for them which was Firkin pronounced something like turkey.

Question 2. Before we had turkeys at Christmas we used to eat

a] Chicken
b] Pheasants
c] Peacocks
d] Geese
e] Swans
f] All of the above
g] None of the above.

Question 3 In other countries with different languages Turkeys are named after different countries. Which is most common?
a] India
b] Mexico
c] Peru
d] Guatemala
e] Israel.

Question 4 In 1526 Yorkshireman John Strickland imported 6 turkeys from America and sold them in Bristol for the price of
a] a pound each
b] a penny each
c] tuppence each
d] threepence each
e] a florin each.

Round 4 Christmas songs

Question 1 Who has the most Christmas Number 1s
a] Cliff Richard
b] The Beatles
c] Band Aid
d] The Spice Girls

Question 2 Cliff Richard had 3 Christmas No 1s; Mistletoe and wine in 1988 and Saviour’s Day in 1990. The other was
a] Living Doll
b] I love You 1960
c] Devil Woman
d] Millennium Prayer
e] Bachelor Boy

Question 3 Novelty songs as Christmas Number 1s are quite common. Which of the following was not a Christmas Number 1?
a] Two Little Boys (Rolf Harris)
b] Ernie the fastest milkman in the west (Bennie Hill)
d] Mr Blobby (Mr Blobby)
e] Grandad (Clive Dunn)
f] Can we fix it (Bob the builder)
g] Lilly the Pink (The Scaffold)
h] Long haired lover from Liverpool (Jimmie Osmond)

Question 4 Don’t they know it’s Christmas by Band Aid was No1 3 times but each time it had a different line up of musicians. Who was not in the original line up?
a] Spandau Ballet
b] Duran Duran
c] Dire Straits
d] U2
e] Frankie goes to Hollywood
f] Culture Club

Round 5 It happened at Christmas

Question 1 Which of the following is the odd one out
a] Charlie Chaplin died in 1977
b] The USSR finally dissolved in 1991
c] Christmas disease was described in the British Medical Journal in 1947
d] Marie and Pierre Curie announced the discovery of Radium in 1891

Question 2 The last Christmas Fair on a frozen River Thames (known as a Frost Fair) was during which year?
a] 1813
b] 1913
c] 1713
d] 1613

Question 3 Which of the following was not born on Christmas Day?
a] Humphrey Bogart
b] Kennie Everett
c] Isaac Newton
d] Pope Pius XII
e] Anwar Sadat
f] Sissy Spacek
g] Annie Lennox

Question 4 Why did white Christmases become less common in Britain after 1752?

Round 6 Carols

Question 1 Which carol has the line:But with mocking scorn and with crown of thorn

Question 2 He hath oped the heavenly door and man is blest for evermore.

Question 3 And heaven’s all orb with hallelujahs rang

Question 4 Throned in height sublime, sits among the cherubim

Question 5 A stable place sufficed

Question 6 While mortals sleep

Question 7 Ever seek thy mercy seat

Question 8 To bring our vileness near and make us all divine

Question 9 famous composers have written carol tunes. Which did Mendelssohn write?
Q 10 Handel?

Q 11 Holst?

Q 12 Adolph Adam?

Answers on tomorrow's blog. Click here.