While most cancers seem to have an environmental cause that is diminished by rising on the social scale, melanoma becomes commoner the more upper class you are. The role of ultra violet rays is well established and the upper classes take more foreign holidays. The blame is put on hair spray and oven cleaner. It is supposed that their fluorocarbon propellants have punched a hole in the ozone layer at the South Pole, which has allowed the UV to seep through.
Now, I think this is all Baloney. For a start there’s not much melanoma in Antarctica, and for another hair spray has been around much longer than the hole in the ozone. Remember those bouffant hairstyles of the fifties? That was when hair spray was at its zenith.
The social phenomenon that correlates best with the loss of the ozone is bran. I tried it once. Not only do you almost choke trying to swallow the vile little particles, you certainly choke if you stand down wind of anyone on the stuff. Methane is the link. Vegetarians chewing on cabbage, artichokes and endives, but most of all on bran, are producing millions of litres of methane. Until the vegetarians came along the chief methane producers were the termites chewing down the trees in the tropical rain forest, but thank goodness someone has had the wisdom to chop the wretched trees down and deny the termites their feast.
If you remember your chemistry, the formula for methane is CH4. What that carbon and hydrogen cry out for is oxygen. They are trying to become carbon dioxide and water. And where do they get their oxygen from? That’s right, the ozone layer. After all why make do with O2 when you can get hold of O3?
All those open-toed-sandled, hairy, corduroyed, lib-dem-voting, bran-eating vegetarians are sucking the ozone out of the atmosphere and giving the rest of us melanoma.
I have proof of this. Before we even knew that ozone had a layer, the only place you found it was at the seaside. Of course, the pundits told us that it wasn’t ozone we could smell but rotting seaweed. The truth is it was both. The methane produced by the decaying seaweed drew in the ozone for the benefit of the bathers. But this inordinate and unnatural consumption of vegetables has thrown the environment into a fearful imbalance. It’s time to act. Ban bran now.
Showing posts with label Fun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fun. Show all posts
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
The most toxic toad in America
Where do you keep your pet? Keep him by your bed, under the sideboard or in a kennel, but take care if you let him wander at night, and especially don’t keep him in your mouth. That was the whimsical sojourning place that a young lad from Arizona kept his pet amphibian. This bundle of fun would frighten his friends by opening his mouth and going, “Bleh!” It landed him in a lot of trouble.
He was brought into the hospital emergency room with uncontrollable epilepsy. He had been suffering seizures for more than an hour and when these were subjected by drugs he was left paralysed down one side with slurred speech, excessive salivation, a rapid pulse and breathing rate and a blue skin from lack of oxygen.
After a week the child recovered but he was lucky. His pet was the Colarado River toad, Bufo avarlua, the most toxic toad in North America. His symptoms – drooling, seizures, cardiac arrhythmias and cyanosis – are classically those of Bufo toxin, which causes sporadic deaths of children in America and of small dogs and other mammals in Britain. Even a kiss has been known to kill. So be careful the next time you are dining out. You may well know your mushrooms from your toadstools, but can you be sure that your cuisse de grenouille aren’t toad’s legs?
He was brought into the hospital emergency room with uncontrollable epilepsy. He had been suffering seizures for more than an hour and when these were subjected by drugs he was left paralysed down one side with slurred speech, excessive salivation, a rapid pulse and breathing rate and a blue skin from lack of oxygen.
After a week the child recovered but he was lucky. His pet was the Colarado River toad, Bufo avarlua, the most toxic toad in North America. His symptoms – drooling, seizures, cardiac arrhythmias and cyanosis – are classically those of Bufo toxin, which causes sporadic deaths of children in America and of small dogs and other mammals in Britain. Even a kiss has been known to kill. So be careful the next time you are dining out. You may well know your mushrooms from your toadstools, but can you be sure that your cuisse de grenouille aren’t toad’s legs?
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Bluetits
I have had occasion to mention the beautiful nature pictures on the Daily Mail website. Here is another of blue tits in a bird bath.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Health and fitness.
I had a bad day last Tuesday, spending most of the time asleep on the couch and hardly eating, but since then each day has been an improvement on the one before; so much so that I was able to join my wife on a trip to the supermarket and to go to church of Sunday for the first time in two months. We have been able to watch the service on the Internet, but it isn't quite the same as actually being there.
I'm getting closer to my fighting weight. I tipped the scales this morning at 180 pounds. Before I got ill this time I was 200 pounds and when I left hospital I was 177. However, when I compare my thigh muscles with those of my elder son who recently cycled from Brighton to London for charity, I can see where the weight has gone from.
All my children are to some extent athletic. My older daughter was Dorset Champion for gymnastics floor exercises, and my younger daughter Bournemouth champion at long jump. My older son was Dorset triple jump champion and Bournemouth 100 metres champion. His record for the triple jump stood for 17 years before it was beaten. My younger son was Bournemouth 200 metres champion and represented Dorset at both cricket and Rugby. He still plays cricket and soccer to a good standard, is top of the works leader board at golf, and enjoys surfing, snowboarding and cycling as hobbies.
You might say that we are a sporty family. Where does it come from? My father played cricket at county second XI level and my father-in-law boxed a bit. My own sporting prowess was curtailed by a late puberty. At 15 I was the second smallest boy of my year at school. Although, I had been quite a fast runner at 10 and 11, by the time I thought to enter school sports I got my timing wrong. There were always boys who were faster than I was in the sprints, but when a boy who was definitely much slower than I won the under-14s hurdles, I thought I had found my event. The problem that I had not realised was that he was three weeks younger than I. In those days the cut off for athletic events was March 31st, so by being born on March 12th I was one of the oldest in my year, while he, being born on April 7th, was one of the youngest in his.
The following year I entered the hurdles myself. I still had not had my growth spurt. The height of the hurdles astonished me. They were about a foot higher than when he had won. Of course, I fell at the first and suffered the ignominy of the headmaster rushing over and disentangling me from the broken hurdle (they were constructed by the woodworking class and looked like proper sheep hurdles rather than the ones you see nowadays in Track and Field. Thus ended my athletic career.
After puberty I did feature in the school first XI for both cricket and football, but aged 17 I snapped my anterior cruciate and had to give up all thoughts of a career in professional sport!
I have been reading a book called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. He makes a similar point about the month you are born in affecting sporting success. A survey of Canadian Ice Hockey players shows that the most successful players are born in the winter months: January, February and March. The simple explanation for this is that the cut-off date for age-class hockey is January 1st. so that those who are older in their year at the age of 10, say, have an enormous physical advantage over those born in December. At this age boys get selected for representative teams and thus benefit from the extra coaching and practice that they receive, so that the age bias becomes set in stone.
This same effect is seen in soccer in the UK, where it is always the bigger boys that get selected for representative teams. I remember a couple of lads in my class who were selected for the English under-15 squad. they were large boys who had an early puberty and could kick a football a long way (these were the days of heavy leather boots and heavy leather balls that got water-sodden when it rained).
Although this was a grammar school with high academic achievement, neither lad was a star in the classroom. Neither progressed in professional sport and one became a hod-carrier and the other left school after becoming a father at the age of 16.
The book is a fascinating read and I may quote from it again. After last week finding that statistics perform better than experts, you won't be surprised to find that succes is related less to ability than to happenstance.
I'm getting closer to my fighting weight. I tipped the scales this morning at 180 pounds. Before I got ill this time I was 200 pounds and when I left hospital I was 177. However, when I compare my thigh muscles with those of my elder son who recently cycled from Brighton to London for charity, I can see where the weight has gone from.
All my children are to some extent athletic. My older daughter was Dorset Champion for gymnastics floor exercises, and my younger daughter Bournemouth champion at long jump. My older son was Dorset triple jump champion and Bournemouth 100 metres champion. His record for the triple jump stood for 17 years before it was beaten. My younger son was Bournemouth 200 metres champion and represented Dorset at both cricket and Rugby. He still plays cricket and soccer to a good standard, is top of the works leader board at golf, and enjoys surfing, snowboarding and cycling as hobbies.
You might say that we are a sporty family. Where does it come from? My father played cricket at county second XI level and my father-in-law boxed a bit. My own sporting prowess was curtailed by a late puberty. At 15 I was the second smallest boy of my year at school. Although, I had been quite a fast runner at 10 and 11, by the time I thought to enter school sports I got my timing wrong. There were always boys who were faster than I was in the sprints, but when a boy who was definitely much slower than I won the under-14s hurdles, I thought I had found my event. The problem that I had not realised was that he was three weeks younger than I. In those days the cut off for athletic events was March 31st, so by being born on March 12th I was one of the oldest in my year, while he, being born on April 7th, was one of the youngest in his.
The following year I entered the hurdles myself. I still had not had my growth spurt. The height of the hurdles astonished me. They were about a foot higher than when he had won. Of course, I fell at the first and suffered the ignominy of the headmaster rushing over and disentangling me from the broken hurdle (they were constructed by the woodworking class and looked like proper sheep hurdles rather than the ones you see nowadays in Track and Field. Thus ended my athletic career.
After puberty I did feature in the school first XI for both cricket and football, but aged 17 I snapped my anterior cruciate and had to give up all thoughts of a career in professional sport!
I have been reading a book called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. He makes a similar point about the month you are born in affecting sporting success. A survey of Canadian Ice Hockey players shows that the most successful players are born in the winter months: January, February and March. The simple explanation for this is that the cut-off date for age-class hockey is January 1st. so that those who are older in their year at the age of 10, say, have an enormous physical advantage over those born in December. At this age boys get selected for representative teams and thus benefit from the extra coaching and practice that they receive, so that the age bias becomes set in stone.
This same effect is seen in soccer in the UK, where it is always the bigger boys that get selected for representative teams. I remember a couple of lads in my class who were selected for the English under-15 squad. they were large boys who had an early puberty and could kick a football a long way (these were the days of heavy leather boots and heavy leather balls that got water-sodden when it rained).
Although this was a grammar school with high academic achievement, neither lad was a star in the classroom. Neither progressed in professional sport and one became a hod-carrier and the other left school after becoming a father at the age of 16.
The book is a fascinating read and I may quote from it again. After last week finding that statistics perform better than experts, you won't be surprised to find that succes is related less to ability than to happenstance.
Monday, July 26, 2010
What women want.
A friend of ours has told us of a wonderful trip she has recently taken. She and some friends took the car of a ferry to France to have a day's shopping.
Excuse me?
Was there an alternative?
Scourging? Waterboarding, perhaps? Anything but shopping!
Excuse me?
Was there an alternative?
Scourging? Waterboarding, perhaps? Anything but shopping!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
New tombs swept clean
So! People are beginning to notice that I have been silent for a week. Several reasons. I was away for a couple of days babysitting my grandchildren. My co-editor of Leukemia Research was unavailable for a while and I had more editing to do. I have been doing some reading. I felt a little unwell. I watched the Chilcot enquiry on the computer all day yesterday. I have been thinking. I have been answering e-mail questions. I have ... well there are lots of reasons. But first a story I heard:
Joe was expecting to get it in the neck from his wife. He's done something without telling her. Sure enough as soon as he stepped over the threshold his wife went for him.
"What's this I've been hearing down at the market place? Don't I get consulted on anything? I thought we'd been saving it for our old age. Money doesn't grow on trees. We spent goodness knows how much getting that new tomb cut. And now, I hear you've given it to a stranger to be buried in!"
"Don't worry. Don't worry," he replied, "he's only borrowing it for the weekend."
Joe was expecting to get it in the neck from his wife. He's done something without telling her. Sure enough as soon as he stepped over the threshold his wife went for him.
"What's this I've been hearing down at the market place? Don't I get consulted on anything? I thought we'd been saving it for our old age. Money doesn't grow on trees. We spent goodness knows how much getting that new tomb cut. And now, I hear you've given it to a stranger to be buried in!"
"Don't worry. Don't worry," he replied, "he's only borrowing it for the weekend."
Monday, January 25, 2010
Aphorisms 9
By the time you are fifty... most people deserve each other and all the good ones, no matter what it is, are taken anyway.
The one who snores will always fall asleep first.
The length of a marriage is inversely proportional to the amount of money spent on the wedding.
The probability of meeting someone you know increases greatly when you are out with someone you do not want to be seen with.
It is important to keep an open mind – but not so open that your brains fall out
Only a foolish conservative would judge the present by the standards of the past, only a foolish liberal would judge the past by the standards of the present.
To make a long story short, Rhett and Scarlett split up in the end.
Nuggets spoken by small children: "Mum, I was born on my birthday." and in a thunder storm, "God just took a picture of me."
When you are feeling down, Look to the skies! … and step in something nasty.
The one who snores will always fall asleep first.
The length of a marriage is inversely proportional to the amount of money spent on the wedding.
The probability of meeting someone you know increases greatly when you are out with someone you do not want to be seen with.
It is important to keep an open mind – but not so open that your brains fall out
Only a foolish conservative would judge the present by the standards of the past, only a foolish liberal would judge the past by the standards of the present.
To make a long story short, Rhett and Scarlett split up in the end.
Nuggets spoken by small children: "Mum, I was born on my birthday." and in a thunder storm, "God just took a picture of me."
When you are feeling down, Look to the skies! … and step in something nasty.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Christmas game.
Here is a game to play at Christmas. Take the first line of any Christmas song and write a new second line. The funnier the better.
For example: 'Deck the halls with boughs of holly' might be followed with 'another year of Christmas folly' or 'Santa's fallen off his trolley'.
For example: 'Deck the halls with boughs of holly' might be followed with 'another year of Christmas folly' or 'Santa's fallen off his trolley'.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
More fun
I had my swine 'flu jab on Thursday. My arm was a lot sorer than with the seasonal 'flu jab and I had a headache and painful joints yesterday. Today I am fine again. Because I am supposedly immunodeficient I have to have a booster jab at the beginning of January.
This evening we are going to the carol concert at Winchester Cathedral (where Jane Austen is buried.)
I have finished writing all my Christmas cards this morning. Here is a tip for all those who think that cards have got ridiculously expensive. A birthday card nowadays seems to cost at least £1.50 and often as much as £2.50. It seems an awful waste, especially for something so ephemeral. You could, instead, send electronic cards which are remarkably cheap and the same card can be sent to as many as you like. Alternatively, go to a bookshop or any store that sells gift tokens. Buy a token for £1 and you get a free card with it. I don't suggest that you pocket the token and just send the card, but just imagine that 10 people had the same idea. The lucky birthday girl would have £10 to spend when the cards came down, instead of some cardboard to send to the recycling. Put a little note in saying you don't expect a thank-you note or all the profit will be consumed by the postage. I am told that this is how George Soros got so rich, but, of course, I don't believe it.
Talking about thank you notes, perhaps you will like this little poem by Mick Gower:
Dear Auntie
Oh, what a nice jumper
I've always adored powder blue
And fancy you thinking of
Orange and pink
for the stripes
How clever of you!
Dear Uncle
The soap is
Terrific
So
Useful
And such a kind thought and
How did you guess that
I'd just used the last of
The soap that last Christmas brought.
Dear Gran
Many thanks for the hankies
Now I really can't wait for the flu
And the daisies embroidered
in red round the 'M'
For Michael
How
Thoughtful of you!
Dear Cousin
What socks!
The same sort you wear
So you must be
The last word in style
And I'm certain you're right that the
Luminous green
Will make me stand out a mile.
Dear Sister
I quite understand
It's a risk sending jam in the post
But I think I've pulled out
All the big bits
Of glass
So it won't taste too sharp
Spread on toast.
Dear Grandad
Don't fret
I'm delighted
So don't think your gift will offend
I'm not at all hurt
That you gave up this year
And just sent me
A fiver
To spend.
This evening we are going to the carol concert at Winchester Cathedral (where Jane Austen is buried.)
I have finished writing all my Christmas cards this morning. Here is a tip for all those who think that cards have got ridiculously expensive. A birthday card nowadays seems to cost at least £1.50 and often as much as £2.50. It seems an awful waste, especially for something so ephemeral. You could, instead, send electronic cards which are remarkably cheap and the same card can be sent to as many as you like. Alternatively, go to a bookshop or any store that sells gift tokens. Buy a token for £1 and you get a free card with it. I don't suggest that you pocket the token and just send the card, but just imagine that 10 people had the same idea. The lucky birthday girl would have £10 to spend when the cards came down, instead of some cardboard to send to the recycling. Put a little note in saying you don't expect a thank-you note or all the profit will be consumed by the postage. I am told that this is how George Soros got so rich, but, of course, I don't believe it.
Talking about thank you notes, perhaps you will like this little poem by Mick Gower:
Dear Auntie
Oh, what a nice jumper
I've always adored powder blue
And fancy you thinking of
Orange and pink
for the stripes
How clever of you!
Dear Uncle
The soap is
Terrific
So
Useful
And such a kind thought and
How did you guess that
I'd just used the last of
The soap that last Christmas brought.
Dear Gran
Many thanks for the hankies
Now I really can't wait for the flu
And the daisies embroidered
in red round the 'M'
For Michael
How
Thoughtful of you!
Dear Cousin
What socks!
The same sort you wear
So you must be
The last word in style
And I'm certain you're right that the
Luminous green
Will make me stand out a mile.
Dear Sister
I quite understand
It's a risk sending jam in the post
But I think I've pulled out
All the big bits
Of glass
So it won't taste too sharp
Spread on toast.
Dear Grandad
Don't fret
I'm delighted
So don't think your gift will offend
I'm not at all hurt
That you gave up this year
And just sent me
A fiver
To spend.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Answers
Round 1
Question 1 d] green
Question 2 d] Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly
Question 3 b] Father Christmas is pagan; Santa Claus Christian.
Today there has been a conflating of Father Christmas and Santa Claus - largely deriving from the US where there has been a mixing of various European history and folklore. It's not just England that Father Christmas is predominant; in France (a Catholic country) he is Pere Noel. Other countries have different traditions: Kriss Kringle in Germany, La Befana in Italy, Julinesse in Denmark and Dedushka Moroz (meaning Grandfather Frost) in Russia. The British Father Christmas appears as a pagan figure in the middle ages. Portrayed as a merry old man he was associated with feasting and drinking and the pagan festival of Yule. He had an entirely separate origin from Sinterklaas, a version of St Nicholas, and he was definitely not a gift-giver.
The earliest reference to him as Sir Christëmas comes in a mid-fifteenth century carol. He appears again as Old or Captaine Christmas in Ben Johnson's play Christmas, his Masque, which was first presented at the Court of King James I in 1616. Christmas was described as being attired "... in round Hose, long Stockings, a close Doublet, a high crownd Hat with a Brooch, a long thin beard, a Truncheon, little Ruffes, white Shoes, his Scarffes, and Garters tyed crosse, and his Drum beaten before him."
The Romans brought Saturnalia to Britain in AD 43, and Father Christmas and December 25th probably originate here. When the Saxons invaded at the start of the Seventh Century their custom of personifying the weather elements: King Frost, Father Time, King Winter or Lord Snow was merged with the Roman god of winter. An actor in a pointed cap and cloak or cape, and draped with Ivy would represent the Season, and would be invited to a midwinter feast, made the center of attraction while toasted with mead. Two hundred years later the Vikings brought with them their main god Odin, who had twelve characters. The character for December was sometimes known as Yalka or Jul and his month was known as Jultid. From this, we get Yuletide. During December the Vikings believed that Odin would come to earth on his eight legged horse, Sleipnir. He was disguised in a long blue hooded cloak, and he carried a satchel of bread and a staff. He was believed to sit and listen to his people and see if they were contented or not. He was portrayed as a Sage with long white beard and hair.
With the Normans came St. Nicholas a Christian saint popular in Europe from the ninth century. Born at the end of the Third Century AD Nicholas was Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, the city now known as Demre, Turkey, and attended the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. He died on 6th December 343 AD. He was a devout orthodox Christian. After his death many legends accrued concerning him. He became Patron Saint of Russia and Greece, of Moscow, Paris, and Fribourg (Switzerland); of pilgrims and preachers, infants and children, orphans, scholars and students, spinsters and many others.
The cult of St Nicholas eventually rivalled that of the Virgin Mary in many regions. One popular tale was of his rescue from death of three children, who had been pickled for eating by an innkeeper. When combined with his reputation as a gift-giver, all the key elements were in place for the transformation of St Nicholas into the modern giver-of-gifts to children. The most significant manifestation of this, from the perspective of Santa Claus, is the Dutch Sinterklaas. Whilst Sinterklaas clearly derives from St Nicholas and his feast-day of the 6 December, he differs from the earlier portraits of St Nicholas in a number of ways, not least in his flying white horse, evidence that even he has been contaminated by pagan legends.
Despite strenuous efforts were made by the puritans in both England and America in the seventeenth century to do away with this character, they did not succeed. From the 17th - 19th century country mummers plays kept Father Christmas alive in Britain. With the removal of religious popery, the saintly bishop was replaced by the half pagan impersonation of the Element or Season of Christmas.
In the nineteenth century Father Christmas benefited from the general Victorian revival of Christmas and can be found in, for example, Dickens' Christmas Carol.
In the Christmas Carol, Scrooge is confronted by the a strange spirit: "I am the Ghost of Christmas Present," said the Spirit. "Look upon me."
Scrooge reverently did so. It was clothed in one simple green robe, or mantle, bordered with white fur. This garment hung so loosely on the figure, that its capacious breast was bare, as if disdaining to be warded or concealed by any artifice. Its feet, observable beneath the ample folds of the garment, were also bare; and on its head it wore no other covering than a holly wreath, set here and there with shining icicles. Its dark brown curls were long and free; free as its genial face, its sparkling eye, its open hand, its cheery voice, its unconstrained demeanor, and its joyful air. Girded round its middle was an antique scabbard; but no sword was in it, and the ancient sheath was eaten up with rust.
However, from the 1870s onwards Father Christmas became increasingly like the American Santa Claus, both in terms of his actions - he started giving gifts - and his appearance, with the result that for most people the two are nowadays virtually inter-changeable. The transformation of Saint Nicholas into Father Christmas occurred first in England, then in countries where the Reformed Churches were in the majority, and finally in France, the feast day being celebrated on Christmas or New Year's Day.
Santa first became airborne in the early 1820s and he was joined by the full crew of reindeer in 1822, in the poem A Visit from St Nicholas, by Clement Clarke Moore. Red-nosed Rudolph did not join the reindeer team until 1939.
Moore's poem which begins with the line "'Twas the night before Xmas," introduces many of the familiar characteristics that make up the modern Santa. Mentioned for the first time are not only the sleigh and the sack of toys but also the chimney, the red nose and the big belly.
The modern image of Santa comes from the work of Thomas Nast, an artist who drew for the magazine Harpers Weekly. He painted Santa from 1863 to 1886 and in 1869 illustrated a book called Santa Claus and His Works. The book showed how Santa manufactured toys for boys and girls at his home at the North Pole. Although originally portrayed in a brown furry coat (and wearing the Stars and Stripes - this being the time of the Civil War and Santa was definitely on the Unionist side) by the time of the 1869 book he had donned his familiar red coat.
In the 20th century, an all-red outfit with white trimmings became the norm, especially after a Coca-Cola advertising campaign exploited his figure in 1931. The artist, the Swede Haddon Sundblom, also gave him a drooping tassled red cap like those associated with elves and gnomes.
Robin Redbreast stems from the same pagan tradition as Father Christmas. The Oak King rules from midwinter until midsummer, and the Holly King rules from midsummer until midwinter. Every year at Yule, the Oak King cuts off the Holly King's head and rules for six months until midsummer, when the Holly King kills the Oak King and the cycle begins again. In Celtic tradition, Yule is the time when the Oak King triumphs over the Holly King. The Holly King represents the death and darkness that has ruled since the onset of Samhain. At Winter Solstice, the Oak King brings the opportunity to be reborn and begin new life. The Yule Season raises one's spirit and brings tidings of comfort and joy. The ritual hunting and killing of a Wren, little King of the Waning Year, symbolises the killing by Robin Redbreast, King of the Waxing Year. The Robin finds the Wren hiding in an Ivy or sometimes Holly bush.
Question 4 c] Hogfather presided over Hogwatch.
Round 2 Reindeer.
Question 1 b] The poem "Twas the night before Christmas" The names were Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen.
Question 2 b] All of them. Reindeer are the only species of deer where both male and female have antlers, but males shed theirs in October or November, so by Christmas only females have them. Santas reindeer always have antlers according to the illustrations.
Question 3 b] A give-away advertising feature by the Montgomery-Ward department store.
The popular poem was alternatively known as 'A Visit from St Nicholas?' and 'Twas The Night before Christmas' (it's first line). The poem was first published anonymously in 1823 and is commonly attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, although some believe Henry Livingston was the true author.
The song 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' was written by Johnny Marks, the brother-in-law of its creator. Rudolph was created in 1939 by copywriter Robert May for the Montgomery Ward department store chain in a free Christmas promotional story. He later cast it as a poem to extend the Clement Clarke Moore 1823 poem. It was first sung commercially by crooner Harry Brannon on New York City radio in the latter part of 1948 before Gene Autry recorded it formally in 1949. The lyric "All of the other reindeer" can be misheard as the mondegreen "Olive, the other reindeer", and has given rise to another character, Olive. Johnny Marks also wrote Rockin' around the Christmas tree, a hit for Brenda Lee.
Question 4 c] 4 wild boar called Gouger, Tusker, Snouter and Rooter.
The elephants carry Discworld on their backs while balancing on a giant turtle. The hippopotamus is too ridiculous not to appear in Terry Pratchett. We have The Hippo: A lozenge-shaped road in Morpork between Five Ways and Losing Street, heading for Onion Gate. Even nearby residents, without the benefit of an aerial view, tend to assume that it is named after the city's famous hippopotami. Its shape suggests it was probably a racetrack in the days of the Empire, probably called the Hippodrome, in the Ephebian fashion. Binkey is, of course, DEATH's horse, Broomstick what the witches fly on, Snowdrop is the pen name of someone on Terry Pratchett fan sites and Susan Sto Helit is the daughter of Mort and Ysabell. Ysabell was the adopted daughter of DEATH and Mort was, briefly, DEATH's apprentice.
Round 3 Turkeys.
Question 1 c] The turkey was brought to England via teh Levant which was then part of the Turkish Empire.
Question 2 f] All of the above
Question 3 a] India
Question 4 c] tuppence each.
There are a number of possibilities on why turkeys are called turkeys. Some say Columbus thought the land he discovered was connected to India which had a large population of peacocks. Columbus thought turkeys were part of the peacock family. He decided to call them tuka, which is the word for peacock in the language of India.
Others say that the name turkey came from Native Americans who called the birds firkee, which sounds like turkey. Some say that turkey name came from the sound turkeys make when they are afraid - "turk, turk, turk."
These are all fairy stories. The English were the only people to believe they came from Turkey; nearly everyone else, including the Turks, thought they originated in India, or at least in the place they then thought was India. Turkeys actually came from Mexico and Guatamala, and were first brought back from there about 1520, at a time when that area was called The Spanish Indies or the New Indies. As a result, a lot of European languages, as well as others like Arabic and Hebrew, called it something like the “bird of India” (for example, indianischer Hahn in old German). In a few languages, including Danish, Dutch, Finnish and Norwegian, the bird was named instead as coming from Calicut (Dutch kalkoense hahn, Danish kalkun), which is a seaport on the Malabar coast of India, the same place after which calico is named. As the turkey didn’t reach India for about a hundred years after its European introduction and naming, this looks mysteriously specific. At about the same time, the 1530s, Portuguese merchants reintroduced the guinea-fowl from West Africa, which had last been seen in England at the time of the Romans. As it was the same Levant merchants who brought this into the country, the guinea fowl was also known for a time as the Turkey bird, though this confusion didn’t last long. The heraldic arms granted to William Strickland in 1550 featured “a turkey-bird in his pride proper” and the bird shown is quite definitely a proper turkey. To confuse thing further, in Portugese the bird is called 'peru' even though there are no turkeys in Peru except for those taken there to be eaten. Israel is the country that eats more turkeys per head than any other nation; perhaps because they call pork, turkey?
The Aztecs, who kept domesticated turkeys for hundreds of years before the Europeans arrived, had a perfectly good word for the bird in their Nahuatl language: xuehxolotl, but I've already fractured my tongue twice in trying to pronounce it. The country was already called "Turki" or "Turkeye" in English by 1275, hundreds of years before the bird was known in the Old World. So why was it called "turkey" in English? Probably because it was introduced to England by so-called "Turkey merchants" who traded with the Mediterranean region, including the Ottoman Empire (which then controlled the eastern third of that sea). A similar confusion caused another New World species, maize or corn, to be called "Turkey wheat" or "Turkey corn" in England.
Wild American turkeys (silvestris, or cousins of the huexoloti) were sleek and ravenous scavenging birds that raced from one meal to another eating nuts, seeds, berries, grapes, snails, crickets, beetles, and delicate shoots arising from many cultivated crops. Resistant to control or reproduction in captivity, they were notorious enemies of proud farmers. Fleet afoot, able to fly short distances, and properly cooked a tasty dish, they lack the proper manners to live in an agricultural society. They were, in fact, killed everywhere by European colonists as nuisance birds.
English settlers in both Virginia and Massachusetts, spoiled with the familiar, though less tasty big birds that came from the mediterranean region, immediately demanded to bring their own turkeys to America. English turkeys deriving from Europe arrived in Jamestown in 1614 and in Massachusetts prior to 1629. As European settlements spread, so did their flocks (the proper collective noun is 'rafters') of domestic turkeys. They had the great advantage of scavaging for beetles that threatened to destroy the tobacco crop. The wild cousins of the huexoloti that once inhabited most of North America retreated to more congenial frontiers--as did their native names. Thanksgiving turkeys eaten every November in America are descended not from native wild turkeys, but from the European imports, which have been selectively bred, so that the males, being so fat and barrel chested can no longer mate with the females. All turkeys are now produced by artificial insemination.
Round 4 Christmas songs
Question 1 b] The Beatles in 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1967.
Question 2 b] I love You in 1960
Question 3 e] Grandad by Clive Dunn (You were probably thinking of "There's no-one quite like Grandma" a hit for St Winifred's School choir in 1980.)
Question 4 c] Dire Straits
Round 5 It happened at Christmas
Question 1 a] Charlie Chaplin died on Christmas Day 1977. The USSR ended on December 26th 1991, The Curies announced the discovery of Radium on December 26th 1891 and Christmas disease (a type of hemophilia occuring in a family called Christmas was published in the Christmas BMJ the week before Christmas 1947.
Question 2 a] 1813. In 1564, archery and dancing took place on the Thames, but the first real 'frost fair' came in 1683. The river froze over in December, and stayed frozen for two months. Because only prolonged and severe winters could make the Thames freeze over, frost fairs were quite rare. However, fairs took place in 1715-16, 1739-40 and 1813-14. The frost fair of 1813-14 was the last. In 1831 the old London Bridge was replaced by John Rennie's new bridge. This had far wider arches, which improved the tidal ebb and flow of the river and made it impossible for the Upper Pool to freeze over, even during the most severe winters. Nothing to do with Global Warming.
Question 3 d] Pope Pius XII (It was Pope Pius VI)
Question 4 Britain changed from the Julian to the Gregorian Calender in 1752, so that Christmas came 11 days earlier. January is colder than December in England.
Round 6 Carols
Q1 Thou didst leave thy throne.
Q2 Good Christian men rejoice
Q3 Christians awake
Q4 See amidst the winter's snow
Q5 In the bleak midwinter
Q6 O little town of Bethlehem
Q7 As with gladness
Q8 Let heaven and earth combine
Q9 Hark the herald angels
Q10 Joy to the world
Q11 In the bleak midwinter
Q12 O holy night.
Anybody get it all right?
Question 1 d] green
Question 2 d] Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly
Question 3 b] Father Christmas is pagan; Santa Claus Christian.
Today there has been a conflating of Father Christmas and Santa Claus - largely deriving from the US where there has been a mixing of various European history and folklore. It's not just England that Father Christmas is predominant; in France (a Catholic country) he is Pere Noel. Other countries have different traditions: Kriss Kringle in Germany, La Befana in Italy, Julinesse in Denmark and Dedushka Moroz (meaning Grandfather Frost) in Russia. The British Father Christmas appears as a pagan figure in the middle ages. Portrayed as a merry old man he was associated with feasting and drinking and the pagan festival of Yule. He had an entirely separate origin from Sinterklaas, a version of St Nicholas, and he was definitely not a gift-giver.
The earliest reference to him as Sir Christëmas comes in a mid-fifteenth century carol. He appears again as Old or Captaine Christmas in Ben Johnson's play Christmas, his Masque, which was first presented at the Court of King James I in 1616. Christmas was described as being attired "... in round Hose, long Stockings, a close Doublet, a high crownd Hat with a Brooch, a long thin beard, a Truncheon, little Ruffes, white Shoes, his Scarffes, and Garters tyed crosse, and his Drum beaten before him."
The Romans brought Saturnalia to Britain in AD 43, and Father Christmas and December 25th probably originate here. When the Saxons invaded at the start of the Seventh Century their custom of personifying the weather elements: King Frost, Father Time, King Winter or Lord Snow was merged with the Roman god of winter. An actor in a pointed cap and cloak or cape, and draped with Ivy would represent the Season, and would be invited to a midwinter feast, made the center of attraction while toasted with mead. Two hundred years later the Vikings brought with them their main god Odin, who had twelve characters. The character for December was sometimes known as Yalka or Jul and his month was known as Jultid. From this, we get Yuletide. During December the Vikings believed that Odin would come to earth on his eight legged horse, Sleipnir. He was disguised in a long blue hooded cloak, and he carried a satchel of bread and a staff. He was believed to sit and listen to his people and see if they were contented or not. He was portrayed as a Sage with long white beard and hair.
With the Normans came St. Nicholas a Christian saint popular in Europe from the ninth century. Born at the end of the Third Century AD Nicholas was Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, the city now known as Demre, Turkey, and attended the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. He died on 6th December 343 AD. He was a devout orthodox Christian. After his death many legends accrued concerning him. He became Patron Saint of Russia and Greece, of Moscow, Paris, and Fribourg (Switzerland); of pilgrims and preachers, infants and children, orphans, scholars and students, spinsters and many others.
The cult of St Nicholas eventually rivalled that of the Virgin Mary in many regions. One popular tale was of his rescue from death of three children, who had been pickled for eating by an innkeeper. When combined with his reputation as a gift-giver, all the key elements were in place for the transformation of St Nicholas into the modern giver-of-gifts to children. The most significant manifestation of this, from the perspective of Santa Claus, is the Dutch Sinterklaas. Whilst Sinterklaas clearly derives from St Nicholas and his feast-day of the 6 December, he differs from the earlier portraits of St Nicholas in a number of ways, not least in his flying white horse, evidence that even he has been contaminated by pagan legends.
Despite strenuous efforts were made by the puritans in both England and America in the seventeenth century to do away with this character, they did not succeed. From the 17th - 19th century country mummers plays kept Father Christmas alive in Britain. With the removal of religious popery, the saintly bishop was replaced by the half pagan impersonation of the Element or Season of Christmas.
In the nineteenth century Father Christmas benefited from the general Victorian revival of Christmas and can be found in, for example, Dickens' Christmas Carol.
In the Christmas Carol, Scrooge is confronted by the a strange spirit: "I am the Ghost of Christmas Present," said the Spirit. "Look upon me."
Scrooge reverently did so. It was clothed in one simple green robe, or mantle, bordered with white fur. This garment hung so loosely on the figure, that its capacious breast was bare, as if disdaining to be warded or concealed by any artifice. Its feet, observable beneath the ample folds of the garment, were also bare; and on its head it wore no other covering than a holly wreath, set here and there with shining icicles. Its dark brown curls were long and free; free as its genial face, its sparkling eye, its open hand, its cheery voice, its unconstrained demeanor, and its joyful air. Girded round its middle was an antique scabbard; but no sword was in it, and the ancient sheath was eaten up with rust.
However, from the 1870s onwards Father Christmas became increasingly like the American Santa Claus, both in terms of his actions - he started giving gifts - and his appearance, with the result that for most people the two are nowadays virtually inter-changeable. The transformation of Saint Nicholas into Father Christmas occurred first in England, then in countries where the Reformed Churches were in the majority, and finally in France, the feast day being celebrated on Christmas or New Year's Day.
Santa first became airborne in the early 1820s and he was joined by the full crew of reindeer in 1822, in the poem A Visit from St Nicholas, by Clement Clarke Moore. Red-nosed Rudolph did not join the reindeer team until 1939.
Moore's poem which begins with the line "'Twas the night before Xmas," introduces many of the familiar characteristics that make up the modern Santa. Mentioned for the first time are not only the sleigh and the sack of toys but also the chimney, the red nose and the big belly.
The modern image of Santa comes from the work of Thomas Nast, an artist who drew for the magazine Harpers Weekly. He painted Santa from 1863 to 1886 and in 1869 illustrated a book called Santa Claus and His Works. The book showed how Santa manufactured toys for boys and girls at his home at the North Pole. Although originally portrayed in a brown furry coat (and wearing the Stars and Stripes - this being the time of the Civil War and Santa was definitely on the Unionist side) by the time of the 1869 book he had donned his familiar red coat.
In the 20th century, an all-red outfit with white trimmings became the norm, especially after a Coca-Cola advertising campaign exploited his figure in 1931. The artist, the Swede Haddon Sundblom, also gave him a drooping tassled red cap like those associated with elves and gnomes.
Robin Redbreast stems from the same pagan tradition as Father Christmas. The Oak King rules from midwinter until midsummer, and the Holly King rules from midsummer until midwinter. Every year at Yule, the Oak King cuts off the Holly King's head and rules for six months until midsummer, when the Holly King kills the Oak King and the cycle begins again. In Celtic tradition, Yule is the time when the Oak King triumphs over the Holly King. The Holly King represents the death and darkness that has ruled since the onset of Samhain. At Winter Solstice, the Oak King brings the opportunity to be reborn and begin new life. The Yule Season raises one's spirit and brings tidings of comfort and joy. The ritual hunting and killing of a Wren, little King of the Waning Year, symbolises the killing by Robin Redbreast, King of the Waxing Year. The Robin finds the Wren hiding in an Ivy or sometimes Holly bush.
Question 4 c] Hogfather presided over Hogwatch.
Round 2 Reindeer.
Question 1 b] The poem "Twas the night before Christmas" The names were Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen.
Question 2 b] All of them. Reindeer are the only species of deer where both male and female have antlers, but males shed theirs in October or November, so by Christmas only females have them. Santas reindeer always have antlers according to the illustrations.
Question 3 b] A give-away advertising feature by the Montgomery-Ward department store.
The popular poem was alternatively known as 'A Visit from St Nicholas?' and 'Twas The Night before Christmas' (it's first line). The poem was first published anonymously in 1823 and is commonly attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, although some believe Henry Livingston was the true author.
The song 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' was written by Johnny Marks, the brother-in-law of its creator. Rudolph was created in 1939 by copywriter Robert May for the Montgomery Ward department store chain in a free Christmas promotional story. He later cast it as a poem to extend the Clement Clarke Moore 1823 poem. It was first sung commercially by crooner Harry Brannon on New York City radio in the latter part of 1948 before Gene Autry recorded it formally in 1949. The lyric "All of the other reindeer" can be misheard as the mondegreen "Olive, the other reindeer", and has given rise to another character, Olive. Johnny Marks also wrote Rockin' around the Christmas tree, a hit for Brenda Lee.
Question 4 c] 4 wild boar called Gouger, Tusker, Snouter and Rooter.
The elephants carry Discworld on their backs while balancing on a giant turtle. The hippopotamus is too ridiculous not to appear in Terry Pratchett. We have The Hippo: A lozenge-shaped road in Morpork between Five Ways and Losing Street, heading for Onion Gate. Even nearby residents, without the benefit of an aerial view, tend to assume that it is named after the city's famous hippopotami. Its shape suggests it was probably a racetrack in the days of the Empire, probably called the Hippodrome, in the Ephebian fashion. Binkey is, of course, DEATH's horse, Broomstick what the witches fly on, Snowdrop is the pen name of someone on Terry Pratchett fan sites and Susan Sto Helit is the daughter of Mort and Ysabell. Ysabell was the adopted daughter of DEATH and Mort was, briefly, DEATH's apprentice.
Round 3 Turkeys.
Question 1 c] The turkey was brought to England via teh Levant which was then part of the Turkish Empire.
Question 2 f] All of the above
Question 3 a] India
Question 4 c] tuppence each.
There are a number of possibilities on why turkeys are called turkeys. Some say Columbus thought the land he discovered was connected to India which had a large population of peacocks. Columbus thought turkeys were part of the peacock family. He decided to call them tuka, which is the word for peacock in the language of India.
Others say that the name turkey came from Native Americans who called the birds firkee, which sounds like turkey. Some say that turkey name came from the sound turkeys make when they are afraid - "turk, turk, turk."
These are all fairy stories. The English were the only people to believe they came from Turkey; nearly everyone else, including the Turks, thought they originated in India, or at least in the place they then thought was India. Turkeys actually came from Mexico and Guatamala, and were first brought back from there about 1520, at a time when that area was called The Spanish Indies or the New Indies. As a result, a lot of European languages, as well as others like Arabic and Hebrew, called it something like the “bird of India” (for example, indianischer Hahn in old German). In a few languages, including Danish, Dutch, Finnish and Norwegian, the bird was named instead as coming from Calicut (Dutch kalkoense hahn, Danish kalkun), which is a seaport on the Malabar coast of India, the same place after which calico is named. As the turkey didn’t reach India for about a hundred years after its European introduction and naming, this looks mysteriously specific. At about the same time, the 1530s, Portuguese merchants reintroduced the guinea-fowl from West Africa, which had last been seen in England at the time of the Romans. As it was the same Levant merchants who brought this into the country, the guinea fowl was also known for a time as the Turkey bird, though this confusion didn’t last long. The heraldic arms granted to William Strickland in 1550 featured “a turkey-bird in his pride proper” and the bird shown is quite definitely a proper turkey. To confuse thing further, in Portugese the bird is called 'peru' even though there are no turkeys in Peru except for those taken there to be eaten. Israel is the country that eats more turkeys per head than any other nation; perhaps because they call pork, turkey?
The Aztecs, who kept domesticated turkeys for hundreds of years before the Europeans arrived, had a perfectly good word for the bird in their Nahuatl language: xuehxolotl, but I've already fractured my tongue twice in trying to pronounce it. The country was already called "Turki" or "Turkeye" in English by 1275, hundreds of years before the bird was known in the Old World. So why was it called "turkey" in English? Probably because it was introduced to England by so-called "Turkey merchants" who traded with the Mediterranean region, including the Ottoman Empire (which then controlled the eastern third of that sea). A similar confusion caused another New World species, maize or corn, to be called "Turkey wheat" or "Turkey corn" in England.
Wild American turkeys (silvestris, or cousins of the huexoloti) were sleek and ravenous scavenging birds that raced from one meal to another eating nuts, seeds, berries, grapes, snails, crickets, beetles, and delicate shoots arising from many cultivated crops. Resistant to control or reproduction in captivity, they were notorious enemies of proud farmers. Fleet afoot, able to fly short distances, and properly cooked a tasty dish, they lack the proper manners to live in an agricultural society. They were, in fact, killed everywhere by European colonists as nuisance birds.
English settlers in both Virginia and Massachusetts, spoiled with the familiar, though less tasty big birds that came from the mediterranean region, immediately demanded to bring their own turkeys to America. English turkeys deriving from Europe arrived in Jamestown in 1614 and in Massachusetts prior to 1629. As European settlements spread, so did their flocks (the proper collective noun is 'rafters') of domestic turkeys. They had the great advantage of scavaging for beetles that threatened to destroy the tobacco crop. The wild cousins of the huexoloti that once inhabited most of North America retreated to more congenial frontiers--as did their native names. Thanksgiving turkeys eaten every November in America are descended not from native wild turkeys, but from the European imports, which have been selectively bred, so that the males, being so fat and barrel chested can no longer mate with the females. All turkeys are now produced by artificial insemination.
Round 4 Christmas songs
Question 1 b] The Beatles in 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1967.
Question 2 b] I love You in 1960
Question 3 e] Grandad by Clive Dunn (You were probably thinking of "There's no-one quite like Grandma" a hit for St Winifred's School choir in 1980.)
Question 4 c] Dire Straits
Round 5 It happened at Christmas
Question 1 a] Charlie Chaplin died on Christmas Day 1977. The USSR ended on December 26th 1991, The Curies announced the discovery of Radium on December 26th 1891 and Christmas disease (a type of hemophilia occuring in a family called Christmas was published in the Christmas BMJ the week before Christmas 1947.
Question 2 a] 1813. In 1564, archery and dancing took place on the Thames, but the first real 'frost fair' came in 1683. The river froze over in December, and stayed frozen for two months. Because only prolonged and severe winters could make the Thames freeze over, frost fairs were quite rare. However, fairs took place in 1715-16, 1739-40 and 1813-14. The frost fair of 1813-14 was the last. In 1831 the old London Bridge was replaced by John Rennie's new bridge. This had far wider arches, which improved the tidal ebb and flow of the river and made it impossible for the Upper Pool to freeze over, even during the most severe winters. Nothing to do with Global Warming.
Question 3 d] Pope Pius XII (It was Pope Pius VI)
Question 4 Britain changed from the Julian to the Gregorian Calender in 1752, so that Christmas came 11 days earlier. January is colder than December in England.
Round 6 Carols
Q1 Thou didst leave thy throne.
Q2 Good Christian men rejoice
Q3 Christians awake
Q4 See amidst the winter's snow
Q5 In the bleak midwinter
Q6 O little town of Bethlehem
Q7 As with gladness
Q8 Let heaven and earth combine
Q9 Hark the herald angels
Q10 Joy to the world
Q11 In the bleak midwinter
Q12 O holy night.
Anybody get it all right?
Thursday, December 10, 2009
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.
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.
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