For the questions in the Michelham Priory Christmas Quiz 2010 click here.
Here are the answers.
1. Where is Father Christmas buried? (Bari in Southern Italy)
2. Many herbs & spices are used in the preparation of Christmas dishes. What is the difference between herbs and spices? (Herbs are leaves, the rest of the plant constitutes spices)
3. If Father Christmas drove his sleigh, without hold-ups, at 20 mph around the M25 how long would it take him to complete 1 circuit? (117 miles = 5hrs 51 mins)
4. The following lines come from the carols “Ding dong merrily on high” and “Hark the herald angels sing” respectively. What do they mean?
a. “And Io,Io,Io by priest and people sungen” (Io = Jove = joy)(Also origin of apostrophe!)
b. “Jesus our Emanuel” (Emanuel = “God with us”)
5. What did “my truelove” give to me on New Years Eve? (7th day of Christmas = 7 swans a swimming)
6. What was the result of a German church organ breaking down on Christmas Eve in 1818? (Silent Night written for guitar accompaniment) (Joan Rip. reckons this story is apocryphal but it may be a ploy to get extra points)
7. What is the connection between; Nuts, Christmas and Bastoigne? (Battle of the Bulge 1944) (During the Siege of the village of Bastoigne the Germans offered the American defenders a chance to surrender and were much perplexed by the US general’s reply of “Nuts”. I often wonder whether this is a sanitised version. There is, however, a “Nuts Square” in the village which commemorates this event)
8. What is the opening line of the Coventry Carol? (Loo Lee Loo Li )
9. The Owl & the Pusasycat “dined on mince & slices of quince, which they ate with a runcible spoon.” What is a runcible spoon? (a fork-like spoon)
10. What date is Epiphany? What does it commemorate? (6th Jan, Visit of Wise men)
11. Why was the Glastonbury Thorn of particular interest at midnight on 5th Jan 1753? (Calendar had been updated in 1752 when 2Sept was followed by 14 Sept & people wanted to know whether the new 25th Dec was the true Christmas. Legend has it that the Glastonbury thorn grew from a staff planted by Joseph of Aimathea when he visited Gastonbury with the child Jesus. It was said to blossom on Christmas Day.)
12. A family of 6 sit around an oblong table for Christmas dinner. Father always sits at the top of the table and mother always sits on his right hand side. The four children are then free to sit in any of the other 4 remaining chairs. How many different ways can the family sit around the table? (The parents seating is fixed so they have no chices to make. The first child has a choice of 4 places, the second a choice of 3, the third a choice of 2 and the fourth a choice of 1. Therefore combination of 4x3x2x1=24. In maths this is called “factorial 4” and written 4!. Do you remember the Players cigarette advert; “Only 4/6d for 20!”?. I had a friend who tried it on and was told it would take many weeks for the cigarette company to produce that many cigarettes so they returned his postal order for 4/6d)
13. Why is Christmas Eve (i.e. the evening of Christmas) on 24th & not 25th December? (Medieval days started from sunrise & finished at sunset)
14. What connects Al Capone, Joan of Arc & Cologne cathedral? (6th January – Wise Men’s visit and birthday of the other two. Wise Men’s shrine in Cologne cathedral)
15. In which decade did Dickens publish “A Christmas Carol”? (1843)
16. “It is Christmas day ?
And the cold bare walls are bright
With garlands of green and holly
And the place is a pleasant sight”
Where is ? (The workhouse – poem by George Sims)
17. Which carol carries the following line in the chorus;-
“Giving due praises to the Lord”
but not in English?
-
The Boars Head Carol Caput apri defero
Reddens laudes Domino
I bring the boars head
Giving due praises to the Lord
18. What was special about the Queens Christmas speech of 1957?
(Monarch’s Christmas speech televised for the first time)
19. 28th December is “Holy Innocents Day”
(a) What does this commemorate?
(b) What tragedy, immortalised by the poet William McGoonagall, occurred at 7.15p.m.on this day in 1879?
((a) Herod’s murder of the children in Bethlehem – (b) Tay Bridge disaster)
“Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Sil’vry Tay,
Alas! I am very sorry to say,
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879
Which will be remembered for a very long time.” (Extract)
His poetry is so bad it is a classic.
20. A common Christmas Bible reading starts “In the beginning was the word…..”
(a) From which Gospel does it come?
(b) What is the symbol for this evangelist?
((a) St John – (b) An eagle)
