A Christmas quiz - books, films and music

For your festive fun and entertainment, try my Christmas quiz. Click on the Show/Hide button at the bottom to find the answers. Please comment to tell me how many you scored (but don't check out the comments until you've tried it yourself - there may be spoilers).

Round 1 Books

1. Which much-loved Christmas classic of 1978 is wordless?

2. Who wrote of a child's Christmas in Wales?

3. Which Shakespeare play has the lines: 'At Christmas I no more desire a rose/Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled mirth;/But like of each thing that in season grows.'?

4. A page from which Christmas book?

5. What are the opening five words of Clement Clarke Moore's poem, A Visit from Saint Nicholas?

6. What are the closing five words of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol spoken by Tiny Tim?

7. Apart from A Christmas Carol there are four other works by Dickens generally grouped together as 'the Christmas books'. Can you name one of these?

8. Which Agatha Christie novel has 'Christmas' in its title?

9. Who wrote about 'the journey of the Magi'?

10. In which Victorian classic does Tom Tulliver come home for Christmas?

Round 2 Films


1. Who played Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)?

2.  In which 1994 film does Father Christmas fall to his death from a roof on Christmas Eve?

3. In Love Actually what is the title of the Christmas Number One hit recorded by Billy Mack (Bill Nighy)?

4. In which 1942 film does Bing Crosby sing White Christmas?

5. Name this 2003 film.

6. What name is given to the Pumpkin King in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas?

7. Which 'miracle' was originally seen in 1947 and has since reappeared differently - for example in 1959, 1973 and 1994?

8. What is the first name of the character who was 'home alone' at Christmas in 1990?

9. Name this 1946 Christmas classic.

10. Which 2003 film was publicised with the strap line 'He doesn't care if you're naughty or nice'?

Round 3 Music


1. Who went 'rockin' around the Christmas tree' in 1962?

2. A Facebook campaign helped prevent a fifth consecutive X Factor winner from topping the UK Charts for Christmas 2009 and helped which US performers to Number One instead?

3. In 1973 Elton John invited us to 'hop aboard the turntable' and... what?

4. According to the well-known carol, 'Good King Wenceslas looked out on the Feast of Stephen.' What date is that, in Western tradition?

5. Who featured with the Pogues in the recently re-released Christmas favourite Fairytale of New York?

6. Which song featured in the film version of 'The Snowman'?

7. Which Christmas artefact did Lady Gaga sing about in 2008?

8. The title has been brushed out of this famous Christmas album cover. What is it?

9. In the song Twelve Days of Christmas how many birds are there in total?

10. Which 1980 song became a Christmas favourite even though it has nothing to do with the festive season except for the line 'Wish I was at home for Christmas'?

Show/Hide

 

Round 1 Answers

1.1. The Snowman by Raymond Briggs

1.2 Dylan Thomas

1.3 Love's Labours Lost

1.4 How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr Seuss

1.5 'Twas the night before Christmas'

1.6 'God bless us, every one.'

1.7 One from:
The Chimes
The Cricket on the Hearth
The Battle of Life
The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain

1.8 Hercule Poirot's Christmas (also known as Murder for Christmas)

1.9 T S Eliot

1.10 George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss

Round 2 Answers

2.1 Michael Caine

2.2 The Santa Clause

2.3 Love Is All Around (a variation of the hit by the Troggs)

2.4 Holiday Inn

2.5 Elf (starring Will Ferrell as Buddy Hobbs)

2.6 Jack Skellington (voiced by Chris Sarandon)

2.7 Miracle on 34th Street

2.8 Kevin (played by Macaulay Culkin)

2.9 It's a Wonderful Life (starrring James Stewart)

2.10 Bad Santa (starring Billy Bob Thornton)

Round 3 Answers

3.1 Brenda Lee

3.2 Rage Against the Machine (with Killing in the Name beating Joe McElderry's The Climb)

3.3 Step into Christmas

3.4 26 December

3.5 Kirsty MacColl

3.6 Walking in the Air

3.7 Christmas Tree

3.8 A Christmas Gift for You (produced by Phil Spector)

3.9 23 (7 swans, 6 geese, 4 colly birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves, 1 partridge)

3.10 Stop the Cavalry (by Jona Lewie).

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