ROUND 1 - Pairs

1.

Which composer had his greatest operatic success in 1835 with his adaptation of Walter Scott’s novel The Bride of Lammermoor?

2.

How is Ellen Douglas referred to in the title of a long narrative poem by Walter Scott which was subsequently turned into a successful Romantic opera under the same name by Rossini in 1819?

3.

Which British Prime Minister gave permission for the Stone of Scone to be officially returned to Scotland exactly 700 years after it was taken to London by Edward the First?

4.

Over the eight centuries of it’s existence St Edward’s Chair has been used at the coronation of English monarchs.  Only on two occasions has it left Westminster Abbey, the most recent of which was for safe keeping during World War 2.  For what ceremony was it moved to Westminster Hall on the first occasion?

5.

One of the London’s Livery companies is The Worshipful Company of Loriners.  What was manufactured by a loriner?  The Scottish surname Lorimer has the same derivation.

6.

Which Livery company represents fine leather workers and shoemakers?  The name is derived from a corruption of the name of a European city famous for that craft.

7.

Who was hanged on the morning of December 2nd 1859 and thus became the first citizen of the United States to be legally executed for treason against his country?

8.

Which essayist, poet and philosopher was a friend and defender of John Brown?  Like Brown he was a lifelong abolitionist and his essay Civil Disobedience was later to influence such notable figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

Sp1

Which veteran actress who died in October 2022 was distantly related to the Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt?  She was the granddaughter of a former leader of the Labour Party and a cousin of the former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Sp2

Which former British prime minister was the first cousin of author and poet, Rudyard Kipling?

Go to Round 1 questions with answers

ROUND 2 - Hidden theme

1.

Name the 1939 novel written by Richard Llewellyn, set in a Welsh mining community and subsequently turned into a 1941 John Ford film of the same name.

2.

Which enduring single was released in 1967 to moderate success for its singer/songwriter?  It begins with the lines:

"Hey, where did we go?

Days when the rains came?"

3.

Name the Canadian historian and expert on international relations, born in 1943, who gave the 2018 Reith Lectures.

4.

By what name (attributed to Thomas Carlyle) is the conflict between Britain and Spain, lasting from 1739 to 1748, more commonly known?

5.

Taking its title from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, name the 1958 novel by H E Bates, set in rural Kent, and adapted for television in 1991.

6.

Which British sports car manufacturer, active from 1952 to 1972, was particularly known for its 'frog eye' Sprite model, sold between 1958 and 1961?

7.

Born in 1947, which Scottish actor played John Jarndyce in the 2005 BBC adaptation of Bleak House and has numerous film credits including Star Wars and Local Hero as well as many TV roles, including four series of New Tricks?

8.

Properly known as a mutoscope, what is the common name for the slot machines which provided an early version of moving pictures, often of a risqué nature, the name allegedly relating to a divorce case of 1886?

Sp.

What official position was held by Mr Claude Gordon (played by Eric Longworth) in Dad's Army?

Go to Round 2 questions with answers

ROUND 3 - Pairs

1.

The 18th century British cartographer and engraver John Spilsbury is credited as the inventor of which popular pastime?  His invention was originally intended for educational purposes and he used the name 'Dissected Maps'.

2.

Which popular board game originated in India in the 2nd century AD and was introduced to Britain in the 19th century?  It was originally used as part of moral instruction to children whereby virtue was rewarded and acts of evil were punished.

3.

Huseyin Kalkan was mayor of which Turkish city in 2008, when he announced plans to sue Christopher Nolan, director of The Dark Knight film, over the allegedly unauthorized use of his city’s name?

4.

Which famous son of Barmen, a Prussian town which later merged with four other towns to form the city of Wuppertal, formed close links with Manchester, Salford and Stockport before eventually dying in London in 1895?

5.

Thatcher may have snatched the milk from our little darlings but which Labour Minister for Education introduced free milk into primary schools?

6.

In reference to his heavy consumption of port wine, which long-serving but short-lived British Prime Minister was known as the 'three-bottle man'?  He was the first to serve as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

7.

Which fairly common Italian surname translates into English as 'the left- handed man'?  Perhaps the best known contemporary bearer of this name is currently reviewing the events of the past 18 months or so, and trying to come to terms with Kipling’s famous quote:

“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two impostors just the same”.

8.

Name this singer-songwriter, musician and actress born in Detroit in 1950.  She had a string of UK hit singles in the early 1970s, many of which will be fondly remembered by those of you who used to dance around your handbags at Friday night discos.  She kept her Italian family surname but shortened it from the somewhat derogatory original which translates into English as 'The Four-eyed One'.

Sp1

Barcelona and Espanyol have been joined this season in La Liga (Primera Division) by which other Catalonian team?  The small city in question is a popular destination for tourists and Barcelona day-trippers in particular.

Sp2

Apart from Real and Atletico name either of the teams from the metropolitan district of Madrid currently playing in La Liga (Primera Division).

Go to Round 3 questions with answers

ROUND 4 - Run Ons

1.

Episode I of the Star Wars series of films,

&

1994 comedy film starring Jim Carrey and Sean Young.

2.

Winner of the women’s golden boot award Euro 2022,

&

Notts. County Football stadium.

3.

Good Day Sunshine and Here There and Everywhere are tracks on this Beatles’ album,

&

The name of the three grandchildren in When I’m 64.

4.

The hottest Chilli pepper in the world,

&

Poet who wrote Odes to a Skylark and The West Wind.

5.

2022 film starring Saoirse Ronan and Sam Rockwell,

&

Hip Hop group of the 90’s who wanted to Walk This Way.

6.

Character played by Roger Moore in The Persuaders 1971-1972,

&

Small one person recumbent battery operated tricycle.

7.

Novelist who writes the Tom Thorne crime series,

&

Wildlife cameraman taking part in this year’s Strictly.

8.

Queen’s debut single 1973 which includes the lyrics: "But if I crossed a million rivers / And I rode a million miles then I’d still be where I started”,

&

BBC children’s TV series, 1993-2001, originally presented by Andy Peters and Emma Forbes.

Sp1

Painting by Edouard Manet which is supposed to have changed Modern Art forever,

&

American Grammy award winning Jazz pianist born 1940.

Sp2

Amy Winehouse song and album,

&

Football club where Shearer and Sutton became known as the SAS.

Go to Round 4 questions with answers

ROUND 5 - Pairs

1.

Which natural feature appears in the titles of songs by Justin Timberlake, Boney M and Billy Joel?

2.

Which natural feature appears in the titles of songs by TLC, Coldplay and The Stone Roses?

3.

Which one word title is shared by a 1985 Tom Cruise film and a 2015 Tom Hardy film?

4.

Which one word title is shared by a 1996 film based on a J G Ballard novel and starring James Spader and Holly Hunter, and a 2004 detective film starring Don Cheadle ,Sandra Bullock and Thandie Newton?

5.

Which Granada TV drama series of 1984 starred Charles Dance, Geraldine James and Art Malik?

6.

Which 1996 BBC drama series starred Mark Strong, Alun Armstrong and Daniel Craig?

7.

Which Oasis song shares it title with an adventure drama film of 1986?

8.

Which 1986 American teen drama was named after a 1981 song by The Psychedelic Furs?

Sp.

Which natural feature appears in the title of songs by Marvin Gaye, Joe Walsh and Biffy Clyro?

Go to Round 5 questions with answers

ROUND 6 - Hidden theme

1.

What word was coined in 1777 by Antoine Lavoisier to describe a substance that he had been the first to recognize as a chemical element, and also the first to correctly characterize the role it played in combustion?

2.

France has a bicameral legislature consisting of the Senate and The National Assembly.  The Assembly convenes at the Bourbon Palace.  In which palace does the Senate meet?

3.

Eureka!, an educational museum for children, is situated near the train station of which town in West Yorkshire?  In harsher times the town was notorious for its gibbet, an early form of the guillotine.

4.

 'Puffinus Puffinus' is the somewhat misleading scientific name for which medium sized sea bird?  Its English name derives from its preferred nesting location off the coast of Britain.

5.

What word, ultimately derived from the Greek word for 'payment' was used for the first time in London in 1907 as a shortened version of a word coined in France some years earlier to describe a means of conveyance?  This shortened version soon came to be universally used.

6.

Who wrote the popular piano interlude Farewell to Stromness?  It was written in 1980 as a protest against uranium mining in Orkney.

7.

Germ Free Adolescents was the 1978 debut album of which British punk band?  The band was fronted by a female singer whose voice was memorably described as being “effervescently discordant”.

8.

 (a nice easy one for any of you swots who like to read The Book of Revelation in Latin)

Express the number 666 in Roman numerals.

Sp1

Which one of the 'Big Three' consumer credit reporting agencies is based in Dublin?  It operates in 37 countries and employs more than 17,000 people.

Sp2

Usually seen in possession of a small golden sickle and known for his many dubious potions who is the village Druid in the Asterix the Gaul stories?

Go to Round 6 questions with answers

ROUND 7 - Pairs

1.

Who wrote the text for Ralph Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony?

2.

Benjamin Britten’s sea-faring opera Billy Budd is based upon a novella by which writer?

3.

Which book won the 'Booker of Bookers' award in 1981 for being the best book in the first 25 years of Booker awards?

4.

Which fantasy adventure novel won the first Man Booker Prize in 2002 (following the sponsorship of the Booker Prize by the Man Group)?

5.

The Tiwi Islands, comprising Melville Island and Bathurst Island are within 100 miles of which Australian city?

6.

Mount Kosciuszko, the highest mountain in Australia at 2,228m, is on the border between which two Australian territories?

7.

Near which Scottish city would you find the Wallace Monument?

8.

On which Scottish island would you find the Callanish standing stones?

Sp.

D H Lawrence adopted the phoenix as a personal symbol.  What bird is named in the title of his first novel?

Go to Round 7 questions with answers

ROUND 8 - Christmas Blockbuster Bingo

Each answer is either directly or indirectly linked to the Season Of Goodwill

Choose your questions from the initials of the answer

AVFSN

What is the official title of Clement Moore's well-known 1823 poem which begins:

“'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse”?

IAW

In Charles Dickens' famous seasonal tale, A Christmas Carol, the spirit of Christmas Present visits Scrooge and attempts to prick his conscience and warn him what his behaviour could lead to by showing him two emaciated children hiding under his robes.  What are their names?

BSAF

In the well-known carol Good King Wenceslas this is part of the location where the poor man lives whom Wenceslas and his page set out to help.  It is mentioned in the second verse of the carol.

K

This Christmas spirit is the anti-Santa in the folklore of Central and Eastern Europe.  Whereas Santa Claus presents good children with gifts, this horned devil-like spirit who accompanies him punishes naughty ones by beating them with birch rods.  A Christmas horror-comedy with this name starring Adam Scott and Toni Collette was released in 2015.  What is the name of this spirit and the film?

HM

Played by Joseph Cotton in the 1949 British film-noir The Third Man what is the name of his character who arrives in Vienna to seek out his former friend, Harry Lime (played by Orson Welles) only to be told mistakenly that he is dead?

T

This music from the opera Lieutenant Kije by Sergei Prokoviev has become a popular theme for the Christmas season.  What is it called?

GOS

In Saint Luke's Gospel, Caesar Augustus decrees a census of the whole world and commands everyone to return to the place where their family originated in order to be counted.  This is why Joseph must return to Bethlehem where his family originated along with his wife and their unborn child.  The local official to whom they must register is called Quirinius.  How is he described in the gospel?

C

Played by actor Henry Travers in the classic 1946 Christmas movie It's A Wonderful Life an angel is sent from Heaven to stop George Bailey (played by James Stewart) from jumping into an icy river.  What is the angel's name?

AFONLAC

Since 1928 this sung service is broadcast live each year on Christmas Eve from King's College Cambridge on BBC Radio 4 and televised since 1963 on BBC 2.  What is the exact full name of this sung service?

E

On Christmas Eve 1968 this iconic picture was taken when orbiting the Moon by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders.  By what name is it called?

Go to Round 8 questions with answers

ROUND 1 - Pairs

1.

Which composer had his greatest operatic success in 1835 with his adaptation of Walter Scott’s novel The Bride of Lammermoor?

(Gaetano) Donizetti

(with his opera Lucia Di Lammermoor)

2.

How is Ellen Douglas referred to in the title of a long narrative poem by Walter Scott which was subsequently turned into a successful Romantic opera under the same name by Rossini in 1819?

The Lady of the Lake

3.

Which British Prime Minister gave permission for the Stone of Scone to be officially returned to Scotland exactly 700 years after it was taken to London by Edward the First?

John Major

(in 1996)

4.

Over the eight centuries of it’s existence St Edward’s Chair has been used at the coronation of English monarchs.  Only on two occasions has it left Westminster Abbey, the most recent of which was for safe keeping during World War 2.  For what ceremony was it moved to Westminster Hall on the first occasion?

Installation of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector

(of the Commonwealth of England)

5.

One of the London’s Livery companies is The Worshipful Company of Loriners.  What was manufactured by a loriner?  The Scottish surname Lorimer has the same derivation.

Bridles and harnesses for horses

(accept horse apparel)

6.

Which Livery company represents fine leather workers and shoemakers?  The name is derived from a corruption of the name of a European city famous for that craft.

Cordwainers

(derived from Cordova)

7.

Who was hanged on the morning of December 2nd 1859 and thus became the first citizen of the United States to be legally executed for treason against his country?

John Brown

8.

Which essayist, poet and philosopher was a friend and defender of John Brown?  Like Brown he was a lifelong abolitionist and his essay Civil Disobedience was later to influence such notable figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

(Henry David) Thoreau

Sp1

Which veteran actress who died in October 2022 was distantly related to the Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt?  She was the granddaughter of a former leader of the Labour Party and a cousin of the former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Angela Lansbury

Sp2

Which former British prime minister was the first cousin of author and poet, Rudyard Kipling?

Stanley Baldwin

(their mothers were sisters)

ROUND 2 - Hidden theme

1.

Name the 1939 novel written by Richard Llewellyn, set in a Welsh mining community and subsequently turned into a 1941 John Ford film of the same name.

How Green Was My Valley

2.

Which enduring single was released in 1967 to moderate success for its singer/songwriter?  It begins with the lines:

"Hey, where did we go?

Days when the rains came?"

Brown Eyed Girl

(Van Morrison)

3.

Name the Canadian historian and expert on international relations, born in 1943, who gave the 2018 Reith Lectures.

Margaret MacMillan

4.

By what name (attributed to Thomas Carlyle) is the conflict between Britain and Spain, lasting from 1739 to 1748, more commonly known?

The War of Jenkins' Ear

5.

Taking its title from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, name the 1958 novel by H E Bates, set in rural Kent, and adapted for television in 1991.

The Darling Buds of May

6.

Which British sports car manufacturer, active from 1952 to 1972, was particularly known for its 'frog eye' Sprite model, sold between 1958 and 1961?

Austin-Healey

7.

Born in 1947, which Scottish actor played John Jarndyce in the 2005 BBC adaptation of Bleak House and has numerous film credits including Star Wars and Local Hero as well as many TV roles, including four series of New Tricks?

Dennis Lawson

8.

Properly known as a mutoscope, what is the common name for the slot machines which provided an early version of moving pictures, often of a risqué nature, the name allegedly relating to a divorce case of 1886?

What the Butler Saw

Sp.

What official position was held by Mr Claude Gordon (played by Eric Longworth) in Dad's Army?

The Town Clerk

Theme: Each answer contains the name of a UK Chancellor of the Exchequer from either the 20th or 21st century...

Geoffrey Howe, Gordon Brown, Harold Macmillan, Roy Jenkins, Alistair Darling, Dennis Healey, Nigel Lawson, R A Butler and Ken Clarke

Go back to Round 2 questions without answers

ROUND 3 - Pairs

1.

The 18th century British cartographer and engraver John Spilsbury is credited as the inventor of which popular pastime?  His invention was originally intended for educational purposes and he used the name 'Dissected Maps'.

Jigsaw Puzzles

2.

Which popular board game originated in India in the 2nd century AD and was introduced to Britain in the 19th century?  It was originally used as part of moral instruction to children whereby virtue was rewarded and acts of evil were punished.

Snakes and Ladders

3.

Huseyin Kalkan was mayor of which Turkish city in 2008, when he announced plans to sue Christopher Nolan, director of The Dark Knight film, over the allegedly unauthorized use of his city’s name?

Batman

4.

Which famous son of Barmen, a Prussian town which later merged with four other towns to form the city of Wuppertal, formed close links with Manchester, Salford and Stockport before eventually dying in London in 1895?

Friedrich Engels

5.

Thatcher may have snatched the milk from our little darlings but which Labour Minister for Education introduced free milk into primary schools?

Ellen Wilkinson

6.

In reference to his heavy consumption of port wine, which long-serving but short-lived British Prime Minister was known as the 'three-bottle man'?  He was the first to serve as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

(William) Pitt the Younger

7.

Which fairly common Italian surname translates into English as 'the left- handed man'?  Perhaps the best known contemporary bearer of this name is currently reviewing the events of the past 18 months or so, and trying to come to terms with Kipling’s famous quote:

“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two impostors just the same”.

Mancini

(as in Roberto)

8.

Name this singer-songwriter, musician and actress born in Detroit in 1950.  She had a string of UK hit singles in the early 1970s, many of which will be fondly remembered by those of you who used to dance around your handbags at Friday night discos.  She kept her Italian family surname but shortened it from the somewhat derogatory original which translates into English as 'The Four-eyed One'.

Suzi Quatro

(born Susan Quattrocchi)

Sp1

Barcelona and Espanyol have been joined this season in La Liga (Primera Division) by which other Catalonian team?  The small city in question is a popular destination for tourists and Barcelona day-trippers in particular.

Girona FC

Sp2

Apart from Real and Atletico name either of the teams from the metropolitan district of Madrid currently playing in La Liga (Primera Division).

either

Getafe FC

or

Rayo Vallecano

Go back to Round 3 questions without answers

ROUND 4 - Run Ons

1.

Episode I of the Star Wars series of films,

&

1994 comedy film starring Jim Carrey and Sean Young.

The Phantom Menace

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

2.

Winner of the women’s golden boot award Euro 2022,

&

Notts. County Football stadium.

Beth Mead

Meadow Lane

3.

Good Day Sunshine and Here There and Everywhere are tracks on this Beatles’ album,

&

The name of the three grandchildren in When I’m 64.

Revolver

Vera, Chuck and Dave

4.

The hottest Chilli pepper in the world,

&

Poet who wrote Odes to a Skylark and The West Wind.

Carolina Reaper

Percy Bysshe Shelley

5.

2022 film starring Saoirse Ronan and Sam Rockwell,

&

Hip Hop group of the 90’s who wanted to Walk This Way.

See How They Run

Run DMC

6.

Character played by Roger Moore in The Persuaders 1971-1972,

&

Small one person recumbent battery operated tricycle.

Brett Sinclair

Sinclair C5

7.

Novelist who writes the Tom Thorne crime series,

&

Wildlife cameraman taking part in this year’s Strictly.

Mark Billingham

Hamza Yassin

8.

Queen’s debut single 1973 which includes the lyrics: "But if I crossed a million rivers / And I rode a million miles then I’d still be where I started”,

&

BBC children’s TV series, 1993-2001, originally presented by Andy Peters and Emma Forbes.

Keep yourself Alive

Alive and Kicking

Sp1

Painting by Edouard Manet which is supposed to have changed Modern Art forever,

&

American Grammy award winning Jazz pianist born 1940.

Dejeuner Sur l’Herbe

Herbie Hancock

Sp2

Amy Winehouse song and album,

&

Football club where Shearer and Sutton became known as the SAS.

Back to Black

Blackburn Rovers

Go back to Round 4 questions without answers

ROUND 5 - Pairs

1.

Which natural feature appears in the titles of songs by Justin Timberlake, Boney M and Billy Joel?

Rivers

2.

Which natural feature appears in the titles of songs by TLC, Coldplay and The Stone Roses?

Waterfalls

3.

Which one word title is shared by a 1985 Tom Cruise film and a 2015 Tom Hardy film?

Legend

4.

Which one word title is shared by a 1996 film based on a J G Ballard novel and starring James Spader and Holly Hunter, and a 2004 detective film starring Don Cheadle ,Sandra Bullock and Thandie Newton?

Crash

5.

Which Granada TV drama series of 1984 starred Charles Dance, Geraldine James and Art Malik?

The Jewel in the Crown

6.

Which 1996 BBC drama series starred Mark Strong, Alun Armstrong and Daniel Craig?

Our Friends in the North

7.

Which Oasis song shares it title with an adventure drama film of 1986?

Stand By Me

8.

Which 1986 American teen drama was named after a 1981 song by The Psychedelic Furs?

Pretty in Pink

Sp.

Which natural feature appears in the title of songs by Marvin Gaye, Joe Walsh and Biffy Clyro?

Mountains

Go back to Round 5 questions without answers

ROUND 6 - Hidden theme

1.

What word was coined in 1777 by Antoine Lavoisier to describe a substance that he had been the first to recognize as a chemical element, and also the first to correctly characterize the role it played in combustion?

Oxygen

2.

France has a bicameral legislature consisting of the Senate and The National Assembly.  The Assembly convenes at the Bourbon Palace.  In which palace does the Senate meet?

The Luxembourg Palace

3.

Eureka!, an educational museum for children, is situated near the train station of which town in West Yorkshire?  In harsher times the town was notorious for its gibbet, an early form of the guillotine.

Halifax

4.

 'Puffinus Puffinus' is the somewhat misleading scientific name for which medium sized sea bird?  Its English name derives from its preferred nesting location off the coast of Britain.

Manx Shearwater

5.

What word, ultimately derived from the Greek word for 'payment' was used for the first time in London in 1907 as a shortened version of a word coined in France some years earlier to describe a means of conveyance?  This shortened version soon came to be universally used.

Taxi

6.

Who wrote the popular piano interlude Farewell to Stromness?  It was written in 1980 as a protest against uranium mining in Orkney.

Peter Maxwell Davies

7.

Germ Free Adolescents was the 1978 debut album of which British punk band?  The band was fronted by a female singer whose voice was memorably described as being “effervescently discordant”.

X -Ray Spex

8.

 (a nice easy one for any of you swots who like to read The Book of Revelation in Latin)

Express the number 666 in Roman numerals.

DCLXVI

Sp1

Which one of the 'Big Three' consumer credit reporting agencies is based in Dublin?  It operates in 37 countries and employs more than 17,000 people.

Experian

Sp2

Usually seen in possession of a small golden sickle and known for his many dubious potions who is the village Druid in the Asterix the Gaul stories?

Getafix

Theme: Each answer contains the letter 'X'

Go back to Round 6 questions without answers

ROUND 7 - Pairs

1.

Who wrote the text for Ralph Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony?

Walt Whitman

2.

Benjamin Britten’s sea-faring opera Billy Budd is based upon a novella by which writer?

Hermann Melville

3.

Which book won the 'Booker of Bookers' award in 1981 for being the best book in the first 25 years of Booker awards?

Midnight's Children

(Salman Rushdie)

4.

Which fantasy adventure novel won the first Man Booker Prize in 2002 (following the sponsorship of the Booker Prize by the Man Group)?

Life of Pi

(Yann Martel)

5.

The Tiwi Islands, comprising Melville Island and Bathurst Island are within 100 miles of which Australian city?

Darwin

6.

Mount Kosciuszko, the highest mountain in Australia at 2,228m, is on the border between which two Australian territories?

Victoria and New South Wales

7.

Near which Scottish city would you find the Wallace Monument?

Stirling

8.

On which Scottish island would you find the Callanish standing stones?

Lewis (& Harris)

Sp.

D H Lawrence adopted the phoenix as a personal symbol.  What bird is named in the title of his first novel?

Peacock

(The White Peacock 1911)

Go back to Round 7 questions without answers

ROUND 8 - Christmas Blockbuster Bingo

Each answer is either directly or indirectly linked to the Season Of Goodwill

Choose your questions from the initials of the answer

AVFSN

What is the official title of Clement Moore's well-known 1823 poem which begins:

“'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse”?

A Visit From Saint Nicholas

IAW

In Charles Dickens' famous seasonal tale, A Christmas Carol, the spirit of Christmas Present visits Scrooge and attempts to prick his conscience and warn him what his behaviour could lead to by showing him two emaciated children hiding under his robes.  What are their names?

Ignorance And Want

BSAF

In the well-known carol Good King Wenceslas this is part of the location where the poor man lives whom Wenceslas and his page set out to help.  It is mentioned in the second verse of the carol.

By Saint Agnes Fountain

K

This Christmas spirit is the anti-Santa in the folklore of Central and Eastern Europe.  Whereas Santa Claus presents good children with gifts, this horned devil-like spirit who accompanies him punishes naughty ones by beating them with birch rods.  A Christmas horror-comedy with this name starring Adam Scott and Toni Collette was released in 2015.  What is the name of this spirit and the film?

Krampus

HM

Played by Joseph Cotton in the 1949 British film-noir The Third Man what is the name of his character who arrives in Vienna to seek out his former friend, Harry Lime (played by Orson Welles) only to be told mistakenly that he is dead?

Holly Martins

T

This music from the opera Lieutenant Kije by Sergei Prokoviev has become a popular theme for the Christmas season.  What is it called?

Troika

(meaning Sleigh Ride)

GOS

In Saint Luke's Gospel, Caesar Augustus decrees a census of the whole world and commands everyone to return to the place where their family originated in order to be counted.  This is why Joseph must return to Bethlehem where his family originated along with his wife and their unborn child.  The local official to whom they must register is called Quirinius.  How is he described in the gospel?

Governor Of Syria

C

Played by actor Henry Travers in the classic 1946 Christmas movie It's A Wonderful Life an angel is sent from Heaven to stop George Bailey (played by James Stewart) from jumping into an icy river.  What is the angel's name?

Clarence

AFONLAC

Since 1928 this sung service is broadcast live each year on Christmas Eve from King's College Cambridge on BBC Radio 4 and televised since 1963 on BBC 2.  What is the exact full name of this sung service?

A Festival Of Nine Lessons And Carols

E

On Christmas Eve 1968 this iconic picture was taken when orbiting the Moon by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders.  By what name is it called?

Earthrise

Go back to Round 8 questions without answers