EM Bylines fun Christmas quiz

1.  Which is the best-selling Christmas song of all times (so far)?  
2. Which minister objects to UNICEF feeding UK children this Christmas?      
3.  Which is the only large European state that is not a member of the Council of Europe?   
4. How many of Santa’s reindeer have names beginning with D?
5. How many days after the birth of Christ did Joseph and Mary give him the name Jesus?
6. From what town did the Grinch try to steal Christmas?
7. What actually is myrrh?  
8. Who was the Midlands ‘Euro MP who stole Christmas’?
9. According to the The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, what were the boys of the NYPD choir singing, as the bells were ringing out for Christmas Day?  
10. Which two planets came together in conjunction to create a ‘super star’ for the winter solstice?      
11. What is the name of the angel in It’s A Wonderful Life?
12. Can you name three African visitors to Newstead Abbey in 1874?  
13. How many ghosts are there in Dicken’s A Christmas Carol?  
14. Which country’s Christmas mythology features the 13 Yule Lads, including such characters as Stubby, Sausage-Swiper and Candle-Stealer? 
15. Who refused to cancel Christmas 2020 – then more or less did?
16. In what country is it traditional to go out for a KFC for Christmas lunch?
17. Which singer released a Christmas album entitled A Christmas Cornucopia in 2010?
18. Which book did the phrase ‘Bah Humbug’ come from?  
19. Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?
20. In what year was Christmas first banned? 
21. What was the highest-grossing Christmas movie of all time?
22. Christmas Souvenir mugs of which figure – who came to prominence during the Covid-19 crisis – have been outselling ‘Britney Spears’ and ‘Michael Jackson’?
23. In which direction would Mary and Joseph have gone to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem?
24. Which MP has accused ministers of a Christmas coronavirus cover-up?
25. What was the first song broadcast from space?

Watch out for our New Year’s Quiz too!

Answers are below:

Here are the answers to our quiz questions.

1. White Christmas

2. Jacob Rees-Mogg

3. Belarus

4. 3

5. 8

6. Whoville

7. resin used for scent and medicinal purposes

8. Philip Bradbourn

9. Galway Bay

10. Saturn & Jupiter

11. Clarence

12. Abdullah Susi, James Chumah, Jacob Wainwright

13. 4

14. Iceland

15. Boris Johnson

16. Japan

17. Annie Lennox

18. A Christmas Carol

19. Yes or no

20. 1647

21. The Grinch

22. Chris Whitty

23. South

24. Conservative MP Sir Charles Walker 

25. Jingle Bells

Watch out for our New Year’s Quiz too!