Try your luck at the Editor's Christmas Quiz — the answers will be published in a separate piece on Boxing Day.
So that was 2021…
1) Which high-street retailer went into administration after more than 200 years in business, closing its last department store in May?
2) Footballer Marcus Rashford was awarded an MBE in recognition of his campaign to support vulnerable children — to whom did he dedicate it?
3) Self-driving shuttle buses were trialled for the first time in the UK in which city?
4) Born on September 18, what did Princess Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, name their baby girl?
5) Piers Morgan quit as presenter of which television programme after regulatory body Ofcom received more than 50,000 complaints about him (the body later ruled that no regulations had been breached)?
6) The 26th United Nations Climate Change Confeence took place in Glasgow during which month?
7) Which company opened the UK’s first till-less grocery store in March?
8) In February, the Supreme Court ruled that who should be treated as workers, rather than self-employed?
9) By winning the US Open Women’s Singles, Emma Raducanu became the first British woman to take a Grand Slam title since whom?
10) The contactless payment limit was increased once again — how much is it now?
Nature
1) Small native mammal Sciurus vulgaris is more commonly known by what name?
2) Rosehips are rich in which vitamin?
3) Which of the following are true hibernators: hedgehogs, badgers, house flies, hazel dormice, bats and toads?
4) Which word beginning with P is used to describe the smell of rain falling on dry soil?
5) The meadow grasshopper is the only UK grasshopper without the ability to do what?
Art
1) Which painter was known for his ‘matchstick men’?
2) What term is used to describe a painting on three separate panels, often joined by hinges?
3) Which famous painting was stolen from the Louvre in 1911?
4) Sculptor Dame Elisabeth Frink was well-known for working with which metal?
5) The world’s first portrait gallery opened in 1856 in which city?
Picture round: Name the rare breed
Sport
1) Which racecourse is home to the Scottish Grand National?
2) How many walls does a squash court have?
3) St Moritz is home to which famous toboggan track?
4) In relation to judo, what would one do with a judogi?
5) How many players take part in a typical cricket match?
Food and drink
1) What colour is the tractor symbol denoting food quality in the UK?
2) Tofu is made using which legume?
3) Which cookery term means to fry quickly in a little hot fat?
4) What confection mixes sugar or honey, roasted nuts and whipped egg white?
5) The name of which spirit originates from the Dutch for ‘burnt wine’?
Music
1) Sir Adrian Boult was associated with a number of orchestras in what capacity?
2) What was the last UK act to win the Eurovision Song Contest?
3) Which low-toned brass instrument’s name is Latin for ‘trumpet’?
4) In which Austrian city was Mozart born?
5) Which goddess proved a hit for Bananarama?
Stage and screen
1) Which musical features the song Luck be a Lady?
2) Which cartoon character would you expect to hear say ‘Yabba dabba doo’?
3) Which actress starred in the 2015 film adaptation of Far From the Madding Crowd?
4) Which small mammal features in the title of a Shakespeare play?
5) What is the surname of the family in Mary Poppins?
©Entertainment Pictures / Alamy
We wish you a merry Christmas
1) How many ghosts appear in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol?
2) At what time is The Queen’s Speech usually broadcast on Christmas Day?
3) In the film Home Alone, where is the McCallister family going on holiday?
4) On what date do the 12 days of Christmas start?
5) Traditionally, how many of Father Christmas’s reindeer have names beginning with the letter D?
Scrooge and Marley by Arthur Rackham.
Good enough to eat…? Name the British dish
Literature
1) ‘There and Back Again’ is the subtitle of which children’s novel?
2) What word is repeated by Edgar Allan Poe’s raven?
3) Who wrote the 1987 novel The Bonfire of the Vanities?
4) Which poem in Old English features a monster called Grendel?
5) Which Devon village is named after a Charles Kingsley novel?
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary…” From ‘The Raven’ by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849); illustration by Edmund Dulac (1882-1953).
History
1) In old money, what was a five-shilling piece known as?
2) In 1913, which make of car became the first to be mass-produced on an assembly line?
3) To which island was Napoleon Bonaparte first exiled?
4) During which war did the Battle of Marston Moor take place?
5) Who was the longest-reigning British king?
Windsor Castle from the Long Walk.
Science
1) What is the name for a substance made up of two or more elements?
2) In which part of the body would you find the amygdala?
3) In astronomy, what is a falling star more properly known as?
4) Which metal is the best conductor of electricity?
5) Which planet in our solar system has only one moon?
Name that (Christmas) tune… purely from the lyrics
1) ‘May your days be merry and bright’
2) ‘Me? I guess I was a shoulder to cry on’
3) ‘Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet’
4) ‘You’ll be doing alright/With your Christmas of white’
5) ‘And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy’
Christmas Quiz 2021: The Answers
If you’ve finished, get the Country Life Christmas Quiz 2021 answers here.
