Don't cheat but here are the answers to our 2009 Country Life Christmas Quiz
1 Cambridge, founded in 1534, beats Oxford, which was founded in 1586 2 12 3 Roger Federer 4 It was the day when Christmas boxes (gifts of money) were given to servants 5 Pup 6 A London sweet-maker, Tom Smith, in 1847, who based it on the design of a French bon-bon. This failed to sell, and so he added the banging device to excite children and thus encourage sales 7 1957 8 Lithium 9 Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen-and Rudolph 10 Tony Blair-as much as £2,000 a minute 11 He's the villain in Moonraker 12 Gen Sir David Richards 13 On the wing 14 Hawaii 15 The first letter of the word Christ in Greek is Chi, which translates in our language to X. Xmas was, therefore, originally an ecclesiastical abbreviation that was used in tables and charts 16 The Beatles, with four 17 Leicestershire 18 Works hard for a living 19 Anchovies 20 A fictional character from Jilly Cooper's Rutshire Chronicles 21 Brazil 22 Swan 23 The English oak 24 King's School, Canterbury (ad 597) 25 Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas carols to encourage more serious sermon and prayer 26 The common buzzard 27 Two; one in 1938 and the other in 1976 28 George V was the first to broadcast a Christmas message, over the radio 29 The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dr John Sentamu 30 False 31 The Holy Days and Fasting Act of 1551 states that every British citizen must attend a Christian church service on Christmas Day. It's estimated that out of the 60 million people living in Britain, 57.4 million will ‘break the law' this year 32 Pope John XXIII 33 Theodore Roosevelt 34 Holly 35 1843 36 1814 37 Sir Edwin Lutyens 38 C-shaped 39 Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol 40 The Duke of Wellington 41 Florence Nightingale 42 Alabama, in 1836. Oklahoma was the last in 1907 43 1931 44 The Stone of Scone or Coronation Stone 45 Bird of prey; summer plumage 46 The word comes from Cristes Maesse, an old English phrase that actually means ‘mass of Christ' 47 A boar's head with mustard 48 The Gralloch 49 24 inches 50 Norway-it has been doing so since 1947 as a token of friendship for Britain's help to the Norwegian people in the Second World War
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Five of the National Trust's most outstanding paintings, as chosen by the curators who care for the charity’s world-class collection
