It’s that magical time of year again! So eyes down every one, as we unleash this year’s Christmas Quiz. Good luck! The answers are below...

The first few questions are all about people born on the very same day.

First, I’ll give the date itself then a brief fact about each person. A point for each you can identify! Their initials are included afterwards to help you…

1. February 12, 1809
a) (Born: Kentucky, USA): US president born in a log cabin (AL)
b) (Born: Shrewsbury, UK): Sailed on the HMS Beagle (CD)

2. August 29, 1958
a) (Born: Dudley, UK). Played Gareth Blackstock in the 1990s BBC sitcom, Chef (LH)
b) (Born: Indiana): One of the famous Five who did Blame It On The Boogie (MJ)

3. October 22, 1938
a) (Born: Leytonstone, UK): Theatrical knight. Starred in I, Claudius (DJ)
b) (Born: Connecticut, USA): Played Doc Brown in Back To The Future (CL)

Midweek Herald: Can you remember who played Doc Brown in Back to the Future?Can you remember who played Doc Brown in Back to the Future? (Image: Archant)

4. May 19, 1925
a) (Born: Kampong Thom, Cambodia). Brutal dictator. Leader of the Khmer Rouge (PP)
b) (Born: Nebraska, USA): Leading figure in the Nation of Islam. Assassinated in 1965 (MX)

5. July 20, 1938
a) (Born: San Francisco, USA): Film star: Rebel Without A Cause, The Searchers, West Side
Story (NW)
b) (Born: Doncaster, UK): Briefly married 007 in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (DR)

6. October 13, 1925
a) (Born: New York, USA): Controversial comedian refused entry to the UK in 1963 (LB)
b) (Born: Grantham, UK): MP for Finchley. Twin children born Mark and Carol (MT)

7. Two people born in the same month! April 1889.
a) (Born: London, UK, April 16): Starred as The Great Dictator. Died on Christmas Day,
1977 (CC)
b) (Born: Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary, April 20): Lived as a tramp after being twice
rejected for Vienna Fine Arts School (AH)

8. Also, born in the same month: May 1903.
a) (Born: Washington, USA. May 3) Co-starred in the ‘Road To…’ series of comedy movies.
Famously recorded the song, ‘White Christmas’ (BC)
b) (Born: London, UK. May 29) Also co-starred in the ‘Road To…’ movies. Died aged 100.
(BH)

9. Who was crowned King of England on Christmas Day?

10. Who wrote and illustrated the festive favourite, The Snowman?

11. A hard one! Name the Three Wise Men.

12. And what three gifts did they bring? (Easier! Although not easy to spell!)

13. What was the name of Scrooge’s business partner (deceased)?

14. Whose book, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, was published in 1957?

15. Where was it 'always winter but never Christmas’?

16. Which 1868 novel begins, "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug?”

17. Which book was read out in full on Radio 4 by Stephen Fry on Boxing Day 2000?

18. An episode of which programme, broadcast on Christmas Day, 1986, was watched by 30.15 million people, the highest recorded figure for any TV programme shown in the UK ever?

19. Which monarch delivered the first ever annual Christmas Message broadcast in the UK?

20. In which year was the Queen’s Christmas Message first broadcast on TV?

Merry Christmas everyone!

Midweek Herald: In what year did The Queen first deliver her speech on TV?In what year did The Queen first deliver her speech on TV? (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)

ANSWERS

1a) Abraham Lincoln b) Charles Darwin 2a) Lenny Henry b) Michael Jackson 3a) Derek Jacobi b)
Christopher Lloyd 4a) Pol Pot b) Malcolm X 5a) Natalie Wood b) Diana Rigg 6a) Lenny Bruce b)
Margaret Thatcher 7a) Charlie Chaplin (who famously played ‘The Tramp’ on screen) (b) Adolf Hitler
(a dictator himself). 8a) Bing Crosby b) Bob Hope 9) William the Conqueror in 1066 10) Raymond
Briggs 11) Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar 12) Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh 13) Jacob Marley 14) Dr
Seuss (Theodor Geisel) 15) Narnia 16) Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott 17) Harry Potter and the
Philosopher’s Stone 18) EastEnders 19) King George V (on the radio in 1932) 20) 1957