Nutcrackers, Grinches and Vanessa Paradis – take the Christmas Thursday quiz

Vanessa Paradis at a Chanel show this month. Photograph: Julien M Hekimian/Getty Images For Chanel

Two days until Christmas, eh? Why not put aside your last-minute panic-buying, your anxiety about whether the day will go well, and your distress that nothing seems as magical as it did when you were a kid by doing the Thursday quiz? Fifteen questions on topical and general knowledge, with a few of our beloved regulars like Kate Bush, Ron from Sparks and 🎶Ding dong merrily on high 🎶 the anagrams are back. Let us know how you get on in the comments, and we are sure this week you will definitely all spot the hidden Doctor Who reference.

The Thursday quiz, No 35

1. 

   ON THIS DAY: 23 December 1947 is generally considered the day the very first transistor was demonstrated. It would go on to transform radios, televisions, and facilitate the device you are currently doing this quiz on. But where was it demonstrated?

   1. Sony, Japan

   2. Nasa, Florida

   3. Philips, the Netherlands

   4. Bell Labs, New Jersey

2. 

   HAPPY BIRTHDAY: It was Vanessa Paradis' birthday yesterday. Joyeux anniversaire, Vanessa! But what was her biggest chart hit single in the UK?

   1. Sunday Mondays

   2. Just as Long as You Are There

   3. Be My Baby

   4. Joe Le Taxi

3. 

   WORDPLAY: What is Arthur Wynne often credited with inventing in 1913?

   1. Anagrams

   2. Crosswords

   3. Scrabble

   4. A European Super League™

4. 

   ANAGRAM TIME: You love it. One of these four people has never been the chancellor of either Germany or West Germany. Which one? Enjoy!

   1. Ken glee alarm

   2. Oh hulk melt

   3. Writ blandly

   4. Absent lite vesta

5. 

   WHAT A GAMBLE: Macau is a special administrative region of China, which was handed over to Chinese control in 1999, and is now absolutely full of casinos. It had been leased since 1557 to which colonial power?

   1. Spain

   2. Portugal

   3. France

   4. England

6. 

   BLOWING THINGS UP, BUT AT SEA: Hosho, which is not the aircraft carrier in the picture, was commissioned in 1922 as the very first ship designed to carry aircraft. But which country built it?

   1. Japan

   2. China

   3. Soviet Union

   4. Korea

7. 

   IT IS ALL CHRISTMAS QUESTIONS FROM HERE ON IN: Where are you MOST likely to hear someone wish you a Merry Christmas by saying "Nollaig Shona Duit"?

   1. Iceland

   2. Ireland

   3. Finland

   4. Bulgaria

8. 

   SUCH A CLATTER: No Christmas Eve is complete in the quiz master's house without a bedtime reading of the poem A Visit from St Nicholas, often better known by its opening line, 'Twas The Night Before Christmas. But who is widely credited with writing it?

   1. Clement Clarke Moore

   2. William Topaz McGonagall

   3. Ralph Waldo Emerson

   4. Paul Neil Milne Johnstone

9. 

   FESTIVE BALLET CHEER: Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker is based on which story originally written by ETA Hoffmann?

   1. The Nutcracker and the Soldier

   2. The Nutcracker and the Princess

   3. The Nutcracker and the Mouse King

   4. The Nutcracker and the Robots of Death

10. 

    HIPPOPOTAMUS: That's a 2017 song by Sparks about someone finding a series of curious items in their swimming pool. But that's not important right now. The question is, in Hazel Edwards' Christmas version of her famous book, the hippopotamus on the roof is eating what?

    1. Plum pudding

    2. Christmas Cake

    3. Mince pies

    4. Santa Claus

11. 

    GRINCHES OF HISTORY: In which year did the joyless wonders of the English Parliament pass an Ordinance confirming the abolition of the feasts of Christmas, Easter and Whitsun?

    1. 1607

    2. 1647

    3. 1667

    4. 1697

12. 

    MUSIC: Who had a massive Christmas hit single in the UK that starts "Snow is falling / All around me / Children playing / Having fun"

    1. Cliff Richard

    2. Shakin' Stevens

    3. Mud

    4. Kate Bush

13. 

    ENSEMBLE CASTS: Can you identify the famous Christmas movie from these supporting cast members – Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott and Mara Wilson?

    1. Miracle on 34th Street

    2. Elf

    3. It's A Wonderful Life

    4. Die Hard

14. 

    CHRISTMAS NOT REALLY VERY SCIENCE CORNER: In 2017 students at the University of Leicester presented a paper calculating how fast Santa Claus would have to travel on Christamas Eve to deliver presents to children all around the world. What was their conclusion?

    1. 0.5% the speed of light

    2. 100,000 mph

    3. 10,000,000 per hour

    4. 167,000 kph

15. 

    TRUE OR FALSE: This is part of the coat of arms for Lapland?

    1. True

    2. False

Solutions

1:D - Bell Labs is the research arm of American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T). The three individuals credited with the invention of the transistor were William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain, 2:D - It was her debut single in the UK, which reached No 3 in the singles chart in 1987. Be My Baby, her other big hit, which was produced and co-written by Lenny Kravitz, reached No 6 in 1992, 3:B - His Word-Cross puzzle for the New York World newspaper is credited with inventing the format. The name was apparently later changed to crossword due to a printing error, which stuck, 4:D - He might be a good driver, but Sebastian Vettel has never been chancellor. Your other options, of course, because you definitely took time to work them out rather than smashing a random button, were Angela Merkel, Helmut Kohl and Willy Brandt, 5:B - It was a Portuguese colony. It is now one of the few places in China where gambling is legal, and not only the home to a series of super-casinos, but also really massive snails for some reason, 6:A - She was used to test the innovation of carrying warplanes on a ship, and eventually saw combat in the 1930s. However, her small size meant she wasn't able to contribute much to battle situations, and so she was quite quickly retired. However the principle had been proven, 7:B - I mean, that's not to say there aren't Irish speakers in those other countries, but on balance that is where you will most likely hear it, 8:A - It was published anonymously in 1823 and then subsequently credited to Moore. There is a theory that it was in fact written by a New Yorker called Major Henry Livingston Jr instead. But he wasn't an option for you, so we'll have no pedantry here!, 9:C - In German it is called Nussknacker und Mausekönig. It was written in 1816 by the Prussian author, and then in 1892 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky along with Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov turned Alexandre Dumas's adaptation of the story into the ballet, 10:B - Of course it is. Australian author Hazel Edwards has written more than two hundred books, so naturally there is a Christmas version of There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake. You can tell by his face that Ron from Sparks thinks you should have known that., 11:B - It was during the so-called Long Parliament from 1640–49 that Oliver Cromwell and others prohibited worship and religious celebrations on any other day other than your regular Sunday church gathering thus outlawing fun. Political correctness gone mad, etc, etc, 12:B - Written by Bob Heatlie and produced by Dave Edmunds, it was the fourth and last No 1 single for Shakin' Stevens in the UK and was Christmas No 1 in 1985. It now regularly charts again every December, 13:A - The presence of the incomparable Mara Wilson on the list might have tipped you off that this was the 1994 version of Miracle on 34th Street which features Richard Attenborough as Kris Kringle. Also please note it doesn't matter whether you think Die Hard is a Christmas movie or not. It was the wrong answer anyway, although I'm sure one of you will start arguing about it in the comments, 14:A - Improbably, they calculated that to visit their estimated 715 million Christian children in 238m households in the time available, 0.5% of the speed of light was required, or roughly 3,350,000mph. Their course leader, Dr Mervyn Roy, a lecturer in the university’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, said: 'The aim of the module is for the students to learn about peer review and scientific publishing. The students are encouraged to be imaginative with their topics, and find ways to apply basic physics to the weird, the wonderful and the everyday.' Whatever, 15:A - It only is. Imagine that heathbeast climbing down your chimney on Saturday! Have a great holiday and a Merry Christmas and the quiz will return next week!

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   We hope you had fun and wish you all the best for Christmas and the holiday season!

2. 4 and above.

   We hope you had fun and wish you all the best for Christmas and the holiday season!

• If you do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers, please feel free to email martin.belam@theguardian.com but remember, the quiz master’s word is always final, and you don’t want him sneaking down your chimney late at night. Also he is on holiday so isn’t looking at his email.