The Boxing Day Teaser — 26-12-2012

Gaaaaaaaaah … !

THAT … was a LONG day!   No, really!

But that’s Christmas for you.   If it’s not a long day, you’re probably doing something wrong.

After all, right now, I know I’ve a post to put up about yesterday’s Dr Who special.

AND I’ve also got to wear a certain pair of socks.   Bless him my nephew, Jude — happily playing with the toy garage he was given for Christmas, yesterday* — managed to bag those for me.

Bless ’im … !

Hmmm … 

Let’s get moving on, shall we?

I’d like to start playing with my new iPod … !

~~~~~

Yesterday’s Teaser saw both Debbi and Andy putting in their answers.   With both scoring 5 out of 5º, it also saw Andy receiving the traditional round of applause for doing a rough job on Xmas Day, and Debbi telling us about THIS postª.

But let’s see how they — and you — do with today’s questions, shall we?

Here they are, along with the ‘How To’, License and video … 

Q1) 26th December is — obviously — Boxing Day.   It’s also the feast of which Saint … ?

Q2) It’s also —  in the Irish Republic — the Day of the Wren: which pre-decimal English coin had a wren on the back … ?

Q3) Who became the first Afro-American to win the World Heavyweight Boxing champion, on Boxing Day, 1908 … ?

Q4) Which two Commonwealth countries usually start Test Cricket matches on Boxing Day … ?

Q5) And FINALLY … UK football teams usually play what on Boxing Day:  charity matches, cup finals, or matches against local rivals.

And here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) Christmas Day is the traditional date of Jesus’ birth.   In which year was this … ?A1) There’s no one year: instead historians suggest — at most — anywhere from 7 to 2 BC.

Q2) More to the point, Jesus’ birth was supposed to be during the reign of which Jewish king … ?A2) Herod the Great.

Q3) Equally to the point, the Ethiopian Church celebrates Christmas Day, when … ?A3) 25th December.   Although, as this is using a modified version of the Julian calendar, it usually falls around 6/7 January.   (It’s ALSO still 2005, in that calendar.)

Q4) In which year of the 1640s did Cromwell’s Parliament ban celebrating Christmas Day … ?A4) 1647.

Q5) And finally … Name either of the Gospels that give accounts of Jesus’ birth.A5) Matthew and Luke.

Enjoy those, everyone.

I’ll leave you with this appropriately arcane quote from Punch, about today.

“Boxing Day. I hope it will be made clear on this foggy anniversary of it to every foreigner who is passing his first Christmas in London, and who may have read that la boxe has been put down in this country, that the shops are not closed and a holiday given to those employed therein to enable them to spend Boxing Day in fist-fighting, an old English sport and pastime not now kept up, except under the influence of an excess of liquor, Pugilism being mainly restricted to conflicts on the question of who was the architect of the Houses of Parliament.”

From a 1968 edition of Punch.

And with Living in a Box, by Living in a Box … 

Oh and a rather punchy little tune from Jo Boxers … 

And a final knockout from LL Cool J … 

*        Actually … ?   I wouldn’t mind one of those, myself … It makes all SORTS of noises, when you push the cars through the carwash … !

º        Well, it was Christmas.

ª        Nice piece of work, there, Debbi: that Mr Peanut must’ve been a touch scary … !