The Brentwood Gazette’s Weekly Teaser: Christmas!

It’s officially official: Christmas — Or Xmas, if that’s the bag you’re into — is here early.

OK, no: maybe not.

But what HAS arrived early … ?

Is both the Brentwood Gazette: and — funnily — the associated Christmas Teaser.

Here — covered by the usual Creative Commons License* — is this week’s questions and answers … 

Q1) Which King of England was crowned, on Christmas Day, 1066?

Q2) Which Roman nativity festival took place on 25th December?

Q3) In which of the New testament books of the Bible is the Baby Jesus visited by the Three Magi … ?

Q4) More to the point, what are the traditional names of those three Magi … ?

Q5) The earliest reference to the birth of Jesus being on the 25th of December is in a calendar for which year: 354AD, 356AD or 357AD?

Q6) Who made the headlines in 1906 by refusing Christmas dinner?

Q7) In the Gregorian calendar, 25th December, is on the 25th December.   Obviously.   When is the December 25th, in the Julian calendar, used by many Eastern Orthodox churches?

Q8) Christmas Day is the traditional date of Jesus’ birth.   In which year was this … ?

Q9) More to the point, Jesus’ birth was supposed to be during the reign of which Jewish king … ?

Q10) Name either of the Gospels that give accounts of Jesus’ birth.

And here’s last weeks questions and answers …

Questions.

Q1) 18th December, 1912, saw the announcement of the alleged discovery of Piltdown Man.   The man who announced the hoax was called Charles what: Dawson, Higson or Dixon … ?

Q2) The fake human ancestor was discovered in Piltdown.   Which was a small village in what was then which county: East Sussex, West Sussex or Mid-Sussex?

Q3) The hoax skull consisted of the upped part of a modern human, and the lower jawbone from which great ape: a gorilla, chimp or orangutan … ?

Q4) Piltdown Man was described as the missing … what … ?

Q5) Piltdown Man was finally exposed as a hoax in which year of the 1950s … ?

Q6) Which detective author was felt — by some — to be the man responsible for the hoax: Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Dorothy L. Sayers … ?

Q7) Mike Oldfield famously pretended to be Piltdown Man on which of his albums … ?

Q8) While we talking of hoaxes, the fake automatic chess player, famous in the 18th Century, was known as the Mechanical … what … ?

Q9) P. T. Barnum, the original Prince Of Humbug, famously exhibited the Feejee what: Mammoth, Mermaid or Monkey … ?

Q10) Finally … which Christian church’s holy book is felt by many to by a hoax, invented by its founder, Joseph Smith … ?

Answers.

A1) Charles Dawson.

A2) East Sussex.   (Mid-Sussex was merged into West Sussex in 1974.)

A3) An orangutan. (Pongo pygmaeus and Pongo abelii)

A4) Missing link.

A5) 1953.

A6) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

A7) ‘Tubular Bells’.   (The Piltdown Man section starts at  11 minutes, 57 in, on Side Two.   Just in case your interested … )

A8) The Mechanical Turk.

A9) Mermaid.

A10) The Mormons, or Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Enjoy those: and Happy Christmas, if we don’t speak before-hand.

*        Regulars will know already, but for newcomers … all it means is that you’re free to copy, use, alter and build on each of my quizzes: including the Teasers, Gazette Teasers and the Friday Question Sets.   All I ask in return is that you give me an original authors credit on your event’s flyers or posters, or on the night: and, if you republish them, give me an original authors credit AND republish under the same license.   A link back to the site — and to the Gazette’s, if that’s where you’ve found these — would be appreciated.