Christmas Quiz

It's that time of year again, folks! Crackers, missile toe & stockings hung by the fireplace. However it just wouldn't be christmas without a quiz! Answers posted at the end of the week.

1. How many New Testament gospels does the nativity story appear in?

All

None 

Just two

2. Which is the original language of the New Testament?

Greek 

Hebrew

Aramaic

3. What does the name "Jesus" mean in Greek?

Anointed One

Savior

Son of god

4. What does the name "Christ" mean in Greek?

Anointed One

Savior

Son of god

5. What does the Greek word "τεκνος" for Jesus' profession translate as?

Carpenter

Stonecutter

Artisan

6. What does the name "Mary" mean in Hebrew?

Virgin

Mother

Rebel

7. What does the word "Angel" mean in Greek?

Messenger

Wise man

Good news

8. What does the English word "Christmas" mean?

More of Christ

The mass of Christ

The birth of Christ

9. What does the abbreviation "Xmas" mean?

The same as Christmas

An informal term for Christmas

An atheist name for Christmas  

10. Who banned Christmas?

Hitler

Constantine 

Cromwell

11. Where does the tradition of Christmas trees come from?

Germany

Canada

Russia

12. What did they represent? 

Freedom

Survival

Harmony with nature

13. Santa Claus is a character syncreticised from:

Jupiter & Jesus

Odin & Saint Nicolas

Saint Nicolas & Thor 

14. What is the average age when kids stop believing in Santa?

Seven 

Nine

Eleven

15. What day is the winter solstice 2015 on?

20th

21st

22nd

16. Which deity was NOT claimed to have been born at the winter solstice?

Vishnu

Horus

Jesus

17. How did the Romans celebrate the Saturnalia?

Peace was declared

The emperor gave presents

Slaves were freed

18. What are "los Reyes magos" known as in English?

The three kings 

The three patriarchs

The three wise men

19. What is the traditional English Christmas dinner?

Roast beef

Roast chicken

Roast turkey

20. Which corporation redesigned Santa?

Pepsi 

Coca Cola

McDonalds

21. Why is the day after Christmas called Boxing Day?

Families start arguing

People open their presents

The sport Boxing was invented

22. How many reindeer does Santa have?

Six 

Eight

Ten

23. Which American cartoon show has a character based on cagar tio?

South Park

Family Guy

The Simpsons

24. Who sang "All I want for Christmas"?

Celine Dion

Marian Carey

Tina Turner

25. Who sang "Lonely this Christmas"?

Bing Crosby

Cliff Richard

Elvis Presley

26. Who sang "Little Drummer Boy?"?

Frank Sinatra

Elton John

Dean Martin

27. Who sang "Last Christmas"?

Status Quo

Wham

Spandau Ballet

28. Who starred in "Its a wonderful Life"?

James Stewart

Laurence Olivier

Paul Newman

29. Which Home Alone movie was set at Christmas?

Home Alone 1

Home Alone 2

Both

30. Which Ghostbusters movie was set at Christmas?

Ghostbusters 1

Ghostbusters 2

Both

31. Which Christmas character did Jim Carrey NOT play?

Ebenezer Scrooge

The Grinch

Santa Claus

32. Which Christmas film starred Arnold  Schwarzenegger?

Jingle All the Way

Jack Frost

Miracle on 34th street

Are you ready? Here are the answers...

1. B (Mathew & Luke)
2. A
3. A 
4. B (meaning baptised or initiated)
5. B (not like in Hollywood!)
6. C (why Jesus knew so many Marys!)
7. A
8. B (christ's mass)
9. A (commonly thought to be atheist, really it means Χριστός)
10. C (a puritan who wanted a non pagan holiday season)
11. A (Queen Victoria brought the idea to England)
12. C (a symbol of good luck to get through the cold of winter)
13. B
14. A
15. C
16. A
17. C 
18. C
19. C
20. B 
21. B (people used to go to church on 25th and leave presents until 26th)
22. B (not including Rudolf!)
23. A (Mr. Hanky)
24. B
25. C
26. A
27. B
28. A
29. C
30. B
31. C
32. A

English History

Have a look at the kids' video project on the history of England. Covering all the major people and events from the Norman conquest to the Spanish Armada.

The Wars of The Roses

The Wars of the Roses took place in England between the years 1455 and 1487. In those times England was not a united country but divided between rival members of the Plantagenet family, whose rule were based in the cities of York and Lancaster. It was called the Wars of the Roses as the two factions took different coloured roses as their respective symbols. The house of Lancaster had a red rose while the house of York had a white one. 

Richard III

Richard III was the final king of the Plantagenet dynasty. He came from the city of York and was known as Richard of Gloucester before becoming king. 

The final battle of the War of the Roses took place between Richard and his rival Henry Tudor at Bosworth field in the year 1485. 

The battle was won by Henry which marked the end of the Wars of the Roses and the rule of the Plantagenet kings. According to Shakespeare Richard was heard lamenting “.... my kingdom for a horse!!!” before dying at the end of the battle.

After Richard’s death he was demonized by the new dynasty and it is very difficult to tell fact from fiction. Richard’s body disappeared and it’s location passed into the realm of myth. We can see this propaganda quite clearly in the work of William Shakespeare who wrote many plays about the period of the Wars of the Roses.

Check out the opening soliloquay from Laurence Olivier's rendition of Shakespeare's Richard III. It opens with the famous "Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer this son of York..."

Shakespeare also tells us the fate of Richard’s nephews, the princes who were his rivals for the crown. The two princes disappeared in mysterious circumstances and it was believed that they were imprisoned in the Tower of London and eventually executed.

How much of this is true? It’s common for a new king to say that his predecessor did terrible things, in order to legitimize his rule. However Richard’s body has recently been discovered in the city of Leicester near to where the battle of Bosworth took place. He had been buried in the church of Blackfriars, which was later destroyed by Henry VIII, but the foundations remained. The location where Richard’s body was found is now a car park in the city centre! 

Interestingly enough, the back bone of his skeleton shows clear signs of the medical condition known as scoliosis which would have accounted for his supposed deformity. 

The End of the Wars of the Roses

Henry was crowned king and he became known as Henry VII. After the War of the Roses the victorious  Tudor family used a red and white rose as a symbol of peace. 

Tudor England

The new dynasty ruled England for many years and included famous kings and queens such as:

Henry VIII

Ruled from 1509 until 1547. He had a grant total of six wives during his life time, the first of which being the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon. He is the king responsible for the Church of England, changing the national religion to Protestantism.

Here's the trailer for the first series of The Tudors with a very different Henry VIII!

Elizabeth I

Ruled from 1558 until 1603. She was Henry VIII’s daughter and ruled during the golden age of England, known as the Elizabethan period, which produced many great artists, musicians and dramatists such as Shakespere. She was queen at the time of the attempted invasion force of the Spanish Armada sent by king Phillip II in the year 1588. 

It’s a great irony that her father married so many times as he wanted to have a son to follow him as king, yet it was his daughter who was responsible for the English golden age!

Let's end with a bit of comedy. This is Elizabeth I as she appeared in the popular BBC series Black Adder. It's the age of discovery and Black Adder has just got back from a voyage to the new world, but he seems to have gotten lost! Where have they really been?

St. George's Day

It's saint George's day yet again so we're going to put on our clogs (wooden shoes) and have a go at the traditional Morris dance! George is the patron saint of England, despite never actually having visited the place. 

April the 23rd is also international book day due to the fact that both Shakespere and Cervantes died on this date (however not on the same day as Spain and England were using different calendars) Let's see what you know about world literature... Answers will be posted by the end of the week.

Saint George’s day Literature quiz.

Ancient Literature.

The story of the famous Trojan horse appears in which epic poem?

The Iliad, Homer

The works & Days, Hesiod

The Aeneid, Virgil

Which of the following was not a writer?

Aristotle

Socrates

Plato

Which text was written to guide the human soul through the afterlife?

The Tibetan Book of the Dead

The Egpytian Book of the Dead 

The Dead Sea Scrolls

Which Gospel starts "In the beginning was the word..."

Matthew

Luke 

John

Which is the earliest version of the Flood?

Dekelion 

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Genesis

The Upanishads are the sacred literature of

Tibet

India

Arabia

English Literature.

"Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven" are the famous words from which poet?

John Milton
William Shakespeare
Geoffrey Chaucer

What is the premise of George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman?

Hell is where the good people go
Heaven is impossible to attain
There is an open door between Heaven and Hell

Which of the Bronte sisters wrote Jane Eyre?

Charlotte 

Emily

Anne

Which book was written by D.H Lawrence?

Bleak House

Lady Chatterley’s Lover

Sense and Sensibility

In which of Shakespeare’s works do we find the famous speech, “All the world is a stage”?

As You Like It

Othello

Hamlet

What do we learn from Oscar Wilde's novel “The Portrait of Dorian Gray”?

That power corrupts

That death comes to us all

That works of art cannot moralize

French Literature.

Who said that “Hell is other people”?

Emile Zola

Charles Baudelaire

Jean Paul Sartre

The protagonist in Albert Camus’ novel L’etranger is condemned to death because...

He has commited murder

He doesn’t follow the conventions of society

He doesn’t believe in god

Russian Literature.

Which of the following was written by IvanTurgenev?

War & Peace

Fathers & Sons

Crime & Punishment

Which novel by Dostoyevsky contains the famous dictum “If god doesn’t exist then everything is permitted”?

The Brothers Karamazov

Notes from underground

Crime & Punishment

Italian Literature.

What does Machiavelli proclaim in “The Prince”?

That professional soldiers are the most loyal

That a leader should lie if necessary

That Kings are better leaders than Popes

Which Renaissance painter also wrote the lives of his fellow artists?

Giorgio Vasari

Michelangelo Buonarotti

Benvenuto Cellini

German Literature.

Which German composer influenced the early writings of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche?

Richard Strauss

Ludwig Van Beethoven 

Richard Wagner

Who wrote a ficticious account of the life of the Buddha?

Thomas Mann

Herman Hesse

Gunter Grass

In Franz Kafka’s short story The Metamorphosis, what creature does Gregoryfind himself transformed into?

A beetle

A fly

We don’t know

In Wolfgang Von Goethe’s Faust, to whom does Doctor Faust sell his soul?

Mephisto

Satan

Lucifer

Spanish Literature.

In Jorge Luis Borges short story, what is special about the book of sand?

It contains everything ever written

It is infinite

It represents the readers dreams

There are many different versions of architypical character Don Juan. Whose version has a happy ending?

Tirso de Molina’s

Jose Zorilla’s

Lord Byron’s

Who wrote La Vida del Buscon/ Paul the Swindler?

Francisco de Quevedo

Luis de Gongora

Lope de Vega

What is the oldest known literary work in the Spanish language?

El Conde Lucanor

El Libro de Buen Amor

Poema del Mio Cid

Catalan Literature

Who is the survivor of the sea battle at the beginning of L'Atlantida?

Hernando Cortes
Christopher Columbus
Miguel Cervantes

What was Ramon Llull's position towards Islam?

Destroy the infidel
Peaceful co-existance
Understand your enemy