Quiz: How well do you know Christmas carols?

11. Which English king is said to have created a tradition that continues to this day when he stood on hearing his first performance of the “Hallelujah Chorus”?
a) Henry VIII 
b) Charles II 
c) George II 
d) William of Orange

12. What carol’s composer was the uncle of famed Wall Street financier J. P. Morgan?
a) “Jingle Bells” 
b) “O Little Town of Bethlehem”
c) “Go Tell It on the Mountain” 
d) “Ye Nations All, On You I Call”

13. In Bob and Doug Mackenzie’s hit parody of the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, what do they substitute for the partridge in the pear tree?
a) A pound of back bacon  
b) A turtleneck  
c) A beer  
d) A comic book

14. In what unusual location was Richard Smith when he wrote the lyrics to the holiday favourite “Winter Wonderland” in 1934?
a) An amusement park   
b) A tuberculosis sanatorium 
c) A public restroom  
d) A grocery store check-out line

15. Which famous duet released the song “Christmas Eve Can Kill You” in 1972?
a) The Everley Brothers  
b) Sonny and Cher      
c) Captain and Tennille    
d) Donnie and Marie

16. How old was Gayla Peevey when she recorded the novelty song “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” in 1953?
a) 6       
b) 8       
c) 10       
d) 12

17. According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, the earliest Canadian carol to be published was probably J. P. Clarke’s “A Canadian Christmas Carol.”  In what year did it first appear?
a) 1653      
b) 1753      
c) 1853       
d) 1953

18. In the first verse of “The Boar’s Head Carol” which spices are said to bedeck the head?
a) Thyme and basil 
b) Bay and rosemary 
c) Mint and oregano 
d) Pepper and saffron

19. What popular medieval carol is sung by the clerk in “The Miller’s Tale,” which is part of Geoffrey Chaucer’s classic poem The Canterbury Tales?
a) “Verbum supernum, prodiens” 
b) “Veni, Redemptor gencium” 
c) “Criste, Redemptor omnium” 
d) “Angelus ad Virginem”

20. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” was introduced in the movie Meet Me in St. Louis, which was set in the time of the World’s Fair in that city. What year was it?
a) 1898 
b) 1903 
c) 1917 
d) 1939

Answers
1. d) Bethlehem has no port; 2. b) Deer; 3. c) Brown ale; 4. d) The rosemary tree; 5. c) Milkmaids; 6. b) “Vive le Vent”; 7. c) “Pat-a-Pan”; 8. a) “I Wonder as I Wander”  ; 9. d) 1965; 10. d) Dublin; 11. c) George II; 12. a) “Jingle Bells”; 13. c) A beer; 14. b) A tuberculosis sanatorium; 15. a) The Everley Brothers; 16. c) 10; 17. c) 1853; 18. b) Bay and rosemary; 19. d) “Angelus ad Virginem”; 20. b) 1903 

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Excerpted from Quizmas Carols by Gordon Pape and Deborah Kerbel. Copyright 2007 Gordon Pape Enterprises Ltd. Excerpted with permission of Penguin Group (Canada).