Christmas Questions

Below are printed the answers to the Christmas Questions pub, fished in the Spectator of December 21st.

I. a. Calcobar (" Iskander " by J. E. Flecker). b. "In the High- lands, in the country places" (R. L. Stevenson). c. In the Woods of Westermain (Meredith). d. At Madingley (" Grantchester " by Rupert Brooke). e. In "the mysterious city of Bikaneer " (Kim. ICipling). f. On Whitehall Gate (" The Armada," Macaulay).

2. a. Snowdrop. b. Baldness. c. Chinese Lantern. d. Punning.

e. Common Cold. f. Glow-worm. g. Flamboyant. h. Spinal curvature. i. Star of Bethlehem. j. Laziness.

3. a. Rolls-Royce. The only perfect square in the motor era is 1936, the square of 44. The only English car rated at 44 h.p. was the 40/50 Rolls-Royce, still being made in 1936. b. 533 (200 are divisible by 5; 333 are divisible by 3; 66 are divisible by both 5 and 3 • 1000 – (200 + 333 7-66)=533. c. 48 years. 16 and 64 are the only possible numbers. d. 9 to 2. In whatever place Sir Galahad sits, Sir Lancelot can Occupy one of nine not next to him, and one of two next to him. e. 745. (31 x 24 plus 1). The clocks were put back, and therefore there was an extra hour. f. The game is Rugby Football. The series represents the number of ways in which 1, 2, 3, etc., points can be scored. It is assumed that 3 points can be kored by (1) a try, (2) a dropped goal, (3) a penalty goal, (4) a goal from a mark. The series continues as follows: 10, 35, 4, 20, 57.

4.. a. Haydn, Symphony No. 55 in E_Flat. b. Carl Nielson, Symphony No.. 4. c. Schubert, Piano Quartet, Op. 114. d. Purcell, Sonata No. 9 in F ma. e. Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 3. f. Dvorak, String Quartet in F ma., Op. 96. g. Tschaikovsky, Symphony No. 3.

5. a. Dolmen—a cromlech. Dolman—a cloak or cape. b. Nocturn—a former division of the psalter ; see notice at the beginning of the Book of Common Prayer. Nocturne—a piece of music suggesting night. c. Ballad—a simple song or poem, usually traditional. Ballade—a poem of one or more triplets of 7- or 8-line stanzas each ending with a refrain, and envoy. d. Aryan—original Indo-European language, or supposed race of men descended from speakers of that tongue. Arian—follower of the heretical doctrine of Arius (4th Cent. A.D.). e. Victoria—light open four-wheeled carriage. Victorine—a fur tippet fastened at the neck and having two loose ends hanging down. f. Solipsism—the doctrine that a man can know nothing outside himself. Solecism—a flagrant offence against grammar, idiom or etiquette ; from Soli, an Athenian colony in Cilicia, whose inhabitants were supposed to be prone to such errors.

6. a. They give their names to the six Heralds. b. Counties Palatine. c. Their Bishops always have seats in the House of Lords. d. Their chief magistrates (Lord Mayor or Lord Provost) are entitled to the prefix "Right Honourable." 7. a. Dixon. (The Mason and Dixon line divided the Slave and Free States in America.) b. Fogg. (Pickwick Papers.) c. James. (Gilbert and Sullivan, Patience.) d. Rice. (Victorian novelist collaborators.) e. Shrewsbury. (Famous Notts opening batsmen.) f. Brown. (First airmen to cross the Atlantic.) Bowser. (Manu- facturers of butter-scotch.) h. Collard. (Piano, manufacturers.) i. Brady. (Authors of metrical version of the Psalms.) j. Lyle. (Sugar.) k. His Dinah. (Popular song.) 8. a. Robert Lowe. b. Disraeli. c. William Pitt. d. The Duke of Wellington. e. Winston Churchill. f. Jesse Collings.

9. a. . . . the murmuring pines and the hemlocks (Longfellow, "Evangeline "). b. . . . Pindus, Padus, Eurus, Achivi. (Gender rhymes, Kennedy's Latin Primer.) c. . . . or the pencil or something of someone. (J. K. Stephen, "The Literary and Scientific Society.") d. . . • the strong-winged music of Homer ? (Tennyson.) e. . . . recubans sub tegmine fagi. (Vergil, Eclogue I, i.) f. ...They are married and gone to New Zealand. (Clough, " Bothie of Tober-na- Vuolich.")-

10. a. The basis of chewing-gum. b. Parched barley-meal, eaten in China and Tibet. c. "The stuff they feed' fools on." (Peter Simple, Captain Marryat.) d. The bark of a South American tree, used in tanning. e. Supposed dead men, resuscitated and made to work by magic in Haiti f. Camels. (Kipling, Barrack Room Ballads.) g. Koreans. (American army slang.) h. French Moroccap troops. i. A troll monster. (Ibsen, Peer Gynt.) j. Round tents used by Mongols.

11. a. Michael Finsbury, in The Wrong Box, by R. L. Stevenson.

b. Mark Twain. "The dictionary, says that a carbuncle is a jewel."

c. Charteris, in The Philanderer, by Bernard Shaw. d. Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga. e. Shakespeare, Sonnet No. 94. f. Hon. Ernest Woolley, in The Admirable Crichton, by J. M. Barrie. g. T. S. Eliot, "The Hollow Men."

12. a. Billiards. b. Cycling. c. Wrestling. d. Rugby Football.

e. Golf. f. Channel-swimming. g. Skating. h. Chess.

13. a. King of Hamath. b. King of Assyria. c. Nephew of Abraham. d. The man who, with Aaron, held up Moses' hands during the battle with .Amalek. e. Son of Ham. f. Father of Joshua. g. Father-in-law of Esau. h. Angel of the bottomless pit, in Revelations. i. Father of Caleb.

14. a. Henry Irving. b. Blondin. c. Mirabeau. d. Lord John Russell. e. Winston Churchill. f. Addington. g. Lord Panrnure. h. Lord Allenby.

15. a. Aberdour. (" Ballad of Sir Patrick Spens.") b. Bablock- hithe. (" The Scholar Gipsy," Matthew Arnold.) c. Namancos Bayona. (" Lycidas," Milton.) d. Sunium. (" The Isles of Greece," Byron.) e. Cov.entry. (" Godiva," Tennyson.) f. Uricon. ("A Shropshire Lad," A. E. Housman.) g. Gunfleet Sands. (" L'Envoi," Kipling.) h. Tmolus. (" Hymn of Pan," Shelley.) 16. a. In the "debateable land," a district outside the juris- diction of England and Scotland till it was divided between them in 1552. b. Among the satellites of Uranus. c. At Lahore. '(The "Wonder House" or Museum. Kim.) d. In South or Central Africa. A name for "Kitchen Kaffir," a vernacular derived from Bantu. e. Boston. "The home of the bean and the cod, Where the Lowells talk to the Cabots And the Cabots talk only to God."

f. "All these you find at Terre's tavern In that one dish of bouille- baisse." (Thackeray.) 17. a. Chopin. (Said by Schumann.) b. Haydn. (Said by Ingres.) c. Beethoven. (A voice from the gallery.) d. Berlioz. (Conversa- tion with a friend.) e. Stravinsky. (At the first performance of Sacre de Printemps in Paris. Said by the Countess de P.) f. Wagner, (Said by Nietzsche.) g. Elgar. (Said by himself.)