christmas Trivia Quiz # 329

Cuba's independence came on May 20, 1902. Hirohito became Emperor on the death of his father, Yoshihito. He was to be the longest reigning Emperor of Japan.

The Met Office is the main weather-forecasting organisation in the UK. With the big bets put on the occurrence or otherwise of a "white Christmas" in London, this monitoring is done, but a number of Met Office workers take shifts.

Christmas Day actually falls in the middle of a warm spell in London and there were only 10 White Christmases there between 1900 and 2000.

Lacie Chabert's character Dana Mathis is a wealthy snobbish girl. When the power goes out in the house, Dana reluctantly goes to check it out. However, when she starts to go under the porch, insane killer Agnes grabs her and pulls her under. They struggle for a minute but Agnes grabs a cultivator claw and hits Dana in the back of the head with it, killing her.

Everytime Scrooge makes a selfish or unkind remark in his presence, the spirit reminds him to drink more milk of human kindness.

For some reason this carol never made it big! I remember hearing it not too long after the Star Wars movie was out, but it soon faded away.

Southwell was born in Norfolk and was ordained a priest of the Jesuit order in Paris. His career was destined to last less than ten years; he returned to England at the height of the persecution of recusant Catholics under Elizabeth. Southwell stated his objections to the Anglican Church in a treatise presented to the queen entitled “An Humble Supplication to Her Majesty”, a document which resulted in his imprisonment. In 1595, at the age of 33, he was hanged as a traitor.



“The Burning Babe” is the best-known of Southwell’s poems; it uses strikingly dramatic imagery to describe a vision of the Christ Child:

“As I in hoary winter's night stood shivering in the snow,

Surprised I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;

And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,

A pretty babe all burning bright did in the air appear”



The child describes himself as a furnace, fueled by love, in which men’s souls are purged of their sins. At the end of the poem, the child vanishes, and the narrator recalls that it is Christmas day.

During the reading from the gospel, about the people going to pay their taxes, Bunny called out, "Well, so what? All the world *should* have been taxed!" Funny. Also, rude.

Bach wrote the work during his period as Kantor of St Thomas Church in Leipzig. These days the six cantatas are normally played as a complete set. Bach, however, originally wrote them to be performed singly, on different holy days between Christmas Day and Epiphany.

"Alexander called and grandpa said I couldn't come to the phone because I was going to the bathroom." -Audrey Griswold

This is during the money song, when Princeton is trying to raise money to build Kate's monster school. They end up actually getting the money for it from Trekkie.