Quizmaster Time

[Originally published: 18th Dec 2022]

Hello readers! I was recently tasked with hosting a quiz for the office Christmas party, and I thought I’d share some of my favourite questions. Also, as my festive gift to you, I thought I’d share some cool rocks. Here you go.

What is that cool rock?

No, this isn’t one of my quiz questions – I’m not that cruel. These are some layered volcanic rocks from near the summit of Bowfell in the Lake District, and I’d be very impressed if you knew already knew that. I mean, you might have guessed the Lake District part. And you might have guessed the volcanic part, too. I suppose the layered part is also pretty obvious, now I think about it. But I doubt you knew it was Bowfell!

The layers themselves are mostly fine-grained sandstones, possibly with some layers of lavas or pyroclastic material (ashy bits) from explosive volcanic eruptions. Most of what we’re seeing, however, is made up of tiny fragments of volcanic rock that were eroded and worn down, probably by rivers, before being re-deposited in lovely layers. Aren’t they pretty?

Most of these layers are uniform and flat, but we can also see some which are bunched up and crumpled. These sorts of folds happen while the sediment is still soft and squidgy, often when slumping down a slope. At a guess I’d say these rocks were deposited in a river or lake at the foot of an ancient volcano – and by ancient, I mean 450 million years old. That’s way before Jesus. And way before someone thought that using Jesus’s birthday as a benchmark for age was a good idea.

Okay, now the quiz questions.

Q1: In most depictions of Santa’s sleigh, the reindeer all have antlers. Based on this fact, are Santa’s reindeer male or female?

Q2: Is the northern hemisphere closer to the sun in winter or in summer? 

Q3: How many gifts are given in total in the carol “Twelve Days of Christmas”?

Okay, now the quiz answers.

Q1: Turns out that both male and female reindeer have antlers. However, the male reindeer lose their antlers in winter! This makes all of Santa’s reindeer female. Quite interesting, no? 

Q2: Whatever you think you were taught at primary school, the seasons have nothing to do with how close we are to the sun. Instead, it’s due to the angle at which sunlight hits the ground. However, our orbit around the sun isn’t a perfect circle. It’s elliptical, and it just so happens that our planet is closer to the sun in northern hemisphere winter than in summer.  Who knew?

Q3: This one might take a while, depending on your method. One way is to count the days when respective numbers of gifts are given. For example, we get a partridge in a pear tree on every day of the song – i.e., 1×12. But only on the last day do we get twelve lords a leaping – i.e., 12×1.So, if we’re adding up multiples of gifts, we have (12×1)+(11×2)+(10×3) etc. And we end up with 364!

Merry quizmas.

I’m not really a Christmassy person. However, I still intend to make the most of my Christmas holiday, and that means more time for writing books! And perhaps I will read some books too. Either way, I doubt there will be a blog post next week, so I will likely return to the hallowed bogsplot in the new year.

Happy solstice!