Snow White, tricky shapes and a dog in a church – take the Thursday quiz

Willow visits Bristol Cathedral - but what is her question about this week? Photograph: Martin Belam/The Guardian

The quiz master is away on his early Christmas holidays, but never fear, before he left, he carefully crafted a quiz for you in advance. We say carefully crafted, but as you’ll discover, it quite quickly slides into in-jokes and the wilfully obscure, and was possibly written after too much festive eggnog. Everyone at the Thursday quiz wishes you and your loved ones a happy Christmas and the very best for a peaceful and joyous holiday season. Have fun!

The Thursday quiz, No 139

1. 

   Famously dismissed ahead of its release as "Disney's folly", the animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered on 21 December. But in which year?

   1. 1934

   2. 1937

   3. 1944

   4. 1947

2. 

   How many sides does an icosikaihenagon have?

   1. 19

   2. 21

   3. 27

   4. 31

3. 

   What is the capital of Latvia?

   1. Tallinn

   2. Tampere

   3. Vilnius

   4. Riga

4. 

   It is Samuel L Jackson's birthday today. Happy motherf [REDACTED BY EDITORS] birthday, Samuel! What does the L stand for in his name?

   1. Leroy

   2. Laurence

   3. Lamont

   4. Lananeeneenoonoo

5. 

   It is also the birthday of Emmanuel Macron today. Salut, Emmanuel! Bon anniversaire! Sacré bleu! Trente à cinquante porcs sauvages! But when was he born?

   1. 1971

   2. 1974

   3. 1977

   4. 1981

6. 

   Talking of birthdays, if you had been celebrating your birthday at the weekend, on 17 December, which of these star signs would you be? Assuming you accept that such things exist, obviously.

   1. Capricorn

   2. Aquarius

   3. Sagittarius

   4. Bannakaffalatta

7. 

   Today is the anniversary (give or take the odd calendar change here or there) of when Vespasian become the final emperor in the so-called year of the four emperors in AD69. Nice. Who were the other three?

   1. Galba, Otho and Vitellius

   2. Nero, Galba, Otho

   3. Galba, Otho, Domitian

   4. Cuthbert, Dibble, Grubb

8. 

   Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys used to write for which magazine?

   1. NME

   2. Smash Hits

   3. Kerrang!

   4. Miniature Dachshund Monthly

9. 

   One of Armagh's more obscure claims to fame is that the 1595 Prophecy of the Popes document which purports to predict future popes leading up to the end of the world unexpectedly presents itself as the work of which archbishop of Armagh?

   1. Saint Benignus

   2. Saint Brigit

   3. Saint Malachy

   4. Saint Patrick

10. 

    Carl McCoy of Fields of the Nephilim is looking after Siouxsie Sioux's ethically-sourced rescue farm animals, for tenuous quiz related reasons. The ratio of sheep to cows he is looking after is 3:2. One of Jesus Jones' cows escapes and gets into the field. Now there are 26 animals. What is the new ratio of sheep to cows?

    1. 11:15

    2. 8:15

    3. 15:11

    4. 15:8

11. 

    Everybody loves a stegosaurus, but which of these geologic periods did they live in?

    1. Jurassic

    2. Permian

    3. Triassic

    4. Raxacoricofallapatorius

12. 

    This is Willow, the official naughty miniature dachshund of the Thursday quiz, in Bristol Cathedral thinking about the religious meaning of Christmas and whether she will be on Santa's good list or not. The nativity of Jesus only appears in two of the four Gospels. Which pair?

    1. Matthew and Mark

    2. Luke and Matthew

    3. Mark and Luke

    4. Eric and Ernie

13. 

    And now a home straight of phoned-in lazy Thursday quiz fan favourites. What is the name of the Doctor Who Christmas special this year?

    1. The Christmas Spirit

    2. Fairytale of New New York

    3. Invasion of the Blathereen

    4. The Church on Ruby Road

14. 

    Sparks released a Christmas single in 2015. What was it called?

    1. Christmas Without A Prayer

    2. This Sleigh Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us

    3. Christmas Tree Farm

    4. Just Like Christmas

15. 

    What was the name of Kate Bush's sort of Christmas album from 2011?

    1. 50 Words for Ice

    2. 50 Words for Winter

    3. 50 Words for Cold

    4. 50 Words for Snow

Solutions

1:B - It ran massively over-budget, and was a rip-roaring success. Just like the Thursday quiz., 2:B - It is a very exciting shape, and the sum of the interior angles is 3,420º., 3:D - A former member of the Hanseatic League, the city was founded in 1201 and accounts for a third of Latvia's total population., 4:A - He was born in 1948 and apparently the movies he has been in have collectively grossed $27bn worldwide, making him the second highest-grossing actor of all time., 5:C - He was born in Amiens, and became president of France in 2017., 6:C - Sagittarius runs from late November to late December, so even allowing for exciting things like leap years and the earth wobbling and the fact that it is all made up, if your birthday was last weekend, you would be a Sagittarius., 7:A - Nero came before Galba and the whole debacle marked the transition from the Julio-Claudians to the Flavians, and, despite the very, very short terms of office, Liz Truss was nowhere to be seen., 8:B - Before swanning off to pop stardom himself, Tennant worked as news editor and then assistant editor at the publication whose famous Black Type may have had an influence on how the Thursday quiz gets written ie drunk and sarcastic., 9:C - The document is called Prophetia Sancti Malachiae Archiepiscopi, de Summis Pontificibus, and in a series of 112 short cryptic phrases in Latin it is said to predict every pope between then and the end of the world, and apparently we are on number 110 or 111 depending on how you interpret it all. This is 100% the most obscure Thursday quiz question of all time, but we needed to get it in just in case the world ends. And yes that is the quiz master in the photo., 10:C - Yes, there were originally 15 sheep and 10 cows, now it is 15 and 11 and there is no easy round number way to express that ratio more succinctly. 8:15, on the other hand, is the time that it's always been., 11:A - They lived in the late Jurassic period, and a bit in the early Cretaceous too, a mere 155–145 megaannus ago. It does make the Thursday quiz wonder how old Uranus is in megaannus., 12:B - Luke and Matthew both have – somewhat conflicting – accounts of the birth of Jesus. Mark starts with Jesus being baptised by John the Baptist, and John's Gospel starts with existential philosophy., 13:D - It will feature Ncuti Gatwa in his first full adventure as the 15th Doctor, and introduces Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday. You will be able to read the quiz master's episode recap as soon as it finishes broadcasting and join him in the comments to chat about it. , 14:A - In it, Russell bemoans that being single means he won't get an unwanted gifts, like an album from Wings., 15:D - It wasn't really a Christmas album, but the quiz master only plays it in December because it is such a lovely winter-warmer. It features guests Andy Fairweather-Low, Stephen Fry and Elton John among others.

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   We hope you had fun and enjoy a very happy Christmas and a joyous holiday season!

If you really do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers – and can show your working – feel free to email martin.belam@theguardian.com, but remember the quiz master’s word is final and honestly, he really did pack up for Christmas last week so you will just get his out of office.