Christmas Quiz 2020

For years until his health prevented it, my godfather Darwell Charlton wrote a tough quiz for his local village at Christmas. I shamelessly copied his idea in 2011, and started a quiz for my own local village in Derbyshire, UK.

Since moving to Australia, I've kept it going - still fairly fiendish, but now with questions influenced from Western Australia as well as those relating to the UK.

It's always been free for anyone to enter - and still is. Personally I like Oxfam's aim to make poverty history, and the way they work with some of the most needy people in the world, regardless of race or religion. They also campaign for a cleaner, fairer world, abroad and at home (including the Close the Gap program in Australia). If you like Oxfam as well, and/or you want to make me smile by giving something to my favourite charity as a reward for giving you hard quiz questions, then please feel free to donate whatever you think appropriate. Even a few dollars can help get someone clean water, or safe refuge, or some seeds to start growing their own food. That's all optional, so if you have other causes to put your money towards, then that's fine and you're still welcome to do the quiz. And if you're donating from abroad and don't want to pay currency conversion fees then feel free to make your donation instead direct to Oxfam UK or Oxfam [whichever country you're in] and post a message if you want to let me know.

Darwell died in 2016, and while I failed to latch on to his interests in gardening, stamp collecting, or teaching maths (despite a genuine attempt at that last one for a bit), I do follow his lead by singing in a choir and by making my friends' brains hurt with complicated quiz questions at Christmas.

And if you've spent too long doing the quiz to have time to get anyone Christmas presents, then Oxfam can help with that too: https://unwrapped.oxfam.org.au/

If you haven't already got a copy of the quiz, you can download it at this link: http://hairywhale.awardspace.co.uk/A%20Quiz%20for%20Christmas%202020%20-%20Questions.pdf or alternatively you can get one by emailing me at psymann@hotmail.com - it comes in pdf format for you to print out.