History Quiz: It Happened on Christmas Day: 10 Questions | Famous Dates

Answer: 800

Charlemagne was known in Latin as Carolus Magnus, or Charles the Great. He became King of the Franks at the age of 21 in 768 and reigned for 45 years until his death from pleurisy in January 814. In that time, he expanded the Frankish Empire to cover a large part of Western Europe, including conquering Italy which led to his coronation as Emperor by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day in 800.

Answer: Hong Kong

After almost three weeks of fighting between the Canadian and British defenders and the Japanese invaders, the Battle of Hong Kong ended when the island's Governor surrendered on Christmas Day. The occupation that followed lasted 42 months, until the Japanese surrender on August 15, 1945 following the American bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In that time, the population of Hong Kong dwindled from more than 1.5 million to barely a third of that, as many died of starvation and the unemployed were deported to mainland China.

Answer: Christmas Island

They were an unimaginative lot, these British captains, so anyone who guessed something other than the right answer here was just being too clever (or thought I might be).

Christmas Island is tiny, with a land mass of only 52 square miles (a little less than half the size of Malta). It is in the Indian Ocean, some 1,600 northwest of Perth, Western Australia and 300 miles south of Jakarta, Indonesia. Two-thirds of the island is designated as a National Park, with the population of around 1,600 living in settlements on the island's northern tip.

Answer: Jairzinho

Jairzinho played most of his career with Botafogo from Rio de Janeiro, winning the Rio-Sao Paulo Tournament three times and the Brazil Trophy once with them. For his first six seasons with Botafogo, he played alongside the legendary Garrincha. In his 15 years with Botafogo, from 1959-1974, he scored 186 goals in 413 matches, putting him easily in the Top 10 of the club's all-time top scorers.

He is also amongst Brazil's top scorers, with 33 goals in 81 international appearances.

Answer: W. C. Fields

Fields developed a larger-than-life persona and then essentially became a star by playing a caricature of himself in his films. He is probably best remembered, though, for things he said... Memorable Fields quotes include: "I am free of all prejudice, I hate everyone equally", "A thing worth having is a thing worth cheating for", "Start your day with a smile and get it over with" and "Never give a sucker an even break".

Answer: William I

For some reason, 1066 is about the only notable historical date that just about every schoolchild in England remembers - so, as the victor in that affray, it is probably fitting that William I is also known as William the Conqueror. Less flattering is the name by which he was known in his native Normandy prior to his successful invasion of England -- William the Bastard.

In 1066 William was the second foreign invader who tried to bang down King Harold's door that year. Indeed, Harold's army had to hotfoot it down to the South Coast still bedraggled from seeing off the Vikings and King Harald III of Norway's attack in the northeast of the kingdom.

Having secured victory in the battle on Octorber 14, killing Harold II in the process, William marched on London where he defeated the last remaining contenders to secure his claims to the throne. His was formally crowned King on Christmas Day.

Answer: 1991

When Gorbachev resigned the presidency he declarered the office extinct and turned the remaining powers over to Boris Yeltsin, who thus became president of the new Russia. The very next day, the Ukraine's referendum was finalized and the Soviet Union was officially disestablished. Gorbachev received a Nobel Peace Prize (in 1990), numerous awards and honorary doctorares from various academic institutions. Perhaps the strangest of his post-resignation achievements, though, was winning a Grammy Award, something no other Soviet leader managed or, presumably, aspired to. Along with Bill Clinton and Sophia Loren, he won the 2004 'Best Spoken Word Album for Children' award for a recording of Prokofiev's 'Peter and the Wolf'.

Answer: Dido

She was born with the impressive name of Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong. (The name 'Dido' itself is that of a mythical Carthaginian queen.)
Dido's first break came when her first official single, 'Here with Me', was used as the theme song for the cult sci-fi TV series 'Roswell'. The album, 'No Angel' went on to become the UK's best-selling album of 2001 and that same year she won the 'MTV Europe' award for 'Best New Act'. In 2002, she picked up BRIT awards for 'Best British Female Artist' and 'Best British Album'.

Answer: Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson was Abraham Lincoln's running mate on the National Unionist ticket for the 1864 election and so, in March 1865, he replaced Hannibal Hamlin, who had been Lincoln's Vice-President during his first term in office. It was, therefore, Johnson, who just six weeks after taking up the Vice-Presidential reigns, became the 17th President when Lincoln was assassinated on April 15. He was the first Vice-President to take over after an assassination and the sixth in all to replace the President.
There were two unsuccessful attempts to impeach Johnson and he did not stand for re-election in 1868, when the Republican Ulysses S. Grant defeated the former New York Governor Horatio Seymour. His last significant act before stepping down as President in the New Year was to grant an unconditional Christmas Day amnesty to all Confederates.

Answer: Dean Martin

Born Dino Paul Crocetti on the Ohio/West Virginia border, Dean Martin was one of the driving forces behind 'The Rat Pack' and a star in just about every entertainment medium -- not bad for someone who could speak only Italian until he reached school age.
Martin was married three times and a father to eight children, seven biological and one adopted. The death of Dean Jr, aged 25, when his jet fighter crashed in 1987, heralded the beginning of the end for Martin's career and his health.
Both Martin and Sammy Davis Jr appeared together in 1990 on 'The Sammy Davis Jr 60th Anniversary Celebration'. It was to be the last television appearance for them both.