Hercule Poirot's Christmas Quiz | Television

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In the opening scene of the episode, we witness Simeon Lee murdering his partner and stealing his diamonds. Where and when does the murder take place?

Answer: South Africa, 1896

In South Africa, Simeon Lee and his partner Gerrit put all of their diamonds together in order to start a mining business. Simeon, in a fit of greed, attacks his partner with a knife and kills him, not before Gerrit shoots him. A half dead Simeon is found and nursed by an Afrikaans woman named Stella de Zuigder. She falls in love with him but he abandons her in pursue of his fortune.

2. Christmas time in 1936 London, Hercule Poirot and Inspector Japp exchange wishes before going home for the holidays. Next to them, in the street, we see a black, luxury car with a logo written on its door. What does the logo say?

Answer: The Zwartland River Mining Company

The car belongs to Simeon Lee's company and carries a locked suitcase to Simeon's house. Simeon Lee has become extremely rich and successful in the mining business he had set his mind to start, 40 years ago. The holiday season finds him an old, tyrannical patriarch in a wheelchair, living with his son Alfred and Alfred's wife Lydia.

They are all expecting the rest of Simeon's family for the holidays.

3. Simeon Lee invites Hercule Poirot to spend Christmas with his family on the pretext that his life is in danger. Which female member of Lee's family travels on the same train as Poirot?

Answer: Pilar Estravados

Pilar Estravados is a Spanish woman who is the daughter of Simeon's deceased daughter Jennifer. Pilar, who has never met her mother's family, has been invited by Simeon, to spend Christmas with the family. On the train, she meets Poirot and Simeon's estranged son, Harry, who has also been invited by his father.

4. Hercule Poirot, Simeon's granddaughter and his youngest son, Harry Lee, all arrive at Gorston Manor. When they enter the house, the butler recognizes Harry, whom he hasn't seen since he was a young man. What is the butler's name?

Answer: Tressilian

Tressilian is the only one who extends a somewhat polite welcome to the guests. Neither Poirot, nor Pilar or Harry are warmly welcomed by the other members of the Lee family, Alfred and wife Lydia and George and wife Magdalene. Resentment and suspicion are palpable as they all think the estranged members of the family, Pilar and Harry, came to take part in the sharing of Simeon's fortune.

5. On the evening of December 22, Simeon Lee invites Pilar to his apartments. What does he show her?

Answer: Eight uncut diamonds in a leather case

The very first diamonds that Simeon and his partner had found in South Africa, the ones he became a murderer for, were brought to Simeon from his company's museum in Pretoria. He had left them uncut all these years. After he shows them to Pilar, hinting that they could be hers, he summons the whole family and announces he will change his will all the while insulting everybody and turning them against each other.

6. Later on that same evening, a hideous screeching sound and the clatter of furniture comes from Simeon's locked room. When they break the door down, they find him dead. How did he die?

Answer: Slashed throat

When they break the door down they find Simeon Lee with his throat slashed, in a pool of blood. No one knows how the murderer could have escaped from a locked room with the windows bolted and since local Superintendent Sugden is present, he immediately starts the inquiries, assisted by Poirot.

7. At the murder scene, what does Pilar pick up from the floor?

Answer: A pink rubber band and a small wooden peg

Initially, the pink piece of plastic and the wooden peg don't mean much to Poirot but as his "little grey cells" begin their work, a comment from Harry Lee, that the scream from his father's room sounded like killing a pig, remind him of a pink balloon with the painted face of a pig he saw in the village novelty store where he went in search for a Christmas present for Chief Inspector Japp.

These balloons were sold at fairs and were named "Dying Pigs" because as the air was rushed out of them it made a wailing noise. That discovery lead Poirot to the conclusion that the murder scene was staged and the murder had indeed occurred at an earlier time.

8. What does Poirot place on Simeon Lee's portrait, that helps him identify the murderer?

Answer: A false moustache

Pilar's comment on Superintendent Sudgen's likeness to Simeon Lee was what made Poirot return to the novelty store and purchase a false moustache. When he placed the moustache on Simeon Lee's portrait "the face that looked at him was that of Superintendent Sugden." At that point Superintendent Sugden admitted his guilt by saying "God rot his soul in hell! I'm glad I did it!"

9. After discovering the identity of the murderer, Poirot finds out that he is connected to a person from Simeon Lee's past. Who was that person?

Answer: Stella de Zuigder

Superintendent Sugden is one of Simeon Lee's illegitimate children, the son of Stella de Zuigder, the South African woman who saved Simeon's life when his partner had shot him. Mother and son waited and planned their revenge all these years and chose that particular time because all the Lee family would be at the mansion and all would have good reason to murder Simeon Lee.

10. At the closing scene of the episode we see Hercule Poirot and Chief Inspector Japp opening their Christmas presents. What present did Chief Inspector Japp give Poirot?

Answer: A pair of wool gloves

Poirot had opened the present earlier and wasn't exactly thrilled with it. A pair of hand made wool gloves would hardly match Poirot's polished appearance with his waxed moustache and white spats over his patent leather shoes. However, being a gentleman, he told Chief Inspector Japp that he liked his present so much he saved it only for going to church!
Poirot's present to Chief Inspector Japp was a box of Jamaican cigars.

Source: Author tiye

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ladymacb29 before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Hercule Poirot's Christmas Trivia Quiz

This quiz is on the special first episode of season 6 (1994-1996) of "Agatha Christie's Poirot" TV series with David Suchet

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