Month of the Year: December Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tokyo, Japan

Martin Cruz Smith is a remarkably productive writer of novels who has used nine pen names. Especially familiar titles include "Nightwing" (1977), "Gorky Park" (1981), "Polar Star" (1989), "Red Square" (1992), "Stalin's Ghost" (2007), "The Girl from Venice" (2016), and "The Siberian Dilemma" (2019).

"December 6" (2003) describes the attempted flight of expatriate bar owner Harry Niles from Tokyo on the eve of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. His establishment, the "Happy Paris," will be closed down by the Japanese police and he may well end up in jail. It is exceptionally difficult to escape Japan when all of the normal exits are closed by the military. Adventures ensue. [Harry Niles has no connection to and ought not be confused with the Harry Nile in "The Adventures of Harry Nile, Private Detective" produced by Jim French (1928-2017) and Imagination Theater for radio broadcast.]

Answer: Sidney Poitier

A recent widower, Dr. Matt Younger, played by Sidney Poitier, comes to London with his daughter for vacation. He meets Catherine Oswandu, played by Esther Anderson, the daughter of an African diplomat, and they grow affectionate. The rub is that she suffers from sickle cell disease which is terminal. Her physician tells her that she is "in the December of her life."

Answer: Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons

The keyboardist of the Four Seasons, Bob Gaudio, and Judy Parker, his future wife, wrote "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" for the band. It went straight to the group's album "Who Loves You?" (1975) and was released as a single in December of that year.

The single topped both the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Although Frankie Valli was the lead singer of the Four Seasons, drummer Gerry Polici sang lead vocals, Valli sang the bridge, and Don Ciccone, the bass player, sang the falsetto parts.

Answer: Icelandic, Norwegian, Afrikans, Indonesian

The Turkmen, Uzbek, and Azerbaijani word for December is "dekabr." The Hawaiian word for December is "Kekemapa," the Maori is "Hakihea," and the Samoan is "Tesema." The Croatian word for December is "prosinac" and the Czech word is "prosinec." The Icelandic, Norwegian, Afrikaans, Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese words for December are all "Desember" although the Sundanese word is accented differently "Désémber."

Answer: Russia

Upon the death of Emperor Alexander I, there was disagreement over who ought to succeed him. A group of Russian army officers who preferred Constantine to his younger brother Nicholas rebelled in Saint Petersburg on 26 December 1825. The loyalist troops dispersed the "Decemberists" ("Dekabristy") with cannon fire, rounded up the rest, hanged many, and deported the remainder to Siberia.

Answer: blue zircon, tanzanite, turquoise

Turquoise is a semi-translucent gem in a variety of shades of blue and blue-green. King Tut's funerary mask was inlaid with turquoise. Wallace Simpson wore a necklace of amethyst and turquoise made by Cartier, a gift from King Edward VIII. It is a favourite of Western American Native peoples. It is the traditional gift for an 11th wedding anniversary.

Tanzanite is a blue stone first discovered and mined in Tanzania. The efforts of Tiffany & Co. lifted Tanzanite into the American public's awareness. Tanzanite is the traditional gift for the 24th wedding anniversary.

Zircon is found in a rainbow of colours: clear, red, orange, yellow, brown, green and blue. Clear zircon is easily confused with diamond due to its refractive qualities. Blue zircons were particularly fashionable in the United Kingdom during the reign of Queen Victoria, who wore many herself.

Answer: December Song (I Dreamed of Christmas)

Singer-songwriter George Michael (1963-2016) wrote and recorded "December Song (I Dreamed of Christmas)" in 2009. The song was intended to be recorded by the Spice Girls and, that failing, by Michael Bublé. When neither worked out, Michael recorded it himself. "Back to December" was written and recorded by Taylor Swift in 2010. "December" was recorded by Collective Soul in 1995 and was written by their singer/guitarist Ed Roland. "A Long December" was written by lead singer Adam Duritz and recorded by Counting Crows in 1996.

Answer: the motion picture "December Bride" (1990)

"December Bride" was a radio situation comedy starring Spring Byington as Lily Ruskin, a widow who wrote a newspaper advice column. "December Bride" was carried over to the CBS Television Network in 1954, and played original productions until 1959. Spring Byington again played Lily Ruskin. Harry Morgan, who played Pete Porter, spun-off into his own show, "Pete and Gladys," in 1960.

Thaddeus O'Sullivan directed "December Bride" in 1990. In it, a young Irish woman in turn-of-the-century Ireland works for a father and his two sons. She ends up bearing children from both of the boys without marrying either.

Answer: 31

"Countdown" is a long story about the consequences of an event which instantly kills six billion people, leaving only teenagers to survive. Adults and small children are reduced to puddles of "black goo." Each of the twelve volumes tells of the aftermath in one month of 1999. Daniel Parker is the pen name of Daniel Ehrenhaft, who writes lots of children's and YA books.

Answer: none

The Latin name for December honours no god, goddess nor planet. Instead, at a time when there were only ten months in the Roman calendar (no January or February), December was the tenth month. This was true of all of the last four months of the year: Latin for seven is septem, thus September; Latin for eight is "octo," thus October; Latin for nine is "novem," thus November; and Latin for ten is "decem," thus December.