The Christmas Special is the biggest night of the quiz year. Crackers were pulled, crowns went on, and the Christmas jumper count was off the scale. Two quizzers even turned up in matching festive suits, which is what we call commitment.
When the scores were counted, Woodentops had won the quiz for the very first time, and what a night to do it. Friends of Maddie were second, for the second month running.
By the numbers
Woodentops became the eighth different team to win the quiz. Friends of Maddie, meanwhile, took their tenth second place. Nobody else had more than four.
A flavour of the questions
Almost everything had a Christmas twist. There was a Famous Carols round (Carols, not carols), a Christmas Alphabet round, a pantomime round, a Who Wants To Be A Millionaire round from the 2010 Christmas specials, and a round of cracker jokes. The picture round asked for Christmas films, from Elf to Die Hard. Yes, Die Hard counts.
- Famous CarolsWhich Carol did the maths on Countdown?
Answer: Carol Vorderman - Famous CarolsWhich Carol directed The Third Man?
Answer: Carol Reed - Christmas classicHow many gifts in total are given in The Twelve Days of Christmas?
Answer: 364. One for almost every day of the year. - PantosButtons is a traditional character in which panto?
Answer: Cinderella - PantosWhich panto is known in German as Dornröschen, or Little Briar Rose?
Answer: Sleeping Beauty - Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?If you ordered a Cheeky Vimto at the bar, what would be added to a bottle of WKD Blue?
Answer: Port - Christmas crackersWhat beats his chest and swings from Christmas cake to Christmas cake?
Answer: Tarzipan - Christmas crackersWho steals secrets in the bakery at Christmas?
Answer: A mince spy
The wipeout round was the must-have Christmas toys of years gone by, from the Space Hopper in 1971 to the Tamagotchi in 1997. The Pointless question asked for a vocalist on the 1984 Band Aid single. And the traditional final question got a festive makeover, with both Garys dressed up as Father Christmas. It didn’t change the answer. There are more photos from the night in the Christmas section of the gallery.
The music round: Christmas number ones
Ten Christmas number ones, from the sublime to Benny Hill. One point for the artist and one for the decade.
- Only YouThe Flying Pickets
- Lily the PinkThe Scaffold
- Mary’s Boy Child / Oh My LordBoney M.
- Save Your LoveRenée and Renato
- Lonely This ChristmasMud
- Mull of KintyreWings
- Merry Christmas EveryoneShakin’ Stevens
- Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)Pink Floyd
- Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)Benny Hill
- Merry Xmas EverybodySlade
And finally
Merry Christmas, Woodentops. Next up was January, and the first quiz of 2025.
Every question from the night is in the questions archive, every winner is on the monthly winners board, and there are more photos in the gallery.