Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Quiz

Answer: Copenhagen

Helena's parents were a Danish father and a mother from Peru. Her first success was winning the 1986 Miss Denmark competition following which she moved to Paris to take up modelling. She made appearances on the covers of many well known magazines as well as her catwalk work. Helena has also held exhibitions of her own photographic work and designed t-shirts to raise fund for breast cancer charities.

The pictorial clue is the Danish flag, Helena's home country, as Copenhagen is its capital. Stockholm, Helsinki and Oslo are the capitals of Sweden, Finland and Norway respectively.

Answer: Sissy Spacek

Sissy won the Oscar for Best Actress when she appeared in 'Coal Miner's Daughter', playing Loretta Lynn. Her first major role was in the 1973 film 'Badlands' and she also starred as Carrie White in the 1976 adaptation of Stephen King's novel 'Carrie'. Other notable films include 'JFK' (1991) and 'In the Bedroom' (2001) in which she played opposite Tom Wilkinson. Both Sissy and Tom were nominated for Academy Awards for their roles.

The photo hint was of a piece of coal. Maybe it was mined by Loretta's father.

Answer: UB40

The band got together in Birmingham in the late 1970s with Robin's younger brother, Alistair (Ali) as the lead singer. Their mixture of reggae with pop music proved popular and the band had UK hits with 'Food for Thought' in 1980 and 'One in Ten' (1981) among others. Their breakthrough in the USA came with their version of Neil Diamond's 'Red Red Wine', which became a number one hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles chart in 1984. Robin was still performing with the band in the early years of the twenty-first century, although Ali left in 2008 for a solo career. His replacement was another Campbell, though, with younger brother Duncan stepping in.

Your photo hint? Two glasses of red, red wine of course.

Answer: Dave Stewart

Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox were in a short lived band named The Tourists and hit the UK Singles chart when they covered Dusty Springfield's hit 'I Only Want To Be With You' in 1979. In 1980, the two of them formed Eurythmics, which proved a highly successful move for them both. Among their numerous hits were 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)' in 1983 and 'Thorn in My Side' (1986). Each of them has pursued solo careers, while still working as Eurythmics at times. Of the other options, Neil Tennant was one of the Pet Shop Boys and Vince Clarke was in both Yazoo (with Alison Moyet) and Erasure (with Andy Bell). Marc Almond was in Soft Cell with David Ball.

The photo shows the Clan Stewart (or Stuart) tartan, but even if you didn't know that it may have helped point you toward the Scottish name among the options.

Answer: Shane MacGowan

Although his family was Irish, MacGowan was actually born in Kent, England and lived in Ireland for only a brief part of his childhood. In 1982, he formed The Pogues and concentrated on singing in an Irish style. The band's most commercially successful song was 'Fairytale of New York' which has been re-released (and made the UK charts) many times in the early twenty-first century. In 1987 it managed number two on the UK Singles chart, with Kirsty MacColl's vocals providing a strong contract to MacGowan's rather gruff singing voice. The other singers have also provided Christmas songs which are among the regulars played by various shops and which seem to start ever earlier each year.

The pictorial clue was intended to point you towards New York, which may or may not make fairy tales come true.

Answer: Bass guitar

I suppose that being born on Christmas Day gives you a fair chance of being named Noel (or Noelle). Noel Redding was an accomplished guitarist, playing lead guitar with various bands around his home town of Folkestone, in Kent. His big break came when he joined the Jimi Hendrix Experience, on bass guitar, with drummer Mitch Mitchell. Redding stayed with the band for only three years, between 1966 and 1969. All three members are now dead - Redding died in 2003, Mitchell in 2008 and Hendrix in 1970.

The photo may not have shown you a whole guitar, but the plectrum should have given the game away since the other instruments are played (usually) with a bow.

Answer: Jimmy Buffett

The multi talented Jimmy Buffett began his career in folk music, but a move to Florida led to a change of style. His music became a mix of folk with an 'easy living' persona and a beachcomber image. His 1973 album 'A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean' established him in the music business, at least in North America. Probably his best known song, 'Maragaritaville' was released as a single in 1977. Buffett also established himself as a writer, songwriter and actor. He also established restaurant chains and carried out much charity work, including being the co-founder of the 'Save the Manatee Club' charity.

The photo is of a very tempting margarita cocktail.

Answer: Cosmetics

Originally named Chaya Rubenstein, she moved to Australia in 1902 and established a business selling beauty creams. She found a ready source of her basic ingredient, lanolin, in the flocks of merino sheep in Australia. By 1908, she had changed her name to Helena, moved to London and married an American. She opened a beauty salon in Paris but World War One led to another move, this time to New York City and the establishment of her first salon in the USA. Along with Elizabeth Arden, Rubinstein was one of the forerunners of the cosmetics industry. The company bearing her name was still in business well into the twenty-first century.

The pictorial clue of red lipstick should have been of some help, unless you thought it was an actress, or a singer, or even an artist's model.

Answer: David Tennant

Both Georgia's father and her new husband had played the role of Doctor Who. Peter was the Fifth Doctor, from 1981 until 1984, and David was the Tenth Doctor. Georgia and David met when she played the role of Jenny in 2008 in the 'Doctor Who' episode called 'The Doctor's Daughter'. I hope you're keeping up. As part of the fiftieth anniversary celebrations for the show, in 2013, Peter, David and Georgia appeared together in the television programme called 'The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot'. Peter wrote, directed and played himself in it, while Georgia did the production work as well as acting in it herself. David made a cameo appearance in his Tenth Doctor persona.

All the actors listed were born in 1971, but only Tennant has travelled in the blue box (and married Georgia).

The photo is of a police box, which is the basis of the Tardis time travelling machine. All together now 'it's much bigger on the inside'.

Answer: Dido

Fitting her full name of Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong on a record label might have been a challenge, but Dido was much easier to write and say. Her album 'No Angel' was released in the UK in 1999 with one of the songs from it, 'Thank You', being used on the soundtrack of the film 'Sliding Doors'. This song received even greater exposure when Eminem used samples from it on the song 'Stan', released in 2001. 'White Flag' came from her second album, 'Life for Rent', which came out in 2003.

The picture shows the ruins of Carthage, now part of Tunisia, as Dido was the name of the first queen of the city and the source of the singer's name.