99 Fun Facts About Holiday Pop Culture

Which singer's 1994 Christmas song took 25 years to reach No. 1 on the Hot 100, finally topping it in 2019?

Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' was not sold as a single in 1994, which kept it off the Hot 100 under the chart's rules of the day, so its climb could only begin years later.

Wham! gave the royalties from 1984's 'Last Christmas' to famine relief in which country?

Ethiopia was also the cause behind Band Aid's charity single, the record that kept 'Last Christmas' at No. 2 in 1984; Wham! had to wait until January 2021 for it to reach UK No. 1.

In Whamageddon, what happens to a player who hears Wham!'s 'Last Christmas'?

They are out, but only the original Wham! recording counts: covers and remixes are safe, so survivors can still hear the tune and last to the end of 24 December.

In Home Alone (1990), the McCallisters leave Kevin behind while flying to which city?

Paris is where the family is bound when Kate realises, mid-flight, that Kevin is missing; with every flight home full she doubles back through Dallas and ends up stuck in Scranton on Christmas Eve.

In Elf (2003), Buddy travels to New York to find his birth father, Walter Hobbs, played by which actor?

James Caan plays Walter Hobbs, a cynical publisher on Santa's naughty list, who finally tells his boss where to go and walks out on his job to look for Buddy.

Which actor's first feature film role was Hans Gruber, the villain of Die Hard (1988)?

Alan Rickman was in his early forties and known for stage work; producer Joel Silver cast him after seeing him on Broadway in Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

Thurl Ravenscroft, the uncredited singer of 'You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch', also voiced which cereal mascot?

Tony the Tiger got his booming 'They're gr-r-reat!' from Ravenscroft; because the 1966 special left his name off the credits, many viewers assumed its narrator, Boris Karloff, had sung the song.

In the 1964 Rudolph special, misfit elf Hermey leaves Santa's workshop to become what?

A dentist is all Hermey wants to be, so he quits toy-making and teams up with Rudolph, who agrees to overlook the dentistry if Hermey overlooks the red nose.

The unmistakable jazz score of A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) was written by which pianist?

Vince Guaraldi's jazz was one of several breaks with TV convention, along with real children's voices and no laugh track, yet the special was a huge hit for CBS.

The notorious 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special gave which character a first screen appearance?

Boba Fett debuts in the special's cartoon segment as a mysterious stranger who saves Luke from a giant monster and offers to help the Rebels, well before he hunts them in The Empire Strikes Back.

In which 1942 film did Bing Crosby first sing 'White Christmas'?

Holiday Inn introduced the song, which won Irving Berlin the Oscar; a decade later a new American hotel chain borrowed the film's title for its name.

Which Ultravox singer co-wrote Band Aid's 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' with Bob Geldof in 1984?

Midge Ure co-wrote the song and produced the record; with the studio theirs for only 24 hours, nearly all the vocals were recorded and the single mixed in one marathon session.

Which act's cover of 'Always on My Mind' kept 'Fairytale of New York' off the UK Christmas No. 1 in 1987?

Pet Shop Boys left the Pogues at No. 2; Kirsty MacColl was only on that record because its producer, her husband Steve Lillywhite, had her sing a guide vocal too good to replace.

Haddon Sundblom painted the red-suited Santa Claus for which brand's ads from 1931?

Coca-Cola did not invent the red-suited Santa, despite the legend its ads inspired: the jolly figure in red and white was already standard before Sundblom painted him.

According to the rules in The Elf on the Shelf, what would make the elf lose its magic?

Being touched is said to drain the elf's magic, the power that lets it fly to the North Pole each night and report to Santa on how the children have behaved.

Which band, fronted by Noddy Holder, had the 1973 UK Christmas No. 1 with 'Merry Xmas Everybody'?

Slade built the hit on a tune Noddy Holder had written back in 1967 for a discarded song about a rocking chair, reworked with festive lyrics.

The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York is usually which species?

Norway spruce is the usual pick, and the tree gets a second life: since 2007 its trunk has been milled into lumber and donated to Habitat for Humanity to help build homes.

Before the balloons arrived in 1927, the Macy's parade featured live animals borrowed from where?

Central Park Zoo lent the animals for the first parade in 1924, when it was still billed as a Christmas parade; in 1927 balloons took their place, led by Felix the Cat.

Times Square's first New Year's Eve ball drop followed a city ban on what?

Fireworks had welcomed each new year from the Times building since 1904, but they went off right over the crowd; once the city banned them, publisher Adolph Ochs had a lit ball lowered down the flagpole instead.

Which 1962 Halloween hit did the BBC ban as 'too morbid'?

Monster Mash topped the US Hot 100 that October, but the ban kept it off BBC radio, and it only became a UK hit when it was reissued in 1973.

In Hocus Pocus (1993), the Sanderson sisters return on Halloween in which Massachusetts town?

Salem is where Max, a teenager new to town who calls the legend 'hocus pocus', lights the Black Flame Candle and raises the three Sanderson sisters 300 years after they were hanged.

Which SNL cast member debuted 'The Chanukah Song' on Weekend Update in 1994?

Adam Sandler wrote it for Jewish kids who feel left out at Christmas, reeling off a list of famous people who celebrate Hanukkah too.

In a 2000 Friends episode, Ross teaches his son about Hanukkah dressed as which creature?

Holiday Armadillo was Ross's fallback when he could not get a Santa suit; Chandler then turns up dressed as Santa after all, and Joey as Superman.

Festivus, from Seinfeld's 1997 episode 'The Strike', is celebrated around an unadorned pole made of what?

Aluminum it is, and the pole stays bare: Frank Costanza says it requires no decoration because he finds tinsel distracting.

In A Christmas Story (1983), the Old Man's prized 'major award' is a lamp shaped like what?

A woman's leg in a fishnet stocking, the lamp delights the Old Man until his wife breaks it, supposedly while watering a plant, and he accuses her of being jealous of it.

In It's a Wonderful Life, which angel second class tries to earn his wings by saving George?

Clarence shows George the town as it would be without him and wins his wings at the end: a bell rings on the Christmas tree, which Zuzu says means an angel has just got them.

In Love Actually (2003), Hugh Grant plays David, who holds which job?

Prime Minister David falls for Natalie, one of his household staff, and after the visiting US president makes a pass at her he defies him in front of the press.

In Christmas Vacation (1989), Clark Griswold gets a membership in what instead of his bonus?

Jelly of the Month Club membership is all Clark gets, so cousin Eddie kidnaps the boss and brings him to the house, where the shamed Mr. Shirley reinstates the bonuses.

Tim Burton conceived The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), but which stop-motion director, later of Coraline, made it?

Henry Selick directed it, with Burton as producer; Disney still sold the film as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, to trade on the better-known name.

In John Lewis's 2014 Christmas advert, what is the boy Sam's companion Monty?

A penguin, Monty pines for company, so Sam finds him a mate for Christmas, all to Tom Odell's cover of 'Real Love'.

Whose 2011 album Christmas topped the US and UK charts?

Michael Bublé's Christmas spent five weeks at No. 1 in the US, then fell straight to No. 24 once the holidays were over.

In The Office's 'Christmas Party', Michael Scott turns Secret Santa into what?

A Yankee Swap lets players steal each other's presents, so the whole office ends up fighting over the pricey iPod Michael bought for Ryan.

In Miracle on 34th Street, which federal body's recognition of Kris as Santa wins his case?

The Post Office delivers sacks of letters addressed to Santa straight to Kris at the courthouse, and his lawyer argues that a branch of the federal government has thereby recognised him.

Leroy Anderson wrote which Christmas standard as an orchestral piece in 1948, two years before it gained lyrics?

Sleigh Ride came to Anderson in the middle of a summer heat wave; the Boston Pops gave it its first performance, and Mitchell Parish added the words in 1950.

Which 1996 blockbuster has aliens blow up the White House before Will Smith fights back?

Independence Day has the survivors strike back on 4 July itself, after the president tells his pilots the date will no longer be just an American holiday.

In Groundhog Day (1993), Bill Murray's Phil Connors wakes up every morning to which song on the radio?

I Got You Babe by Sonny & Cher opens every repeat of the day, followed by the same DJ banter about the cold; Punxsutawney itself was played on screen by Woodstock, Illinois.

In It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, what does Charlie Brown get at every house while trick-or-treating?

A rock is all Charlie Brown gets while the others call out candy bars, cookies and gum, so he ends the night with a bag full of them; Linus skips it all to wait in the pumpkin patch.

Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve first aired in 1972 on which network, before its long run on ABC?

NBC aired the first editions, fronted by the band Three Dog Night and then comedian George Carlin; Dick Clark only became the host when the show moved to ABC.

In a famous 1978 WKRP in Cincinnati episode, what does the station drop from a helicopter as a holiday stunt?

Turkeys, and live ones: the giveaway ends in chaos at a shopping mall, and station boss Arthur Carlson protests, 'As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.'

Michael Myers's blank white mask in Halloween (1978) was made from a cheap mask of which actor?

William Shatner's likeness came on a shop-bought Captain Kirk mask; designer Tommy Lee Wallace widened the eye holes and painted it white until it looked like nobody at all.

Which band recorded 'Killing in the Name', the 2009 UK Christmas No. 1?

Rage Against the Machine's 1992 track was pushed to the top by a Facebook campaign from Jon and Tracy Morter, launched in protest at X Factor winners taking the Christmas No. 1 year after year.

In Gremlins (1984), one of the three rules for keeping a mogwai is never to feed it when?

After midnight is exactly when the new mogwai get fed, having tricked Billy by tampering with his clock; they spin cocoons and hatch as the gremlins.

With which unlikely partner did Bing Crosby record a Christmas duet in September 1977?

David Bowie dropped in as a neighbour on what proved to be Crosby's final Christmas special; Crosby died a month after the taping, so viewers saw the duet only after his death.

In Home Alone 2, Kevin talks his way into a suite at which hotel with his dad's credit card?

The Plaza was owned at the time by Donald Trump, who let the crew film there and appears as himself, pointing Kevin towards the lobby.

Which song-and-dance legend voices narrator S.D. Kluger in 1970's Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town?

Fred Astaire voices S.D. Kluger, a postman carrying children's letters to Santa; when his mail truck breaks down, he fills the time by telling the story of how Santa began.

Which ex-Beatle recorded 'Wonderful Christmastime' (1979) entirely on his own, playing every instrument?

Paul McCartney made it alone during the sessions for McCartney II; the members of his band Wings appear in the video but are nowhere on the record.

What does John Candy's Del Griffith sell in Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

Shower curtain rings are Del's trade, and Neal throws it back at him in a hotel-room rant, sneering that people would know him as 'the shower curtain ring guy'.

Which horror legend delivered the spoken-word section of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'?

Vincent Price got the call because producer Quincy Jones's wife, Peggy Lipton, knew him; the team wanted a famous horror voice, and he nailed the part in two takes.

Which singer recorded 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree' at 13 in 1958 and saw it hit No. 1 in 2023?

Brenda Lee was 78 when it reached No. 1, at the time the oldest artist to top the Hot 100; the song had won a new audience when Kevin staged his fake party to it in Home Alone.

Who directed the live-action How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)?

Ron Howard's film gives the Grinch a reason for his grudge that the book never did: as a schoolboy he was mocked by his classmates in Whoville.

Which act had five consecutive UK Christmas No. 1s from 2018 to 2022?

LadBaby, YouTuber Mark Hoyle and his wife Roxanne, did it with sausage-roll parodies of pop hits, each released to raise money for the Trussell Trust's food banks, and passed the Beatles' four.

In The Polar Express (2004), which actor plays several roles, including the conductor and Santa, through motion capture?

Tom Hanks also acted the film's young hero, performing the boy's movements in a motion-capture suit while a child actor supplied the voice.

Which singer wrote and first recorded 'Feliz Navidad' in 1970?

José Feliciano wrote it while homesick at Christmas, and added the English verse on purpose: he feared English-language stations would not play a song sung only in Spanish.

Who plays Ebenezer Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)?

Michael Caine plays it completely straight opposite Kermit the Frog's Bob Cratchit; Gonzo narrates as Charles Dickens so that the book's own prose could stay in the film.

In The Santa Clause (1994), what job does Tim Allen's Scott Calvin hold before becoming Santa?

Marketing executive Scott works for a toy company; when Santa falls from his roof, Scott puts on the suit, and the small print on a card in its pocket makes him the replacement.

In Jingle All the Way (1996), what toy are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad desperate to buy on Christmas Eve?

Turbo Man has sold out everywhere by the time workaholic Howard remembers his promise, so he spends the day battling Myron, a rival father after the same toy for his own son.

Bad Santa (2003) was the last live-action film appearance of which actor, to whom it is dedicated?

John Ritter, who plays the mall manager Bob Chipeska, died suddenly in September 2003, weeks before the film reached cinemas, so it was dedicated to his memory.

In Scrooged (1988), Bill Murray's Frank Cross works as what?

A television executive, Frank is the ruthless president of the IBC network; he ends up bursting into his own live broadcast of A Christmas Carol to tell viewers what the ghosts taught him.

Which prop from George C. Scott's 1984 A Christmas Carol was left in Shrewsbury?

Scrooge's gravestone stayed in St Chad's churchyard after the shoot and became a visitor attraction, with guided Christmas Carol tours of the town's film locations.

Which Netflix animation, about a postman who helps create the legend of Santa, won the BAFTA for Best Animated Film?

Klaus begins as a scheme: its spoiled postman must post 6,000 letters in a year to win back his pampered life, so he gets children writing to a toymaker in return for toys.

Who recorded the original, purring 'Santa Baby' in 1953?

Eartha Kitt, then a sultry nightclub star, had it written for her as a tongue-in-cheek Christmas list: instead of toys, the singer coaxes Santa for a sable and a yacht.

Judy Garland introduced 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' in which 1944 musical?

Meet Me in St. Louis has Esther sing it to console her little sister Tootie; Hugh Martin's first draft was so bleak that Garland refused to sing it to a child, so he rewrote it.

In 1958's 'The Chipmunk Song', what toy does Alvin keep begging for?

A hula hoop was the runaway fad of 1958, the year the record came out; Ross Bagdasarian voiced Alvin and his brothers himself, singing slowly and speeding up the tape.

In Mean Girls (2004), which Christmas song does Lindsay Lohan's Cady perform with the Plastics?

Jingle Bell Rock stuck to Lindsay Lohan so firmly that in 2022 she recorded her own version for her Netflix film Falling for Christmas, as a nod to the scene.

Who plays a leather-jacketed Santa Claus in Netflix's The Christmas Chronicles (2018)?

Kurt Russell's Santa lands in a police cell, where he rallies the other inmates into a rousing 'Santa Claus Is Back in Town'; Goldie Hawn turns up at the end as Mrs. Claus.

Who voices the Grinch in Illumination's 2018 animated film?

Benedict Cumberbatch chose to give the Grinch an American accent: with the rest of the cast American, he felt the character should sound like them.

The first full Simpsons episode (Christmas 1989) ends with the family adopting whom?

Santa's Little Helper is a greyhound that Homer backs at 99-1 with his last cash; the dog finishes last and is abandoned by its owner, so Bart pleads to take him home.

Which talking character debuted in South Park's first Christmas episode in December 1997?

Mr. Hankey shows himself only to Kyle, who feels shut out of Christmas as the town's Jewish kid, so everyone else assumes the boy is imagining things.

In The Holiday (2006), Kate Winslet's Iris swaps homes with which actress's character?

Cameron Diaz plays Amanda, who runs a Los Angeles film-trailer company; she and Iris trade houses across the Atlantic for Christmas to get away from bad breakups.

Jaws (1975) unleashes its shark on Fourth of July crowds at which fictional beach town?

Amity Island was played by Martha's Vineyard; the mechanical sharks broke down so often there that Spielberg chose mostly to hint at the creature rather than show it.

Which Friends star had a first major film role in the 1993 horror comedy Leprechaun?

Jennifer Aniston was an unknown when she was cast as Tory, a spoiled teenager menaced by a leprechaun hunting his gold; Friends made her famous the following year.

Which A-lister played Rachel-hating Will Colbert in Friends' 2001 Thanksgiving episode?

Brad Pitt's Will arrives for Thanksgiving dinner still bitter about school, and proudly announces that he and Ross once founded a club devoted to hating Rachel.

Which carol did the Gemini 6 crew play from orbit on a smuggled harmonica in December 1965?

Jingle Bells capped a prank: the crew first reported a strange craft in polar orbit heading south, then struck up the tune on instruments the Smithsonian counts as the first played in space.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer began as a 1939 giveaway booklet for which retailer?

Montgomery Ward had been buying colouring books to hand out each Christmas, and asked its copywriter Robert L. May for a story of its own to save money; 2.4 million copies went out that first year.

Nat King Cole made 'The Christmas Song' famous, but which fellow jazz singer co-wrote it?

Mel Tormé wrote it with lyricist Bob Wells one sweltering July, after finding Wells jotting down wintry images to cool himself off; the song was done in under an hour.

Darlene Love sang 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' yearly on whose show until 2014?

David Letterman first had her sing it in 1986 and made it a Christmas ritual; the album it came from had flopped in 1963, released on the very day President Kennedy was shot.

Which Queen song was the UK Christmas No. 1 in both 1975 and 1991?

Bohemian Rhapsody first held the top spot for nine weeks; it returned in 1991, weeks after Freddie Mercury's death, reissued as a double A-side with 'These Are the Days of Our Lives'.

'Carol of the Bells', heard in Home Alone, comes from a New Year chant of which country?

Ukraine's 'Shchedryk', set by Mykola Leontovych, is a New Year song about a swallow promising a household a prosperous spring; the bells came only with Peter Wilhousky's English lyrics in 1936.

Taylor Swift's 'Christmas Tree Farm' recalls her childhood on a real one in which state?

Pennsylvania's Pine Ridge Farm was run by her parents, and young Taylor's job was to pick insect egg pods off the trees before they were sold; the video is made from the family's home videos.

Christmas with the Kranks (2004) adapts Skipping Christmas, a novel by which author?

John Grisham, the legal-thriller author, published the comic novel Skipping Christmas in 2001 as a rare departure from courtrooms. Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis play the couple who try to skip the holiday for a cruise.

In Trading Places (1983), the Dukes settle their nature-vs-nurture wager for what sum?

$1 is all the Dukes stake on ruining one man and remaking another; once the pair have bankrupted the brothers in return, they settle a one-dollar bet of their own.

Which veteran comedian narrates and sings in the 1969 Rankin/Bass special Frosty the Snowman?

Jimmy Durante had recorded the song back in 1950, and the special proved to be his final film role: a stroke in 1972 ended his career, so Andy Griffith narrated the sequel.

The Christmas Invasion (2005) was whose first full episode as the Doctor in Doctor Who?

David Tennant's Doctor lies comatose in bed for most of the episode after regenerating, then wakes in time to challenge the Sycorax leader to a sword duel for the Earth.

Which Mad Men star headlined Black Mirror's 2014 festive special 'White Christmas'?

Jon Hamm's Matt swaps stories with his cabin-mate over Christmas dinner; the twist is that the snowbound cabin is not what it seems, and Matt is there to draw out a confession.

In A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, Snoopy serves toast, popcorn, pretzel sticks and what?

Jelly beans round out the menu because Charlie Brown admits he can cook nothing beyond 'maybe toast'; Peppermint Patty, who invited herself over, is furious at what she is served.

NORAD's Santa tracker traces back to a 1955 'call Santa' newspaper ad placed by which retailer?

Sears ran the ad in Colorado Springs, and a child's call reached Colonel Harry Shoup at the air defence command; whether the number was misprinted or just misdialled depends on who tells it.

Which boy band took the 1994 UK Christmas No. 1 with the ballad 'Stay Another Day'?

East 17's hit was never meant as a Christmas song: Tony Mortimer wrote it after the death of his brother, and the bells on the end were added at the record label's urging.

Which Paramount widescreen process made its debut with White Christmas (1954)?

VistaVision was Paramount's answer to rival systems such as CinemaScope: it ran the film sideways through the camera to capture a larger, sharper frame.

In The Bishop's Wife (1947), which screen idol plays the suave angel Dudley?

Cary Grant's Dudley reveals that he is an angel only to the bishop, who grows jealous as his new assistant charms everyone around him, the bishop's wife most of all.

Which screenwriter set Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3 all at Christmas?

Shane Black says Christmas unites everybody and sets a stage within the stage; he first noticed its pull as a backdrop in the thriller Three Days of the Condor.

Who guest-voiced the murderous Robot Santa in Futurama's 1999 episode 'Xmas Story'?

John Goodman voiced Robot Santa, who judges nearly everyone naughty because his standards were set too high. Goodman was unavailable for later episodes, so John DiMaggio took over the role.

Which director made both the slasher Black Christmas (1974) and A Christmas Story (1983)?

Bob Clark went from Black Christmas, one of the earliest slasher films, to a family favourite in under a decade, with the teen comedy Porky's in between.

Feuding brothers Heat Miser and Snow Miser star in which 1974 Rankin/Bass special?

The Year Without a Santa Claus has Mrs. Claus, voiced by Shirley Booth in her final role, go over the brothers' heads to Mother Nature, who orders a deal so snow can fall on Southtown.

Whose New Year's Eve broadcasts made 'Auld Lang Syne' the midnight song in North America?

Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians closed their New Year's Eve broadcasts with it from 1929 into the 1970s, and Times Square took up their recording as the first song played after the ball drops.

Which British soap drew a record audience of about 30 million on Christmas Day 1986, when Den handed Angie divorce papers?

EastEnders had built to it for weeks: Angie had lied that she had six months to live, Den overheard the truth, and he saved his revenge for Christmas Day.

Peter Auty sang 'Walking in the Air' in The Snowman, but whose 1985 cover was the hit?

Aled Jones reached No. 5 with it; Auty had been left off the film's credits, so many people assumed Jones had sung on screen too, and Auty's name was only added in 2002.

Which Frank Loesser song won the Best Song Oscar after Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalbán sang it in 1949's Neptune's Daughter?

Baby, It's Cold Outside began as the Loessers' private party piece: he wrote it in 1944 to sing with his wife and premiered it at their housewarming, years before selling it to MGM.

Which future Golden Globe winner played Martian girl Girmar as a child in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)?

Pia Zadora made her film debut as Girmar, one of the Martian children whose moping in front of Earth television drives their father to kidnap Santa for Mars.

Which band's 1967 hit 'Snoopy's Christmas' has the Red Baron call a festive truce?

The Royal Guardsmen, from Ocala, Florida, followed their 1966 hit 'Snoopy vs. the Red Baron' with this sequel, in which the Red Baron spares Snoopy and toasts him, echoing the real Christmas truce of 1914.