Q 01/05

What record does Bing Crosby's 'White Christmas' hold?

A) Longest run at number one

B) Best-selling single of all time

C) First song to win a Grammy

D) Most-covered song ever

Answer · why

B) Best-selling single of all time

Estimated sales top 50 million physical copies. He recorded it for Decca in 1942 in about eighteen minutes.

Q 02/05

Which songwriter wrote 'White Christmas' for the 1942 film Holiday Inn?

A) Cole Porter

B) Irving Berlin

C) Jerome Kern

D) Johnny Mercer

Answer · why

B) Irving Berlin

It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and the industry realised for the first time that Christmas was a market of its own.

Q 03/05

Glenn Miller received the first ever gold record in 1942 for a song about a train to which city?

A) Chattanooga

B) Kalamazoo

C) Memphis

D) Nashville

Answer · why

A) Chattanooga

RCA Victor presented it for 1.2 million sales. The song was the number one record in America on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked.

Q 04/05

Which tune was Glenn Miller's theme song?

A) Moonlight Serenade

B) Stardust Melody

C) String of Pearls

D) Tuxedo Junction

Answer · why

A) Moonlight Serenade

He wrote it himself. His band's other hits included In the Mood, Chattanooga Choo Choo and Pennsylvania 6-5000.

Q 05/05

Glenn Miller went missing in December 1944 when his plane vanished over which body of water?

A) The English Channel

B) The North Sea

C) The Bay of Biscay

D) The Irish Sea

Answer · why

A) The English Channel

He was flying from England to France for a USO show in a small Norseman aircraft. An inquiry blamed weather, mechanical failure and human error.