Read to the bottom of this column and you could win a FREE bottle of wine!

If you find yourself at a Christmas quiz this year, or just one including the obligatory round about the festive season, you get to take home the first prize of a bottle of bubbly each.

All you have to do to win is follow the plan below.

You see, it is not so much about knowing the answers as anticipating the questions.

There are only so many the quizmaster can come up with on one subject, and as he copies them from the internet, the same ones always turn up.

For instance, every single Christmas quiz ever written in Britain has included the question about which country donates the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square (Norway).

Ker-ching! One point.

Then there will be one about the 12 days of Christmas, so brush up on your maids a-milking and lords a-leaping.

However, the curve ball question here is always about the total number of presents that are given in the song, and the answer is the easily remembered 364.

Another banker is the list of Santa’s reindeer.

Vixen and Prancer are the tricky ones. The rest are easy. Just remember one begins with B (Blitzen), while two start with C (Comet and Cupid) and three with D (Dancer, Dasher and Donner (think kebabs)).

Just don’t fall into the trap of thinking Rudolph was one of the original eight.

Now, it is probably worth remembering that the first Christmas card was sent in 1843, but if any other questions turn up about old traditions, the answer is almost certainly Germany.

Next comes the inevitable question about Christmas Island.

No need to look it up. Just remember it’s in the Indian Ocean (everybody else will guess Pacific).

The quizmaster may throw in a question about Christmas number ones, so you could Google them, although he will probably go for the year of the first Band Aid record, which was 1984.

Also with a high probability of landing on your answer sheet are stollen (Germany again), poinsettia and Coca-Cola.

After these bankers, it is just a case of trying to guess which other questions the quizmaster will try to catch you out on.

I suggest you look up things like what frankincense and myrrh actually are; make a note that The Simpsons’ dog is called Santa’s Little Helper; remember that people who were born on Christmas Day are Capricorns; the ballet set at Christmas was The Nutcracker; Dr Seuss created The Grinch; and the Japanese eat Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas Day.

Then it’s just about avoiding schoolboy errors, like thinking three ghosts visit Scrooge on Christmas Eve (don’t forget Jacob Marley) and Frosty the Snowman’s nose was a button, not a carrot.

That should be game, set and match.

Frankly, if you don’t take home the wine this year, you’ll only have yourself to blame.