1. In Scotland, New Year's Eve is called Hogmanay. What is "first-footing", and what kind of person is traditionally the luckiest first visitor?

2. Which Scottish poet wrote down the words of "Auld Lang Syne", and what does "auld lang syne" roughly mean?

3. In which year was the first New Year's Eve ball drop held in New York's Times Square?

4. On 31 December 1600, Queen Elizabeth I granted a royal charter to a trading company that went on to rule much of India. What was it called?

5. On 31 December 1879, Thomas Edison gave the first public demonstration of his electric light bulb. Where was his laboratory?

6. At noon on 31 December 1999, the United States handed control of a major waterway to the country it runs through. Which waterway?

7. On 31 December 1999, the president of Russia unexpectedly resigned on television. Who was he, and who became acting president?

8. At midnight on 31 December 1992, a European country split peacefully in two, in what was nicknamed the "Velvet Divorce". Name the country and the two new states.

9. Which Stuart prince, who led the 1745 Jacobite rising, was born on 31 December 1720, and in which city was he born?

10. In Germany, New Year's Eve is called "Silvester". Who is it named after? And which short black-and-white British comedy sketch, featuring a butler and the line "Same procedure as every year", is shown on German television every New Year's Eve?