Image of a bird calling, in the snow, black with brown wings and a black tail fanned out

The questions

1 Who was posthumously proved right on Christmas Day, 1758?
2 Jennifer Lopez’s green Versace dress inspired what online function?
3 What substance was supposedly produced by mediums at seances?
4 FC Santa Claus is a football team in which country?
5 Which diocese used to stretch from the Humber to the Thames?
6 Mark and Roxanne Hoyle dominated the festive charts under what name?
7 Who is the only Australian to win the Nobel prize in Literature?
8 In 1804, Jacques I was declared emperor of where?
What links:
9 Dormouse; squirrel; capercaillie, puffin; salmon; bees?
10 Chelsea army; Manchester football; Milton Keynes computing; York railway?
11 Robert McNamara; Elsa Dorfman; Steve Bannon; John le Carré
12 Doc; Janet; Kikuchiyo; Chico; Merope; Rachel Stevens?
13 Arrowhead Stadium; Globe Life Field; Ball Arena; T-Mobile Arena?
14 Decapitated, 1964 and 1998; arm sawn off, 1984; blown up, 2003?
15 23 birds; 23 musicians; 19 aristocrats; 8 dairy workers; 5 pieces of jewellery?

Spitting feathers over the birds and musicians clue? Photograph: Stefano Sudaro/Getty Images/500px

The answers

1 Edmond Halley (predicted return of his comet).
2 Google Images.
3 Ectoplasm.
4 Finland.
5 Lincoln.
6 LadBaby (five Christmas No 1 singles)
7 Patrick White (1973).
8 Haiti.
9 Animals on 2023 coin designs.
10 National museums: location and subject.
11 Subjects of documentary films by Errol Morris: The Fog of War; The B-Side; American Dharma; The Pigeon Tunnel.
12 Members of septets: Seven Dwarfs; Secret Seven; Seven Samurai; Magnificent Seven; Seven Sisters (Pleiades); S Club 7.
13 Homes of US champion sports teams in 2023: Kansas City Chiefs; Texas Rangers; Denver Nuggets; Vegas Golden Knights.
14 Vandalism of Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid statue.
15 Breakdown of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Frederic Austin version.

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