Which English queen took, for gout, laudanum on toast floating in brandy? Which medieval bishop of Bath collapsed and died after his Christmas dinner? Heresy aside, what had Wycliffe and Oliver Cromwell in common?Magdalen Goffin, who has died at home aged 90, was a regular contributor of features and reviews to The Tablet between 1968 and 1980, but perhaps she is best remembered for her Christmas quizzes, which combined a breadth of idiosyncratic learning and wry wit. She was the author of several books, including The Watkin Path, a life of her father, the philosopher and Catholic theologian E. I. Watkin, and a sad, compelling biography of her grandmother, Maria Pasqua. Her brother, Dom Aelred Watkin, was the headmaster at Downside and Abbot of Glastonbury.Her funeral requiem will be on 2