Birds I Have Known Trivia Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. I had the pleasure of meeting Colin Welland once, who is best known as a writer. However, he played the part of a teacher in this gritty 1969 film about a young boy and a bird. What film am I thinking about?

Answer: Kes

"Kes" is a film about a boy living in poverty in the north of England, whose only escape from the harsh realities of life is to care for his pet kestrel. Colin Welland is most famous for winning an Oscar for his screenplay for the film "Chariots of Fire", released in 1981.

He was attending a writers conference at around this time, and my dad bought him back to our house for lunch. I think he was quite surprised that I wanted to talk to him about Kes (his first ever acting role) rather than the Oscar he'd just won!

2. The Canaries, The Robins, The Magpies and The Bluebirds are all nicknames for British football teams. Only one of these nicknames came from a play that was being performed at a local theatre though. The theatre was in Cardiff, and therefore the play must have been called - which one of these birds?

Answer: Bluebird

Both Bristol City and Swindon are known as "The Robins" - both play in red. Newcastle United are known as the Magpies - and they play in black and white. Norwich City play in Canary yellow, and prior to 1909, Cardiff City played in.. chocolate and gold. So thank goodness Belgian playwrite Maurice Maeterlink's play "Blue Bird" was performed at Cardiff's New Theatre in that year, or who knows what Cardiff City's nickname might be by today?

Cardiff are the club that I've followed since I was a very small lad, and many is the Saturday afternoon I've spent in the freezing rain chanting "Bluebirds!" at 11 blokes who probably wouldn't have a clue who Maurice Maeterlink was if he slapped them in the face with a box of finest Belgian chocolates. Dipped in mayonnaise. In the shape of the Mannequin Pis. In a Hercule Poirot accent - riding Eddie Merckx's bike. Does this qualify as the first ever quiz to include every famous Belgian in the answer? What do you mean I forgot Tintin?

3. For my next bird(s) you'll need to live life in the fast lane, and take it to the limit on the seven bridges road. After a night in the Hotel California, you may wake up to a Tequila sunrise - but don't be a witchy woman or a desperado, just take it easy, or you'll leave a hole in the world tonight. What "Bird" band might I be thinking of?

Answer: The Eagles

Who else loved the Eagles back in the 1970s? I did - and one day, whilst in the car on the way to a cricket match with four 50+ year olds, an interview came onto the radio with Don Henley. I self consciously (being a pre-teenager at the time!) said "I really like the Eagles", just seconds before Don Henley said if he hadn't been a rock star, he'd liked to have been a mass murderer.

But I'm sure they regained a lot of respectability when Joe Walsh decided to stand as President of the USA. Great band - and thanks to my fellow Refugees for inspiring this question!

4. Which of these birds have NOT given their names to a Major League Baseball team in North America?

Answer: Ducks

I'm not sure where my fascination with baseball first started. Probably in a hotel room somewhere, fighting off jet lag, looking for some sort of sport to watch - and realizing that baseball was a fascinating game. I've no idea why it hasn't become more popular in the UK, it's a terrific game - a real strategic battle of wits between pitcher and batter. And those stats - wonderful!

Of course, we have Baltimore Orioles, St Louis Cardinals and Toronto Toronto Blue Jays - the Ducks are an ice hockey team - another great sport, and one which has become quite popular here in the UK - especially in Cardiff, where the Devils have ruled the roost for quite a while now.

5. Del Boy and Rodney ride around in a Robin Reliant Regal Van in this most popular and hilarious of British Comedies. Don't be a plonker - in which comedy series is the three wheeled yellow bird car to be seen?

Answer: Only Fools and Horses

Seven series of "Only Fools and Horses" were made by the BBC, starring David Jason as wheeler dealer Del Boy and Nicholas Lyndhurst as his hapless younger brother and sidekick Rodney.

Often referred to as the yellow Reliant Robin, the popular name for Del Boy's three wheeled car isn't strictly true - as a van based on the Reliant Robin car model, it is officially known as a RelianRegal van - but try telling any "Only Fools and Horses" fan that it isn't a Reliant Robin, and they'll invoke Del Boy's favourite term of endearment upon you - "you plonker!"

6. Manhattan Transfer is one of my favourite bands ever - but which of the quartet who make up the band really does have a homonymous birdlike name? I've slightly changed the names of three members of the band - but one is genuine.

Answer: Janis Siegel

It's Alan Paul (not Peter/ Pitta), Cheryl Bentyne (not Pidgin/ Pigeon) and Tim Hauser (not Herrin/ Heron).

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1952, Janis Siegel has been nominated for 17 Grammys, winning 9. She met Tim Hauser by chance at a party, recorded some demo tracks for him, and was asked to join the re-incarnated Manhattan Transfer as a result.

The original band formed in 1969, and had some limited success, releasing one album. They were re-formed by Tim Hauser in 1972, and have enjoyed over three decades of success on both sides of the Atlantic - in the UK particularly in the 1970s, after their appearance on "The Two Ronnies" TV Show. Altogether now "Chanson D'Amour rat tat tat tat tat."

7. If you like your literature a little metaphorical and spiritual, then no doubt you'll like "Jonathan Livingstone Seagull". Published in 1970, it soon went to the top of the US bestselling charts. But who wrote it?

Answer: Richard Bach

It is a fable, published in the form of a novella (which means it doesn't take that long to read!) based on the life of a seagull learning to fly. It is a metaphor for the human condition.

Despite topping the New York Times Bestseller List for 38 consecutive weeks, the novel is not without its critics. Some have accused Bach of thinly veiled plagiarism, whilst a number of parodies of the book have been made. One of the most cutting of these is David Lines's Jonathan Livingston Trafalgar Square Pigeon (1998), which introduces the reader to a rather cynical pigeon, trying unsuccessfully to find inspiration from the London Underground.

8. Which famous actor, who won an Oscar in 1988 as Best leading Actor, actually won his first Oscar 13 years earlier as a producer of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"?

Answer: Michael Douglas

Kirk Douglas, Michael's father, had bought the film rights to Ken Kesey's novel many years previously, but had never got the film off the ground. Michael Douglas took the project over - and it was nominated for nine Oscars, winning five of them.

I had Michael Douglas' phone number on my mobile phone for years - it's a long story!

9. Which of these listed is a bird of prey - and not a European sportsman?

Answer: Lammergeier

The Lammergeier or Bearded Vulture (Latin; Gypaetus barbatus) is an exclusively mountainous scavenger, found in Europe, Africa and the Himalayas.

I once came across a unique use of the word "Lammergeier" - but the story is far too long to type out here! Suffice to say, this particular bird has remained familiar to me for many a year!

Mats Wilander was a Swedish tennis player, Miguel Indurain a Spanish cyclist, and Patrick Battiston a French footballer.

10. The award winning Penderyn whisky is distilled in Wales. Its name comes from the small village in Breconshire where the distillery is based - it also means something to do with birds. What is the meaning of "Penderyn" in English?

Answer: Bird's head

"Deryn" is "bird" - and "Pen" is "head". The term "Pen" appears in quite a few Welsh place names - Penarth (Bear Head), "Penclawdd" (Head of the hedge) and "Penmaenmawr" (Head of the Big Rock) being just a few of the better known examples.

Penderyn's most famous past resident would be one Dic Penderyn, a working class hero executed for his part in the Merthyr Rising of June 1831. Born Richard Lewis, he became better known as Dic Penderyn - Dic from Penderyn. We keep this naming thing simple here in Wales!

Source: Author Huw27

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Nannanut before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

This quiz is all to do with birds that have played some part in my life. On reading through it, you may think me quite urbane - or more likely, just a little bit odd. Have fun getting to know my birds!

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