Clevercatz's Second Common Bond Quiz

Answer: Darcey Bussell

Darcey Andrea Bussell was born Marnie Mercedes Darcey Pemberton Crittle on the 27th April 1969 in London, England. She joined the Royal Ballet School in Richmond Park, London at the age of 13 before joining the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet in 1987. After a long and illustrious career she joined the judging panel of the BBC programme "Strictly Come Dancing" as a fifth judge.

In 2012 she returned to the show as a permanent judge replacing Alesha Dixon. In both her appearances as a judge she performed dances with the professional dancer Alan Waite.

Answer: Emma

"Madam Bovary" is a novel written by the French novelist Gustave Flaubert which was published in 1856. It tells the story of Emma Bovary, the wife of provincial doctor, who takes a lover to escape her mundane life. Her reckless life style leaves her and her husband saddled by debt. The story ends with her swallowing arsenic and dying an agonising death.

Answer: Bath

Bath is a city in county of Somerset, England. It was founded by the Romans who called it Aqua Sulis and dedicated it to the goddess Sulis Minerva. It is famous for its Roman built baths, the Royal Crescent and the abbey. The city is a designated UNESCO world heritage site due to its architectural and cultural importance.

Answer: Winchester College

Winchester College was built as a boys boarding school in Hampshire founded by William of Wykeham in 1832. William had risen from unexceptional circumstances to become the Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England. His accumulation of wealth allowed him to establish a university college named New College Oxford and the school in Winchester. From September 2022 the school began its transition to become co-educational and began accepting female day pupils. Famous ex-pupils include comedian Tim Brooke-Taylor, film director Joss Whedon and politician Rishi Sunak.

Answer: Cassandra

Cassandra was the daughter of the last king of Troy, Priam, and his wife Hecuba. According to legend she was given the gift of prophecy by the god Apollo who loved her and wanted her to comply with his desires. After she refused to entertain his wants the god Apollo avenged himself by ordaining that her prophecies would never be believed.

She predicted the fall of Troy but her predictions fell on deaf ears.

Answer: Mrs Norris

Argus Filtch was the caretaker of the magical school Hogwarts in the "Harry Potter" series of books by JK Rowling. He owned the cat Mrs Norris who was described as scrawny cat with bulging yellow eyes and dust coloured fur. She had a strong connection with her owner and often alerted him when the pupils misbehaved in the school.

She was a victim of the basilisk in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" when she saw its reflection in a puddle of water but was able to be revived using a Mandrake Restorative Draft.

Answer: Sanditon

"Sanditon" is a British television series based on the unfinished novel of the same name. It is set in the Regency period of history and follows the adventures of the young and naive heroine Charlotte Heywood (played by Rose Williams) as she discovers herself in the newly established seaside resort of Sanditon.

It was adapted for television by Welsh screenwriter Andrew Davies from the original manuscript. Due to the fact it was unfinished Davies continued the plot to develop the characters and finish the story.

It first aired on the 25th August 2019 with an eight episode series. Two more series followed with the last series ending on 24th April 2023.

Answer: Elliott

"E.T. the Extraterrestrial" is a 1982 film that was directed and produced by American director Stephen Spielberg. It follows the adventures of ten year old Elliott Taylor who discovers an abandoned alien near his home in the San Fernando Valley. The film was released in America on 11th June 1982 and was an immediate success. Elliott was played by the actor Henry Thomas.

The film was nominated for nine awards at the 55th Academy Awards and went on to win four of those.

Answer: Alan Bennett

The English playwright Alan Bennett was born on the 9th May 1934 in Leeds, Yorkshire. His first stage play "Forty Years On" was produced in 1968. Bennett's "Talking Heads" was a series of monologues written for the BBC and first broadcast in 1988. "The Lady in the Van" was a book written by Bennett based on his real life experience of an eccentric lady living in a run-down van on his drive for more than 15 years.

He later adapted it into a stage play and in 2015 the film version was released starring Maggie Smith as the eccentric Miss Shepherd reprising the role she played in the stage version.

Answer: Jane Austen

Jane Austen was an English novelist who was born in Hampshire on the 16th December 1775 and died in Winchester on the 18th July 1817. She wrote two books before she was 22 which she later revised and published as "Sense and Sensibility" (1811) and "Pride and Prejudice" (1813). She did not publish these books under her own name but used the title "A Lady". She went onto write four more novels, "Northanger Abbey", "Mansfield Park", "Emma" and "Persuasion". The books have rarely been out of print since they were first released. Jane Austen died at the age of 41 in 1817.

Q1. Fitzwilliam Darcy is the main male character in the book "Pride and Prejudice"

Q2. "Emma" is the title of Jane Austen's book printed in 1815.

Q3. Jane Austen lived in Bath between 1801 and 1806 and partially based her novels "Northanger Abbey" and "Persuasion" in the city.

Q4. Jane Austen is buried in the north nave aisle of Winchester Cathedral.

Q5. Cassandra Austen was Jane's only sister. They were very close and corresponded with each other throughout their lives. The surviving letters have provided a greater understanding of the life of the writer.

Q6. Mrs Norris is a character in the novel "Mansfield Park" (published 1814.)

Q7. "Sanditon" was Jane Austen's unfinished novel at the time of her death.

Q8. The Elliot family appear in the novel "Persuasion" (1817) following the life of the main protagonist Anne Elliot.

Q9. The Bennetts were the main family in the book "Pride and Prejudice".