A Mouse at the London Palladium Quiz

Answer: 1910

Before the present building the site was occupied by Hengler's Circus, and for a short period an ice rink. In 1910 the building was given a complete restoration and the current building was born. The existing facade, which is of Argyll House, a private home that once occupied the site, has always been maintained.

When it opened for business it was called the Palladium, the change to London Palladium came in 1934. The theatre does still retain many original features and was Grade II listed in 1960.

Answer: Revolving inner stage

The revolving stage at the London Palladium was, when it was constructed, unique. It became famous through the television show "Sunday Night at the London Palladium", when, as a finale, all the cast gathered on it to wave goodbye. At the end of the run of "The King and I" in 2002 the revolving stage was removed to make way for more modern technology.

Answer: Val Parnell

Val Parnell took over as General Manager and Director of the London Palladium in 19445 and embarked on a programme of bringing the biggest names of the time to London. He backed them up with popular British artists such as Alma Cogan, Max Bygraves, Julie Andrews and Des O'Connor.

It was in his reign that the highly successful ATV television show, "Sunday Night at the London Palladium" started.

Answer: 1930

The Royal Variety Show did not become an annual event until 1921, and the first show to be staged at the London Palladium was in 1930. Stars included Max Wall, Will Hay and Nervo and Knox from The Crazy Gang. The show then stayed at the Palladium for the next seven years, and is still often held there. All proceeds from the Royal Variety Show go to the Variety Artists Benevolent Fund.

Answer: Elvis Presley

The Palladium are reported to have offered Elvis $28,000 for fourteen concerts over seven days. Tom Parker, his manager, apparently said "that's fine for me, now how much are you prepared to pay for Elvis". Had they been successful it would have been the first time Elvis had performed anywhere outside of America. They weren't and he never did perform any overseas concerts.

Answer: Singin' in the Rain

Starring Tommy Steele and Roy Castle, "Singin' in the Rain" was put on at the London Palladium in 1993. The biggest challenge was mounting the dancing in the rain scene. Real water cascaded onto the stage and was taken away by a special drainage system.

After this scene Tommy Steele not only had to achieve a very rapid change of costume, but the stage had to be dry enough for him to ride a motor bike onto it.

Answer: It was matinees only

These days the London Palladium has a reputation for big and lavish pantomimes, but the first one was matinees only and was only on for a very few weeks, but it was popular, so in 1915 it was followed by "Cinderella". Pantomimes continued on and off until the late 1940s, when, under new management, it became the home of the biggest West End pantomimes, with the biggest stars. Over the next few years such names as Julie Andrews, Peter Sellers, Cliff Richard, Tommy Steele and Cilla Black appeared in the Christmas panto. Dame Anna Neagle made her last ever stage appearance as Fairy Godmother in "Cinderella" in the 1985/86 season.

Answer: Really Useful Group

Under the ownership of Really Useful Group the London Palladium have staged some big musical productions. Having stripped out the old revolving stage they installed the technology that made it possible for a car to fly during "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", revived "The Sound of Music", which had the benefit of free publicity coming from a television show to find the new Maria and revived "The Wizard of Oz", which also had television publicity to find Dorothy.

Answer: Tommy Trinder

Whilst Bruce Forsyth is remembered for his stint as host many people forget that Tommy Trinder was the compere from 1955 to 1958. Even fewer recall Don Aroll, who hosted for a short period during 1960/61 while Bruce Forsyth took a break. After Bruce came Norman Vaughan for three years then Jimmy Tarbuck. In its heyday the show was watched by 20 million people a week. All of shows were live and very few were actually recorded for posterity.

Answer: The scenery was moved to allow another show to be staged

Part of the new technology installed at the London Palladium is easy removal and storage of scenery to enable to stage to be used for other performances during a long running show. As an example of this, all of the scenery used in "Sister Act" could be lifted and stored in the roof of the theatre. All shows now feature specially designed scenery which avoids expensive and time consuming removal and set up.

This has made the theatre much more flexible in allowing one off concerts and events to take place.