The Silken Rope...'Kind Hearts and Coronets' Quiz

Answer: Leeds Castle

Contrary to what its name might lead you to believe, Leeds Castle is located in the county of Kent and was a favourite residence of King Edward I. The original castle had been built in 1119 AD as a motte and bailey, but what we see of the building today dates mainly from the 19th century. Leeds Castle was used by King Henry VIII as a home for his first queen, Catherine of Aragon.

The scenes in this film that show the interior of the castle were actually filmed at Ealing Studio sound stages with the actual building itself only appearing in exterior scenes. Leeds Castle has been a Grade One listed building since 1952 and is recognised as a building of national and international importance.

Answer: Opera singer

It was whilst Louis's father was performing for the D'Ascoyne family at Chalfont Castle that Louis's mother, then the daughter to the 7th Duke of Chalfont, fell in love with him; ostracised after she married Mazzini senior, the couple moved into a house, 73 Balaklava Avenue SW, and on the birth of young Louis, the elder Mazzini died from a massive heart attack the first time he laid eyes on his baby son.

Although the family were poor before his father passed away, his death forced Louis and his mother into abject poverty.

As Louis grew up he was told that he was an heir to the dukedom but after the family refusal to reconcile with Louis's mother by allowing her to be buried in the family tomb at Chalfont, and her subsequent death after an accident, the young Mazzini swears to have his revenge on the D'Ascoyne family over their treatment of his mother.

Answer: Charles II

The 1st Duke of Chalfont was Colonel Henry D'Ascoyne, the title being bestowed upon him for services rendered whilst the king was in exile in France. Uniquely, the dukedom was also granted a line of descent through the female line; this being granted for services to the king by the Duchess after his restoration nudge, nudge... wink, wink! And so, through this, it was a possibility that one day Louis may become the Duke of Chalfont through his mother's bloodline.

Answer: Sibella

The beautiful but manipulative Sibella, played by Joan Greenwood, was the daughter of a local medical practitioner, Doctor Helwood. Louis had been friends with Sibella and her brother Graham since they were young children, a friendship that continued into young adulthood. Shortly after Louis's mother had passed away after an accident, Louis was invited to live with the doctor and his family in their large house.

Answer: A framed picture

Louis keeps a copy of the D'Ascoyne family tree behind a picture on the wall in his sitting room. The picture is a painting by Louis's mother of the D'Ascoyne family seat at Chalfont Castle. After each successful murder, Louis marks the deceased with a large cross.

Answer: A weir

After overhearing a conversation between young Ascoyne D'Ascoyne and his mistress whilst at work; a conversation which ultimately costs Louis his job, he follows the couple to the Cruikshank Hotel in Maidenhead. After following them when they go punting, Louis releases their punt from its mooring whilst they are distracted in a passionate embrace and the punt, caught in a current, plunges over a weir sending its young occupants to their deaths.

Whilst returning to the hotel Louis feels pangs of remorse for killing the young lady but then considers that he had probably saved her from a fate worse than death cavorting with the young Lord Ascoyne!

Answer: Photography

After befriending young Henry D'Ascoyne and his beautiful wife Edith, Louis is invited to spend a weekend at their luxurious home. Whilst enjoying his new friend's hospitality, Louis steals into Henry's darkroom early one morning and replaces the paraffin in the darkroom lamp with petrol.

After an archery session on the lawns, Henry retires to his darkroom to work on some recently taken pictures while his wife Edith and Louis take afternoon tea. Unfortunately for poor Henry, he lights the heater and burns his darkroom to the ground with him inside it.

Answer: Septimus Wilkinson, Bishop of Matabeleland

"The reverend Lord Henry was not one of those new-fangled parsons who carry the principles of their vocation uncomfortably into private life", muses Louis at dinner.

The rector of Chalfont had been instructed by his doctor to reduce his intake of port and fine cigars, advice that he roundly ignores. Mazzini, disguised as a bishop, first encounters the vicar inside the church whilst taking a brass rubbing of a D'Ascoyne family tomb. The vicar is intrigued by this Bishop of Matabeleland and invites him to dinner at the rectory that evening. Louis realises that he has a perfect opportunity to kill the vicar and to effectively cover his tracks. The elderly vicar leaves the table to collect a cigar from his sideboard; Louis laces the port decanter with poison and promptly dispatches his third victim. Interestingly, Alec Guinness revealed later that it was this role that had given him the most pleasure in its portrayal.

Answer: Ballooning

Lady Agatha D'Ascoyne, like her brothers Horatio and Rufus, appears only very briefly in the story. A political activist for the women's suffrage movement, it was shortly after her release from prison after being convicted for vandalism and assaulting a police officer during one of her protests, that she embarked on a leaflet campaign from a hot air balloon; as she floated past the offices in which Louis worked he aimed and released an arrow from his longbow which sends the balloon, and Lady Agatha, plummeting to the ground and to her death.

Initially, Alec Guinness refused to ascend in a balloon as he felt that the insurance cover provided for him by the Ealing Studios was insufficient and his place in the finished scene was eventually taken by a Belgian ballooning expert wearing Lady Agatha's costume and wig!

Answer: True

Whilst on exercise with the fleet, Admiral D'Ascoyne refused to take advice from his second in command which caused a collision between his own vessel and another warship. Both vessels were sunk but both crews survived with just the one exception; Admiral Lord Horatio D'Ascoyne insisted on going down with his ship and, whilst this was yet another disaster for the D'Ascoyne family, it saved Louis Mazzini the problems that arose from deciding how to murder someone that rarely if ever set foot ashore.

Incidentally, Alec Guinness nearly drowned during the filming of this scene; he had been held in place on the set by a series of wires and, after filming had finished, the crew left the set. If it were not for a technician diving into the set and releasing Guinness with a set of wire-cutters, he would have surely drowned.

Answer: Caviar

"I held our guns until we could see the whites of their eyes; and then I gave the order... Fire!"

The dreary General Lord Rufus D'Ascoyne is of the opinion that the Russian caviar which he has been sent is the finest in the world. Sitting down to dinner at his exclusive gentleman's club, he plunges his spoon into the jar and the explosive charge is detonated;

"not an atom of him remained"...

No mention is made of the fate of the General's fellow diners!

Answer: A man-trap

The incumbent Duke had set man-traps all over his estate to deter the local ruffians from poaching his game. Louis Mazzini discreetly changes the position of one of the traps and then leads the Duke into stepping onto it; with the Duke immobilised, Louis takes his time in explaining his reasons for killing the D'Ascoyne family before then shooting him dead with his own shotgun.

It is immediately after this event that Louis's employer, the kindly banker Ascoyne D'Ascoyne, dies from the shock of being informed that he has suddenly become the 9th Duke of Chalfont. With the death of the 9th Duke, Louis's dreams are realised and his revenge on the family is complete; he has, finally, succeeded to the position of the 10th Duke of Chalfont.

Answer: Lionel Holland, husband to Sibella

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned... After Louis's rebuffing of Sibella's advances in favour of Lady Edith's acceptance of his marriage proposal, Sibella is determined to have her revenge on Louis Mazzini. Sibella's husband Lionel had asked to see Louis at his residence in order to discuss an extension of credit on his account. Lionel received Louis in his sitting room where he had been drinking for some time; an argument ensued after Louis had refused to extend Lionel any further credit and with this Lionel told Louis that he had been left with no alternative than to end his life by suicide.

After a brief physical altercation Louis left the residence leaving Lionel unconscious; this was, as far as Louis was concerned, the end of the matter... Unbeknown to Louis, Lionel had later committed suicide and the devious Sibella had found his suicide note keeping it for future use in her own devious plans.

Answer: Pentonville Prison

Lady Edith, widow of young Henry D'Ascoyne, married Louis in prison to demonstrate that she had faith in her belief that Louis was innocent of all the charges against him and would be acquitted. Louis Mazzini had comforted Edith after the death of young Henry and had, after an appropriate period of time had elapsed, asked her to marry him; she had graciously declined his offer initially, but later accepted it whilst calling on Louis at home in his apartment.

It was as Edith was leaving that she passed Sibella on the stairs, unknown to her at that time; it was this chance encounter and the aroma of Lady Edith's scent in Louis apartment that aroused Sibella's suspicions; and which would ultimately drive her to testify against Louis during his trial in the House of Lords.

Answer: True

During a prison visit by Sibella, the offer of the lost suicide note turning up was made to Louis on the condition that, once released, he dispose of his wife Edith and marry Sibella. On the morning of Louis's execution he had just been introduced to his executioner when news came through that the missing suicide note had been found and that he, Louis 10th Duke of Chalfont, would be released forthwith. Leaving his cell to be accommodated in the prison governor's quarters before his release, Louis forgets that the copy of his memoirs explaining everything was still placed on his desk in his former cell.

After his release, Louis is approached by a journalist from 'Titbits' magazine with a view to the magazine serialising his memoirs... It is at this moment that Louis realises that he is undone and that once his memoirs are discovered he is finished.