Famous French Trivia Quiz

Answer: Henri Gault

Nouvelle cuisine was a term invented in the sixties by Henri Gault (1929-2000), Christian Millau (1928-2017) and André Gayot (born 1929). The most important principles of the nouvelle cuisine are back to basics: no elaborate and long-term cooking, use of fresh ingredients, replacing fatty sauces by herb concoctions, reducing cooking times, no more marinades, more creative combinations... A typical nouvelle cuisine dish contained also far less food than the traditional cuisine, and this hampered the breakthrough in Belgium.
Nouvelle cuisine was popular in the sixties and seventies, but withered a bit later- although a number of the principles were integrated in classic cuisine.
In 1965 Gault and Millau started publishing an annual guide of restaurants, ranked by their quality (on a scale from 1 to 20). It is a culinary guide that competes with the Guide Michelin.
Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935) was a French chef who published his own cooking book, which was for many years the standard reference to French haute cuisine.
Joël Robuchon (1945-2018) was the French chef of the year in 1989 (according to the guide Gault-Millau) and even of the century.
Michel Montignac (1944-2010) developed an eponymous diet, based upon the different types of carbohydrates. According to Montignac, one should prefer carbohydrates from beans, leafy vegetables, whole grains and dark chocolate over potatoes, refined flour and white rice.

Answer: Claude Lelouch

The Academy Awards for "Best International Feature Film" were named the Academy Awards for "Best Foreign Language Film" between 1956 and 2019. During these 64 years, the French movies were nominated the most: 39 nominations, including 12 wins.
Claude Lelouch (born 1937) directed Jean-Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aimée in "Un homme et une femme" ("A Man and a Woman"). It tells about a widower and a widow meeting by chance near the boarding school where his son and her daughter go to college. Gradually the widow and widower learn more about their pasts and fall in love.
Lelouch started his career with a few documentary short movies. His first full-feature movie was "Le propre de l'homme" (1961). This movie has no official English title, so I'll translate it myself: "Characteristic of Man". Lelouch gained fame with "Une fille et des fusils" ("A Girl and Guns") in 1965 and "Un homme et une femme" in 1966. Even after his eightieth birthday, he still was active: he directed "Les plus belles années d'une vie" ("The Best Years of a Life") and "La vertu des impondérables" (no official English title, I'd translate as "The Virtue of Imponderabilia") in 2019.
François Truffaut (1932-1984), Bertrand Blier (born 1939) and Jacques Tati (1907-1982) were some of the other Franch Oscar winners for Best Foreign Language Film. Tati won with "Mon oncle" ("My Uncle", 1958), Truffaut with "La nuit américaine" ("Day for Night", 1973) and Blier with "Préparez vos mouchoirs" ("Get out Your Handkerchiefs", 1978).

Answer: Brigitte Bardot

"Et Dieu... créa la femme" was one of the most successful movies of 1956. In the English speaking countries the title was translated to "... And God Created Woman".
In this movie, Brigitte Bardot (born 1934) portrayed a young orphan girl named Juliette, who falls in love with Antoine (role by Christian Marquand) but marries Antoine's brother Michel (played by Jean-Louis Trintignant). And then there is Eric (Curd Jurgens), the potential buyer of the shipyard owned by Antoine and Michel, who also lusts for Juliette.
Bardot started her career in 1952 with a minor role in "Le trou normand". Her career really took off in 1956 with four movies, including "Et Dieu... créa la femme". She continued her movie career until 1973, and also made several music recordings. After 1973, she turned her career into more serious business: activism for animal welfare.
Simone Signoret (1921-1985) was a French actress, best known for her role in "Les Diaboliques" (1955, "Diabolique"). Catherine Deneuve (born 1943) starred in "indochine" (1992) and "Belle de Jour" (1967). Isabelle Adjani (born 1955) played the title roles in "Camille Claudel" (1988) and "La Reine Margot" (1994, "Queen Margot").

Answer: Christian Loubotin

Loubotin shoes are easily recognised because of the specific hue of red on the soles. But is this enough to be recognised as a trade mark? One thing is for sure: it is not a technical necessity that can't be registered as a trade mark. But Christian Loubotin has fought several lawsuits, with various outcomes. In some cases (Belgium, Netherlands) Loubotin won, in other cases (France, Switzerland) the red sole was invalidated as a trademark. In the USA there was a compromise: red soles with other colours for the top part of the shoe were reserved for Loubotin, while other designers could still sell monochromatic red shoes.
Christian Loubotin was born in 1963. After having worked a certain time as freelancer for different fashion houses, he opened his own shoe company in 1991.
Manolo Blahnik (born 1942) and Cristobal Balenciaga (1895-1972) were Spanish fashion designers, whose shoes are still widely sold. Jimmy Choo (born 1948) is Malaysian, but his shoe company is based in the UK.

Answer: Marcel Marceau

"Silent Movie" is Mel Brooks' parody on the silent movies from the twenties. Three movie producers try to realise a silent movie, but the big studios are not pleased and try to sabotage the venture. During the entire movie, only one single word is uttered - by Marcel Marceau, the famous French pantomime who used to perform in complete silence. When the producers contact Marceau and ask him (by way of a screen dialogue) to play the main character, Marcel Marceau replies (spoken in French) "Non".

Marcel Marceau (1923-2007) is probably the best known pantomime of the Twentieth Century. He started his career in 1946 in the theatre. He also appeared in some movies, including (other than Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie") "Barbarella" in 1968 and "Shanks" in 1974.
Piccoli (born 1925), Noiret (1930-2006) and the Italian actor Ugo Tognazzi (1922-1990) were three of the four protagonists in "La Grande Bouffe" (1973), in which four elder men gather for their last weekend of a sinful life. They want to eat, drink and "be merry" until death. The "be merry" is a euphemism for an activity that can't be mentioned on a family site.

Answer: René Goscinny

Anyone who is familiar with European comic strips, will recognise the phrase as one of the catchphrases in the comic series "Asterix", originally written by René Goscinny (1926-1977) and illustrated by Albert Uderzo (born 1927). In most instances, it is Obelix who comments on the attitude of the Romans, the Britons, the Corsicans, the Lusitanians (Portuguese), the Belgians, the Germans or whatever people he meets.
"Asterix" is a series set in Gaul about 50 BC, but the main characters travel all over the world (even to North-America in one album). The humour comes from anachronisms (for instance the Belgian invention of French fries using potatoes - which only arrived in Europe after 1500 AD), ethnic stereotypes (such as the militaristic attitude of the Germans), wordplays and so on.
Jean Graton (born 1923) is known for the comic strip series "Michel Vaillant", about a F1 racer. Duchateau (born 1925) is a Belgian comics writer. He wrote the dialogues for the detective series "Ric Hochet", illustrated by Tibet (Gilbert Gascard, 1931-2010). Martin (1921-2010) wrote comics such as "Alix" (about a young Roman during the Roman Republic).

Answer: Questions pour un champion

"Questions pour un champion" was launched in 1988. It is a daily quiz show in which the questions are rather long, but the contestants may buzz in as soon as they think to know the correct answer. The French television chain France 3 had a huge success with this quiz show, of which alternate versions were produced by other francophone television chains. The BBC produced a similar programme ("Going for Gold") from 1987 until 1996.
Julien Lepers was born in 1949. He did quite well on the show, until the head of France 3 decided to replace him with someone younger.
In "Des chiffres et des lettres", contestants have to solve mathematical puzzles or form long words. Since 1972, different people have presented the show, most notably Laurent Romejko (since 1992).
"Qui veut gagner des millions?" is the French format for "Who wants to be a millionaire?". Jean-Pierre Foucault presented seasons 2000-2019 of this show.
"N'oubliez pas les paroles" is a karaoke style TV show, which debuted in 2007. Nagui (born in Egypt in 1961) presented the show for at least ten years.

Answer: Edith Piaf

"Non, je ne regrette rien" ("No, I do not regret anything") was written in 1956 and has been recorded by several artists. But the 1960 recording by Edith Piaf is arguably the best-known version. The song as performed by Edith Piaf reached the top in the French, Walloon, Quebecois and Dutch hit charts. Despite translating difficulties, there have been an English, a Serbian and a Swedish version, among others.
Edith Piaf (1915-1963, born Edith Gassion) started her singing career in 1935. Her other greatest hits were "La vie en rose" (1946, literally translated as "Life in Pink") and "Milord" (1959). The nickname Piaf ("sparrow") was chosen for her by her first employer, the nightclub owner Louis Leplée.
France Gall (1947-2018) won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965 with "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" (literally: "Wax Doll, Saw Flour Doll").
Mylène Farmer (born 1961 in Quebec) is best known for her song "Désenchantée" ("Disenchanted").
Françoise Hardy (born 1944) scored her greatest hit early in her career, with "Tous les garçons et les filles" (1962, literally "All the Boys and Girls" - but the first English cover was named "Find me a Girl").

Answer: Gilbert Becaud

Gilbert Bécaud ((1927-2001) was nicknamed "Monsieur Cent Mille Volts". He started his career as a songwriter in 1948, and began singing himself in 1956. His greatest hits include "Et maintenant" (1961, translated into English as "What now, my love") and "Nathalie" (1964).
Bécaud also completed a full opera titled "L'opéra d'Aran" (named after the Aran Islands off the Irish coast, the setting for this opera).
Boris Vian (1920-1959) was a jack of all trades. He is best known for his novels and poetry, but he also sang and was active as an engineer. The song he is best remembered for, is the anti-war protest song "Le déserteur".
Julien Clerc (born 1947 as Paul Leclerc) sang "Hélène" in 1987.
Michel Sardou (born 1947) is best known for his song "Les lacs de Connemara" (1981), still a popular song at wedding feasts.

Answer: Darius Milhaud

Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) was one of "Les Six": a group of six composers active in the interbellum who sometimes collaborated on a major recording. The other members were Georges Auric (1899-1983), Louis Durey (1888-1979), Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) and the Swiss Arthur Honegger (1892-1955). These six published a studio album of piano concertos in 1920, and some of them worked together on other albums as well.
"Le boeuf sur le toit" (1920) is a surrealist ballet influenced by Brazilian folk music. Characters in this weird piece of classical music are (among others) a dwarf, a decapitated and revived police officer, and a woman in men's attire. The ballet later gave its name to a bar where Les Six and Jean Cocteau frequently met.
Messiaen (1908-1992) was a composer who regularly incorporated bird's songs in his works. One of his better known operas is "Saint François d'Assise" (1983), for which he also wrote the libretto.
Boulez (1925-2016) is best remembered for his works "Le marteau sans maître" (1955) and "Pli selon pli" (1957), music inspired by poetry.
Jean-Michel Jarre (born 1948) started his career in 1971 with the album "La Cage". He gained international fame with his albums "Oxygène" (1976) and "Equinoxe" (1978). He is also known for extremely large outdoor concerts, one of which (on top of the highest hill near Moscow) was attended by about 3.5 million people.