Peter Ustinov: The Middle Years Quiz

Answer: Sir Robert Vansittart

Vansittart was Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office from 1930 to 1938 and was strongly against the policy of appeasement created by Chamberlain's government. Jones was the head of Reuters who had refused to sponsor "Klop", the reason being that he did not want to offend the German Government; something Vansittart was more than happy to do.
Beaverbrook and Halifax were members of Churchill's war cabinet.

Answer: All three of these

From September 1939 until April 1940 the people of Britain expected the famed Nazi "Blitzkrieg" to be unleashed on them. Believing that attack was imminent many children were evacuated out of the major cities. As time went along many of these evacuees were brought back home. Meanwhile the Battle of the Atlantic and the Nazi consolidation of Poland began.

It was Churchill who called this period "The Twilight War" while the Germans referred to it as "Sitzkrieg", "The Sitting War". The identity of the person who coined the phrase "The Phony War" is not truly known though it has been attributed to an American senator called William Borah.

Answer: "The New Lot" (1943)

The film was written by Peter Ustinov and Eric Ambler and was directed by the great Carol Reed. The film centred on the lives of five conscripts as they were called into service. Amongst the cast was Robert Donat and Bernard Lee.

"In Which We Serve" was a film about the Royal Navy and starred, amongst others, Noel Coward. "The Way Ahead" starred David Niven and was a worthy successor to "The New Lot". "The Goose Steps Out" is a spy comedy starring the British comedic actor Will Hay and Peter Ustinov.

Answer: David Niven

Both Burton and MacNee served with the British Royal Navy whilst Hawkins served in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, though he spent some of his time producing entertainment shows for the troops serving in India.

Answer: Jack Sharkey

The "Boston Gob" had been drinking one night during the voyage and was in the mood for a fight. In the bunk above Ustinov was an officer who had lost a leg to a land mine and was now using the latest artificial leg which had been made in the U.S.A. The one-legged officer brandished his artificial leg at the sozzled fighter who howled with fear and staggered away.

Answer: Rispoli

Using his abilities to affect a foreign accent Peter plays the character of Rispoli, the café owner, who is caught in the middle between the British and German forces somewhere in North Africa. This film is based on Ustinov's previous offering, "The New Lot", and was released in 1944.

Answer: Costume Designer

Peter's mother, Nadia Benois, was an accomplished artist who was born in St. Petersburg in 1896. Her many accomplishments included collaboration with Marie Rambert, and the Rambert Dance Company, in the designs for the ballet "Dark Elegies". She started her career in art under her uncle Alexander Benois who was the designer for the major Diaghilev ballets.

She also had several exhibitions in Britain to showcase her paintings.

Answer: Ralph Richardson

Ralph Richardson loved motorcycles and air planes but had been known for destroying said machines resulting in the loss of several teeth which resulted in the use of some bridgework within his mouth. On the third day of filming Richardson arrived on set minus the bridgework and bellowing his hale and hearty welcome to all.

However the loss of the teeth resulted in the appearance of a whistling sound coming from Richardson on certain sibilants; some that he was totally unaware of. So the 24 year old director, Peter, panicked and told the famous actor that the camera was broken, which the cameraman denied landing Peter in hot water whereupon he said that he had made a mistake because of his inexperience and that it was the sound-mixing machine which had broken down.

The sound-man confirmed this as he had been on the receiving end of a number of the piercing whistles emitted by Richardson. Meanwhile the assistant director hastened to the phone to call Richardson's home to deliver the missing teeth.

Answer: Mein Kampf

The full title of the movie is "Mein Kampf- My Crimes" and Peter's role was that of the man charged with setting fire to the Reichstag in 1933. Marinus van der Lubbe was a Dutch communist who was charged, and executed, for the Reichstag fire. He received a pardon from the German authorities in 2008.

Answer: House of Regrets

The play centres on the lives of Russian émigrés living in wartime London. All the answers are plays written by Peter; the most successful of his plays was "The Love of Four Colonels".