The Life and Times of Robbie Coltrane Quiz

Answer: Scotland

On the 30th of March, 1950, Anthony Robert McMillan, (later known as Robbie Coltrane), was born in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Coltrane attended a rather prominent school, Glenalmond College, an independent boarding school located in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. However he almost got himself expelled after pulling a dangerous stunt, involving hanging gowns off the school's clock tower.

Scotland's Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the United Kingdom.

Answer: "Are You Being Served" (1972)

The plot of the British sitcom, "Are You Being Served" (1972) revolved around the goings on in a fictional London department store called Grace Brothers. Very successful and popular in its time, in 2004 it was voted as the twentieth best British sitcom, in a poll conducted by the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.

Moreover in 1983, Robbie Coltrane's very first television appearance was on this particular show, where he had a brief role as a Dynamite Truck Driver.

Answer: Red Robbie

Despite performing well in school, in both his academic and extra-curricular activities, Robbie Coltrane was unhappy there. He was ridiculed for his accent, and also earned himself numerous nicknames, including "Red Robbie", a result of his socialist beliefs and behaviour.

In fact in an interview with "The Telegraph", Coltrane was quoted as saying that "Having been to public school, I would hate to go to jail", because "I know what it's like to have your freedom taken away from you." He also claimed that he was regularly beaten during his time at Glenalmond College, an experience which almost certainly fuelled his later public condemnation of the public school system.

Answer: "Cracker" (1993)

Robbie Coltrane has starred in all of the above, but it is for his role as Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald in "Cracker" (1993) that he is most well known. The series revolved around the brilliant criminal psychologist, Fitz, who worked alongside the police in order to solve crime.

However unlike the more genteel characters of previous crime dramas, such as John Thaw's "Inspector Morse" (1987) Coltrane's Fitz was self-destructive and confrontational. Indeed Coltrane's character struggled with a variety of addictions, including alcohol and gambling.

Answer: Art

Robbie Coltrane studied drawing, painting and film at Glasgow Art School. He then went on to study art for another year, at Edinburgh's Moray House College of Education.

Answer: Rubeus Hagrid

In 2001 Robbie Coltrane starred as the lovable half-giant, Rubeus Hagrid, in the film "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone". The film revolved around young Harry Potter's discovery that he was a wizard, and followed him as he entered the world of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Along with fellow students, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, Hogwarts' gamekeeper, Rubeus Hagrid, (played by Coltrane), became one of Harry's closest friends, after he helped Harry make his first steps into the wizarding world.

Answer: False

Robbie Coltrane's first born, was a son named Spencer, who was born in 1992. His daughter, Alice, was born six years later, in 1998. Despite being author J. K. Rowling's own first choice to play Hagrid in the "Harry Potter" (2001) films, it was only after his own children begged him to do it that Coltrane accepted the role.

Answer: Jack the Ripper

In the 2001 film, "From Hell", Robbie Coltrane took on the role of Sergeant Peter Godley, alongside Johnny Depp, who played Inspector Frederick Abberline. The plot of the film centred on the Jack the Ripper murders, which involved an unknown serial killer hunting down the poor prostitutes of London's Whitechapel.

When asked about the film, Coltrane told the BBC that he found people's continuing interest in Jack the Ripper fascinating, but admitted that some of the photographic records of the crimes were "too horrible to look at".

Answer: OBE

In 2006 Robbie Coltrane was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire), for services to drama. When asked about how he felt about receiving the honour, a modest Coltrane told the BBC that "once you've been doing anything for 25 years people start to notice you".

Answer: False

In an interview with "The Telegraph", Robbie Coltrane described D.I. Douglas Hain, his character in "Murderland" (2009), as "a kind-of Chekhovian" individual, who was "an ordinary bloke, to whom extraordinary things had happened". Although the press were quick to draw parallels between this character and his portrayal of Fitz, in "Cracker" (1993), Coltrane was quick to point out the differences between the two.

Insisting that the pair were not comparable, Coltrane went on to explain that "Murderland" (2009) was not about police procedure, and his character, Hain, was not a psychologist.

The plot of this 2009 series revolved around the involvement of D.I. Douglas Hain in the case of a murdered woman who died fifteen years earlier.