As Conceited as a Barber's Cat Quiz

Answer: Adam Sandler

Adam Sandler, who both acted as producer and star in this 2008 satire, plays the role of Zohan, a superhuman counter terrorist who works for the Israeli Defence Forces. Zohan is the best in his field but he's also had enough. The constant espionage and fighting has gotten to him.

When he's dragged away from a family function to run another mission against his arch enemy, Fatoush "The Phantom" Hakbarah, played by John Turturro, he sees an opportunity to fake his own death and smuggle himself to America where he can fulfil his dream of becoming a hair stylist.

Whilst this film was never designed to win awards or garner critical acclaim it did do moderately well at the box office for its creators.

Answer: Dr Gideon Fell

Dr Gideon Fell is an amateur sleuth, created by John Dickson Carr, who appears in twenty seven novels and short stories by the writer. The first was "Hag's Nook" in 1933 and the last, published posthumously, "Fell and Foul Play" in 1991. Fell, in between writing a "monumental" work on the history of English beer drinking habits, somehow finds time to solve "impossible" crimes. "The Blind Barber", published in 1934, is the fourth novel in the series and the antagonist, the title character, is a serial killer who is killing passengers on the ocean liner the Queen Victoria, travelling from New York to Southampton. Throw into this mix some missing film that could embarrass "a great personage in American government [...] not far from F.D. himself", an emerald elephant that keeps disappearing and reappearing on a regular basis, a dying woman who manages to vanish and a drunken puppeteer and you have the recipe for total mayhem.

Answer: Love Plus One

Haircut 100 were a UK new wave band that incorporated elements of jazz-funk fusion into their sound. They enjoyed the bulk of their success in the early 1980s. Their debut single "Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl) reached number four on the UK Singles charts but their biggest success came with the song "Love Plus One". Released in 1982 it peaked at number three in Britain and was certified gold.

It also managed to find its way into Billboard's Hot 100, as high as number thirty seven and enjoyed strong sales in Canada, France and Sweden.

The band broke up in 1983 though front-man Nick Heyward continued to gain moderate success as a solo artist.

Answer: A.B. (Banjo) Patterson

"The Man From Ironbark" is a 1892 poem written by Patterson who is more readily known for his works "The Man From Snowy River" and "Waltzing Matilda", and it features a prank playing barber. The title character is a country labourer who comes to the "big city" to check it out. Towards the end of the day he stops at the barber's shop to get his beard shaved.

The barber shaves the man's chin and then turns to his other clients and winks. He dips his razor in boiling water and then, using the blunt end, slashes it across the Ironbark's throat.

The customer, fearing his throat has been cut, lets out a mighty roar, fells the barber, knocking him out and destroys the shop before the police restrain him. He returns home to Ironbark where he boasts of his adventure and says that the only thing that saved him was the toughness of his neck. Whether or not the folks in town believe him is not revealed but the men in the community do suddenly develop a desire to grow their beards.

Answer: Johnny Depp

In this 1990 Tim Burton film The Inventor (Vincent Price) creates an artificial human being (Edward played by Johnny Depp) but before he has the chance to complete him he suffers a fatal heart attack and dies. This leaves Edward with scissors for hands. Kim (Winona Ryder), a door to door salesperson, finds him in his mansion and brings him home.

Their neighbours throw a barbeque to welcome him and Edward repays their generosity by trimming their hedges. This leads to grooming their dogs, styling the hair of the local women and an opportunity to open a hair salon.

However, Edward's eccentricities and strange appearance soon stirs up jealousies and antagonisms within the community.

Answer: Ed Leslie

Ed Leslie is an American professional wrestler who used the ring name Brutus Beefcake during his early career with the WWF (World Wrestling Federation). Usually he would play the role of the villain (the heel). He would dress in outlandish clothing, exhibit a vain personality and portray himself as a stripper in the ring. During this early period (1984-87) he formed a partnership with Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and they became known as "The Dream Team", eventually winning the WWF Tag Team Championship in 1985.

When the "Dream Team" broke up he returned to the ring as a solo fighter. After rendering Adonis unconscious in a bout he was required to shave his victim's head which he did with pleasure. The crowd loved it and he became "The Barber". From this point forward he would enter the ring with a pair of garden shears that had red and white tape strapped across the handles in the manner of barber's poles.

Answer: Anton Chekhov

"At the Barber's" is a short story that was published by Chekhov in February of 1883. The author, who is better known for his plays "The Cherry Orchard" and "Uncle Vanya" introduces us to Makar Kuzmitch, a hard working and self reliant young barber with little in the way of resources with which to maintain his shop.

He is in love with Anna, the daughter of his godfather Erast Yagadov. Erast is a stingy old man who is only interested in what he can get from the world. He only visits Makar because he knows that he will get his hair cut for free. On this occasion Erast has requested his crop of hair be shaved off completely (on doctor's orders) and Makar is half way through the task when he learns that Anna is set to be married (against her will) to a rich man. Makar is devastated and advises Erast that he is unable to complete shaving his head today. Erast comes back the next day. Makar requests payment from him. Erast refuses to do so and reckons that he will simply wait for the hair to grow back.

He attends his daughter's wedding with only half a head of hair.

Answer: Tracy Turnblad

Tracy Turnblad is the lead character in this 2002 American musical, based on a 1988 John Waters film of the same name, and there are two things about her that make her stand out. The first is that she is... plump and the second is her beautifully coiffured high head of hair, which stands outside of school guidelines and brings her to conflict with her teachers. Tracy's dream is to one day dance on the local TV dance show "The Corny Collins Show". Her mother Edna won't allow her to audition because of her size and fears that her daughter would become a laughing stock. Tracy, however, gets permission from her father and, after some help from some unlikely allies, wins a place on the show and becomes an overnight sensation. The play is set in the 1960s and touches on some of the social movements that were strong features of the period such as the Fat Acceptance Movement, the sexual revolution and the Civil Rights Act.

"Hairspray" opened on Broadway in August of 2002. Marissa Jaret Winokur starred as Tracy and Harvey Fiernstein as her mother, Edna. The show was nominated for twelve Tony Awards in 2003, winning eight, including the award for Best Musical.

Answer: Warren Beatty

Directed by Hal Ashby and set in the twenty four hour period leading up to Richard Nixon's election as President of the United States this 1975 film casts Warren Beatty as brilliant hairdresser George Roundy who's as ready to have sex with his gorgeous clients as he is to style their hair.

He also wants to start his own business but does not have the financial backing to do so. He courts a benefactor (Lester Karpf played by Jack Warden) who invites George to escort his mistress (Jackie played by Julie Christie) to a Republican Party function. What Lester doesn't know is that Jackie is George's ex girlfriend and one that he still maintains strong feelings for, ultimately leading to the pair enjoying vigorous sex on the kitchen floor.

Here they are discovered by Lester and George's current girlfriend, Jill, played by Goldie Hawn. Things do not end well for George.

Answer: Beck

"Devil's Haircut" was the second of five singles to be released from Beck's critically acclaimed and highly successful 1996 studio album "Odelay". Lyrically this track is a challenge with Beck putting forward a stream of images that are not only incongruous and oblique but struggle to work together in any form apart from rhyme. Consider;
"Heads are hanging from garbageman trees
Mouthwash, jukebox, gasoline".

Or

"Love machines on sympathetic crutches
Discount orgies on the dropout buses".

As if to emphasise this point Beck guest starred on the animated TV series "Futurama" (Episode "Bendin' in the Wind", 2001) talking to the robot Bender "When I'm upset I write a song about it. Like when I wrote "Devil's Haircut" I was feeling really... really... what's that song about?"