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Quiz about Brits vs Colonials Python Makes Fun of Oz

Brits vs. Colonials: Python Makes Fun of Oz Quiz

A quintet of snooty poms from Oxbridge, who ran out of jokes to make about the Scots, decided to put on funny hats and accents and take a few shots at another part of the Commonwealth.

A multiple-choice quiz by coolupway. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
coolupway

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
108,359

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
1593

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Prior to the arrival of the Brit Michael Baldwin, the faculty of the Philosophy department of the U. of Woollomooloo was composed entirely of men named what? Hint

Bruce

Ross

Trevor

Graeme

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Question 2 of 10

2. Whom does one of the Bruces rather irreverently describe as "a good sheilah and not at all stuck-up"? Hint

The Queen

Mrs. Gough Whitlam

Mrs. Harold Holt

Margaret Thatcher

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Question 3 of 10

3. Which inanimate example of Australian flora or fauna is produced by one of the Bruces during the Philosophy Department sketch? Hint

a pantomime koala

a wattle

a rubber echidna

a "dead platypus"

4. Baldwin the pom, as newest addition to the Philosophy Department, will be teaching "Macchiavelli, Bentham, Locke, Hobbes, Sutcliffe, Bradman, Lindwall, Miller, Hassett & Benaud." What is unusual about the last few? Hint

They are cricketers

They are footballers

They are noted opponents of Cartesian dualism

Their philosophies assume a mind-body duality

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Question 5 of 10

5. How many of the members of the Department are actually wearing hats with corks dangling from them? Hint

One

All

None

All except Baldwin

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Question 6 of 10

6. A recording of what is playing as the faculty files into the room? Hint

The Australian National Anthem

Waltzing Matilda

God Save The Queen

Dorothea McKellar's "My Country"

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Question 7 of 10

7. The faculty rules of the Department are of course of the greatest import. Cleese, as the "bossfella", after reciting five of the rules, stresses that there is "No rule six." What, if anything, is rule seven? Hint

"There is no rule seven"

"No pooftas"

Noone shall be caught "not drinking in their rooms after lights-out"

No one shall "in any way neglect the sheep-dip"

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Question 8 of 10

8. After their reading of the faculty rules, what do the members of the Department do and/or resolve to do? Hint

"Take a glass of sherry in the Sydney Harbour Bridge Room"

Munch on enormous pieces of meat, apparently uncooked

All of these

"Get some Sheilahs"

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Question 9 of 10

9. Not content to leave the Aussie academics alone with the "Philosophy Department" sketch, the Pythons (specifically Eric Idle) continued the thread with the famous "Bruces' Philosophers Song," which suggested in short that most of the great philosophers were roaring drunks. Who is described in the song as "a real pissant who was very rarely stable"? Hint

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Immanuel Kant

Plato

Socrates

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Question 10 of 10

10. The Bossfella (Cleese) allows that the new addition to the Philosophy Department, Baldwin, will be permitted to teach the "great socialist thinkers", but with what important proviso? Hint

That the class first "crack the tubes".

He must make it "clear that they were wrong."

That no mention of Reginald Maudling be made.

That no mention of Gough Whitlam be made.

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Most Recent Scores

Nov 20 2024 : Linda_Arizona: 5/10
Sep 27 2024 : mulder52: 7/10

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Prior to the arrival of the Brit Michael Baldwin, the faculty of the Philosophy department of the U. of Woollomooloo was composed entirely of men named what?

Answer: Bruce

Upon ascertaining that the pom is not in fact named "Bruce", one of the Aussie Bruces notes that this will "cause a little confusion," and another asks "Mind if we call yer Bruce?" To be fair to Austrileyer, statistics suggest that several people in Oz, including a number of women, are NOT named Bruce. (The Kiwis do not have this problem as they are all named Kevin.)

2. Whom does one of the Bruces rather irreverently describe as "a good sheilah and not at all stuck-up"?

Answer: The Queen

She comes up in the context of a discussion about the (of course) oppressive weather. One of the Bruces recounts that the Prime Minister had rather colorfully told Her Majesty that it was "hot enough to boil a monkey's bum." Reportedly HM thereupon "smiled quietly to herself".

3. Which inanimate example of Australian flora or fauna is produced by one of the Bruces during the Philosophy Department sketch?

Answer: a wattle

"This here's the wattle/The emblem of our land/You can stick it in a bottle/Or you can hold it in yer hand." After this moving poetic/patriotic recitation the Bruces all chime in with a reverent "Amen".

Answer: They are cricketers

Hard to take a poke at the Aussies without mentioning their noted proficiency at (and love of) sport. It is actually interesting to compare Python's satiric take on Commonwealth members such as Oz and Scotland with their portrayals of Americans and the French; the latter tend to be much broader, and just a bit less affectionate.

5. How many of the members of the Department are actually wearing hats with corks dangling from them?

Answer: One

Only Idle is wearing one; the other Bruces do wear bush hats, but unadorned ones. The historical record does not disclose whether the boys thought it would be overkill to give everyone a corked hat or whether they just ran out of props. In support of the first theory, it should be noted that the Pythons were able to make it through this rather long and memorable skit without once resorting to the knee-jerk/easy laffs Oz phrases "mate" or "bonzer"; "G'day" is used only once.

6. A recording of what is playing as the faculty files into the room?

Answer: Waltzing Matilda

This may be one of the closest things to a cheap laugh in the whole sketch, and one is almost surprised that Cleese or Idle didn't play to the camera and flash a big sign saying "CHEAP LAUGH" or the equivalent as the song played.

Answer: "No pooftas"

Rules 1, 3 and 5, coincidentally enough, are also "no pooftas." How terribly unfair of the pommies to sneer at the Aussies as beer-guzzling, good-natured, carousing homophobes with funny accents, ridiculous bush hats and silly khaki shorts, when it is well known that at least a few Aussies are not homophobic, and others (excluding crazy croc guy Steve Irwin) do not always go around in shorts.

8. After their reading of the faculty rules, what do the members of the Department do and/or resolve to do?

Answer: All of these

The satire here seems to converge on near-admiration, suggesting as it does that the male Aussie is a bloke of large appetites of various kinds, full of joie de vivre and male hormones, as well as a fair amount of metabolized ethyl alcohol. An early precursor, perhaps, of the "Crocodile Dundee" craze which washed over North America in the '80s.

Answer: Immanuel Kant

Wittgenstein "was a beery swine who was just as sloshed as Schlegel"; Plato "could stick it away/Half a crate of whiskey every day", and Socrates was "a bugger when he's pissed." Possibly up there with "Knights of the Round Table" (from "Holy Grail") as the greatest Python song of all time.

10. The Bossfella (Cleese) allows that the new addition to the Philosophy Department, Baldwin, will be permitted to teach the "great socialist thinkers", but with what important proviso?

Answer: He must make it "clear that they were wrong."

Thus prompting the patriotic Bruces to rise in unison and chant, in very heartfelt fashion, "Australia, Australia, Australia, Australia, we love you. Amen."

Source: Author coolupway

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor DakotaNorth before going online.
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