Cats are People Too! Trivia Quiz

Answer: The hand of a princess in marriage

In one of the simplest versions of this fairy tale, the miller in question bequeathed his mill to his eldest son, his mules to his second son and a cat to his youngest son. The youngest son had the last laugh though as the cat proved to be highly intelligent, and armed (or legged?) with just a pair of boots it ensured that he was gifted fine new clothes; gained him an introduction to the beautiful princess; and procured him a castle to live in (by turning a castle-owning ogre into a mouse and eating him). It should come as no surprise that the 'fairy tale' ending means that the newly enriched miller's son ends up married to his princess.

This tale has been told by many authors over the centuries and the basic idea of a sly cat being used to promote a person's interest probably originates from an 11th century collection of Indian folk stories. However, the most famous version (and the origins of the name 'Puss in Boots') was written by the 17th century French author, Charles Perrault.

Puss in Boots also featured as a character in the 'Shrek' series of films (excluding the original 'Shrek') before starring in his own eponymous spin-off film in 2011. In all of these films the character is voiced by Antonio Banderas.

Answer: The Cat from Outer Space

Jake (a much easier name than the 'alien' one that doesn't exactly trip off the human tongue) was forced to make an emergency landing on Earth when his flying saucer developed technical problems. The unlikely feline shaped visitor then set about making friends with the scientists responsible for investigating his 'Unidentified Flying Object', in order to obtain their help to repair the ship and enable his return home. However, as so often happens, things didn't go to plan and Jake was forced to remain on Earth, albeit with the comfort of an honorary citizenship and the company of a vast number of beings of very similar appearance.

The incorrect options are all live-action Disney films. 'Unidentified Flying Oddball' was released in 1979 and is based on Mark Twain's 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'. 'RocketMan' was an unsuccessful 1997 film featuring Beau Bridges and 'That Darn Cat!' was a 1965 film starring Hayley Mills that was remade (minus the titular exclamation mark) with Christina Ricci in 1997.

Answer: The Cat

The character in question was unimaginatively named The Cat (or just Cat) and had a nasty (but amusing) habit of insulting his crewmates on the 22nd century mining ship, 'Red Dwarf'. However, the programme wasn't set in the 22nd century, as the ship had been held in stasis for over 3 million years while waiting for the effects of a massive radiation leak to wear off. Only one member of the original crew, a low-ranking technician named Dave Lister, survived the trip through time - but the descendants of Lister's cat, Frankenstein, managed to spend the time creating a whole new race of cat-humans (cunningly given the designation Felis sapiens), of whom The Cat was the last example.

The incorrect options are all other characters seen in 'Red Dwarf'. Kryten was a robot, Rimmer was a hologram, and Holly was the ship's computer.

Answer: Hello Kitty

Hello Kitty was first created by Yuko Shimizu in 1974 as a marketing tool for increasing the appeal of products such as purses and lunchboxes to young girls. She has since become a Japanese marketing phenomenon, sold in dozens of countries worldwide and responsible for earning Sanrio billions of dollars a year. The scope of products bearing Hello Kitty's image has also expanded enormously - Taiwanese airline EVA Airways gave one of their jets a Hello Kitty livery in 2005, Bank of America created Hello Kitty themed accounts and various Hello Kitty cafes and restaurants have been opened.

Hello Kitty's full name is apparently Kitty White. Her biography suggests that she was born in England, has a twin sister called Mimmy and is the grand total of five apples tall.

For anyone not familiar with Japanese, 'konnichiwa' is a commonly used greeting.

Answer: Sonic the Hedgehog

Big the Cat appears in a range of video games by Sega featuring Sonic the Hedgehog. He is a somewhat unintelligent, easy-going character who mumbles his way through the various adventures he faces with Sonic and the rest of the supporting cast of characters. Despite his size and weight, Big the Cat is enormously strong and he is therefore used as a 'power' character in 'Sonic Heroes', where he helps Team Rose to save his best-friend Froggy and defeat the evil Metal Sonic. Other 'Sonic' games he appears in include 'Sonic Adventure', 'Sonic Shuffle', 'Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood' and 'Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing'.

Pikachu is a Pokémon character, Rayman is the hero of the Ubisoft 'Rayman' series, and Princess Zelda is the heroine who often requires rescuing in the 'Legend of Zelda' series.

Answer: The Sisters of Plenitude

The Sisters of Plenitude made their 'Doctor Who' TV debut in the 2006 episode 'New Earth'. The Tenth Doctor and his companion, Rose Tyler, visited the New New York hospital in response to a psychic summons from the mysterious Face of Boe. They soon encountered the humanoid race of cats who ran the hospital and discovered the Sisters' success in treating a range of previously incurable diseases. Unfortunately they also discovered that the Sisters had employed particularly gruesome research methods in order to achieve their amazing medical advancements. The Doctor and Rose were then forced to work with an unlikely ally to dismantle the Sisters' cruel and inhumane regime.

The Doctor revisited the planet New Earth in the third series episode 'Gridlock' where he renewed his acquaintance with Novice Hame, a member of the Sisters of Plenitude who had been caring for the Face of Boe for the 30 years that had passed since the events of 'New Earth'. On this trip he also met a Catkind named Thomas Kincade Brannigan, his human wife and their family of young kittens!

The incorrect options are all names used for orders of Roman Catholic nuns located on planet Earth in the year 2015.

Answer: Lion

In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet (or alternatively Sachmis, Sakhmet or Sekhet amongst others) is believed to have created the desert with her breath and was a goddess of healing, warfare and a protector of the ancient Pharaohs. She is depicted with the head of a lioness; many carved images of Sekhmet appear throughout the sites of Ancient Egypt including those which have since been distributed amongst the world's museums and galleries.

The name 'Sekhmet' is derived from 'sekhem', an Ancient Egyptian word meaning 'power' or 'might'. This probably explains why Sekhmet was also known as the 'Lady of Slaughter', 'She Who Mauls' and 'Mistress of Dread' - not exactly similar to a cute cat you'd stop to pet in the street...

Tigers, jaguars and leopards (along with lions) are all included in the informal definition 'big cat', which is used to refer to large, predatory feline species.

Answer: Tabitha Twitchit

Tabitha Twitchit (or perhaps, more formally, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit) featured in several of Beatrix Potter's stories for children, including 'The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan', 'The Tale of Tom Kitten' and 'The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding'. Tabitha was a shopkeeper and the storyline of 'The Tale of Ginger and Pickles' established that she was a better businesswoman than either of the titular characters. However, she was run ragged by her kittens (Tom, Moppet and Mittens) who seemed to end up in one scrape after another!

Tabitha and her kittens live in the village of Sawrey, which is the name of the real-life village near Hill Top Farm in Cumbria - the house Beatrix Potter bought in 1906.

The incorrect options are all other characters created by Beatrix Potter. Cecily Parsley was a rabbit who featured in the title of a book of nursery rhymes; Anna Maria was a rat and the wife of Mr Samuel Whiskers; and Sally Henny Penny was, as might be expected, a chicken.

Answer: Lieutenant M'Ress

The character of Lieutenant M'Ress was created for 'Star Trek: The Animated Series', which was originally broadcast from 1973 to 1974. She was a Caitian - a humanoid feline race - and had orange fur, yellow eyes, sharp claws and a long tail that often got caught in the USS Enterprise's automatic doors. Lieutenant M'Ress was one of Majel Barrett's many roles in 'Star Trek' - she was the wife of 'Star Trek' creator Gene Roddenberry and also played Nurse Christine Chapel, Lwaxana Troi and the voice of the various ships' onboard computers.

Spot and Chester were both pet cats (of the Earth variety) that featured in 'Star Trek'; Spot belonged to Lieutenant Commander Data in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' and Chester appeared on 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'. Sylvia was a shape-shifting character from the original 'Star Trek' series episode 'Catspaw', who first appeared as a black cat.

Answer: Salem

Salem Saberhagen had already served 25 years of his 100 year sentence as a cat by the start of the TV series 'Sabrina, the Teenage Witch', which aired between 1996 and 2003. Salem's role in the series was a dual one of comic relief (mostly rising from his highly sarcastic comments and puns) and dispenser of bad advice to Sabrina. He also spent much time plotting how to regain his human status.

The character was created by Dan DeCarlo and George Gladir and first appeared in a 1962 edition of the comic 'Archie's Mad House'. He also appeared in various other TV and film versions of the programme, often with a vastly difference appearance and history. In the live-action TV show starring Hart, Salem was voiced by American actor Nick Bakay (who was also a writer for the series) and played by an animatronic puppet in the scenes in which he had dialogue and by one of four real cats (one of whom was also named Salem) in the remaining scenes.

Salem is also the state capital of Oregon. The incorrect options are the state capitals of Alabama (Montgomery), Nebraska (Lincoln) and South Dakota (Pierre).