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Quiz about Eyafjallajkull Thats Easy For You To Say
Quiz about Eyafjallajkull Thats Easy For You To Say

Eyafjallajökull... That's Easy For You To Say! Quiz


With this Author's Challenge I first thought Icelandic volcano, and then I thought no. What about UK ventriloquists and their dummies? Guess what won? So here we go with ventriloquists and their dummies from the UK.

A multiple-choice quiz by pmarney. Estimated time: 3 mins.
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Author
pmarney
Time
3 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
362,059
Updated
Mar 24 22
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
485
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. Roger De Courcey came to the attention of the British public after winning "New Faces" in 1976. What is the name of the dummy he made his name with? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Terry Hall started out at age 15 with a dummy called Mickey Finn. It was later, though, that he came to everyone's attention in the UK with the dummy named after a Panthera leo. What was this dummy's name? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Keith Harris had a dummy called Cuddles the Monkey which he performed with. What dummy was he better known for though? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Lord Charles was the dummy used by which UK ventriloquist? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. As the first winner of the "Big, Big, Talent Show", this modern ventriloquist has since performed three times at the Royal Variety Performance--in 1997, 2002, and 2009. Who is this ventriloquist and comedian? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Who at the age of 11 was billed as the World's Youngest Ventriloquist and was also called "the world's greatest ventriloquist" by Ed Sullivan? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Peter Brough, an early UK ventriloquist, had a dummy with the same name as a U.S. comic book character. What was the dummy's name? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. What was unusual about the way in which Peter Brough started off with his ventriloquist act in the 1940s? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Unusually, this next act is a female ventriloquist, actress and comedian. Her main puppet sidekick is a depressed monkey named Monk. What is her name? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. One of the acts mentioned above had a hit record in the UK charts in the '80s. Which act was it? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Roger De Courcey came to the attention of the British public after winning "New Faces" in 1976. What is the name of the dummy he made his name with?

Answer: Nookie Bear

In 1976 the act performed at the Royal Variety Performance in front of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. De Courcey was a big Crystal Palace fan and Nookie Bear used to wear a large Crystal Palace rosette.
2. Terry Hall started out at age 15 with a dummy called Mickey Finn. It was later, though, that he came to everyone's attention in the UK with the dummy named after a Panthera leo. What was this dummy's name?

Answer: Lenny the Lion

Terry first appeared on a BBC TV programme in the UK in 1956 in a variety show entitled "Dress Rehearsal". The act visited America in 1958 and had a spot on "The Ed Sullivan Show". In 1963 The Beatles appeared on an episode of "Pops and Lenny", one of the duo's UK shows.

The act continued to work through the 70s and 80s. The act was even used as an educational tool to teach children to read on a programme in the 80s called "Reading With Lenny".
3. Keith Harris had a dummy called Cuddles the Monkey which he performed with. What dummy was he better known for though?

Answer: Orville the Duck

Orville was a green duck who wore a nappy with a very large safety pin in it. In 2005 the duo had an appearance on Peter Kay and Tony Christie's video for the UK hit "Is This the Way to Amarillo". In 2009 the duo even made a cameo appearance on the BBC show "Ashes to Ashes".
4. Lord Charles was the dummy used by which UK ventriloquist?

Answer: Ray Alan

Both Ray and Lord Charles wore a monocle when performing. Although more famous for Lord Charles, Ray did have another unique pair of dummies called Tich and Quackers. Tich was also a ventriloquist, so you had Ray doing Tich's voice and Quackers' voice, while the duck sat on Tich's lap as his dummy. Prior to finding fame with his ventriloquism act, Ray Alan toured all over the world as a cabaret act, even performing once with Laurel and Hardy in 1954.
5. As the first winner of the "Big, Big, Talent Show", this modern ventriloquist has since performed three times at the Royal Variety Performance--in 1997, 2002, and 2009. Who is this ventriloquist and comedian?

Answer: Paul Zerdin

His most popular character is Sam, a cheeky young boy. He uses other characters called Baby and Albert, Baby being exactly that--a baby--and Albert being an old man. He also uses the method of a movable mouth placed over the lower face of a volunteer from the audience. Once the mouthpiece is in place the audience member actually then becomes the ventriloquist's dummy.
6. Who at the age of 11 was billed as the World's Youngest Ventriloquist and was also called "the world's greatest ventriloquist" by Ed Sullivan?

Answer: Arthur Worsley

He performed over the years on most variety shows on British TV and he was also a regular at the UK's top venue, The London Palladium. He became well known in New Zealand, Australia, America and South Africa. His dummy was called Charlie Brown. His technique was so good that he could be shown in tight close-up and even then it was almost impossible to see his lips move.

He was also one of the few that could say "Bottle of Beer" and have it sound right, not "Gottle of Geer". He made a big point of this in his act by repeating it time and time again and speeding up as he said it.
7. Peter Brough, an early UK ventriloquist, had a dummy with the same name as a U.S. comic book character. What was the dummy's name?

Answer: Archie Andrews

It was 1950 before Peter brought Archie into his act. Peter took the show to TV in 1956 in a BBC sitcom called "Here's Archie". After two years he moved to the ITV channel and was given a programme called "Educating Archie". Even though Peter was not a great ventriloquist, as his mouth could always be seen to move, the programme was a success and lasted because of the British love of him.

He carried on using Archie in his act until 1961 when he retired. The original Archie Andrews doll was sold in 2005 for £34000.
8. What was unusual about the way in which Peter Brough started off with his ventriloquist act in the 1940s?

Answer: On Radio

The radio show was called "Educating Archie", a BBC Light Programme comedy show. It broadcast for eight years in the '50s. At no time did it seem strange that a visual act like ventriloquism was on the radio and the show had a huge audience. Over the years there were numerous co-stars which included Dick Emery, Benny Hill, Tony Hancock, Hattie Jacques, Bruce Forsyth, Harry Secombe, and Beryl Reid.

A young Julie Andrews played Archie's girlfriend on one show. Peter was not the first radio ventriloquist; that honour went to Albert Saveen, who just after World War two had a programme on radio called "Midday with Daisy May".
9. Unusually, this next act is a female ventriloquist, actress and comedian. Her main puppet sidekick is a depressed monkey named Monk. What is her name?

Answer: Nina Conti

The language of Monk can be quite colourful. Nina has another puppet called Granny. She also uses a face mask and gets someone out of the audience up on stage and puts words into their mouth. This type of ventriloquism has become more normal over the last few years in the UK with many up-and-coming ventriloquists using this method.
10. One of the acts mentioned above had a hit record in the UK charts in the '80s. Which act was it?

Answer: Keith Harris and Orville the Duck

In 1983 Harris and Orville had a top 10 chart hit with "Orville's Song", which sold over 400,000 copies and reached the number 4 spot in the UK charts. In 1963 Terry Hall and Lenny Lion did release a record called "Lenny's Bath Time", but it did not get anywhere in the charts.
Source: Author pmarney

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