Follow That Troupe! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Philip Astley

Philip Astley invented the circus ring in 1768, and capitalized on his success by opening Astley's Amphitheatre in 1773, an arena where he combined music, animal shows, acrobats, and clowns. The building burned down in 1794 but was rebuilt. 99 years later, it was permanently demolished.

The other three people listed have nothing to do with the circus. King George III lived in the same time period, but much of his career was spent on international affairs. Frank Buckles was the second to last World War 1 combat veteran to die. Benjamin Disraeli was the prime minister of Britain in the mid 19th century and built up the British Empire.

Answer: Clown

Despite being a clown, Grimaldi was more often featured in pantomimes than in circuses. He had been a clown for many years, starting when he was three years old. Grimaldi is the originator of the phrase "here we are again," a phrase which is commonplace in English today. After retiring in 1823 because he was sick, he later died in 1837 after a night of heavy drinking.

Answer: The United States

In the years before he moved to the United States, John Bill Ricketts was a member of London's Hughes Royal Circus before traveling across the Atlantic Ocean in 1792 and moving to Philadelphia. While there, he opened up a riding school and led the first circus performance in the USA in April of 1793.

He continued to run circuses in Philadelphia, even getting George Washington to attend one of them. Ricketts died in 1799 and was part of a portrait painted by Gilbert Stuart that was not finished.

Answer: A tent

Joshuah Purdy Brown changed circuses forever with this piece of craftsmanship. It allowed for many things, such as easy transportation of the circus and performances being run in the rain. With his tent, Brown ran his circus six days a week. Another thing that changed with the tent was the position of the audience.

Although they used to be seated close to the performance, they are now seated further from the act.

Answer: Monkey

The Fiji Mermaid was created in 1842 by P.T. Barnum as something to include in his shows. He pretended it was a mummified mermaid. He used it for almost twenty years, before it was destroyed in the 1860s in a fire. Despite it being destroyed, many people claim to own it. Though the replicas look slightly different, they say that the fire changed what it looked like.

Answer: Elephant

Joseph Merrick was a British man who was born in 1862 with an unknown disease that caused the bones in his head to grow massively and also made him very short. He toured as part of a human oddity show for years, going all around Europe. Sadly, he died in 1890 at the young age of 27. After his death, he was featured in many books and plays due to his unusual features.

Answer: Ringling Brothers Circus

The Ringling Brothers first performed together in 1882, and two years later, they worked with Yankee Robinson, a showman, to create one of the most well-known shows on Earth. At the start, there were five brothers who worked in the Circus, but later they added Gus on to tackle the additional workload. Each had a distinct job and split their earnings.

In 1919, the company merged with the Barnum and Bailey Circus to become the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus.

Answer: Hanging

Mary the Elephant was hanged on September 13, 1916. Due to her large size compared to the hanging of a human, Mary was hanged from a crane with a metal wire. Because of the unusual circumstances, it took her 30 minutes to die. The hanging happened immediately after a show that she was not in, with the audience being allowed to watch the execution for free.

Answer: La Magie Continue

La Magie Continue was poorly funded, despite being partially supported by the Canadian government. They resorted to desperate publicity stunts in order to gain money in ticket sales. La Magie Continue left Montreal for the first time, but played to almost empty crowds in Toronto and Niagara Falls.

Despite this, they stayed afloat, due to help from financier Daniel Lamarre, who would later become the company's CEO.

Answer: Zarkana

The other three options are all other Cirque du Soleil shows. Kà premiered in 2004 at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, and is known for its moving platform that the actors perform on. Corteo premiered in 2005 in Montreal and is known in 2005 for breaking Cirque du Soleil's old attendance record. Delirium premiered in 2006 in Montreal, and was the first Cirque du Soleil show to play in Arenas.

Some of the major places Zarkana visited before settling down were Moscow and Madrid.