'Pigeonal' Characters Trivia Quiz

Answer: Yankee Doodle Pigeon

'Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines' originally aired on CBS in the United States between September 1969 and January 1970. The show featured Dick Dastardly and his dog, Muttley, as members of the Vulture Squadron, whose aim was to capture the carrier pigeon known as Yankee Doodle Pigeon. Each episode followed a different disastrously unsuccessful attempt which usually ended in Dastardly and Muttley falling from the wreckage of their destroyed aircraft.

The premise of the series is (very) loosely based on the 1965 comedy film 'Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines' with similar numbers of destroyed experimental aircraft piling up following the various disasters.

'Yankee Doodle' is a comic song, probably dating from the time of the Seven Years War in the mid-18th century, often used as a nursery rhyme. 'Humpty Dumpty', 'Solomon Grundy' and 'Wee Willie Winkie' are other well-known nursery rhymes.

Answer: Valiant

'Valiant' charts the adventures of Valiant (voiced by Ewan McGregor) and his squad as they battle to deliver a message back to England while pursued by the evil German falcon General Von Talon. Wing Commander Gutsy (Hugh Laurie) played a key role in encouraging Valiant to sign up with the pigeon service and Sergeant Monty (Jim Broadbent) was Valiant's commander while he was still in military training. Unsurprisingly, in real life war pigeons were not actually given military ranks...

Homing pigeons have been used to carry messages during wartime for over 2,500 years with records suggesting that they were used by the King of Persia in the 6th century BC. They played a vital role in communications during the Second World War, but their use did lead to a variety of somewhat amusing official titles such as the 'United States Army Pigeon Service' and the UK's 'Air Ministry Pigeon Section' and 'Pigeon Policy Committee'. However, the 'Royal Homing Pigeon Service' that Valiant the pigeon and his friends joined is a purely fictional invention.

'Fearless' is a 1993 drama starring Jeff Bridges; 'Lionheart' is a 1990 action film featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme; and 1995's 'Braveheart' is an epic about William Wallace and the fight for Scottish independence, starring Mel Gibson.

Answer: Mo Willems

'Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!' won a Caldecott Honor in 2004 - meaning that it was a runner-up for the Caldecott Medal given to the "most distinguished American picture book for children" each year. It is about a pigeon that tries a range of tricks and tactics to persuade a group of bus passengers to let it drive them, despite explicit instructions to the contrary from the absent bus driver. The unnamed pigeon also starred in further books in the series including 'The Pigeon Finds a Hotdog!', 'The Pigeon Wants a Puppy!' and 'The Pigeon Needs a Bath!'.

Mo Willems is a former writer for the children's TV series 'Sesame Street' and 'Codename: Kids Next Door'. His other series of children's books include the 'Knuffle Bunny' and 'Elephant and Piggie' series.

The incorrect options are all children's authors, although only Lane Smith (not to be confused with the actor of the same name) and E.L. Konigsburg are American.

Answer: Orson Welles

Anime is a term used to describe Japanese animated films - either hand-drawn or computer generated. 'The Enchanted Journey' tells the story of Pippo and Glikko the chipmunk's attempt to reach the Vast North Forest where chipmunks can find freedom and liberty. It was released in Japan in 1981 and shown on US television a few years later (after being handily dubbed into English). In fact, its (and Pippo the pigeon's) greatest claim to fame is that Hollywood legend Orson Welles provided the voice of Pippo for the English language version - definitely one of Welles' lesser known credits!

Welles wasn't just a Hollywood film actor - he also wrote, directed and produced films, theatre and radio productions. He was responsible for the 1938 radio production of H.G Wells' 'The War of the Worlds' - which is remembered for supposedly creating mass panic amongst an audience that had missed the introduction stating the programme was a drama and apparently ended up believing that the world was under an alien attack - and 1941's 'Citizen Kane' is often described as one of the best films ever made.

Charlton Heston, Marlene Dietrich and Zsa Zsa Gabor all appeared alongside Welles in 'Touch of Evil'.

Answer: An American Tail

'An American Tail' was directed by Don Bluth and produced in collaboration with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment company. The main character is Fievel Mousekewitz, who after being separated from his parents and sister when he was washed overboard en route to the US, spends the rest of the film attempting to locate them amongst the very much cat-infested streets of New York.

Since the world depicted in 'An American Tail' is not devoid of humans - the Mousekewitz's lived with a human family named Moskowitz in Russia and various humans are seen throughout the film - it seems odd that the construction of one of America's greatest landmarks was left in the wings of a pigeon - even a French sounding one voiced by Christopher Plummer. Despite this apparent flaw in the plot, 'An American Tail' was hugely successful at the box office - taking over $80 million worldwide.

The incorrect options are all animated feature films starring mice, but not pigeons.

Answer: Homer Pigeon

In 'Pigeon Patrol' a slightly scrawny Homer Pigeon, bedecked in a waistcoat, bow-tie and boater hat, decides to inflate himself with bottled air in the hopes of making himself look more like the type of carrier pigeon employed by the Pigeon Patrol service. Needless to say the effort fails miserably, but he does get his chance to deliver an important message when a carrier pigeon loses a battle with a Japanese vulture. As the hero of the hour, Homer also gains the affection of his sweetheart Mazie and lives happily ever after with her and their brood of squabs (baby pigeons).

Homer Pigeon made relatively few appearances, with the Walter Lantz Studios being much more well-known for creating the character Woody Woodpecker. He appeared in three further cartoons (including 'Spook-a-Nanny' in 1964 which also featured Woody Woodpecker) and a handful of comic book stories between 1942 and 1973.

The incorrect options are all first names of characters from 'The Simpsons' - Bartholomew 'Bart' Simpson, Montgomery Burns and Waylon Smithers.

Answer: Animal Crossing

'Animal Crossing' is an open-ended simulation game played in real time. The player controls a human character living amongst a village full of animals and the aim is simply to co-exist with the animal characters. This includes socialising with them, undertaking small tasks such as planting or fishing, and collecting items which can be exchanged for 'Bells' - the in-game currency that allows the player to buy special items such as clothing, furniture or decorations.

The game was first released in 2001 for the Nintendo 64 console and later versions and sequels have since been released for other Nintendo systems including the GameCube, DS and Wii.

'Animal Boxing', 'Animal Paradise' and 'AniMates' (also known as 'My Little Flufties') are all games available for the Nintendo DS console.

Answer: Mata Hari

The spy pigeon in question is named Hatta Mari - a clear parody of Mata Hari, a Dutch spy who worked as an exotic dancer, seducing a wide range of lovers and passing their military secrets to her German handlers during the First World War.

In 'Plane Daffy', a 1944 'Looney Tunes' short cartoon, Daffy Duck volunteers to undertake a mission after a group of carrier pigeons have all succumbed to the blonde temptress Hatta Mari. Although, unsurprisingly, Daffy isn't affected by Hatta's charms, she does end up getting his secret message from him by force - but luckily for him the message simply turns out to be a rude note about Hitler!

The incorrect options were all female German spies during the First World War.

Answer: South Africa

The fact that the Victoria Falls are located on the Zambezi River in southern Africa (specifically on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe) should provide a clue to South Africa being the country of origin of the film 'Zambezia'.

There are 29 species of green pigeons which are native to areas across Asia and Africa - like the name suggests, they looks very much like the common domestic pigeon but with predominantly green feathers. Mushana the Green Pigeon is voiced by the Indian actor and stuntman Deep Roy, known for playing Keenser in various 'Star Trek' films, the Oompa-Loompas in the 2005 film 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and the voice of General Bonesapart in 'The Corpse Bride'. 'Zambezia' also features the voice talent of a range of stars including Samuel L. Jackson, Richard E. Grant, Jeff Goldblum and Leonard Nimoy.

Canada, Argentina and Venezuela are all countries containing or bordering famous international waterfalls - the Niagara Falls, Iguazu Falls and Angel Falls respectively.

Answer: The Goodfeathers

Although 'Animaniacs' was a slapstick comedy show aimed squarely at kids, some of the references and characters were clearly intended for an adult audience - including the less than subtle parody of the 'Goodfellas' film by the trio of pigeons known as the Goodfeathers. Another trio of female pigeons (the Goodfeathers' girlfriends) are collectively referred to as the Girlfeathers. Another pigeon version of a famous film character is the Goodfeathers' boss - a big fat pigeon known as the Godpigeon.

Nearly 100 episodes of 'Animaniacs' were created in the 1990s, jointly produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. Episodes differed, but generally consisted of two or three sketches featuring a selection from the large ensemble cast of characters and usually placing them in scenarios where they interact with famous people past or present or with characters from mythology or other fictional worlds.

'The Defiant Ones', 'Raging Bull' and 'The Usual Suspects' are all Academy Award winning films.