Curtain Up Trivia Quiz

Answer: Animals in the Bible

The Forbes family lived in Guernsey until their father rejoined the Navy during the Second World War. They then moved to a little village called Martins, where their grandfather was the local vicar. He is writing a book on animals in the Bible, of which Hannah disapproves. Hannah brings up the children herself, and they barely see their grandfather, apart from when he gives them the news that their father is missing.

After their grandfather dies, the Bishop tells the Forbes children that they must leave the vicarage, and that they will be going to live with their maternal grandmother, an actress, in London.

Their mother, Adeline Warren, was also an actress, though she gave up her career to marry the children's father and became estranged from their grandmother as a result, as her grandmother wanted her to marry someone else.

Answer: Escalators

Hannah feels sick and shaky whenever she goes on escalators, and believes that they're 'not what was meant' and finds the idea of stairs moving unnatural. Alice suggests Hannah help her at home while Sorrel, who is eleven, take the other two around London. Alice uses Cockney rhyming slang and refers to Margaret Shaw, the children's grandmother, as 'we'.

She also reveals that they have very little money, and that Mark looks very similar to Sir Joshua Warren, an ancestor on his mother's side, which upsets Mark as he wants to be like his father. Grandmother smokes and recites random bits of poetry and Shakespeare. Surprisingly, she gets on very well with Mark, despite him constantly arguing with her.

Answer: The USA

Madame Fidolia meets the children, along with Winifred - who 'Ballet Shoes' readers might remember as Pauline's understudy in 'Alice in Wonderland', and who has come back to teach - and Miss Jay, who teaches acting classes. Madame asks them to show their acting skills by making up a play and acting it for her, and the children act out a fairy tale where Mark is a prince disguised as a bear, Holly is a princess and Sorrel is her mother.

She also tells them about the Fossils: Pauline is a film actress, Posy is a professional ballerina who dances in films, and Petrova is a pilot. Posy had gone to Czechslovakia with Nana to study under Manoff, a legendary teacher, but they were forced to flee to the USA due to the German occupation, and joined Sylvia and Pauline there. Petrova still lives with Great Uncle Matthew and is in the Air Transport Auxiliary. Madame decides to offer Pauline's scholarship to Sorrel and Posy's scholarship to Holly, as Holly has shown potential as a dancer, although Miriam ends up getting it instead.

She hopes that Petrova may be able to offer Mark something, as the Fossils were all very close.

Answer: A music hall comedian

Miranda is the daughter of the Forbes' aunt Marguerite and Sir Francis Brain, a Shakespearean actor. Miriam is the daughter of the Forbes' aunt Lindsey and Mose Cohen, a Jewish music hall comedian. Miranda is a very talented actress and very arrogant.

She trips over Sorrel while Sorrel is unpacking her paper parcel, and Holly defends Sorrel when Miranda makes a snotty comment. Miriam comes into the changing room and tells Holly and Sorrel about herself, and how her father wants her to go into comedy. Miriam, however, wants to dance instead and has had training since the age of three, and also performed with her father.

She is mature for her age as she has spent her life around adults. She also tells the Forbes children about their aunts and uncles, and how their grandmother disapproves of Sir Francis' acting.

As well as Lindsey, Marguerite and Adeline, there is also a brother, Henry, who is a film actor in Hollywood. (Andrew, the fifth Warren sibling, is dead.)

Answer: I Had a Little Nut Tree

Although Mark has no intention of becoming a performer, he is a talented singer with a very vivid imagination, and likes to pretend while performing. For example, when he takes part in a dance based on 'Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary' and plays a silver bell, at Miss Jay's suggestion, he pretends to be entertaining little children at a party.

When he sings 'I Had a Little Nut Tree', Miss Jay tells him to imagine himself as a colourful bird, as Dr Lente, the singing teacher, has compared Mark's voice to a bird's. Mark takes her too literally and expects to dress up as a bird for the performance, and is upset to find that he has to wear a Kate Greenaway suit instead. Madame makes a deal with him; if he performs 'I Had a Little Nut Tree' in the Kate Greenaway suit, he can play a polar bear in the winter ballet. Mark gets round it by imagining that he is a bear under a spell, who has been turned into a boy.

Answer: Miranda is rude to Miss Jay and Madame kicks her out of the matinee.

Like Pauline in 'Ballet Shoes', Miranda gets too big for her boots, and like Pauline, she is replaced by her understudy (although Sorrel is more of an unofficial understudy and fills in for Miranda at the matinee rehearsals while Miranda is acting in another play). Miranda thinks the matinee is a waste of time, but also claims that the troop concerts won't work without her.

At the dress rehearsal for the matinee, Miranda complains about hanging around and that she would rather be at the play rehearsals, even though her management let her off.

She complains to Miss Jay and is rude to her, but unfortunately, Madame overhears and is so disgusted with Miranda's rudeness that she kicks her out of the matinee and has Sorrel replace her. Although Sorrel is nervous, and finds the sketches she has to do embarrassing, she gets through the performance just fine, as do Mark and Holly (who is dancing as a buttercup). Miriam also receives rapturous applause for her dancing. Sorrel and Holly later receive letters from Pauline and Posy Fossil.

Answer: Aunt Lindsey

Grandmother is given a leading role in a play set in the Victorian days, and Miranda is to play her granddaughter. Sorrel wants to buy a new dress for the first night of the play, as she is self-conscious about the clothes she wore at the family Christmas party and the family's lack of money. Sorrel asks Hannah if they can spare coupons for a party dress, but Hannah refuses, saying they need them for basics.

When the Forbes children spend Holly's birthday with the Cohens, Miriam's parents ask Sorrel what she will be wearing for the first night of the play, and Sorrel bursts into tears. Aunt Lindsey reveals that she used to be a dressmaker before the war, and offers to make a new dress for Sorrel to wear to the play. Hannah does Sorrel's hair for her.

After the play, Miriam and the Forbes children go backstage to visit Miranda.

Answer: Her attache case

The Forbes children have felt self-conscious for a long time about not having attaché cases like all the other children at the Academy, and having to carry their uniforms and towels in brown paper parcels instead. Miss Smith, Miranda's tutor, gives Sorrel a pair of Miranda's old shoes as Sorrel's shoes are wearing out, and an attache case to carry them in.

They take turns to carry it to and from the Academy, although they are only borrowing it and Sorrel puts it back in Miranda's locker afterwards. Holly is upset when she finds out Miriam will be getting her scholarship and letters from Posy, though Posy has also made arrangements for Holly to have a scholarship of her own.

After Holly has a cry in the cloakroom, she spots Miranda's old attaché case in her locker and steals it. Madame asks the whole school about it and figures out it was Holly. Holly deludes herself into thinking Miranda wouldn't have minded her taking the case, but Madame thinks otherwise and offers to buy three attaché cases for the children, though Holly's will be kept in storage for a while, to teach her not to let her imagination run away with her.

Answer: Ariel ('The Tempest')

Grandmother finds Sir Francis' acting rather hammy and hopes that Miranda will not be like him. He is putting on a production of 'The Tempest', playing Prospero - a part Grandmother thinks is fitting for him, as they are both 'pompous asses' - and wants Miranda to play Ariel, but she is unavailable, and Grandmother proposes Sorrel.

At this point, Sorrel has also appeared in a BBC radio play. Miranda is jealous of Sorrel and is extremely unpleasant to her when the two do lessons together in her dressing room, telling Sorrel that her one consolation is that Sorrel will play the part badly.

Although Sir Francis criticises Sorrel's performance at times, he also admits she is good and can sing. Miranda gets some consolation when she plays Ariel in some of the matinee performances.

At one showing, a pair of men in the audience discuss Sorrel and Miranda, and Miss Jay explains that even though Miranda is brilliant, Sorrel got inside the part and gave a better performance.

Answer: He comes home and is reunited with them.

Mark writes to Petrova about going to Wilton House, his old school, instead of the Academy. Petrova writes back saying she will ask Pauline to talk to Uncle Henry about it, as Grandmother will listen to him, and that Great Uncle Matthew would like to adopt Mark. Mark's return to Wilton House is delayed, but he doesn't mind too much as he gets to play the Cat in 'Dick Whittington', where Holly is playing the Dame. Meanwhile, Uncle Mose discovers that Holly has a talent for imitations, and Sorrel gets a part in 'Babes in the Wood'.

The Forbes children celebrate Christmas as usual, with toy instruments, and Uncle Mose brings a surprise present for them: their father, who he brought over from Martins. He had been wounded in battle, but managed to escape via India.