Houses that Never Really Were, Door #1 Quiz

Answer: Harry Potter

Vernon and Petunia Dursley lived with their son Dudley at Number 4, Privet Drive. Petunia was the sister of Lily Potter, Harry's mother who was murdered. Albus Dumbledore and Hagrid entrusted Harry to the Dursleys in 1981. The family confined him to a cupboard under the stairs until they moved him into a spare room upstairs.

Answer: The House of the Seven Gables

Hawthorne based his novel in part on his own family. There is an eerie connection to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 in the novel. The writer of creepy stories, H.P. Lovecraft, said he was very much influenced by the book. The story was filmed in 1940 and again in 1963.

Answer: Little House on the Prairie

Published from 1932 to 1943, the novels of the "Little House on the Prairie" became American children's favourites. An NBC television series based on the books ran from 1974 to 1983. The programme starred Michael Landon, Melissa Gilbert, and Karen Grassle. It depicts life in a small American farming-based community in the 19th Century.

Answer: The House of the Rising Sun

Although the lyrics describe a boy's life gone to ruin in the American city of New Orleans, it was a British band which lifted this song to great popularity. It is a sort of cautionary tale which concludes with the admonition "Oh mothers, tell your children not to do what I have done."

Answer: a doll house

Ibsen's "A Doll's House" is about a woman trapped by her marriage, her family, her society and its norms. The play was highly controversial when it was first performed and remains somewhat controversial today. Ibsen's self-imposed exile from Norway was at least in part a consequence of negative public reaction to his modern (feminist) ideas.

Answer: House on Haunted Hill

Millionaires Frederick and Annabelle Loren (Vincent Price and Carol Ohmart) invite five people to spend the night in the "House on Haunted Hill" with ghosts and murderers. Anyone who can endure (and survive) the night will win a cash prize. In some theatres, the film was shown with an "enhancement" called Emergo in which a luminous white plastic skeleton appeared on a pulley-and-wire system and flew over the audience, striking deep terror (or just amusement) to the patrons.

Answer: Noble House

The first manuscript of "Noble House" ran 1300 pages; it was edited to just over 1000 for publication. The novel is set in 1963 Hong Kong; the NBC TV miniseries updated that story to the 1980s. The television programme starred Pierce Brosnan.

Answer: The House of Pain

Wells' novel was adapted to film: "Island of Lost Souls" (1932), with Charles Laughton and Bela Lugosi; "Island of Dr. Moreau" (1977) with Burt Lancaster and Michael York; and "The Island of Dr. Moreau" (1996), with Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer and Ron Perlman. The 2004 movie "Dr. Moreau's House of Pain" was self-described as a sequel.

Answer: Blandings Castle

Clarence Threepwood, the 9th Earl of Emsworth, is a gentle old fellow who presides (loosely) over the life at Blandings Castle, a Tudor home in Shropshire, England. The many novels and short stories set there are collectively known as "the Blandings Saga." Lord Emsworth's greatest pleasure is The Empress of Blandings: a substantial black Berkshire sow.

Answer: Animal House

John Landis directed National Lampoon's "Animal House" which was one of the most profitable movies in history (due to its very low production costs, as well as its great popularity). The 28-year-old Belushi (who played John "Bluto" Blutarsky) had starred on "Saturday Night Live" but had never appeared in a film.