Travelling Entertainment with Charlie Quiz

Answer: Charlie Chaplin

Charles Spencer 'Charlie' Chaplin (1889-1977) grew up in London in extreme poverty working in a workhouse before he was nine years old. Despite that deprivation, he was a talented comedian and actor and started touring with theatre impresario Fred Karno, which included a trip to the USA when he was 19.

This led to Chaplin performing with Mack Sennet's Keystone Studios in 1914. His most famous character, the Tramp, emerged soon afterwards. In 1919, he co-founded United Artists with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith, which gave all of them the artistic control over their films. Chaplin's great films included 'The Kid', 'The Gold Rush' and 'Modern Times'.

In 1940 he created 'The Great Dictator', a biting parody of Adolf Hitler.

His popularity then declined due largely to his communist sympathies. Despite that, he kept performing and making films. In 1972, Chaplin was awarded an Honorary Academy Award for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century".

Answer: Charles Dickens

Prolific English author, Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870), focussed much of his work on contemporary Victorian society, notably the plight of the poor and harsh working conditions. This emphasis mirrored aspects of Dickens' own life, where he was forced to leave school and work in a factory to support his family as his father was in a debtor's prison.

The serialized 'Pickwick Papers' gave Dickens his first success in 1836; such serialization was popular in 19th century England and he used the cliff-hanger end of an 'episode' to great effect. Arguably his most enduring work is the 1843 novella 'A Christmas Carol' which was the genesis for a large number of movies. Dickens is also famous to this day for his biting satire and caricature with marvellously named characters including Ebenezer Scrooge, Uriah Heep and Gradgrind.

His insightful portrayal of historical events is another magnificent feature of his writing, as exemplified in 'A Tale of Two Cities'.

Answer: Charlie Harper

Charlie Harper (Charlie Sheen) is a TV jingle writer whose hedonistic lifestyle is cramped when his divorced and broke brother Allan (Jon Cryer) and son Jake (Angus T. Jones) are forced to move in with him. The humor created by the two leads was the reason for the show's enormous success but it was hardly politically correct and often disparaged the female sex. Because of drug issues during the eighth season, Charlie Sheen went into rehabilitation and was replaced in the ninth season by Ashton Kutcher with no chance of a return by the former star as he was "killed off".

Answer: Charlie Weasley

The older brother of Ron Weasley in the 'Harry Potter' novels, Charlie Weasley studies dragons somewhere in Romania. He was a member of the "Order of the Phoenix", a band of wizards and witches fighting to defeat the evil Lord Voldemort, and fought in the final battle at Hogwart's school. J.K Rowling authored the series of 'Harry Potter' books that have become "the best-selling book series in history" according to the Guinness Book of Records. Written over a ten year span, the phenomenally popular books have been adapted into movies and have made J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter household names. Jennifer Rowling has also been awarded an OBE (Order of British Empire) and a CH (Order of the Companions of Honour) and many other accolades.

She is also a well-known philanthropist.

Answer: Charlie Brown

Charlie Brown first appeared in a 1948 comic strip called 'Lil' Folks' by Charles M. Schultz. 'Peanuts' first came out in 1950, and Charlie was the "lovable loser", the person who was bullied but becomes a friend to all. The 'Peanuts' comic strip became popular around the world during the 1960s, was made into TV shows, comic strip books and featured on cards. Charlie Brown and his dog Snoopy were also adopted as the names for the Apollo 10 command module and lunar module.

The final 'Peanuts' comic appearance was in 2000, the day after Schultz's death. Christmas specials, stage adaptations and animated movies have kept the 'Peanuts' gang in the hearts and minds of generations.

Answer: Charlie Townsend

Sabrina Duncan (Kate Jackson), Jill Munroe (Farrah Fawcett) and Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith) have graduated from the police academy but are recruited to the Charles Townsend Agency as private investigators. The gimmick is the three beautiful recruits (called 'Angels' by Charlie) never meet their boss (he is partially seen on occasion, but only from the back and surrounded by (other) beautiful women).

The women get their orders via speakerphone. The voice of Charlie Townsend is provided by John Forsythe. 'Charlie's Angels' was a runway hit TV series despite it being dismissed as "trashy TV".

It spawned several movies and at least one other TV series.

Answer: Charley Pride

Born in 1934, Charley Pride's first passion was not music but rather baseball! He pitched in the minor leagues. His musical career started when a team manager, recognizing his vocal ability, asked Pride to sing before games. His fame quickly spread after visiting Sun Studios in 1958 and recording some songs.

His third single 'Just Between You and Me' reached number nine on the country charts. Between 1969 and 1971, Pride had eight number one country music hits including 'Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'.

More hits followed over the next two decades. In 1993, he became a member of The Grand Ole Opry and was elevated to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000. His performances continued and sometimes included his son Dion on guitar. He has performed at Superbowl VIII and in World Series Baseball games.

Answer: Charles Foster Kane

'Citizen Kane' (1941) opens with newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane dying in his palatial home Xanadu in Florida and his biography in flashback. It was Orson Welles' first major role. He was nominated as Best Actor and Best Director at the 1941 Academy Awards but the movie won only one of the nine Oscar nominations, for Best Writing (Original Screenplay).

Despite this nominal lack of Oscar glory, this movie has been voted many times in subsequent decades as the greatest movie ever made.

Answer: Charlie Bucket

Charlie Bucket is the protagonist of Roald Dahl's 1964 novel 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and the 1971 sequel, 'Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator'. Charlie lives with his impoverished family near a mysterious chocolate factory run by Willie Wonka.

The factory produces chocolate but seemingly has no workers. A global competition to find five golden tickets hidden inside chocolate bars with the prize being a chance to see inside the factory, causes Wonka bars to fly off the shelves. After Charlie finds some money, he buys some chocolate and finds a ticket.

The happy ending is Charlie being named as Willy Wonka's heir and saving his family from destitution. Born in Wales, Roald Dahl has been dubbed "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century" and won the "British Book Awards' Children's Author of the Year" in 1990.

Many of his books have been adapted into movies.

Answer: Charlie Allnutt

'The African Queen' (1951) is a British-American adventure film based on the 1935 novel by C. S. Forester. 'African Queen' steamboat captain Charlie Allnutt helps missionary Rose Sayer (Katharine Hepburn) escape from German East Africa when WWI breaks out. They run the gauntlet of getting the steamship past a series of Germain forts and gunboats before eventually escaping and becoming lovers.

While Humphrey Bogart is perhaps better known for more prominent roles (e.g. Rick Blaine in 'Casablanca'), his performance as cranky captain Charlie Allnutt on the 'African Queen' earned Bogart an Oscar for Best Actor in 1951.