Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)? Quiz

Answer: Marlene Dietrich

"You talk like Marlene Dietrich."

Marlene Dietrich was born in Schöneberg, near Berlin, in 1901. She made her film debut in 1923 in "The Little Napoleon", and throughout the 1920s built a career on both stage and screen, with the greatest attention being for her appearances in musicals and revues. Her breakthrough came when she was cast as the cabaret star Lola Lola in director Josef von Sternberg's 1930 film "The Blue Angel", on the back of which she moved to America and signed a contract with Paramount. Dietrich and von Sternberg made six films together at Paramount during the first half of the 1930s. After von Sternberg was released by Paramount, Dietrich's star power waned until, playing against type, she appeared opposite James Stewart in the western "Destry Rides Again" in 1939. In the same year, she renounced her German citizenship and became an American citizen, doing a significant amount of work for the USO after the United States entered the Second World War, even working for the intelligence service OSS, recording German language records to be used for propaganda purposes, for which she was awarded both the Medal of Freedom and the French Legion d'Honneur. Although she made a number of films after the war, by the 1950s, Dietrich was working almost exclusively as a cabaret artist, touring her live show in large theatres around the world. By the mid 1970s, ill health had forced her to largely retire from her career, and she retreated to her Paris apartment. However, she remained politically active, talking and writing to political leaders around the world, as well as taking part in occasional projects, such as Maximillian Schell's 1984 documentary about her life. Marlene Dietrich died of kidney failure in Paris in May 1992.

Answer: Zizi Jeanmaire

"And you dance like Zizi Jeanmaire."

Zizi Jeanmaire was born in Paris in 1924. At the age of twenty-two, she joined the Nouveau Ballet de Monte Carlo, going on to dance in the final season of the Original Ballet Russe in London in 1947. In 1949, she became the principal dancer of the Ballet de Paris, founded by her future husband Roland Petit. It was at the Ballet de Paris that Jeanmaire and Petit created her most famous role in an adaptation of the opera "Carmen", which premiered in London in 1949. In 1950, Jeanmaire began a second career as a singer, when Petit created the musical ballet "Croqueuse de diamants" that required the lead to also be a vocalist; Jeanmaire used an enforced injury lay-off to improve her singing voice, and got the role. Following her success, Jeanmaire began yet another career, this time as an actress, when she was cast alongside Danny Kaye in the 1952 film "Hans Christian Andersen", before appearing on Broadway in the musical "The Girl in the Pink Tights" in 1954, and on film again in 1956's "Anything Goes" with Bing Crosby. From the late 1950s onwards, she began focusing more on dance, appearing in a number of productions for Petit, whom she married in 1954. Eventually, she began to also appear in a number of Parisian revues from 1961, with more than 60 shows of this type produced by Petit. Jeanmaire continued to dance in productions put on by her husband well into the 1990s, finally stepping back in 1998 when Petit left the Ballet de Marseilles and the couple moved to Geneva. Zizi Jeanmaire died in July 2020 in Geneva.

Answer: Pierre Balmain

"Your clothes are all made by Balmain,"

Pierre Balmain was born in the town of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in Savoie in 1914. Although he began training as an architect in 1933, the following year he visited the studio of fashion designer Edward Molyneux in Paris, where he was offered a job. Giving up architecture, he worked for Molyneux for five years, before going to work with Lucien Lelong during the Second World War. Balmain opened the fashion house bearing his name in 1945, showcasing a style that came to be adopted by Christian Dior as the 'New Look'. Balmain expanded into the United States in 1951 with a line of ready to wear clothes that won him a Neiman Marcus Fashion Award in 1955. In the 1960s, Balmain also turned his hand to costume design, both on stage and in films, eventually winning a Drama Desk Award and being nominated for a Tony for his work on the 1980 Broadway production of the musical "Happy New Year". In addition to his work as a designer, Balmain also created a range of perfumes, with 'Vent Vert', introduced in 1947, becoming one of the top selling fragrances of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Balmain died in June 1982 in Paris.

Answer: Saint-Michel

"You live in a fancy apartment, off the Boulevard Saint-Michel."

The Boulevard Saint-Michel is one of two major thoroughfares in the Latin Quarter of Paris, running south from the Pont Saint-Michel and ending at the Place Camille Jullian. Created by Baron Haussmann and completed in 1855, the Boulevard Saint-Michel serves as the boundary of the 5th and 6th arrondissements. Planned as one of the major elements of the renovation of Paris under Emperor Napoleon III and overseen by Haussmann, the boulevard approximates the route of the old Rue de la Harpe, which ran from the Seine to the Porte Saint-Michel, one of the gates in the old city walls, which was destroyed in 1679. Initially planned as the 'Boulevard de Sébastopol Rive Gauche', the thoroughfare was renamed after the old gate in 1867. As a major thoroughfare in the Latin Quarter, which is home to a number of Paris's higher education institutions, the Boulevard Saint-Michel has, throughout its history, been a major centre of student life, with a significant number of small bookshops and cafes along its route.

Answer: The Rolling Stones

"Where you keep your Rolling Stones records."

The Rolling Stones trace their origins to 1950, when two schoolboys from Dartford, outside London, called Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, first met. Although Jagger's family left Dartford in 1954, the pair met again in 1961 at Dartford railway station, with the records Jagger was carrying revealing a shared interest in similar types of music. The pair, along with Jagger's friend Dick Taylor, Alan Etherington and Bob Beckwith, formed a band called the Blues Boys, who sent a demo tape to blues musician Alexis Korner. Impressed, Korner invited Jagger and Richards to Ealing Jazz Club, where they began jamming with Korner's band, Blues Incorporated, which included among its number guitarist Brian Jones, drummer Charlie Watts and keyboard player Ian Stewart. By June 1962, Jagger, Richards and Taylor, along with Jones and Stewart, had formed their own band, named initially as 'The Rollin' Stones', before adding the letter 'g' to become The Rolling Stones. In December 1962 they were joined by bass player Bill Wyman, while Charlie Watts became part of the group in January 1963. The group signed their first record deal with Decca in May 1963, with their first single, a cover of the Chuck Berry song "Come On", released in June of the same year. By 1969, when the group were referenced in "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?", they had had eight UK number one singles, with five number ones in the United States.

Answer: Sacha Distel

"And a friend of Sacha Distel, yes you do."

Sacha Distel was born in Paris in 1933, the son of Russian immigrants into France. Early in his career, he switched from piano to guitar, forming a bebop style jazz band in the late 1940s. After appearing on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in the US, Distel then established a reputation as a singer, rising to fame with the song "Brigitte" in 1958. He then achieved fame with a variety show on French television in the 1960s, while he also achieved fame in the United Kingdom during the late 60s and early 70s, gaining a UK Top Ten hit with a cover version of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" in 1970, and appearing on a number of UK variety shows. Distel died in the town of Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer in July 2004.

Answer: Russian and Greek

"You go to the embassy parties, where you talk in Russian and Greek."

Russian is a language belonging to the East Slavic subgroup of languages, which forms part of the wider Indo-European family. An official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, it is also widely spoken in the Baltic states, the Caucasus region and Central Asia. Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, and is the most widely spoken native language in Europe, with almost 150 million native speakers.

Greek is a separate language, unrelated to any other member of the Indo-European family. An official language in both Greece and Cyprus, it is spoken by approximately 14 million people worldwide. Greek has the longest written history of any Indo-European language, with records going back 3,500 years. Its unique alphabet formed the basis of many other writing systems in Europe, including the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian and Coptic alphabets.

Answer: Sorbonne

"I've seen all your qualifications, you got from the Sorbonne."

The Sorbonne is the name of a building in the Latin Quarter of Paris that was also used as the metonym of the University of Paris. The university was originally founded in 1150 and chartered in 1200, with its theological college's foundation coming in 1257. It was from the theological college, named the Collège de Sorbonne after its founder, Roger de Sorbon, that the university as a whole gained its metonym. The university gained an international reputation for its teaching, especially of the humanities, during and after the Middle Ages, before it was abolished in 1793 during the French Revolution. In 1806, it was reestablished under Emperor Napoleon I, although the independent colleges of its previous incarnation were replaced by a highly centralised system under the name 'University of France', into which all French universities were subsumed as 'academies'. This system remained in place until 1896, when the University of France was abolished and the academies regained their old status as independent institutions. In 1968, the University of Paris was split into a number of smaller independent universities under one of the three 'academy' systems governing higher education in the city, with several of these institutions incorporating the name 'Sorbonne' into their official titles.

Answer: Pablo Picasso

"And the painting you stole from Picasso, your loveliness goes on and on, yes it does."

Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga in 1881. Demonstrating a natural artistic talent from an early age, he was entered by his father into the Barcelona Academy of Art at the age of thirteen, having works publicly exhibited while still in his teens. He first visited Paris in 1900, and he divided his time between the French capital and Barcelona, coinciding with his 'Blue Period'. By 1905, Picasso had become a favourite of the American collectors Leo and Gertrude Stein, who championed his work, with Gertrude becoming a significant patron, who exhibited Picasso's work at her Paris salons. During this time, the artist went through further periods, with his work dominated by oranges in the 'Rose Period', and seeing significant African influences in his 'African Period', before he came to be one of the guiding founders of the Cubist movement. In 1917, Picasso visited Italy for the first time, and his work turned again, first towards Neoclassicism, before adopting Surrealism in the mid 1920s. In 1937, he was commissioned by the Spanish government to produce a mural for the 1937 World Fair in Paris. In April, upon hearing of the German bombing of the town of Guernica, he abandoned his original plan, and instead produced "Guernica", which became arguably his most famous work. Remaining in Paris during the Second World War, he was unable to exhibit as a result of the Nazi's views of his type of work, and instead wrote poetry and prose. After the war, Picasso returned to painting, with yet another change in style, this time looking at reinterpreting the work of old masters. This fluctuation of style continued in his final years, with the artist producing a late flurry of new work before his death at Mougins in April 1973.

Answer: Juan-les-Pins

"When you go on your summer vacation, you go to Juan-les-Pains."

Juan-les-Pins is a resort and spa town on the Mediterranean coast of France, situated just to the west of the city of Antibes, between Nice and Cannes. The town received its present name in 1882 - 'pins' is the French for 'pine', referring to the stone pine trees native to the area, while 'Juan' is used instead of the French spelling 'Jean' as a reference to the Occitan language, which is spoken locally across the south of France, as well as parts of north-eastern Spain and the far north-west of Italy. In 1883, the town opened a railway station operated by the Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée railway company to allow easier access to the resort. Juan-les-Pins is home to an annual jazz festival, Jazz à Juan, which came about as a result of New Orleans being a sister city of Juan-les-Pins. The Boulevard Edouard Baudoin in the town contains a 'walk of fame' featuring the handprints of musicians who have played at the festival, including BB King, Ray Charles, Dave Brubeck, Stephane Grapelli and many others.

Answer: St Moritz

"And when the snow falls you're fund in St Moritz, with the others of the jet-set."

St Moritz is a winter resort and spa town in the Engadine region of Switzerland, on the southern slopes of the Albula Alps. The town is first mentioned in the 1130s, although research indicates that the springs were known much further back. Pilgrims ventured to the church founded near the springs to take the waters in the hope of being healed, with Pope Leo X promising to offer absolution to anyone making a pilgrimage there. However, although the town received visitors in the summer, it was not until 1864 that its reputation as a winter resort began. In September of that year, Caspar Badrutt, a local hotel owner, made a wager with four of his British guests - return in the winter, and if they did not like it, he would reimburse their costs, but if they did like it, he would invite them to stay as long as they liked. The tourists accepted, returned at Christmas and liked it so much they stayed until Easter. This started the idea of winter tourism, and began the rapid development of St Moritz as a winter resort, with facilities for many different winter sports being constructed. The town has hosted the Winter Olympics twice, as well as a number of World Alpine Skiing championships, and is also the home of the Cresta Run, a natural skeleton sliding track, which is one of the few tracks in the world that is devoted to skeleton rather than also being used for bobsleigh and luge.

Answer: Napoleon brandy

"And you sip your Napoleon brandy, but you never get your lips wet, no you don't."

Brandy is a liquor produced through the distillation of wine, which is then either aged in wooden casks, coloured using caramel colouring to imitate the effect of aging, or a combination of the two. In brandy that is aged, one of two systems are used - either the brandy is put into a single oak cask and left to mature, or the liquid is moved to a different cask each year (this is known as 'solera', and is typical of Spanish brandies). After aging, the brandy is then mixed with water to reduce the alcohol concentration and bottled. In certain types of brandy, such as cognac and armagnac, there is a specified system of age grading, to indicate how old the brandy itself is; in this context, Napoleon, also known as XO ('extra old'), is brandy that has been aged in a cask for at least six years.

Answer: Aga Khan

"Your name it is known in high places, you know the Aga Khan.
He sent you a racehorse for Christmas, and you keep it just for fun, for a laugh, ha-ha-ha."

Aga Khan is the title given to the imam, or leader, of the Nizari group of Isma'ilism, which forms part of the Shia branch of Islam. The title is made up of two separate titles - the Turkish 'agha', which is from the Old Turkic word 'aqa', meaning 'elder brother', and 'khan', the Turkic word for 'king'. The title itself was first held by Hasan Ali Shah, the 46th Imam of the Nizaris, and has been passed down through the generations of his family. However, its origin as the title held by the Imam of the Nizaris has been debated - while the third Aga Khan stated that the title was adopted as an alias by the first Aga Khan during his youth, the historian Farhad Daftary has said that it is in fact an honorific title awarded to Hasan Ali Shah by Fath-Ali Shah Qajar, the Shah of Persia. 'Aga Khan' was formally recognised as a title within India's nobility by the British government in 1887.

Answer: Naples

"I remember the back streets of Naples, two children begging in rags."

Naples is a city in southern Italy, the third largest in the country after Rome and Milan. Originally settled in the first millennium BC, Naples is one of the longest continually inhabited urban areas in the world. The city served as the capital of the Duchy of Naples between 661 and 1139, and the Kingdom of Naples between 1282 and 1816. In 1816, the Kingdom of Naples merged with the Kingdom of Sicily to form the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which ruled over the southern half of the Italian peninsula and the island of Sicily, until 1861, when unification took place and the modern country of Italy was founded with its capital in Rome. The city centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, while there are many notable historic sites close to the city, including the Roman ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the Royal Palace of Caserta, which was the main residence of the King of Naples, and was the largest royal palace constructed in Europe in the eighteenth century. The city is dominated by Mount Vesuvius, located 9km to the east of the city, which is the only active volcano on mainland Europe.

Answer: Marie-Claire

"So look into my face Marie-Claire, and remember just who you are."

"Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?" was originally released in January 1969, spending four weeks at the top of the UK chart, and winning Peter Sarstedt an Ivor Novello Award in 1970. Although Sarstedt is not considered to be a one-hit wonder, the song is by far his most successful and well-known release. Although there have been theories as to who the inspiration for Marie-Claire was, including that she was based on actress Sophia Loren, who did grow up in poverty in Naples, in 2009 Sarstedt admitted that he had written the song about his then girlfriend, whom he later married. In 1997, Sarstedt released a sequel, "The Last of the Breed (Lovely 2)", which picked up Marie-Claire's story twenty years later and living in London. Sarstedt also planned a third song, "Farewell Marie-Claire", to conclude the story, but was forced to abandon the project upon his retirement due to ill-health. Peter Sarstedt died in Sussex in January 2017.