Ghat and Manse Quiz | People

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Strong traditions in both Britain and India maintain that Jesus Christ visited both.

Answer: True

To me, this was an odd finding, but it's true. In Britain, the ancient site of Glastonbury is the center of the Jesus-slept-here tradition. In William Blake's "Jerusalem" there are two allusion to the legend that Jesus visited England: "those feet" alludes to His feet and there is of course also the reference to "countenance divine". In India, it's the mountains of Kashmir, where, legend has it, Jesus visited both before and after the Crucifixion, died, and was buried.

Read more for yourselves at (Britain) http://www.whyprophets.com/prophets/arimthea.htm
(India) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0960285016/002-0376898-3316042?v=glance (this is a list of books that have been written about Jesus in India.)

2. Although this woman's chief fame would come from the time she spent in Siam (now Thailand), she was born in Wales ... or India, depending on which version of her life you believe. She certainly spent time in both England and India as well as many other countries. Who was this "governess of royal children"?

Answer: Anna Leonowens

When Anna Leonowens was left a widow in India, she was forced to depend on her wits to provide for her two small children. Her tale was originally published in 1870 as "The English Governess at the Siamese Court" and many people now feel that she wouldn't even recognize herself as played by Deborah Kerr in "The King and I". More information about this interesting woman and her story's metamorphosis can be found at www.thaistudents.com/kingandi/star.html

The author M M Kaye and last Vicereine Edwina Mountbatten are women who both lived in both England and India but didn't otherwise make it into this quiz.

3. You're probably expecting to see Kipling in this quiz, so wait no longer. Was the author who captured much of the voice of turn-of-the-century British India born there, or in England?

Answer: India

Kipling was born in in Bombay (now Mumbai) on December 30th, 1865.

"Young Rudyard's earliest years were blissfully happy in an India full of exotic sights and sounds. But at the tender age of five he was sent back to England to stay with a foster family in Southsea, where he was desperately unhappy. The experience would colour some of his later writing." (from www.kipling.org.uk/kip_content.htm)

Kipling would return to India in 1882, but he also came to love England, living there for much of his life. He died in 1936 in London and was buried in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey.

4. George Orwell was born in India and died in London and, like all of the persons in this quiz, traveled widely in between. Which of the following is NOT a book by Orwell about somewhere he'd been?

Answer: Travels with Charley

"Down and Out in Paris and London", a nonfiction work, was Orwell's first book. "Burmese Days" was his second, written about his experiences with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma. "Homage to Catalonia" takes place during the Spanish Civil War, in which Orwell fought and was wounded.

"Travels with Charley" is by John Steinbeck.

5. Which actress from "Gone With the Wind" was born in Darjeeling, India and lived much of her life in London?

Answer: Vivien Leigh

As imdb.com fancifully puts it, "If a film were made of the life of Vivien Leigh, it would open in India just before World War I, where a successful British businessman could live like a prince. In the mountains above Calcutta, a little princess is born. Because of the outbreak of World War I, she is 6 years old the first time her parents take her to England."

Olivia de Havilland was born in Tokyo; Ms. McQueen and Ms. Keyes were both born in the United States.

6. Mohandas Gandhi, later called Mahatma, was born in Gujarat, India in 1869. When he was 19, he went to England to study at University College, London (UCL). What did Gandhi study in England?

Answer: Law

While in London, Gandhi joined the Vegetarian Society; he was admitted to the British bar after graduating. He practiced law in both India and South Africa before commencing his life of non-violent political activism.

Albert Einstein said of Gandhi: "Generations to come, it may be, will scarcely believe that such a one, as this, ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth."

7. In 1966, this author and her sister published "Two Under the Indian Sun," a memoir about growing up in colonial India. Other of her many novels are "Black Narcissus", "The River", and her last, 1997's "Cromartie vs. the God Shiva".

Answer: Rumer Godden

Rumer Godden was born in 1907, in Sussex, England. She was nine months old when her family moved to India. "Black Narcissus" was the first of Ms. Godden's books to be made into a film. It is listed as #44 on the British Film Institute Top 100 movies of all time.

Isabella Fane lived in India from 1836-1837; her interesting journal was published in 1985 as "Miss Fane in India".

8. The noted author Salman Rushdie was born in Bombay and makes his home in London. Which of the following is a collection of short stories by Mr. Rushdie?

Answer: East, West

"East, West" is a collection of nine stories organized into three sections: East, West, and East, West. As might be expected, the stories are all over the place, just like Mr. Rushdie.

All the incorrect choices are short story collections by other authors. "Arranged Marriage" is by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni; "Video: Stories" is by Meera Nair; and "Diamond Dust" is by Anita Desai.

9. Although she was born in Germany, noted screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala was educated in London and lived in India. Her collaboration with director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant has produced many wonderful films. Which is NOT a Merchant/Ivory/Jhabvala movie?

Answer: Shakespeare in Love

In addition to her screenwriting career, Ms. Jhabvala is also a novelist. Her "Heat and Dust" won the Booker prize in 1975. She also won Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Awards in 1986 and 1992 for "A Room With a View" and "Howards End".

"Shakespeare in Love" was written for the screen by Tom Stoppard.

10. Sculptor Anish Kapoor was born in Bombay (Mumbai) and educated in London. His work has won numerous prizes and is exhibited all over the world. One of his most notable pieces is "Marsyas", which in 2002-2003 was displayed in Turbine Hall in what city's most modern museum?

Answer: London

Turbine Hall is the enormous main room of the Tate Modern museum in London. Mr. Kapoor's "Marsyas" filled it with bright red PVC stretched onto stainless steel rings.

To see "Marsyas", visit www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A847640

Thank you for taking my tale of two countries quiz, and I hope you have enjoyed it.

Source: Author LilahDeDah

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Ghat and Manse Trivia Quiz

All ten of these people have spent time in both England and India, usually to the mutual enrichment of both. Do you know them?

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