Tasty People Trivia Quiz

Answer: Menelaos

At a party where she was not invited, Eris (the goddess of quarrel) threw a golden apple with the inscription "For the most beautiful". Three goddesses disputed this title. The judge of this first beauty contest ever :-) was Paris, a Trojan prince. He chose Aphrodite (the goddess of love) because she promised him Helen, the most beautiful mortal woman. So Paris abducted her and fled to his home city of Troy.
Helen was married to Menelaos. When Paris abducted her, Menelaos called his brother Agamemnon for help. So the Greeks assembled a large army and attacked Troy. The siege of Troy lasted for ten years, and Homer's "Iliad" describes some of the last days of this siege.
Agamemnon, the king of Mycene, was the commander in chief of the Greek army. His best soldier Achilles argued with him about a slave called Briseïs ("with the soft cheeks" - Ancient Greeks apparently had a different taste for women than the twenty-first century movie directors...). During their quarrel, the Trojan prince Hector (Paris's brother) killed Achilles' best friend Patroclos. Then Achilles killed Hector, and Paris in turn killed Achilles - with the help of Aphrodite.
After Troy was finally taken, Agamemnon returned to Mycene only to be killed by his wife Klytemnestra and her lover Aegisthos.

Answer: The Swedish Nightingale

Jenny Lind was called "the Swedish nightingale".
Both the cockerel and the magpie appear in the titles of operas: "La Gazza Ladra" ("The Thieving Magpie") was composed by Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) in 1817, and Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) composed "Zolotoi Petushok" ("The Golden Cockerel"), which had its first night after the death of the composer.
Edith Gassion (1915-1963) became a world famous French singer with the artist's name Edith Piaf, where Piaf is the French word for a sparrow. So the sparrow is a bird vaguely related to singing as well.

Answer: Carmen

The recipe I refer to is the Consommé Carmen. "Carmen" is also the title of a book by Prosper Mérimée, and of this opera by Bizet (finished in 1875, just a few weeks before Bizet died).
"Aïda" is the title of one of the best known operas by Giuseppe Verdi(1813-1901). It had its first night in 1871.
Norma, an opera by Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835), was composed in 1831.
Tosca is a famous opera by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924). It was composed in 1887.

Answer: Gabrielle Réjane

The recipe I refer to is the "Consommé Réjane".
Sarah Bernhardt was born in 1844 and died in 1923. She acted mostly in theatre plays, but starred in some movies as well: "Le Duel d'Hamlet" (1900), "La Tosca" (1908) and "La Voyante" (1923), to name just a few.
Maria Magdalena Lisch was born in 1901. She adopted the name Marlene Dietrich and became world famous with the movie "Der Blaue Engel" ("The Blue Angel") by Josef von Sternberg. She died in 1992.
Jean Adair (1873-1953) was a movie actress. I'll always remember her role as Martha Brewster in "Arsenic and Old Lace", a comedy by Frank Capra.

Answer: Coventry

This story was first written by Roger Wendover, about a century after this supposed event. In fact, Lady Godiva did really live in the city of Coventry, where she was married to Sir Leofric. However, the story of riding naked on horseback is not supported by physical evidence or by written comments by authors of that time. It seems rather unlikely, not only because this would provoke rather a scandal, but also because the motive for doing so wouldn't apply for Lady Godiva. Indeed, the medieval taxes were only to be paid by the peasants and the artisans, whereas the nobility and the clergy were exempt from paying any taxes.
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The Industrial Revolution started in the cities just south of the Pennine Mountains: Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool.
Burton-upon-Trent is known for its soft water, and hence for the beer industry. Famous breweries established in Burton-upon-Trent are Bass, Allied Breweries and Marston's. Famous beers include Bass Pale Ale, Ansell's and Marston's Single Malt.

Answer: Rob Roy McGregor

The cocktail I refer to is a "Rob Roy".
Rob Roy McGregor died in 1734.
The other persons I mention figure in the script of the movie "Braveheart", written by Randall Wallace. He based this script on the biographies by John Barbour, Blind Harry and Robert Burns.
By the way, John Balliol was king of Scotland from 1292 till 1296. Robert the Bruce was king of Scotland from 1306 till 1329. William Wallace, aka Braveheart, was born in 1270 and died in 1305.

Answer: Gioacchino Rossini

The recipe I refer to is "Tournedos Rossini".
I imagine some of you started to mumble something along the lines of "I know this man. He was an Italian, he composed operas and he lived in the nineteenth century. His first name starts with G". Well, this routine wouldn't help you here: all the options are Italian composers living in the nineteenth century and having a first name starting with G...
Giusppe Verdi (1813-1901) is probably the best known composer of this lot. His famous operas include "Nabucco" (1843), "Rigoletto" (1851), "La Traviata" (1853), "Il Trovatore" (also 1853) and "Aïda" (1871).
Giacomo Puccini was born in 1858 and died in 1924. He composed among others "Manon Lescaut" (1893), "La Bohème" (1896), "Tosca" (1900), "Madame Butterfly" (1904) and "Turandot" (1924).
Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868), after whom this recipe was named, is best known for his "The Barber of Sevilla" (1816). Some of you will also know "The Thieving Magpie" ("La Gazza Ladra", 1817) or "William Tell" (1829).
Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) composed among others the operas "Luzia di Lammermoor" (1835), "La Favorita" (1840) and "Don Pasquale" (1843).

Answer: Don Carlos

The dessert I mention here is the "Coupe Don Carlos".
Prince Don Carlos (1545-1568) wanted to become governor of the Netherlands. He didn't make it: because of his weak state of mind his father imprisoned him.
At that time, the Netherlands included the territory that has evolved into the contemporary states of Belgium and Luxembourg, and some northern departments of France. In 1568, the protestant forces in the Netherlands (led by William of Orange) started a rebellion against Spain.
Don Luis de Requesens y Zuniga (1528-1576) was governor of the Netherlands from 1573 till 1576. He did not succeed in ending the rebellion.
When Requesens died, the new governor of the Netherlands became Don Juan de Austria (1547-1578) - the bastard son of Charles V. Don Juan was famous for defeating the Turks in the sea battle near Lepanto (1571) and for his many love affairs. Don Juan didn't finish the Dutch rebellion either.
After Don Juan died, Alexander Farnese took on the office of governor of the Netherlands. He succeeded in capturing (and plundering) the city of Antwerp, but he couldn't defeat the Dutch rebels. In the long run, these rebels won: with the Treaty of Munster (1648) was recognised the state of the Netherlands (roughly the same territory as nowadays).

Answer: Peter Paul Rubens

The two breweries I refer to are Union (brewer of Rubens Gold) and Du Bocq (brewer of Rubens Red).
Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens and Anthony Van Dyck were three major Antwerp painters in the beginning of the seventeenth century.
Rubens (1577-1640) has given us many religious masterpieces, such as "The Raising of the Cross", "The Descent of the Cross" and "The Assumption".
Anthony Van Dyck was born in 1599 and died in 1641. He is most famous for his portraits, e.g. the portrait of the English King Charles I. In 1999, the Antwerp brewery, De Koninck, launched a beer "Antoon", named after Sir Anthony Van Dyck. The production of this beer stopped after a few years.
Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678) depicted domestic scenes, such as "The Bean-Feast".
Hieronymus Bosch was not an Antwerp painter. He was born in the city of 's Gravenbosch (some 50 miles northeast of Antwerp) in 1450 and died in 1516. His paintings would well fit in a horror movie: even his "Garden of Delight" presents a lot of monstrous figures.

Answer: Guido Gezelle

Belgium produces over 1,000 brands of beer. You would expect that such a number of brands must include a lot of beers named after famous Belgian authors. Belgian beers include "Guido", "Straffe Hendrik" (to be translated as "Strong Henry"), "Felix" and "Fonske" (which can be translated as "Little Fons" or "Little Alphonse").
The brewery "Straffe Hendrik" in Bruges produces the beer with the same name. The Hendrik in this name is not Hendrik Conscience (1812-1883), but the eldest son of the brewer.
"Felix" is a beer brewed by Clarysse in Oudenaarde. The brand was created in 1946 (the year the brewery started), so it is unlikely that "Felix" was named after Felix Timmermans. At that time, Felix Timmermans was suspected of collaboration with the nazi party during World War II.
"Fonske" is brewed by the Leuven based brewery, Domus. Its brand derives from the Latin words "Fons Sapientiae" ("Fountain of Wisdom"), the official name of a Leuven fountain. Fons Jansen, a famous cabaret author, has nothing to do with it.