Madrid Pub Quiz

Copyleft: feel free to use these questions in your quizzes. This is not a game, there’s no scoring, and questions are provided as a service only. Some answers are a little lengthy as players requested clarification. “NEW” means less than a month old. Spanish flags denote Spanish-based questions.

Films & TV

181 questions in this category

Ernst Stavro Blofeld in ‘From Russia With Love’, ‘Thunderball’, ‘You Only Live Twice’, ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’, ‘Diamonds Are Forever’, ‘For Your Eyes Only’, ‘Never Say Never Again’, ‘Spectre’, and ‘No Time to Die’ (as of 2021).
Major Boothroyd, known as ‘Q’.
With thanks to Harry Winfield, question master of the Marina Alta Pensionisters Association in Benitachell, Alicante, Spain, for amending the answer
TIA (Técnicos de Investigación Aeroterráquea)
La Ponderosa
With thanks to Jim Welsh for spotting a duplicate question
Huston and Coppola (Walter Huston 1948, John Huston 1948, Anjelica Huston 1985 and Carmine Coppola 1974, Francis Ford Coppola 1970/72/74, Sophia Coppola 2003, Nicholas Cage 1995)
Toyota and BMW. He’s used a Bentley 3.5 Litre drophead coupé Park Ward, Aston Martin DB5, Lotus Esprit S1 ‘Wet Nellie’, Lotus Esprit Turbo, Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante, and recently a BMW Z3, BMW 750i, and a BMW Z8. He used a Toyota 2000GT in ‘You Only Live Twice’. He’s now back with Aston Martin: Aston Martin V12 Vanquish, Aston Martin DB10.
With thanks to Dan Hall for correcting this question
Daniel Day-Lewis (1989 for ‘My Left Foot’, 2007 for ‘There Will Be Blood’, and 2013 for ‘Lincoln’)
The Marx Brothers (Chico, Harpo, Groucho, and Zeppo)
Lina Wertmueller nominated for ‘Seven Beauties’ in 1976;
Jane Campion nominated for ‘The Piano’ in 1994;
Sofia Coppola nominated for ‘Lost in Translation’ in 2004;
Kathryn Bigelow who won the 2009 Academy Award for Best Director for ‘The Hurt Locker’;
Greta Gerwig nominated for ‘Lady Bird’ in 2017;
Emerald Fennell nominated for ‘Promising Young Women’ in 2020;
Chloé Zhao who won the 2020 Academy Award for Best Director for ‘Nomadland’.
With thanks to David Regal for updating this question
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and sequels by L. Frank Baum
Ireland, seven times. France, Luxembourg and the UK have each won five times.
Greece
With thanks to Barbara Ridgely for correcting this question
John Quincy Adams in ‘Amistad’ and Richard Nixon in ‘Nixon’.
Maribel Verdú, Antonio Resines, and Jordi Mollà
Sister Act (1992). Directed by Emile Ardolino and written by Paul Rudnick (as Joseph Howard).
‘California Suite’ (1978) with Alan Alda, Michael Caine, Bill Cosby, Walter Matthau, directed by Neil Simon.
Robin (in Batman) and, since 1984, Nightwing.
With thanks to Colin Dinnie for correcting and expanding the answer to this question
Colour: ‘Toll of the Sea’ 1922. The first sound film was ‘The Jazz Singer’ in 1927.
With thanks to RKN for correcting this question
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
None. Arthur ‘Harpo’ Marx was a mime, not a mute.
‘Outland’ 1981, directed by Peter Hyams, starring Sean Connery, Peter Boyle and Frances Sternhagen and set on Io.
‘The Battleship Potemkin’ (Бронено́сец «Потёмкин») by Sergei Eisenstein (Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн)
‘Dr. No’, but the first unofficial film was an episode of the series ‘Climax’ called ‘Casino Royale’ which was aired in 1954 on television in the US. Barry Nelson played Jimmy Bond, an American spy.
With thanks to Ian Gerrard for the info on the first Casino Royale
The Munsters
With thanks to Steven Malan for correcting this question
The pseudonym used by Hollywood film directors who do not want to be credited on the film. He directed among others: ‘Bloodsucking Pharoahs in Pittsburgh’, ‘Prostidude’, and ‘The Shrimp on the Barbie’.
Clint Eastwood, Lee van Cleef, Eli Wallach
Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall) in ‘Apocalypse Now’.
Groucho Marx in ‘A Day at the Races’…
The Godfather 2
With thanks to Oscar Nolan from Dublin for correcting this question
Walter Matthau. As part of a lifelong love of practical jokes, Matthau created the rumors that his middle name was Foghorn and his last name was originally Matuschanskayasky (under which he is credited for a cameo role in the film ‘Earthquake’). His real name was Walter John Matthow.
With thanks to David Regal for clarifying the answer to this question
Fawlty Towers. The signs were changed at the beginning of each episode of the second season: Episode 8: ‘Watery Fowls’ Episode 9: ‘Flay Otters’ Episode 10: ‘Fatty Owls’ Episode 11: ‘Flowery Twats’ Episode 12: ‘Farty Towels’
Groucho Marx (in A Night at the Opera, Duck Soup, and A Day at the Races)
A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is a plot device that motivates the characters or advances the story, but the details of which are of little or no importance otherwise. Hitchcock said that “in a thriller the MacGuffin is usually ‘the necklace’; in a spy story it is ‘the papers’”.
‘Gentlemen Marry Brunettes’ in 1955 (the sequel to the book is called ‘But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes’).
Joan Fontaine (1941 for ‘Suspicion’) and Olivia de Havilland (1946 for ‘To Each His Own’ and 1949 for ‘The Heiress’)
Laurel and Hardy: in Danish, Italian, Polish and German (el Gordo y el Flaco in Spanish).
Atticus Finch (played by Gregory Peck) in ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ and Hannibal Lecter (played by Anthony Hopkins) in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’.
James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Pat O’Brien
Charles Bronson
With thanks to Bob Clarke for correcting this question
The only actor/actress to have won an Oscar portraying a character of the opposite sex. (This was not Linda Hunt playing a woman pretending to be a man, like Barbra Streisand did in Yentl or, in reverse, as Dustin Hoffman did in Tootsie, but playing a man in a serious drama.)
John Cleese’s character is called Archie Leach which is Cary Grant’s real name
006, codename Janus, real name Alec Trevelyan.
Spiderman 2
With thanks to Dave Cohen, ex-teammate, for correcting this question
‘On the Waterfront’ (1954) and ‘The Godfather’ (1972).
Lee Strasberg (1901-1982)
With thanks to Sinead Fisher for correcting this question