May 15, 2005

Questintin time

I see my last quiz was too simple! There are some serious Tintin maniacs out there. Not only that, the answers left me confounded, blistering barnacles, because I haven't read the Jo/Jette/Zocko series... So here is one more quiz for you Tintin freaks. And I've relaxed the rules: you can take this one even if your name is Tanuj. But NO GOOGLE-ing!

Please email me the answers so you don't give them away.

I may come up with more such. Twist my arm.

1) Which character in the Tintin books has the longest name? Extra credit: why does he reveal it?

2) Most of the books have one or more large panel drawings of some relevant scene, clearly used by Herge to showcase his mastery of detail. In one such, you find a beloved character from an entirely different series of books that Herge had nothing to do with. Which scene from which Tintin adventure am I talking about, and who's the character?

3) Once upon a time, India manufactured three models of cars. One of those makes an appearance in a Tintin adventure. Which car? Which adventure?

4) At different times and in different books, at least two different sets of guests turn up uninvited to live in Captain Haddock's home, Marlinspike. One is the Wagg family. Who is the other? Which adventure?

5) Who is Dr Midge?

6) The same thing happens to Professor Cantonneau in two different adventures. What, and which adventures?

7) What is "fidgy! fidgy! fidgy!"?

8) What does Captain Haddock have in common with the Maharajah of Gopal, Baron Halmaszout, the Lord Chamberlain of Syldavia, Colonel Sponsz and the Marquis of Gorgonzola?

9) Djebel Amilah is not her real name. What is?

10) "'Only three days', said Columbus, and I will give you a new world!" Who said this, to whom, why, what did they say next, and in what adventure?

16 comments:

Kartik said...

Ahhh...

I see not too many eager replies to this particular barrage ... not me either, Dilip... this is TOOOOOO detailed!

Actually you should do smthng like that on hte Harry Potter series to, assuming you're acquainted with it :-) .. that would be something.

KRAKTIK

Sunil said...

Too many good questions....reminds me of my good ol' quizzing days.

Some more for you:
1) who was the only non-fictional villain to appear in Tintin comics

2) Which Tintin characters appear in an Asterix comic, and which one (did i give away an answer to one of your questions??:-))

3) Which Tintin arch-villain is also known as Marquis di Gorgonzola?

Oh happy days!

Quizman said...

I left my Tintin books in India. This is from memory.
1. Senhor Oliveira De Figuera has a long name. But the biggest name has *got* to be the Italian chap in 'Calculus Affair' who drives like a maniac and is stopped by a cop. Don't recall the name though.

2. Asterix in the carnival scene of 'Tintin and the Picaros'. Jo Jette Zocko appear in the back cover of most old editions.

3 Hillman, if I recall correctly. In 'Cigars of the Pharoah'

4. Prince Abdullah, Red Sea Sharks

5. Dr. Midge is one of the explorers in 'Seven Crystal Balls'

6. Three adventures, you mean. Seven Crystal Balls, Prisoners of the Sun and The Shooting Star.

7. Greeting between Capt Chester and Capt Haddock in 'The Shooting Star'

8. All have been engaged to Bianca Castafiore.

9. Karaboudjan.

10. Stumped me with the last one. I think it was "Explorers on the Moon' or 'Destination Moon' - and the next line has to be something like 'FOr the first time in human history there is an EXPLORER ON THE MOON' or something to that effect.

Okay, let me ask some questions now. :-)
1. Name the three real life people featured in Tintin Comics.
2. Who were the characters Abdullah and his father Emir Ben Kalash Ezab based on?
3. The annexation fo Syldavia by Borduria was a veiled reference to which real life political event?

More later..

Quizman said...

Yikes..I didn't catch the "please email me the answers" bit. Darn, Darn, Darn...Sorry about the screw-up, Dilip.

Anonymous said...

Maharajah of Gopal, Baron Halmaszout, the Lord Chamberlain of Syldavia, Colonel Sponsz and the Marquis of Gorgonzola

All sport monocle.
Quizman: In which episode was Maharajah of Gopal engaged to Bianca?

annexation fo Syldavia by Borduria
Germany - Poland
Mussolini and Hitler = Bordurian Musstler?

Quizman said...

Anonymous - Correct. Though, why Remi did not involve Russia/Stalin is unclear to me.

Maharajah of Gopal is never engaged to her. Bianca mentions to Capt. Haddock that she has been "engaged by the press" to all these people in 'The Castafiore Emerald' (iirc). This is after Paris-Flash [Marco-Willoughby Drupe(?) and the other guy] report on the budding love of Capt. Haddock and Bianca, the result of a very funny misunderstanding with Calculus, who thinks that the conversation is about the white roses that he has cultivated.

An absolute MUST for Tintin trivia fanatics is this book. Simply amazing amount of trivia on the creator and the characters.

Anonymous said...

Since I am come lately to this thread, I see that only Q. 10 remains unanswered. The line is from King Ottakar's sceptre. In three days time King Ottakar must find his sceptre, else he must abdicate and Thomson and Thompson pledge to find it within the stipulated time.

Re uninvited guests: Technically, Prince Abdullah is shipped to Marlinspike without an invitation in "The Red Sea Sharks" and
Bianca Castafiore, of course, in "The Castafiore Emerald".

The (attempted) annexation of Syldavia by Borduria is more like Hitler's annexation of Austria or the Sudetenland. In either case the analogy is far from exact. Syldavia and Borduria are clearly Balkan/ex-Ottoman republics (read the historical brochure in King Ottokar's sceptre) so the references seem more like Austro-Hungary's annexation of some Balkan republic.

More questions.

Q1. Captain Haddock's first name?

Q2. Rossini's work is central to the resolution of this plot. Explain.

Q3. Reference to context: Eih bennek, eih blavek.

Q4. What do gypsies call non-Romany people?

Q5. This one merely to show off my superior language skills. Explain why the name Omar bin Salad is appropriate for the opium smuggler in "Crab with the Golden Claws.

Anonymous said...

That should be King Ottokar's sceptre, consistently mis-spelled in my earlier post.

Ravi

Anonymous said...

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Go THERE!!

Dilip D'Souza said...

Three days away and I see that between all you eager Tintin-istas, you've got all the answers! Quizman, salutations to your memory, that's fabulous. Ravi, you got #10 right. The next line the twins utter, though, is this classic: "Only three days, Majesty, and we swear to bring you your sceptre, bound hand and foot."

Quizman, small corrections:

#1: the Italian driver is right.

#3: I meant Standard Herald, in "Black Island"

#6: What I meant was, he falls unconscious in both Seven Crystal Balls and Shooting Star.

Now back to reading "Land of Black Gold" for the 1915th time...

Quizman said...

Ravi,

The Absolute companion mentions the analogy with Hitler. With regard to your questions:

1. Archibald
2. La Gazza Ladra (The thieving magpie) who steals Castafiore's emerald.
3. This is the sceptre thing something along the lines of 'he who lives by untruth shall persish' ???
4. gajo
5. no idea

Btw, the answers to my questions:
1. Actually, there are 3 real life people featured in Tintin. One is, as someone mentioned, Al Capone. The other two are Herge's collaboraters Jacobin and another gent whose name I forget. They are featured as mummies in the cover (and elsewhere) of 'Cigars of the Pharaoh.'

2. King Abdul Aziz bin Saud and young Faisal [Absolute companion has a pic where the similarity between the real ones and the comic characters is uncanny] The pics were found in Herge's home.

Anonymous said...

Quizman,

One the 3 real life people, Remi's friend Chang from "The Blue Lotus" and "Tintin in Tibet" was one of them.

Anonymous said...

>>another gent whose name I forget
From Jacob's book "Professor Grossgrabenstein" is the mummy marked 'Grosgrab'

Anonymous said...

Dear Dilip,

Apologies to you for the aside to quizman
on your blog.

Quizman: You've got 1,2 and 4.

3. is "He who gathers thistles must expect prickles" (I think you are attemtping to translate "honi soit qui mal y pense" uttered just after, which is essentially "evil to him who evil does" in franco-latin.

5. is speculative on my part, but Homard
(pronounced "Omar" in French) is lobster in French, so that makes the opium smuggler Lobster Salad, appropriate for a man partly marketing seafood.

Anonymous said...

Some good quiz questions. Readers might want to check out The Tintin Trivia Quiz http://tintin.eugraph.com.

Anonymous said...

longest name [perhaps]: ARTURO BENEDETTO GIOVANNI GISEPPI PIETRO ARCHELENGO KARTOFOLI DA MILANO ... as I remeber its from the story "Calculus Affair"