50 Fun Facts About Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Which spy novelist wrote the book behind Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, based on bedtime stories for his son?

Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, wrote his only children's book in 1961 but died two months before its first volume was published.

Which actress turned down Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as too similar to a role she had already played?

Julie Andrews felt Truly was too close to Mary Poppins, so the part went to the actress who had replaced her in My Fair Lady on Broadway.

Which New Zealand film director paid $805,000 at auction in 2011 for the road-going Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car?

Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings, bought the main road-going film car and said he would use it to raise money for charity.

In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Lord Scrumptious finally offers to market Caractacus Potts's whistling sweets as what?

Dog treats became the plan because the whistling candy had already lured a pack of hounds into the factory and ruined the first sales pitch.

Which American star turned down Fagin in Oliver! before playing inventor Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

Dick Van Dyke drove the car himself on screen and later said it was hard to manoeuvre, with the turning radius of a battleship.

Which children's author co-wrote the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang screenplay, inventing Baron Bomburst's land and airship?

Roald Dahl also scripted the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, but the director of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang heavily rewrote his draft.

In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, what inspires the name Caractacus Potts gives the wrecked racing car he rebuilds?

The noises it makes name the car: Caractacus Potts christens it after its unusual engine sounds. The real 1920s racers behind the story may have been named after a bawdy wartime song.

In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which fictional land does Baron Bomburst rule, a place where children have been outlawed?

Vulgaria was invented for the screenplay and never appears in the original novel. Baron Bomburst's airship carries its coat of arms, a large black griffin.

What kind of building, filmed near Turville in Buckinghamshire, is the Potts family home in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

A windmill is the Potts home: Cobstone Mill, which was given a remoulded cap and new wooden sails for the shoot and was later bought by actress Hayley Mills.

Which Bavarian castle linked to King Ludwig II doubles as Baron Bomburst's fortress in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

Neuschwanstein, commissioned by Ludwig as a retreat, supplied the exterior, while the village scenes were shot in the old town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, what does the car turn into the first time it transforms, during the beach picnic?

A boat comes first: cut off by the rising tide, the car floats the family to safety, and it only sprouts wings later, after driving off a cliff.

In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Baron Bomburst's spies carry off Grandpa Potts by airship inside which small building?

An outhouse is hooked by the airship with Grandpa inside, because the spies have mistaken him for his inventor son.

In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, how are Caractacus Potts and Truly Scrumptious disguised at Baron Bomburst's birthday party?

As lifelike dolls that sing and dance, the pair are smuggled into the castle by the Toymaker, and at their signal the hidden children storm the banquet hall.

Which British comedian with a long-running television sketch show played the Toymaker in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

Benny Hill, whose own show drew more than 21 million British viewers in 1971, plays the villager who hides the Potts family in his shop.

In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which automatic invention does Caractacus Potts try out on a furious carnival customer?

A hair-cutting machine ruins the customer's hair, so Caractacus flees into a troupe of dancers and earns enough in tips to buy the car.

Which Chitty Chitty Bang Bang song, sung by Caractacus Potts to his children, was first released by Tony Bennett?

Hushabye Mountain returns later in the film, sung to the townspeople's hidden children when they have lost hope. David Gilmour of Pink Floyd has performed it in concert.

Hiding from soldiers in the Toymaker's shop in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the Potts family pose as which toys?

Jack-in-the-boxes keep the family hidden from the Child Catcher and the Baron's soldiers, though the car is found and taken to the castle.

Which German actor, the villain of the Bond film Goldfinger, played Baron Bomburst in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

Gert Fröbe was one of several James Bond veterans on the film, which shared its producer, its production designer and the author of the original book with the 007 series.

Which songwriting duo, who also wrote It's a Small World, composed the songs for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

The Sherman Brothers had also written the songs for Mary Poppins, and that film's conductor and both of its choreographers joined them on this one.

Which actress, once Broadway's Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, played Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

Sally Ann Howes was cast in April 1967 and soon signed a five-picture contract with the film's producer, yet the role did not restart her screen career.

Which producer agreed to film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang only after the success of Mary Poppins changed his mind?

Albert Broccoli, co-producer of the James Bond series, made the film without his usual 007 partner and had Bond's regular screenwriter polish the script.

Which ballet star, 59 when the film came out, played the sinister Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

Robert Helpmann showed a dancer's agility when his carriage overturned during filming: he swung clear and skipped across the crashing vehicle to safety.

Which actor played Grandpa Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang despite being six months younger than his on-screen son?

Lionel Jeffries went bald early and often played men older than himself, which let him pass as the father of a star born six months before him.

Which studio released Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, hoping to repeat the success of The Sound of Music?

United Artists saw the film become one of the ten most popular in America in 1969, yet its high budget left the studio with an estimated $8 million loss.

The flying car built for the 2002 West End musical of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang earned which Guinness World Record?

Most expensive stage prop is the record, at £750,000. At a 2002 performance attended by Prince Charles it collided with a ship on stage, and the show ended early.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's Child Catcher joined Lord Voldemort and Cruella de Vil at which 2012 London event?

The Olympic opening ceremony used him in a segment on the villains of children's literature, even though he was created for the film and never appears in the original novel.

Miserable English summer weather sent the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang crew to film its beach scenes in which country?

France supplied the beach at Cap Taillat, near Saint-Tropez, where the crew had to hide the vineyards in the background.

The author of the novel behind Chitty Chitty Bang Bang wrote it in longhand while recovering from which emergency?

A heart attack in 1961 put him in hospital, and he wrote by hand because his typewriter had been taken away to stop him starting another spy thriller.

The first real racing car behind Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, built in the 1920s, used an engine made for which aircraft?

Zeppelins flew on the same 23-litre Maybach engine, which pushed the chain-driven racer past 100 miles per hour on its debut at Brooklands in 1921.

Which Chitty Chitty Bang Bang number, written as a morris dance, did its star call his most difficult dancing act?

Me Ol' Bamboo was inspired by the bamboo walking stick that one of its songwriters used after a wartime knee injury.

Which registration plate, reading like a word for magical spirits, does the car wear in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

GEN 11 reads as genii, the powerful servants of legend. Only the main road-going car carried the plate as a genuine UK registration.

Which West End theatre staged the 2002 premiere of the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang musical, its longest-running show?

The Palladium kept the musical running for three and a half years, a record for the house, and it took more than £70 million at the box office.

Which West End star was the first Caractacus Potts in the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang stage musical?

Michael Ball led the 2002 cast opposite Brian Blessed as the Baron, and later stage Caractacuses have included Jason Donovan and Aled Jones.

Which writer of The Rocky Horror Show was the first Child Catcher in the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang stage musical?

Richard O'Brien, also the host of The Crystal Maze, was followed in the role by performers including the ballet dancer Wayne Sleep and Stephen Gately.

In which Steven Spielberg film does Dakota Fanning sing a lullaby from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

War of the Worlds borrowed the lullaby in 2005. Danny Elfman also recorded it for The Nightmare Before Christmas, but his version went unused.

Critic Leonard Maltin compared Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as a children's musical, to which famously failed American car?

The Edsel was his yardstick for a flop: he gave the film one and a half stars out of four and called its score totally forgettable.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang lost to The Thomas Crown Affair at the Academy Awards in which category?

Best Original Song brought the film an Oscar nomination for its title tune, which Paula Kelly and the UCLA Band performed on Oscar night.

Which actor, gadget master Q in the James Bond films, appears in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as garage owner Coggins?

Desmond Llewelyn's character keeps the wrecked racer at his garage, and it is about to go for scrap when the Potts children beg their father to save it.

Which Carry On film regular has a cameo at the carnival in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

Barbara Windsor, later Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders, made the cameo during a run of nine Carry On films between 1964 and 1974.

In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, where have the townspeople hidden their children from Baron Bomburst and the Child Catcher?

An underground grotto beneath the castle shelters them, and it is there that Caractacus hatches his plan to overthrow the Baron.

Which production designer of seven James Bond films designed the title car in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

Ken Adam, famous for his James Bond sets, also styled the Baron's airship, which was modelled on a Lebaudy craft of 1904 and really flew.

Which director of The Trials of Oscar Wilde and Cromwell directed and co-wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

Ken Hughes rewrote the screenplay himself and later said that he, not his celebrated co-writer, had created the Child Catcher.

Which racing count built the real aero-engined cars called Chitty Bang Bang that inspired Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

Louis Zborowski kept the cars at his country house, and the novel's author had watched him race at Brooklands as a schoolboy.

The real racing car that inspired Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was later owned by the sons of which famous author?

Arthur Conan Doyle's sons took on the rebuilt car after a crash that cost a timing official three fingers, but it was soon retired from racing.

Which Punch cartoonist and kinetic sculptor created Caractacus Potts's inventions for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

Rowland Emett's five surviving film inventions were shown in working order when a Birmingham museum staged an exhibition of his work in 2014.

The working airship built for Baron Bomburst in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was powered by the engine of which car?

VW Beetle power, just 40 horsepower, turned its two propellers. The airship was later torn from its moorings in a storm and destroyed.

Which screenwriter and children's author wrote three official sequels to the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang novel?

Frank Cottrell-Boyce was commissioned by the original author's family and handed the car to a new household, the Tootings, in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again.

In the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang novel, what was inventor Caractacus Pott's former profession?

Royal Navy commander was also the wartime rank of the book's author, who gave the same rank to his most famous creation, James Bond.

Which English city reportedly banned the deafening real racing cars that inspired Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

Canterbury is said to have passed a by-law keeping the cars outside its city walls, although they were built in a coachbuilder's workshop there.

The original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang novel includes a Paris chocolate-shop owner's secret recipe for which confection?

Fudge is the Pott family's reward for foiling a robbery, and the publisher's editors spent a day testing batches because the first recipe tried was poor.