Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
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50 free Chitty Chitty Bang Bang trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has been a family favourite since 1968: an eccentric inventor, two children, a sweet-factory heiress and a rusty racing car that turns out to have a mind of its own. It is often taken for a Disney film, and it did borrow much of the Mary Poppins team, but its roots lie closer to the world of James Bond than most viewers realise. This quiz covers the whole story. There are questions on the plot, from the first sales pitch to the rescue at the Baron's castle, and on the cast, the songs and the people who designed and built the car. Others look at the novel behind the film, the real racers that inspired it, the filming locations and the long-running stage musical. The early questions are friendly enough for a family film night, while the later ones are aimed at fans who know the film well. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you pick up a behind-the-scenes story even when you miss one.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which spy novelist wrote the book behind Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, based on bedtime stories for his son?
Ian Fleming
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.
Q 02Which actress turned down Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as too similar to a role she had already played?
Julie Andrews
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.
Q 03Which New Zealand film director paid $805,000 at auction in 2011 for the road-going Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car?
Peter Jackson
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.
Q 04In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Lord Scrumptious finally offers to market Caractacus Potts's whistling sweets as what?
Dog treats
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.
Q 05Which American star turned down Fagin in Oliver! before playing inventor Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?
Dick Van Dyke
Dick Van Dyke drove the car himself on screen and later said it was hard to manoeuvre, with the turning radius of a battleship.
Q 06Which children's author co-wrote the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang screenplay, inventing Baron Bomburst's land and airship?
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl also scripted the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, but the director of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang heavily rewrote his draft.
Q 07In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, what inspires the name Caractacus Potts gives the wrecked racing car he rebuilds?
The noises it makes
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.
Q 08In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which fictional land does Baron Bomburst rule, a place where children have been outlawed?
Vulgaria
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.
Q 09What kind of building, filmed near Turville in Buckinghamshire, is the Potts family home in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?
A windmill
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.
Q 10Which Bavarian castle linked to King Ludwig II doubles as Baron Bomburst's fortress in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?
Neuschwanstein
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.
Q 11In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, what does the car turn into the first time it transforms, during the beach picnic?
A boat
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.
Q 12In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Baron Bomburst's spies carry off Grandpa Potts by airship inside which small building?
An outhouse
An outhouse is hooked by the airship with Grandpa inside, because the spies have mistaken him for his inventor son.
Q 13In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, how are Caractacus Potts and Truly Scrumptious disguised at Baron Bomburst's birthday party?
As lifelike dolls
Q 21Which producer agreed to film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang only after the success of Mary Poppins changed his mind?
Albert Broccoli
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.
Q 22Which ballet star, 59 when the film came out, played the sinister Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?
Robert Helpmann
Robert Helpmann showed a dancer's agility when his carriage overturned during filming: he swung clear and skipped across the crashing vehicle to safety.
Q 23Which actor played Grandpa Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang despite being six months younger than his on-screen son?
Lionel Jeffries
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.
Q 14Which British comedian with a long-running television sketch show played the Toymaker in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?
Benny Hill
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.
Q 15In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which automatic invention does Caractacus Potts try out on a furious carnival customer?
A hair-cutting machine
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.
Q 16Which Chitty Chitty Bang Bang song, sung by Caractacus Potts to his children, was first released by Tony Bennett?
Hushabye Mountain
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.
Q 17Hiding from soldiers in the Toymaker's shop in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the Potts family pose as which toys?
Jack-in-the-boxes
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.
Q 18Which German actor, the villain of the Bond film Goldfinger, played Baron Bomburst in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?
Gert Fröbe
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.
Q 19Which songwriting duo, who also wrote It's a Small World, composed the songs for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?
The Sherman Brothers
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.
Q 20Which actress, once Broadway's Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, played Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?
Sally Ann Howes
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.
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.
Q 24Which studio released Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, hoping to repeat the success of The Sound of Music?
United Artists
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.
Q 25The flying car built for the 2002 West End musical of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang earned which Guinness World Record?
Most expensive stage prop
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.
Q 26Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's Child Catcher joined Lord Voldemort and Cruella de Vil at which 2012 London event?
The Olympic opening ceremony
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.
Q 27Miserable English summer weather sent the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang crew to film its beach scenes in which country?
France
France supplied the beach at Cap Taillat, near Saint-Tropez, where the crew had to hide the vineyards in the background.
Q 28The author of the novel behind Chitty Chitty Bang Bang wrote it in longhand while recovering from which emergency?
A heart attack
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.
Q 29The first real racing car behind Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, built in the 1920s, used an engine made for which aircraft?
Zeppelins
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.
Q 30Which Chitty Chitty Bang Bang number, written as a morris dance, did its star call his most difficult dancing act?
Me Ol' Bamboo
Me Ol' Bamboo was inspired by the bamboo walking stick that one of its songwriters used after a wartime knee injury.