Q 01/05

Thanks to Joseph Grimaldi, the pantomime Clown role became known by what nickname?

A) Joey

B) Bobo

C) Charlie

D) Sammy

Answer · why

A) Joey

The nickname stuck: British pantomime clowns are still called Joeys, and Grimaldi's make-up design remains the base of most clown faces.

Q 02/05

Which pantomime catchphrase, still shouted from stages every Christmas, did Joseph Grimaldi originate?

A) Oh no it isn't!

B) Here we are again!

C) It's behind you!

D) Look out below!

Answer · why

B) Here we are again!

Grimaldi introduced it in his pantomimes two centuries ago; his best-known song was 'Hot Codlins', about a seller of roasted apples.

Q 03/05

Clowns in full costume attend Joseph Grimaldi's annual memorial at Holy Trinity Church in which London borough?

A) Camden

B) Islington

C) Southwark

D) Hackney

Answer · why

D) Hackney

The service falls on the first Sunday of the month, and the park around Grimaldi's grave in Islington was later named after him.

Q 04/05

Which famous novelist did Richard Bentley hire to edit and improve Joseph Grimaldi's memoirs?

A) William Thackeray

B) Charles Dickens

C) Wilkie Collins

D) Anthony Trollope

Answer · why

B) Charles Dickens

The original manuscript by Thomas Egerton Wilks was considered so clumsy that Bentley wanted a bigger name to rescue it, and the Memoirs appeared in 1...

Q 05/05

The earliest known clowns have been traced to the Fifth Dynasty of which civilization, around 2400 BC?

A) Sumer

B) China

C) Egypt

D) Persia

Answer · why

C) Egypt

Clowning kept its lowly associations for millennia: Greek theatre had its own rustic buffoons, the sklêro-paiktês.