Q 01/05

The Hollywood Sign went up in 1923 as a temporary billboard advertising what in the hills above Los Angeles?

A) A silent film studio

B) A housing development

C) A mountain railway line

D) A tourist hotel

Answer · why

B) A housing development

A housing development called Hollywoodland was the product on sale. The sign was only meant to be temporary, and its last four letters stayed up until...

Q 02/05

Movie previews are called trailers because early cinemas originally screened them at which point in the programme?

A) After the main film

B) Before the newsreel

C) During the interval

D) Between two reels

Answer · why

A) After the main film

After the main film was the original slot, so the adverts literally trailed the feature. Audiences walked out before they played, so they moved to the...

Q 03/05

Which candy saw sales soar after E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial used it as alien bait when the maker of M&M's declined?

A) Junior Mints

B) Hershey's Kisses

C) Reese's Pieces

D) Milk Duds

Answer · why

C) Reese's Pieces

Reese's Pieces were a fairly new product when Mars turned the film down, reportedly fearing that the alien would frighten children.

Q 04/05

Whose star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame hangs on a wall because he did not want his name walked on?

A) Joe Frazier

B) Mike Tyson

C) George Foreman

D) Muhammad Ali

Answer · why

D) Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali shares his name with the Islamic prophet, so his star was mounted upright. The committee had decided that boxing counted as a form of liv...

Q 05/05

What stood in for blood in the black-and-white shower scene of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller Psycho?

A) Tomato ketchup

B) Chocolate syrup

C) Beetroot juice

D) Red food colouring

Answer · why

B) Chocolate syrup

Chocolate syrup photographed better in black and white than stage blood, while the stabbing sounds were made by puncturing a melon.