Q 01/05

Where was Cocteau born in 1889?

A) Maisons-Laffitte

B) Neuilly-sur-Seine

C) Villefranche-sur-Mer

D) Menton

Answer · why

A) Maisons-Laffitte

His father, a lawyer and amateur painter, died by suicide when Jean was nine.

Q 02/05

What nickname, from a volume he published at 22, did bohemian Paris give young Cocteau?

A) The Sleeping Poet

B) The Frivolous Prince

C) The Enfant Terrible

D) The Blue God

Answer · why

B) The Frivolous Prince

He had published his first poems, Aladdin's Lamp, at nineteen and left home at fifteen.

Q 03/05

What did Cocteau do during the First World War?

A) Flew reconnaissance aircraft

B) Worked as a war artist in London

C) Drove an ambulance for the Red Cross

D) Served as an infantry officer

Answer · why

C) Drove an ambulance for the Red Cross

It was then that he met Apollinaire, Picasso and Modigliani.

Q 04/05

Which impresario persuaded Cocteau to write the scenario for the ballet Parade?

A) Léonide Massine

B) Vaslav Nijinsky

C) Léon Bakst

D) Sergei Diaghilev

Answer · why

D) Sergei Diaghilev

The Ballets Russes had already staged Le Dieu bleu, which Cocteau made with Bakst in 1912.

Q 05/05

Who designed the sets and costumes for Parade in 1917?

A) Pablo Picasso

B) Henri Matisse

C) Georges Braque

D) Amedeo Modigliani

Answer · why

A) Pablo Picasso

Erik Satie wrote the music; the premiere was at the Théâtre du Châtelet on 18 May 1917.

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