Q 01/05

In 'Humpty Dumpty', who could not put Humpty together again?

A) All the king's horses and all the king's men

B) All the queen's guards and all her ladies

C) The doctors and the nurses

D) His mother and his father

Answer · why

A) All the king's horses and all the king's men

The rhyme never actually says he is an egg; it was probably a riddle to which 'an egg' was the answer.

Q 02/05

Which author turned Humpty Dumpty into a talking egg in an 1871 book?

A) J. M. Barrie

B) Lewis Carroll

C) Edward Lear

D) Charles Kingsley

Answer · why

B) Lewis Carroll

He appears in Through the Looking-Glass and lectures Alice on what words mean.

Q 03/05

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, what did 'humpty dumpty' mean in the 17th century?

A) A short-legged stool

B) A soldier's helmet

C) A drink of brandy boiled with ale

D) A type of dumpling

Answer · why

C) A drink of brandy boiled with ale

In the 18th century it was also slang for a short, clumsy person, which helped the riddle misdirect.

Q 04/05

Which English town's tourist board claimed Humpty Dumpty was a cannon used in a 1648 siege?

A) Gloucester

B) Chester

C) Worcester

D) Colchester

Answer · why

D) Colchester

The cannon supposedly sat on the wall of St Mary-at-the-Walls church during the English Civil War; there is no evidence for the story.

Q 05/05

What did Jack and Jill go up the hill to fetch?

A) A pail of water

B) A bale of hay

C) A basket of apples

D) A bundle of sticks

Answer · why

A) A pail of water

Jack falls and breaks his crown, and later verses were added in the 19th century to carry the story on.