Q 01/05

Which subject did Rowan Atkinson study at Newcastle University and Oxford before he turned to comedy full time?

A) Experimental psychology

B) Electrical engineering

C) Medieval history

D) Pure mathematics

Answer · why

B) Electrical engineering

Electrical engineering earned him a degree at Newcastle and a master's at The Queen's College, Oxford. His thesis looked at self-tuning control.

Q 02/05

Which future British prime minister went to the Durham Chorister School at the same time as Rowan Atkinson?

A) David Cameron

B) Gordon Brown

C) John Major

D) Tony Blair

Answer · why

D) Tony Blair

Tony Blair was a fellow pupil at the cathedral prep school, which the Atkinson brothers attended while growing up in nearby Consett. Their father was ...

Q 03/05

Which famous painting does Mr. Bean ruin with a sneeze and an inky handkerchief in the 1997 film Bean?

A) Whistler's Mother

B) The Birth of Venus

C) The Night Watch

D) American Gothic

Answer · why

A) Whistler's Mother

Whistler's Mother ends up so badly damaged that Bean secretly swaps it for a poster coated in egg white and nail varnish. The fake fools everyone at t...

Q 04/05

In which African country was Rowan Atkinson on holiday in 2001 when the pilot of his private plane fainted?

A) Egypt

B) Tanzania

C) Kenya

D) Morocco

Answer · why

C) Kenya

Kenya was the setting: Atkinson kept the Cessna flying and helped bring the pilot round, and the pilot recovered enough to land at Wilson Airport in N...

Q 05/05

Which future Hollywood star, then aged ten, appeared with Rowan Atkinson in the 1984 West End comedy The Nerd?

A) Matthew Macfadyen

B) Christian Bale

C) Orlando Bloom

D) Tom Hardy

Answer · why

B) Christian Bale

Christian Bale was still a child actor when he shared the London stage with Atkinson. His film breakthrough in Empire of the Sun came three years late...