A very happy Festive Season to all my readers. I’d like to thank you for reading the blog and for all your comments here and on Facebook and elsewhere.
Welcome to the 10th Edition of the Life on La Lune French Christmas Quiz, my little Christmas gift to readers. Twenty questions on aspects of French history, culture, language, cuisine, geography and politics with multiple choice answers with which to stretch your brain cells after you’ve wrapped the turkey and stuffed the presents.
A few rules:
- Try to answer without using the internet if you can. You are, however, authorised to search this blog, and you’ll find the answers to some of the questions buried here somewhere.
- Please don’t post up your answers in the comments section below. It spoils it for everyone else.
- Don’t take it too seriously; it’s all in fun.
- There are no prizes. Virtue is its own reward.
I will provide the correct answers on Wednesday 30th December, so you have a week to puzzle over it.
Régalez-vous!
1 What is a cornet de Murat?
a) A type of French horn
b) A cocked hat
c) A biscuity cone-shaped confection
2. What is a bastide?
a) A person of dubious parentage
b) A medieval new town in a grid pattern
c) A pungent cheese
3. What would you do with a bûche cendrée?
a) Eat it
b) Wear it
c) Burn it on the fire
4. Which bridge is reputed to have been completed with the Devil’s help?
a) Le Pont Valentré (Cahors)
b) Le Pont d’Avignon
c) Le Pont Neuf (Paris)
5. Which instrument did the painter Ingres, born in Montauban, play in the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse?
a) The flute
b) The tuba
c) The violin
6. In which classic French film were the lines, “On ne devrait jamais quitter Montauban” (one should never leave Montauban) spoken?
a) Jules et Jim
b) Les Tontons Flingeurs
c) Un Homme et Une Femme
7. Which French queen started a fashion by wearing a bunch of flowers in her cleavage?
a) Marguerite de Valois
b) Marie de’ Medici
c) Marie-Thérèse of Austria
8. Which is the largest French island?
a) Corsica
b) La Réunion
c) Guadeloupe
9. Which ingredient gives Roquefort cheese its blue-green veins?
a) Chopped parsley
b) Powdered mouldy bread
c) Vegetable dye
10. What is la poudre de Perlimpinpin?
a) A lead-based face powder used in the 16th and 17th centuries
b) Powdered sugar used in confectionery
c) Snake oil
11. From which plant is the blue dye pastel manufactured?
a) Allium sativum
b) Crocus sativus
c) Isatis tinctoria
12. What is one of the main ingredients of the Auvergne pâté pounti?
a) Prunes
b) Truffles
c) Tripe
13. What was mined extensively in the Quercy region during the late 19th century?
a) Coal
b) Phosphates
c) Silver
14. For which industry was la Forêt de Grésigne once noted?
a) Glass blowing
b) Iron smelting
c) Pottery making
15. Which French politician is currently on trial for corruption?
a) François Fillon
b) François Hollande
c) Nicolas Sarkozy
16. What is the drink Suze made from?
a) Gentian roots
b) Juniper berries
c) Plums
17. If someone noie le poisson (drowns the fish), do they:
a) Bury the hatchet
b) Confuse someone deliberately
c) Make a big mistake
18. What is a marcassin?
a) A type of soft shoe worn in medieval times
b) A pastry filled with nuts and raisins
c) A young wild boar
19. How many children did a family have to raise (in a proper moral environment) to qualify for the gold Médaille de la Famille Française?
a) Eight
b) Four
c) Six
20. Which French novelist wrote La Reine Margot [of local fame in this area, since she spent one night in the Château de Saint-Projet during her flight from her brother, Henri III]?
a) Alexandre Dumas
b) Victor Hugo
c) Jules Verne
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