What Do You Know About Carmen Anyway? Quiz

Answer: Don Jose, the corporal

Bizet's opera "Carmen" got off to a rocky start when it premiered in Paris in March, 1875, thanks to harsh reviews from the critics. Towards the end of the first run of 48 performances, the management of the theatre was giving tickets away in order to bring in an audience.

It's sad that Bizet never knew how popular his opera would eventually become as he died of a heart attack in June 1875, aged 36 years. The opera is set in Seville, Spain, although the libretto is in French. Carmen is a beautiful, wild and willful gypsy girl who seduces poor Don Jose, then dumps him for the toreador, Escamillo.

At the end, Carmen is stabbed to death by a jealous and tormented Don Jose.

Answer: Carmen Sandiego

Carmen Isabella Sandiego is a fictional world-class thief whose capture is the object of the young game players in the PBS television game show series "Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?" which ran from 1991 to 1996. A National Geographic poll had shown that Americans had a rather poor knowledge of geography, not only of their own country but of the rest of the world, so the series was developed from the computer games of the same name.

The series won a Peabody Award and many other awards for children's television.

The show was followed by "Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?" and the educational value of the series expanded to include mathematics, history, English and other subjects.

Answer: Carmen Electra

Tara Patrick took on her professional name of Carmen Electra while she was signed with Prince's recording company, Paisley Park Records. Her marriage to basketball player Dennis Rodman lasted all of five months. Her second marriage, to Dave Novarro, guitarist with alternative rock band Jane's Addiction, lasted barely four years. Carmen has supported several charities, including Elevate Hope which helps abused and abandoned children.

Answer: True

Since 1953, more than 70 hurricane names have been retired from use, usually, but not always, based upon the amount of destruction caused by the storm. Hurricane Carmen, while not one of the most destructive on record, was the strongest of the 1974 hurricane season, a category four; she claimed eight lives and caused $168 million in damages to crops and property.

Answer: Carmen Miranda

Born in Portugal in 1909 as Maria do Carmo de Miranda e da Cunha, her parents emigrated to Brazil when she was ten months old. The family settled in Rio de Janeiro, where her father opened a barber's shop. He was vehemently opposed to Maria's wish to enter show business, and his wife was beaten by him for supporting Maria's ambition.

Despite this, Maria, known as Carmen Miranda professionally, went on to have a spectacular career as a singer and dancer, eventually in 1946 earning $200,000 and the title of Hollywood's highest paid entertainer. Between 1940 and 1953, Carmen made 14 Hollywood movies and was highly popular for her flamboyant Latin style and her trademark head-dresses.

In August 1955, Carmen Miranda suffered a heart attack during a live show on television, although she didn't know what had happened to her, and she finished the show. Later that night she suffered a fatal heart attack, and the Brazilian Bombshell was dead at the age of 46.

Answer: False

Dorothy Dandridge starred as Carmen in this screen adaptation of Bizet's opera called "Carmen", and Harry Belafonte played the unlucky lover, Joe. When Dandridge first met the director, Otto Preminger, to discuss the role, Preminger thought her too ladylike and proper to play the sultry Carmen. Dandridge was given a copy of the script and advised to try for the part of Joe's girlfriend, Cindy Lou; she later returned to Preminger's office dressed as Carmen and acting as seductively as the director had pictured for his heroine. Dandridge got the part.

The wonderful Miss Lena Horne was not in the movie.

Answer: Prosper Mérimée

Born in Paris in 1803, Prosper Mérimée was a remarkable scholar, a lawyer who became a linguist, historian, dramatist, archeologist, and essayist. Although he is today remembered mainly for his short novel "Carmen", on which Bizet based his opera, Mérimée, in his position as the first inspector-general of historical monuments for France, made a great contribution to his country's heritage.

The French national list of significant monuments, which can be found online, is called the Base Mérimée in his honour.

Answer: Carmen Winstead

The non-existent Carmen Winstead was said to have been done to death most foully by three of her classmates. The story was circulated via email and chat groups, with the warning that if the recipient did not forward the story, they would be dead within a day, courtesy of Carmen's ghost.

Answer: "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" by Ann Brashares

This four-book series revolves around four young girls who are best friends and follows them from high school to college. Carmen finds a pair of jeans in a thrift shop, and the girls discover that although they are all different shapes and sizes, the jeans fit each of them perfectly. As the jeans are worn by each girl, she gains new insight into her life and character.

Answer: True

In Hebrew, Carmen means "garden" or "orchard". However, in Latin it means "song, tune, or poem", and the same root gives us the English word "charm".