House of the Rising Sun Trivia Quiz

Answer: A Streetcar Named Desire

Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer-winning play (1947) deals with the decline and fall of Blanche Dubois, a faded Southern belle who seeks shelter at her sister Stella's house in a working-class neighbourhood of New Orleans. There she clashes with Stella's rough husband, Stanley Kowalski, with tragic consequences. The 1951 film, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando, won four Academy Awards, including Best Actress (Leigh), Best Supporting Actor (Karl Malden) and Best Supporting Actress (Kim Hunter).

The remaining choices are all famous American 20th-century plays: "Long Day's Journey into the Night" by Eugene O'Neill, "The Little Foxes" by Lillian Hellman, and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" by Edward Albee.

Answer: Sex Pistols

Directed by Alex Cox and released in 1986, "Sid and Nancy" details the destructive relationship between Sid Vicious (real name John Simon Ritchie), bassist of the Sex Pistols, and his American girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, who introduced him to heroin. Their affair ended tragically in 1978 at New York City's Chelsea Hotel, when Sid stabbed Nancy to death.

He died a few months later, of a heroin overdose that was probably intentional. The film, originally titled "Love Kills", stars Gary Oldman (for whom it was a breakthrough) and Chloe Webb, with appearances from famous musicians such as Courtney Love, Nico and Iggy Pop. Joe Strummer of The Clash wrote part of the original soundtrack.

Answer: La Traviata

"La Traviata" (The Fallen Woman) is one of Giuseppe Verdi's best-known works. In the opera, based on Alexandre Dumas younger's play "La Dame aux Camélias", young bourgeois Alfredo Germont falls in love with famed courtesan Violetta Valéry, who abandons her lavish Paris life for his sake. Dumas' play was in turn based on a true story, that of Marie Duplessis, a young courtesan who had been the author's lover. "La Traviata" was premiered on 6 March 1852 at Venice's famed Teatro La Fenice, with soprano Fanny Salvini-Donatelli as Violetta. Though that first performance was not successful, one year later the revised opera was performed at another Venetian theatre, where it met with great acclaim. "La Traviata" is now considered one of the masterpieces of the opera genre, regularly performed in opera houses worldwide.

The remaining choices are all famous 19th-century operas: "Carmen" by Georges Bizet (who was French, unlike the others), "Norma" by Vincenzo Bellini, and "La Bohème" by Giacomo Puccini.

Answer: The Who

Written by guitarist Pete Townsend, and released in 1973, "Quadrophenia" was The Who's sixth studio album, and their second rock opera after 1969's groundbreaking "Tommy". The story, set in the English seaside town of Brighton, focuses on Jimmy, a young working-class man who is a follower of the mod subculture. Unable to hold a job and constantly getting into fights, he clashes with his parents because of his use of amphetamines.

The ending of the story is left ambiguous, though it is implied that Jimmy has attempted suicide.

The album was made into a film by director Phil Roddam, released in 1979 and starring Phil Daniels and Sting. The title "Quadrophenia" is a play on the word "schizophrenia", referring to Jimmy's four distinct personalities.

Answer: Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Fedor Dostoyevsky knew a thing or two about addiction. His own poison was gambling: he was addicted to roulette, and wrote "The Gambler" (published in 1867) to pay off his debts. The story is told from the point of view of Alexei Ivanovic, who works as a tutor for a Russian family living in a hotel in Germany (where the author had his first experiences at the gaming table). Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev based his opera of the same name (1929) on "The Gambler", and a number of films have been inspired by the book - such as "The Great Sinner" (1849), starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner, and "The Gambler" (1974), starring James Caan, Paul Sorvino and Lauren Hutton.

Answer: Trainspotting

Based on Irvine Welsh's novel of the same title, "Trainspotting" (1996) follows a group of heroin addicts living in an economically and culturally disadvantaged area of Edinburgh. Raw and uncompromising - down to the unexpurgated language, rich in swear words of every description - the film brought fame to its stars, especially McGregor, Kelly McDonald and Kevin McKidd, as well as director Danny Boyle. According to Irvine Welsh, the rather cryptic title refers to any activity that seems pointless to outsiders - like shooting heroin to non-addicts - but makes perfect sense to those directly involved.

Though the remaining three options mention transportation in their titles, they have nothing to do with drug addiction.

Answer: Breaking Bad

Starring Bryan Cranston in the role of Walter White, a high school teacher diagnosed with terminal cancer, "Breaking Bad" (a Southern US colloquialism for "raising hell") ran for five seasons (2008-2013) on the AMC network. The story is set in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where White and his former student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) set up an operation for the production and selling of crystal meth, so that White can leave his family financially secure after his death. "Breaking Bad"'s status as one of the best TV series of all time was crowned by a large number of awards, including sixteen Primetime Emmys and two Golden Globes. The final episode of the series, "Felina", shown on September 23, 2013, was viewed by over 10 million people.

The remaining choices are all very successful TV series, though only one of them ("The Wire") deals with drugs.

Answer: Midnight Cowboy

Directed by John Schlesinger, and based on the novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy, "Midnight Cowboy" (1969) won three Academy Awards in spite of its rating, which is normally the kiss of death for a mainstream film. The rating has since been brought down to "R". The film tells the story of Joe Buck (Voight), a young Texan who relocates to New York City, hoping to make a living as an escort for wealthy women, and his friendship with Ratso (Hoffman), a con man. Composer John Barry also won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Theme, and the song "Everybody's Talkin'", performed by Harry Nilsson, won in the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance category.

Of the remaining three films, only "American Gigolo" (which stars Richard Gere) deals with the issue of male prostitution.

Answer: Chicago

The musical "Chicago" (1975), with lyrics by Fred Ebb and music by John Kander, is based on a 1926 play of the same title by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins, who wrote about true crimes she covered in her professional life. Renowned choreographer Bob Fosse was involved in the original Broadway production.

A satire of corruption in the criminal justice system and the concept of "celebrity criminal", "Chicago" focuses on the stories of vaudeville singer Velma Kelly, who murders her husband and her sister in a fit of jealousy, and chorus girl Roxie Hart, who murders her lover - both represented by wily lawyer Billy Flynn, who has a habit of making celebrities out of his clients.

The 2002 film version of the musical, directed by Rob Marshall and starring Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere, won six Academy Awards in 2003, including the ones for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress (Zeta-Jones).

Answer: Leaving Las Vegas

Starring Nicholas Cage and Elizabeth Shue, and directed by Mike Figgis, "Leaving Las Vegas" details the brief, doomed love story between Ben, a Hollywood screenwriter who intends to drink himself to death, and Sera, a Las Vegas prostitute. John O'Brien, on whose autobiographical novel the film is based, had committed suicide in 1994, one years before the film's first release. In 1996, "Leaving Las Vegas" was nominated for four Academy Awards, and won one (Nicolas Cage for Best Actor). The Sheryl Crow song of the same title (1994) was allegedly also based on O'Brien's novel.

Of the remaining choices, both "The Lost Weekend" and "A Star Is Born" deal with alcoholism, while "The Lost Boys" is a horror comedy about vampires.