Entertaining Parrots Trivia Quiz

Answer: Captain Flint

The green parrot named Captain Flint is from Robert Louis Stevenson's coming-of-age story "Treasure Island", published in book form in 1883. The parrot belongs to Long John Silver and was named after the captain of a ship called the Walrus which Silver once served on.

In the chapter title "Pieces of Eight", Jim Hawkins is given away at one point by Captain Flint screeching "pieces of eight" repeatedly. A piece of eight is the nickname for the Spanish silver dollar first minted by the Spanish Empire at the end of the 15th century.

It was worth eight Spanish reales and became in effect the first international currency.

Answer: Edward Lear

Edward Lear started painting the parrots for the 1832 "Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots" when aged 18. Although the book was unfinished and a financial failure, it established him as one of the best natural history artists of the time. This led to work with the ornithologist John Gould, amongst others. Gould was inspired to produce many more bird monographs as a result.

Lear has three parrot species named after him. The Lear's macaw (Anodorhynchus leari) was in fact identified as a new species from one of Lear's drawings, despite it being wrongly captioned.

As well as his artistic endeavours, Lear turned his hand to writing. He became known for his nonsense collection of poems, popularising the limerick form. "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat" (1870) is one of his poems.

Answer: French Polynesia

Paul Gaugin started painting whilst working as a successful stockbroker in Paris. Following the Paris stock market crash of 1882, he turned to painting full-time, after his marriage and a business selling tarpaulins failed. He was also a sculptor, printmaker and ceramist as well as a writer. He is mostly tied to the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements.

After the 1882 stock market crash, lack of money was his usual norm. He also had bouts of ill-health. He spent time digging the Panama Canal but also did some painting whilst based in Martinique. Panama was not a French colony, unlike Martinique. He was never in Algeria. His first visit to Tahiti was in 1891, returning to France in 1993. Disillusioned with the Paris art scene, he returned to Tahiti in 1995 and then moved to the Marquesas Islands in 1901 where he succumbed to ill-health.

Answer: Norwegian blue

The sketch was first seen on TV during the eighth episode (called "Full Frontal Nudity") of the BBC TV series "Monty Python's Flying Circus" in December 1969. It features Mr. Praline (John Cleese) making a complaint to a shopkeeper (Michael Palin) about a Norwegian Blue parrot. While the dead parrot is the subject of the complaint, the sketch takes a satirical look at poor customer service.

The inspiration for the "Dead Parrot" sketch was an experience that Graham Chapman had had with a car salesman. This became the "Car Salesman" sketch in the 1968 British TV special "How to Irritate People". John Cleese decided that the idea had more potential and the subject matter was developed via a faulty toaster to become a dead parrot. There have been many references to the sketch since then, including the nickname of an extinct bird genus found in the Fur Formation of northern Denmark in 2008.

The other answers were fictional dragons from the 'Harry Potter' universe.

Answer: Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset

The poem "Ver-Vert: or, the parrot of Nevers" tells the tale of Ver-Vert, a parrot who pleased his convent mistresses at Nevers by talk of prayers and good thoughts. He was lent to the senior convent for their delight but when being ferried to Nantes he learned another way of speaking. When he arrived, he had forgotten his previous training and regaled the nuns with profane swearing and the like. Back at Nevers and after imprisonment he repented his ways. On release, his change from prison fare to a rich diet of treats from the nuns resulted in him being killed by kindness.

"Ver-Vert" was Gresset's first and most famous poem. It brought him fame and led to him abandoning his Jesuit education. He continued to write, married and had children then had a moral crisis in his later years, disowning his frivolous writings of the past. Amongst other adaptations, it was turned into the operetta "Vert-Vert" by Jacques Offenbach in 1869.

Answer: Nintendo EPD

First appearing in 1994, the green-feathered Squawks is one of the animal friends which assist the Kongs in the "Donkey Kong Country" series of video games. His role has grown from just holding a torch to spitting eggs and various carrying duties. Squawks has also appeared in several other Nintendo series and in excess of twenty games.

Answer: Polynesia

The "Doctor Dolittle" series of children's books was written by the British-born Hugh Lofting. The fictional physician first appeared in letters Lofting sent to his children from First World War trenches. He moved to America after the war which was where his books were published, starting with "The Story of Doctor Dolittle, Being the History of His Peculiar Life at Home and Astonishing Adventures in Foreign Parts" (1920).

Polynesia first appears in the 1920 book and teaches Dolittle the secret of talking to animals. She is Dolittle's first animal friend and a West African parrot. She appeared in the 1970-71 American animated TV series "Doctor Dolittle". She morphs into a macaw in the 1969 and 2020 films and is replaced by a dog called Lucky (or possibly the owl character) in the 1998 film which has Eddie Murphy as Doctor Dolittle. She became a Jim Henson puppet in the 1998 stage musical, voiced by Julie Andrews.

Answer: Julian Barnes

The prize-winning novel "Flaubert's Parrot" (1984) by Julian Barnes follows the fictional Geoffrey Braithwaite as he tries to track down the stuffed parrot which contributed to the making of the short story "Un Coeur Simple". The search provides the narrative framework in which to explore Flaubert's life from various perspectives.

It is believed Flaubert borrowed a parrot from a museum to aid accurate description of the short story's parrot. Which parrot, or whether there was more than one, is unclear. A museum at Rouen has at least one candidate.

Answer: Michael Crichton

"Next" is a satirical science fiction look at a world where genetic research, supported by corporate greed and legal interventions, has come to dominate. Gerard's story is one such experiment in the name of research. His human gene injection whilst a chick gives him superior intelligence as well as an ability to communicate.

Michael Crichton's books were often cautionary tales with a medical or scientific underpinning. His books include "The Andromeda Strain" (1969) and "Jurassic Park" (1990). "Next" was his last book, published in 2006. He died in 2008.

Answer: Iago

Walt Disney introduced the character Iago in the 1992 film "Aladdin". This character was originally conceived as having a calm "British" demeanor and being named Sinbad. Iago was sidekick to the main antagonist Jafar and meant to act as a comedic counterpoint. The American comedian Gilbert Gottfried voiced the wise-cracking Iago until the 2019 "Aladdin" when Alan Tudyk took on the role. Iago's character gradually reformed during the 1994 "The Return of Jafar" to become the hero.

The Shakespearean Iago character appears in the tragedy "Othello". Outwardly trustworthy, Iago's scheming causes no end of problems for his master Othello.