British Asians Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bert Kwouk

Bert Kwouk (1930-2016) may have been born in Warrington, but he was raised in Shanghai before completing his final years of education in USA. He began to live in UK permanently in 1954 and gained his first acting role just three years later in the film "Windom's Way" (1957) before getting his big break in "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" (1958).

In the Bond movies, he played Mr. Ling in "Goldfinger" (1964), an uncredited Chinese soldier in "Casino Royale" (1967) and Spectre 3 in "You Only Live Twice" (1967) and is also fondly remembered for his roles on TV in shows such as the drama series "Tenko" (1981) as well as comedic roles such as portraying Entwistle in "Last of the Summer Wine" between 2002 and 2010.

Answer: Sir Ben Kingsley

Sir Ben Kingsley first found fame with the Royal Shakespeare Company and was for many years a celebrated stage actor, dabbling in TV and film work, including five episodes of long running soap opera, "Coronation Street" (1960-present) in 1966 and 1967.
That all changed in 1982, when he starred as the title character in the film "Ghandi" (1982), a role for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Although he continued to star in many stage roles, he was then in demand as a screen actor as well and went on to star in films such as "Schindler's List" (1993), "Sexy Beast" (2000) and "Iron Man 3" (2013).

Answer: Babylon Zoo

Jasbinder Mann was a promising but struggling musician when his track, "Spaceman" (1996) was chosen as the sound of a new commercial for Levi Jeans. The success catapulted him and Babylon Zoo in to the big time, but it was all over in the blink of an eye as the band failed to match the success of their debut single. Eventually they disbanded in 1999 and Mann became a film studio executive as well as sitting on the board of the charity, International Child Art Foundation.

Answer: Panjabi MC

"Mundian To Bach Ke" (2002) was the track that introduced bhangra music to the mainstream in UK and was the first bhangra song to reach the UK top 10, eventually peaking at number five. Although it remains Panjabi MC's biggest hit, the track influenced several artists such as Rishi Rich and Prabh Deep and also led to bhangra music being featured in films such as "Bend It Like Beckham" (2002) and "The White Tiger" (2021).

Answer: Michael Chopra

Chopra began his career at Newcastle United, making his Premier League debut in 2003 against West Bromwich Albion and was then loaned out to various clubs over the next couple of seasons. Back at Newcastle in 2006, he scored his only Premier League goal in a 4-1 victory over rivals Sunderland.

Chopra's goal was the first of the four, and was remarkable as he had only been on the pitch for 15 seconds, after replacing Lee Clark who was substituted.
Chopra played for several clubs during his career including Welsh side, Cardiff City, Scottish team, Alloa Athletic and also had two spells with Indian side, Kerala Blasters.

Answer: Leicester City

Ale is a real trail blazer and a role model for British Asian girls as during the 2023-2024 season, she was the only footballer from Britain's South Asian community, either male or female to play top division football in England.
She is a skillful and tough tackling defender who has represented England at international level in tournaments at Under 17 level all the way up to Under 23 matches.

Answer: Nadiya Hussain

Born in Luton, Hussain is a second generation British Bangladeshi who is a completely self taught cook and baker. Winning "The Great British Bake Off" (2015) won her many admirers and also gave her quite a level of fame as she appeared on various TV shows as well as writing articles and recipes for several well known magazines and newspapers, but surely the pinnacle of her fame came, when in 2016, she was commissioned to bake the cake to celebrate the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II.

Answer: Dragon's Den

Lalvani spent his formative years in Bangalore, India and moved to UK when he was aged 16, where he worked in the warehouse of his father's company Vitabiotics before becoming CEO in 2015. Lalvani was one of the dragons on Dragon's Den (2005-present) from 2017 to 2021.

Answer: Rishi Sunak

Sunak was born in Southampton and has said he identifies as British Indian, stating that he is "thoroughly British" but with an Indian religious and cultural heritage. He first became an MP in 2015 as Member of Parliament for Richmond and Northallerton and took his oath as an MP at the House of Commons on the Bhagavad Gita (a Hindu scripture). He quickly rose through the ranks to become Chief secretary to the Treasury in 2019 and then Chancellor of the Exchequer in 2020, both in the cabinet of Boris Johnson.

After Liz Truss resigned as Prime Minister, 49 days after succeeding Johnson, Sunak was announced as the new leader of the Conservative party and Prime Minister in October 2022, eventually losing the general election in July 2024 as Labour recorded a landslide victory.

Answer: Priti Patel

Patel's parents emigrated to the UK in the 1960s, settling in Hertfordshire and she followed in her father's footsteps into politics as he stood as a candidate in the 2013 Hertfordshire County Council elections. Patel went much further than her father managed though, being elected as an MP in 2010 in the constituency of Witham, before becoming Secretary of State for International Development in Theresa May's cabinet in 2016.

She rose to the role of Home Secretary in 2019 under Boris Johnson, a position she held until Johnson's resignation in 2022.