Hello, I'm Rufus Norris, director of the National Theatre.
In March,
we made the devastating but necessary decision to close our doors for the first
time in over 50 years to do our bit to halt the spread of Coronavirus.
Since then,
we've been working hard to keep everyone entertained and are thrilled to be
beaming live theatre into your homes every Thursday evening through NT at home.
But we've seen recently a rise in online quizzes.
So we thought we'd ask a few friends of ours to join the party and see if we can
bring some competitive fun into your homes as well. And that's what we're doing.
I would like to take a moment to thank those friends of the NT for recording
those questions and thereby elevating the whole endeavour.
Now look, you can play,
in teams or you can play on your own.
You can play anytime and there are no rules except one.
Don't cheat.
We do ask you to share your scores with us using the #NationalTheatreAtHome,
on social media.
And if by any chance you feel like making a donation to this fantastic
organisation while you're playing, then that of course would be very welcome.
So that's it. Grab a pen, grab a score sheet. Good luck.
Hello,
I'm Helen Mirren and welcome to the National Theatre at home quiz.
I've got five tricky little questions for you.
My first question is, By what name did the Romans call Ireland?
And my second question is,
Who was the first president of the 50 States of the United States of America?
My third question is,
International Women's Day is celebrated on March the 8th each year,
and its roots can be traced back to a woman's day created in New York.
Now I want to know which year that women's day was created.
I'll give you a choice. It's, 1909,
1919 or 1929.
Now my fourth question is,
Which 20th century conflict was described by Jorge Luis Borges as a fight
between two...get
this right...a fight between two bald men over a comb?
And my last question is,
What was London's main civilian airport from 1920 to 1939?
I'll let you argue amongst yourselves for a moment or argue with yourself.
So here come the answers. Answer to number one.
The Romans called Ireland Hibernia.
Second question. This was a tricky one, I thought.
The first president of all the 50 States of the United States of America was
Dwight D. Eisenhower when he became president,
when he was president I should say,
when Hawaii joined the union in 1959.
And the answer to the third question is the national,
the first national Women's Day was in New York in 1909.
I'm sure a lot of you got this one. The fourth question,
the 20th century conflict was of course The Falklands War.
And answer to the last question.
London's main civilian airport from 1920 to 1939 was Croydon.
So thank you so much for playing the National Theatre at home quiz and we hope
to see you back in the theatre soon.
Hello. It's, well my name is Sir Lenny Henry. Clearly.
Thank you for joining us at the NT at home quiz.
My questions are themed around sports. I will give the question,
I will leave a ten second pause and pull interesting faces while you write the
answer down and then I will move on.
There'll be a little pause at the end while I get myself together and then I
will read the answers for you in sequence.
So sports theme questions. Question number one. Back in December,
Ben Stokes was voted BBC Sports Personality of the year 2019,
but who was BBC Sports Personality of the year 2018?
Okay. Question two. The Olympics have a Latin motto,
Citius Altius Fortius. What is that in English?
Question number three, if you were on a team containing a skip,
a third, a second, and a lead,
which sport would you be playing?
Question number four.
The first ever international cricket match took place in 1844.
For a point each which two countries was it between?
Question number five,
what sport began in England in the 1880's had its rules codified in 1920's and
was first included in the summer Olympics in 1988?
These are tough questions, man.
Okay. Do you want the answers for the sports round? Let me hear you say, yeah.
Okay. Here they are. The answer to question one.
Geraint Thomas the Welsh cyclist won BBC Sports Personality of the year in 2018.
Did you get that? Number two.
That Latin thing means faster, higher, stronger.
That's the translation of the Olympics Latin motto.
Question three, a skip, a third,
a second and a lead are all terminology used in curling.
Curling.
Number four.
USA and Canada were the teams who played in the first international cricket
match in 1844. How could that be?
The USA and Canada. And number five.
That sport that began in England in the 1880's had its rules codified in 1920's
and was first included in the summer Olympics in 1988 was table tennis.
My friends. Table tennis.
Hello,
my name is Lesley Manville and thank you for joining us for the NT at home quiz.
All of my questions are on the Royal National Theatre, so here goes.
Question number one.
What year did the National Theatre open in its current location?
Question number two. There are three theatres at the National Theatre.
Can you name them all?
Question number three.
There are some very special residents living on the roof of the National.
What are they?
Question number four.
How many metres does the Olivier's stage revolve,
also known as the drum extend beneath the stage?
Question number five.
Who was the artistic director of the National Theatre from 1988 to 1997?
Okay, so the answers for my round of questions on the National Theatre are
Question one.
The Theatre opened on the Southbank in 1976.
Question number two,
there are three theatres housed within the National Theatre,
they are the Olivier, which has over 1,100 seats,
the Lyttelton, which has approximately 890 seats, and the Dorfman,
which has around 400 seats.
You need all of these right to get your one point.
And the special residents. Question three.
The special residents living on the roof are bees and you can buy their honey in
the National Theatre bookshop. Question number four.
The revolve in the Olivier extends eight metres below the stage,
which is approximately like having two double decker buses on top of each
other. It's deep. Question number five,
the artistic director of the National Theatre between 1988 and 1997 was,
drum roll. It was Sir Richard Eyre.
A three part question.
What was the first production ever by the National Theatre of Great Britain,
when it opened at the Old Vic Theatre?
Second. Who played the title role?
And who was the director?
And the answers are. It was Hamlet,
played by Peter O'Toole and directed by Laurence Olivier.
Good quizzing.
Right now the National Theatre like theatres all around the world,
is experiencing the most unprecedented time in its history.
And the impact of that is, quite devastating.
So as you take part in this quiz from the safety of your home,
would you please take a moment to consider making a donation to the National
Theatre, so that the wonderful work that you frequently enjoy,
the new work, the classics, the huge,
huge,
huge variety of work that gets put on at these three wonderful theatres,
can continue and thrive once this terrible pandemic
is on the wane and we're out the other side of it. So please,
if you can make a donation to the National Theatre,
it would be extremely well received. Thank
you very much.
To everybody who's donated in support of the NT, their local theatre,
or any part of the live entertainment industry at this time,
I want to say a big fat, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
And that'll be the end of the quiz. Hurrah.