Interactive quiz: 20 questions on France
What is a 'noyau'? Who created Les Restos du Coeur? How many can you get right?
1. In which French city are the headquarters of Interpol, the international crime-fighting agency?
A. Lyon
B. Paris
C. Marseille?
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A. The offices in Lyon coordinate much of the policing expertise and services provided to member countries. They are also the administrative and logistical centre of the organization.
2. What is ‘blanquette de Limoux’?
A dish made of veal
B. a kind of cheese
C. a sparkling wine?
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C. It is a wine from the Aude department, made from at least 90% Mauzac grapes and using a method similar to that of Champagne that includes nine months fermentation in the bottle.
3. In the logo of Larousse Dictionaries a woman is shown blowing the seed head of which flower?
A. Sunflower
B. Dandelion
C. Carnation?
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B. The dandelion clock represents the world and the flying seeds depict the dispersal of knowledge.
4. A ‘noyau’ in French is:
A. the nucleus of an atom
B. the stone of a fruit
C. the core of a planet
D. all three of these things?
5. Which of these Caribbean islands is not French?
A. Marie-Galante
B. Saint-Barthélemy
C. Sainte-Lucie?
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C. Sainte-Lucie is the French name for Saint Lucia, an island that was colonized by the British and French in the 17th Century. It changed hands but in 1814 was ceded to Britain by France and finally became independent in 1979.
6. The French motto ‘Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité’ originally had a three-word phrase appended to it when it appeared during the Revolutionary period. What was the phrase?
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“ou la mort” (“or death”). The death wish was soon dropped because it was too strongly associated with the excesses of the Revolution.
7. What song did Céline Dion sing from the Eiffel Tower during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games?
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L’Hymne à l’amour by Edith Piaf and Marguerite Monnot
8. Who wrote Cyrano de Bergerac?
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Edmund Rostand.
9. In December 1888, while he was living in Arles, the painter Vincent Van Gogh was seized by a self-destructive urge to sever his left ear. Who was the unfortunate person to whom he delivered the ear as an unwanted gift?
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The unlucky receiver was Gabrielle Berlatier, a farmer's daughter who was working as a maid in a brothel.
10. What is the official language of Andorra?
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Catalan; French and Spanish are co-official languages.
11. Who created Les Restos du Coeur, a charitable association that feeds people in need?
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The charity was founded by the comedian and actor Coluche in 1985.
12. What is the family name of brothers August and Louis who invented the cinema at the end of the 19th Century?
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Lumière.
13. Which musical instrument is also called a ‘piano à bretelles’?
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The accordion.
14. How many gold medals did France win in the Paris Olympics?
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French athletes won 64 medals, including 16 golds.
15. It’s edible; round; weighs around 250 grams; measures 11 cm in diameter; is 3cm thick; and was, according to legend, invented by Maire Harel. What is it?
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A Camembert cheese.
16. Which is the most used letter in French?
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The letter E.
17. In which French city would you be most likely to meet the greatest number of members of parliament?
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Strasbourg. The European Parliament is composed of 720 members (MEPs) and the Assemblée Nationale in Paris has 577 deputies.
18. In English the almost-lookalike detectives in the Tintin books are called Thompson and Thomson. What are they called in French?
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Dupond et Dupont.
19. Which emergency service in France will answer each of these telephone numbers: 15, 17 and 18?
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Call 15 for an ambulance (Samu); 17 for the police; 18 for the fire brigade (pompiers).
20. From which famous landmark was the first radio broadcast in France sent?
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The Eiffel Tower. In 1897, Eugène Ducretet began his trials of radio broadcasting from a mast on the third storey.
