Interactive quiz: 20 questions on France
Where can you ride a giant mechanical elephant? Where is the city of Cayenne? How many can you get right?
Is this mechanical elephant found in Dijon, Nantes, or Strasbourg?
Andrea Chiozzi/Shutterstock
1. Who are the kanaks? A. duck farmers and foie-gras producers in the Gers department, B. artisans specialized in making baskets with canes, C. the autochthonous people of New Caledonia
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C. The kanaks are the indigenous Melanesian people of New Caledonia, a French territorial collectivity in the South Pacific.
2. At 3,070m of altitude, Piton des Neiges is among the highest mountains in France. Where is it located? A. the Alps, B. La Réunion Island, C. Corsica
3. Who was the President of the French Republic between 1995 and 2007? A. Jacques Chirac, B. François Mitterrand, C. Nicolas Sarkozy
4. Which of these French foods did UNESCO list as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2022? A. the croissant, B. the profiterole, C. the French baguette
5. Where can you take a ride on a giant mechanical elephant? A. Dijon, B. Nantes, C. Strasbourg
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B. Nantes. Les Machines de l’ile (www.lesmachines-nantes.fr ) draws its inspiration from Jules Verne (a native of Nantes), Leonardo da Vinci and the port’s industrial past.
6. Coluche was a French comedian, actor, and social activist who died in 1986 in a motorcycle accident. He founded a charity providing meals for the homeless, which still operates today. What is its name?
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Les Restos du Cœur
7. What are Les Trente Glorieuses?
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The “Thirty Glorious Years” was a period of strong economic growth and rising living standards in France between 1945 and 1975.
8. Charles Dickens famously wrote about revolutionary France in A Tale of Two Cities, but French cities feature in two of his other books. Can you name either one, or both?
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Little Dorrit opens in Marseille and one episode of Dombey and Sons takes place in Dijon, Burgundy.
9. The sound made by a French cow (vache) is le mugissement. The sound of a dog (chien) barking is l’aboiement. Which animal makes a sound called le stridulement?
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A cricket (the insect)
10. What is the name of the woman who Cyrano de Bergerac is in love with?
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Roxane
11. Chefs know cayenne as a kind of hot red pepper. Where is the city of Cayenne?
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It is the capital of the French department of Guyane, in South America.
12. Carpentras, a town in Vaucluse, is proud of its production of la cléry, la gariguette and la ciflorette. Of which fruit are these three varieties?
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Strawberry
13. What do French people traditionally eat on February 2, the feast of La Chandeleur (Candlemas)?
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Crêpes
14. Which NGO, created in France in 1984 and with branches all over Europe, has the slogan “Touche pas à mon pote” (Don’t touch my friend/leave my mate alone)?
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SOS Racisme
15. Which French mathematician and physicist gave his name to the universal unit of electrical current?
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André Marie Ampère, 1775-1836
16. When someone goes into the countryside with "son chevalet, sa palette et ses huiles…” what are they most likely going to do?
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Paint a picture. He or she is carrying an easel, a palette and some oil paints.
17. In which French city is the headquarters of UNESCO?
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Paris
18. Which French composer wrote a renowned quartet in a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany during World War Two?
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Olivier Messiaen. He was drafted into the French army as a medical auxiliary in 1940, captured at Verdun and imprisoned at Stalag VIII–A near Görlitz where he wrote and performed the Quartet for the End of Time.
19. Which king was reigning in France at the time of the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre in August 1572?
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Charles IX
20. Which famous drink was invented in 1688 by Dom Pierre Pérignon, a monk in the Benedictine Abbey of Hautvillers?
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Champagne
