It’s cartoon time!

Nalaka Gunawardene and Vindana Ariyawansa

Last week’s answers

1. Antoine Lavoisier (1743 – 1794)
2. Mohs scale of mineral hardness
3. Robert Fowler, who authored the famous Fowler Report
4. Kimberley Process Certi fication Scheme (KPCS)
5. Global Witness
6. Sierra Leone Civil War (1992-2002)
7. Gratien Fernando (1915 – 1942)
8. Gamini Jayasinghe
9. Philip K Dick (1928 – 1982)
10. G B Senanayake
11. Mathugama Central College
12. Anton Chekhov
13. Department of Survey
14. Smiley’s People (1979)
15. Vitaly Scherbo

“Making cartoons means very hard work at every step of the way, but creating a successful cartoon character is the hardest work of all.” So said Joseph Barbera, co-founder of Hanna-Barbera Studios and an influential American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist and cartoon artist, whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of fans worldwide for much of the twentieth century.

Whether in print (newspapers or magazines) or in moving images (TV or film), creating cartoons is a specialised art form. During the 20th Century, cartoons and comic strips became an integral part of popular culture. While many countries have their own locally admired cartoon characters, there are also those that have become universally popular, thanks to global syndication or satellite television.

In the past, we dedicated a Wiz Quiz to the global adventures of Tintin, perhaps the most popular comic strip or cartoon character of all time. Today, we salute a few other characters and their creators.

1. Dennis the Menace has been entertaining us for 60 years! It started as a daily syndicated newspaper comic on March 12, 1951, originally appearing in 16 newspapers. It revolves around Dennis Mitchell - a precocious but lovable, freckle-faced five-and-a-half-year-old boy with a blond cowlick and a penchant for mischief. The comic is now drawn by its creator’s former assistants and distributed to at least 1,000 newspapers in 48 countries and 19 languages. It has spawned TV series and a feature film. Name the American cartoonist who created Dennis the Menace and personally drew it from 1951 to 1994.

2. The Phantom is an American adventure comic strip which has been syndicated in newspapers since 1936. Its lead character is a costumed crime-fighter operating from the fictional African country called Bengalla. Unlike many other costumed heroes, the Phantom does not have any supernatural powers, and relies on his strength, brains and reputation to defeat his opponents. He is believed to be immortal, and known as ‘The Ghost Who Walks’, ‘The Man Who Cannot Die’ and ‘Guardian of the Eastern Dark.’ The character has been adapted into many media, including television, film and video games. Name the American writer, theatre director and producer who created the original comic strip.

3. The Powerpuff Girls is an American animated television series created by Craig McCracken and produced by Hanna-Barbera studios, which has become globally popular. The characters -- named Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup -- are three kindergarten girls with superpowers. The mayor of their city, Townsville, often calls on the girls to help fight criminals. The girls live with their father, a brainy scientist called Professor Utonium, who set out to create a perfect little girl in the laboratory and accidentally spilled a mysterious substance called into the mixture, thus creating three Powerpuff Girls. What was the chemical?

4. This was an American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed in 1988 by Robert Zemeckis. The film combined live action and animation, and was based on a novel by Gary K Wolf. It depicted a world in which cartoon characters interacted directly with human beings. The film starred Bob Hoskins as a private detective investigating a murder involving a famous cartoon character. The film brought together, in one creative work, many and varied cartoon characters who until then had moved in their own circles. Memorable moments included a piano duel between Donald Duck and his Loony Tunes rival Daffy Duck, and one scene that featured both Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse. It is credited with having sparked off a new interest in animation that led to many more film and TV animations to be made in the 1990s and beyond. What was this remarkable film, which won three Academy (Oscar) Awards in technical categories?

5. Woody Woodpecker is an animated cartoon character, an anthropomorphic acorn woodpecker with his trademark laugh, “Ha-ha-ha-HAA-ha!” which is known and imitated all over the world for generations. Starting in 1940, he appeared in theatrical short films distributed by Universal Pictures, and later starred in hit TV series which ended only in 1972. Woody was created by storyboard artist Ben “Bugs” Hardaway, who had previously laid the groundwork for two other screwball characters, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in the 1930s, and which American cartoonist, animator, film producer and director whose name is now most closely associated with Woody Woodpecker? (He used to appear in Woody shows at the beginning and end).

6. Who is he? An Australian national, he is remembered as the ‘Father of Commercial Broadcasting in Ceylon’. He came to Ceylon in the 1950s under the Colombo Plan and was Radio Ceylon’s first Director of the Commercial Service. Both a talented announcer and a skilled manager, he created the infrastructure of the Commercial Service and made it into a successful ‘brand’ popular not only in Ceylon but also across South Asia where listeners tuned in through shortwave broadcasts. He also trained a number of Lankan broadcasters who blazed new trails.

7. Russian writer Anton Chekhov visited Ceylon in November 1890 as part of a wider oceanic trip. Although his stay was short, the island left an impression on him. Before he left, he started writing a famous short story which describes the death of a soldier during a sea voyage. The story was reputedly much admired by the great Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky. When Chekhov completed it, he inscribed it with the dateline: “Nov 24th, 1890; Colombo”. What was this story’s title?

8. Who was he? Born in southern India, this musician moved to Sri Lanka where he became a leading vocalist of hundreds of Sinhala songs. He sang duets with popular singers like H R Jothipala, G S B Rani Perera, Latha Walpola and Sujatha Attanayake, and was also the only Lankan to duet with India’s famous Lata Mangeshkar. He is especially remembered for the Buddhist songs that he sang, despite not being a Buddhist, which included Buddhang Saranang Gaccami that still reverberate more than two decades after his death. Because he supported other cultures, he was one of the most influential multicultural figures in the Lankan performing arts.

9. During more than six decades of Lankan cinema, many Sinhala novels have been adapted as movies. Name the first Sinhala novel to be turned into a movie, in 1953? It was written by W A Silva in 1933, and was produced and directed by B A W Jayamanne also starring himself and Rukmani Devi.

10.. The well known Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations has been adapted into movies and tele-movies in many countries around the world. In the 1990s, a Sinhala teleplay based on Great Expectations was broadcast in Sri Lanka. It was called Subha Anagathayak. Name the acclaimed film maker who directed this teleplay, broadcast on Rupavahini?

11.The 2008 Academy Award winning British-Indian film Slumdog Millionaire was directed by British film maler Danny Boyle co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It was written by Simon Beaufoy as an adaptation of a 2005 novel written by an Indian author and serving diplomat Vikas Swarup. Both the novel and film tell the story of Jamal Malik, a poor lad man from the Dharavi slums of Mumbai who takes part in the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Kaun Banega Crorepati in Hindi) and goes to the highest round, arousing the suspicions of the game show host and the police who wonder if he is cheating. What was the original name of the novel, where the protagonist was named Ram Mohammad Thomas, a young waiter?

12. Name the American poet, author and philosopher who lived in the 19th Century who once said: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.”

13. London comes into global focus this year as the host of the 30th Summer Olympic Games. The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Who was re-elected in early May 2012 for a second term in office as Mayor of London? This Conservative Party member and former journalist is known by his trademark unruly hairstyle.

14. The role of Mayor of London was created only in the year 2000 after the London devolution referendum, and is the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The term of this office is four years. A Labour Party politician was the first elected Mayor of London, who won his first term in office in 2000 as an independent candidate, but later rejoined the Labour Party. As Mayor for 8 years (2000 - 2008), he upgraded the London transport system and introduced the London congestion charge which discourages use of private vehicles in certain areas. He then lost the mayoral election in 2008 and again 2012, and recently retired from politics. Who is this colourful and sometimes controversial British politician?

15. Who is considered as the most successful female Olympic athlete of all time? She won a total 18 Olympic medals (9 Gold, 5 Silver and 4 Bronze) - the highest number for any athlete in any event. Born in 1934 she is a Russian-Ukrainian gymnast who was the only female athlete to win nine Olympic gold medals. She participated in the Melbourne (1956), Rome (1960) and Tokyo (1964) Olympics, and retired in 1966. She was largely responsible for establishing the former Soviet Union as the dominant force in the world of gymnastics. She also holds the world record for most individual medals (14 outside of team events) in Olympic history.