The Bombay Open Gossip Quiz

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The Bombay Open Gossip Quiz

Gossip Quiz

Teams of 3 adults – please let us know if you need partners.

40 questions Please answer legibly – if we can’t read it, it’s wrong. This isn’t a spelling bee, but do try & get as close as possible.

Questions 11-20 are * marked and are tiebreakers.Questions on affairs, link-ups, family-ties of famous and

not-so-famous men and women.‘Pati, Patni aur Woh’ is a recurring meme through the

quiz. Two of the three vertices of a love-triangle will be present in the question. The missing one is to be put as the answer.

Please put away your electronic devices.

Gossip 1

The name of this orgiastic feast held in the Papal palace by Cardinal Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI on October 30, 1501, comes from the post-prandial liberal strewing around of a commodity not entirely unknown to quizzers. This happened once the clothes of the prostitutes were auctioned and the guests crawled naked to pick up the said commodity. There were prizes for men who were most successful with the whores (servants were keeping score) as Pope greatly valued virility and measured a man's machismo by his ejaculative capacity. What has this feast come to be known as?

Gossip 1 - Answer

Banquet/Ballet of Chestnuts

Gossip 2

Two contemporary accounts contradicting each other. What rumour?

“Rumour has it ... According to them it would have been unjust to deny the king the privilege of gathering fruit from the tree he himself had planted. ”- Francois Bernier

“It was ...her love... (that) has given occasion to Monsieur Bernier to write many things, founded entirely on the talk of low people. Therefore it is incumbent on me, begging his pardon, to say that what he writes is untrue.”- Manucci

Gossip 2 - Answer

That Shahjehan had an incestuous relationship with Jehanara

Gossip 3

What on earth have you done, said _________To have wrecked the entire party machineTo lie in the nudeIs not at all rudeBut to lie in the HouseIs obscene.

Fill in the blank, or tell me what inspired this limerick?

Gossip 3 - Answer

Christine Keeler, mistress of British minister of war John Profumo, in the '60s.

Gossip 4

What do these lovely looking actresses have in common?

Gossip 4 - Answer

They are all related to Rabindranath Tagore.Devika Rani & Sharmila were great-grand nieces of Tagore.Meena Kumari's grandmother, Hem Sundari Thakur was forced to give up the family name on her husband’s death

3

Identify 1, 2 & 3

Married

Son

Son

Married

Alys & Christobel George, sisters. Married two eminent men of letters.

1

23

Dated Lady Gabriella Windsor, daughter,

Prince of Kent

Married

Lived-in

Gossip 5 - Answer

Alys George married Faiz Ahmed Faiz, her sister Bilqees/Christobel married MD Taseer. Tavleen Singh’s short lived marriage with now slain Governor of Punjab Salman Taseer resulted in novelist Aatish Taseer.Tavleen went on to have a 25 year relationship with much-married Ajit Gulabchand of HCC.

Gossip 6

Pati, Patni aur Woh-IPati and woh can be seen here. The original patni?

Gossip 6 - Answer

Sonali Dasgupta, filmmaker Harisadhan Dasgupta’s wife eloped with Roberto Rosellini who was on a filmmaking trip to India in 1957. Rosellini was married to Ingrid Bergman at that time.

Gossip 7

A 1998 DNA study finally laid to rest the question, which was of considerable interest not just because of one of its subject's stature, but also because of his extensive writings about slavery and against miscegenation. The 1997 book Sally Hemmings: An American Controversy and a 2000 documentary by the same name also deal with the controversy, what was it all about?

Gossip 7 - Answer

The Jefferson-Hemings controversy concerns the question whether Thomas Jefferson fathered the children of his mixed-race slave, Sally Hemings.

Gossip 8

Did they, or didn’t they, we will never know but MJ Akbar in his 1987 biography has this anecdote from the UP Governor’s holiday home in Nainital. Akbar quotes the son of then governor, who later went to acquire a voracious appetite for an 18 eggs breakfast.It seems the son when instructed by his father to tell his guests that dinner was ready, marched up and opened the door to find our couple in a clinch. He quickly shut the door and walked out.Which couple, and who was the governor’s son?

Gossip 8 - Answer

Nehru & Edwina Mountbatten. Russi Mody

Gossip 9

Champion of handicrafts, Established Gurjari, Gujarat state emporium. Founder and president of Dastkari Haat Samiti, the force behind Dilli Haat, penned several books. Headed a political party.

Daughter of eminent educationist and Nehru’s minister Humayun Kabir, Red Cross activist.

Patni

Woh

Pati, Patni aur Woh -II

Pati?

Gossip 9 - Answer

George FernandesLeila Kabir & Jaya Jaitley

Gossip 10

The cheesiest ever pick-up line has to be the one used by the head of the Indian delegation at Toronto Film Festival 1977 who turned up at the door of a fellow delegate’s hotel room, fully sozzled and muttered,‘Main bhi _____. Tum bhi _____, kyon na hum saath mein rahein’. Identify the dramatis personae, both blanks being the same.

Gossip 10 - Answer

Then I&B minister Vidya Charan Shukla & Vidya Sinha

*Gossip 11: Kissing Cousins

Each of these actresses courted controversy with their off-screen kisses. Who were the recipients of their affections?

1980 1980

1986

1993

2007

*Kissing cousins- Answer I

Prince Charles on his 1980 India visit

*Kissing cousins- Answer II

Khushboo for a Cine Blitz cover

*Kissing cousins- Answer III

Nelson Mandela in a Cape Town function

*Kissing cousins- Answer IV

Richard Gere

* Gossip 12

The autopsy performed on this man by the Red Army pathologists proved the hypothesis, but then it can be accused of being politically motivated. But, there are records suggesting he had a groin injury during the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and also a testimony from his WWI company commander from a VD exam.This has led many including Robert G.L.Waite to conclude that there may be some credence to what Tommies always believed and celebrated in song and music. What belief?

* Gossip 12 - Answer

That Hitler was possibly monorchic, or as one of the versions of Col. Bogey’s March more crudely puts it, ‘Hitler Has Only Got One Ball’.

* Gossip 13

Siblings Sureshbabu Mane, Hirabai Badodekar and Saraswati Rane were doyens of Kirana Gharana. Who was their illustrious father?


Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, founder of Kirana Gharana, whose wife Tarabai Mane rechristened all her children on separation from Ustad.

*Gossip 14

Kalakankar may be a small princely state in UP but two scions of its royal family were romantically linked up with daughters of two world leaders. One of the women was part of a diplomatic wrangle after she arrived in India to immerse her lover Brijesh Singh‘s ashes who died in her home-country.Brijesh Singh’s nephew was by the time a minister in Union Cabinet and was rumored to be lover of the daughter of the other world leader, as per a tell-all memoir (veracity disputed) by the leader’s aide. Who is the first world-leader in question and the nephew/minister?

*Gossip 14 - Answer

Joseph Stalin, whose daughter Svetlana defected to US while in India. Brijesh’s nephew Dinesh Singh was a minister in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet at that time and was linked-up to her in various accounts.

*Gossip 15

The epigraph to this novelist’s third novel is dedicated to the inspiration behind the novel. Which novelist, and who’s it dedicated to, and how are the two related?

*Gossip 15

*Gossip 15 - Answer

Vikram Seth credited his then lover, the violinist Philippe Honore for the idea behind An Equal Music

*Gossip 16

Tahira Syed, Pakistani ghazal singer and daughter of veteran singer Malika Pukhraj was married to TV personality and lawyer Naeem Bokhari (better known for triggering events that led to Parvez Musharraf’s ouster). Whom did Bokhari blame for their marriage breaking down?

*Gossip 16 - Answer

Nawaz Sharief

* Gossip 17

This father-son duo both married women belonging to the rare 9- marriages club. In fact, the son even had an affair with his step-mother while she was still married to his father but we know him for inaugurating an illustrious list. Give me the common last name, and the name of the two-timing lady.


Conrad & Conrad ‘Nicky’ HiltonZsa Zsa Gabor

* Gossip 18

This flamboyant classical instrumentalist planned to marry this legendary star early on in their careers. However, a visit to the star’s mother, a formidable woman and a studio boss revealed that two cannot marry as the star was sired by the musician’s father- (another formidable name). So, if the revelation made to a Bangla daily years later by the musician’s uncle is to be believed, who were the two lovers?


Nargis, Ustad Vilayat KhanJaddan Bai revealed to the couple that Fatima was born of her affair with Ustad Inayat Khan

* Gossip 19

Jordan Baker is a character in ‘The Great Gatsby’. She is Daisy Buchanan's long-time friend, a professional golfer with a slightly shady reputation. Her name is a play on the two then-popular automobile brands, the Jordan Motor Car Company and the Baker Motor Vehicle, alluding to Jordan's "fast" reputation and the freedom now presented to Americans, especially women, in the 1920s. F.Scott Fitzerald claimed that he based her on a real-life sportsperson he met while dating Ginerva King. Who served as the inspiration for Jordan Baker?


Edith Cummings was one of the premier amateur golfers of her generation. She was the first golfer and first female athlete to appear on the cover of Time magazine.

* Gossip 20

This and the following slide show serial conquests of two men, with identical first & middle names. Name both.

* Gossip 20

This and the previous slide show serial conquests of two men, with identical first & middle names. Name both.


Ravi Shankars- Choudhuri & ShastriAnnapurna Devi, Kamala Chakravarthy, Sue Jones & Sukanya RajanAmrita Singh, Gabriela Sabatini & Ritu Singh

Gossip 21

These two American writers A and B, both homosexuals, had a longstanding rivalry. The spat sprang from a 1975 Playgirl interview in which A charged that B had been bounced from a 1961 White House party because of obnoxious behaviour. They ended up trading vitriolic squibs. B said A had "made lying ... a minor art form". A retorted, "I'm always sad about B, very sad that he has to breathe every day”. Once when B was punched by Norman Mailer, A wrote that “it was a shame Mailer had not killed him”. B called A “a fully-fledged housewife from Kansas with all the prejudices”, and made jokes about A’s small size, claiming that he had accidentally sat on him at a party, and even went on to call A's death "a good career move”.Identify A and B.

Gossip 21- Answer

Truman Capote, Gore Vidal

Gossip 22

In a 2005 blog post, this author associated with a bestselling franchise revealed that he had a half-brother from his late former-model mother‘s affair with a then-struggling filmmaker and that the child was given away to a Koli couple. The filmmaker, otherwise known for milking his personal life for his films, was quick to deny the whole affair. Identify the writer and the filmmaker.

Gossip 22 - Answer

Ashok Banker, Mahesh Bhatt

Gossip 23

Radhika Piramal is MD of luggage major VIP industries. In what way is she unique, at least, amongst Indian corporate head honchos?

Gossip 23 - Answer

Radhika entered into a civil union with her long-time girlfriend in London last year, making her the first ever out LGBT corporate head in India.

Gossip 24

Pati, Patni aur Woh- IIIPati, who?

Patni- contested and lost Rajya Sabha elections on a BJP ticket in 2004 from Karnataka

Gossip 24 - Answer

Ramakrishna HegdeWife- Shakuntala HegdeBharatanatyam artiste Pratibha Prahalad

Gossip 25

Mihir Bose in his book History of Indian Cricket writes: “India’s first great spinner ended his career because he happened to share a room with a man who wanted a drink with a girl.”Who is Bose talking about and who was his roommate?

Gossip 25 - Answer

Subhash Gupte and AG Kripal Singh

Gossip 26

On 23 March 1969, Assia Wevill gassed herself and four-year-old daughter Shura in their London home. Who was Wevill’s lover at that time?

Gossip 26 - Answer

Poet Ted Hughes. Earlier, Hughes’s wife Sylvia Plath had also killed herself in a similar manner

Gossip 27

This theatre stalwart, filmmaker, and musician courted controversy when his acting disciple Vibha suffered severe burn injuries and he was blamed. They were then part of Bharat Bhavan’s theatre repertory Rangakar at Bhopal. He was later acquitted when Vibha denied his hand in the incident. His wife Prema is also a theatre-person of repute and directed the much acclaimed Kannada film ‘Phaniamma’. Who?

Gossip 27 - Answer

BV Karanth

Gossip 28

National Lampoon printed a fake quote from this man as a "response" to a question on whether he planned to campaign for President in the next election: “I’ll drive off that bridge when I come to it.”Who is being mocked or which incident is being alluded to?

Gossip 28 - Answer

Senator Ted Kennedy. The Chappaquiddick incident

Gossip 29

Badruddin Tyyabji in his memoirs vividly describes an encounter with her in Simla in 1930s when in midst of conversation on art and literature she simply took her clothes off and lay stark naked on the carpet. Malcolm Muggeridge wrote of how a week spent with her in Simla reduced him to a "limp rag... I could not cope.”Her nephew Vivan Sundaram in his book on her talks of her various affairs with men and women. Who?

Gossip 29 - Answer

Amrita Shergill

Gossip 30

Excerpts from an interview. Who is being interviewed? Which great love of his life is the interviewer repeatedly hinting at?http://soundcloud.com/vibhendu-tewari/interview

Gossip 30 - Answer

C Ramchandra, Lata Mangeshkar

Gossip 31

Vir Sanghvi in his Dec’ 2009 Counterpoint column writes: “When Veer Bahadur Singh became chief minister of UP in the 1980s, he announced that he had purified every couch in the chief minister’s office with Gangajal.” Also, according to Sanghvi for a brief period when this leader broke with Congress to form his own Congress (T), the joke was that T stood for Thoku.Who is the politician?

Gossip 31 - Answer

Narayan Dutt Tewari

Gossip 32

Pati, Patni aur Woh-IV. Pati?

Gossip 32 - Answer

Satyajit RayBijoya Ray in her memoirs wrote of the director’s affair with his Charulata Madhabi Mukherjee

Gossip 33

The two men this lady was married to at different stages of her life are also part of another oft-repeated quizzing trivia about a classic comedy film. A) Identify her. B) Who were her two husbands?

Gossip 33 - Answer

Four times National Award winning editor Renu Saluja was married to Vinod Chopra & Sudhir Mishra- two men who lent their names to protagonists of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro

Gossip 34

Major Mohinder Singh Chaudhary of Punjab regiment went down fighting after a 11 day long pitched battle in NEFA during the 1962 Sino-India war. He was decorated with the Mahavir Chakra.His only child briefly came in limelight sometime in early 80’s and then more prominently again in late 80’s. Who?

Gossip 34 - Answer

Pamela Bordes

Gossip 35

Though the claims of a love-child as per her biographer remain unproved, the affair lasted 9 years. His explanation for the first encounter: "There [was] just a natural curiosity; after all, we were the most famous Greeks alive in the world". Which couple?

Gossip 35 - Answer

Aristotle Onassis & Maria Callas

Gossip 36

Men:Prakash PadukoneVikram Singh____ ____Partho Ganguli

The 1980 IBF World Championships were held in Jakarta, Indonesia. Following was the composition of the Indian squad. FITB

Women:Ami Ghia_____ _______

Gossip 36 - Answer

Syed Modi- Ameeta Kulkarni

Gossip 37

These two ladies are namesakes. What else do they have in common?A-Bharatanatyam dancer, child prodigy, danced in Chori Chori, KathputliB-Author of children's books, including the popular Thama series of books

A B

Gossip 37 - Answer

Kumari Kamala & Kamala Laxman. Cartoonist RK Laxman’s wives

Gossip 38

The phrase refers to the name given by local natives to a location near Moreton Bay on the eastern coast of Australia, according to an 1852 issue of Hogg's Instructor and was also part of a 1910 literary hoax. The man most associated with the phrase now in its totally new connotations was allegedly taught the term by Muammar al-Gaddafi. An alternative explanation for its origins was proposed by actress Sabina Began who claimed that it was a nickname based on her surname and that she had organized such parties. What phrase?

Gossip 38 - Answer

Bunga Bunga

Gossip 39

How are the two younger gentlemen in the pics below related?

Gossip 39 - Answer

Co-brothers. Patrick French and Akhil Sibal are married to JLF impresario Namita Gokhale’s daughters.

Gossip 40

Though there are no pictures of them together, no personal testaments, according to her friends, Pakistan-born heart surgeon Hasnat Khan was the man she wanted to marry, the one she described to friends as 'the love of my life'. She started studying Koran and even mugged up about the human heart using Gray's Anatomy, so she could talk to Hasnat about his work. Even her last fatal love-affair was a rebound to win him back. Who?

Gossip 40

Gossip 40 - Answer

Lady Diana

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The Bombay Open Gossip Quiz