ANSWERS

1) D. Italy WRiTER Sir Max Beerbohm said pantomime was the only art form invented in England. But its origins lie in 16th-century travelling theatre, commedia dell’arte, characterised by stock characters and physical comedy. Early English adaptations featured a slapstick Harlequin acrobat or magician. 2) B. Tea ALADDin’S mother was first named Twankey (or Twankay) in an 1861 panto, after a variety of Chinese green tea. 3) False in fACT, it has increased, according to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. in 2008/09, 12.3 per cent of adults in England had attended a pantomime in the previous year. in 2016/17, it was 13.3 per cent. 4) A. Fastest 100m by a panto horse THE record — for a mixed-gender team — was 16.37 seconds, set in 2006 in London by nafi Baram and Kathleen Rice. 5) C. Theresa May JERRy HALL played the Wicked Queen in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs at Richmond Theatre in 2014. Sir ian McKellen played Widow Twankey in Aladdin at the Old vic in 2004 and 2005. The Queen (then Princess Elizabeth) and her sister Margaret put on wartime pantomimes at Windsor Castle, including Cinderella and Aladdin. 6) False viCTORiA was a fan. Her first theatre visit after her Coronation in 1838 was to a pantomime on Drury Lane. One report said the trip made the art form ‘one of the most popular exhibitions of our metropolis’. U.S. actress and panto star Pamela Anderson initially had no idea what it was and assumed it involved ‘miming in a box’. She later wished ‘they did more panto in America’.