The legend goes that at a friend’s house, JM Barrie heard a story about a parson who used to live in town. This man used a hook for a hand, claiming he’d lost the hand in a coaching accident. But he’d in fact lost it during his previous career as a Caribbean pirate. And one day his betrayed former colleagues descended upon the village, looking for revenge…
Barrie took that story, and added it to his existing Peter Pan narrative, which needed a villain. Thus was Captain James Hook born, even boy’s version of an overbearing authority figure. Every kid’s version of a nasty adult. Every child’s version of a criminal adult, every young person’s nightmare of what they’ll turn into if they grow up.
How much do you know about Captain Hook?
1. JM Barrie’s play suggests that Hook was a graduate of what prestigious British school, one frequently mentioned in crossword puzzles?
2. Hook’s ship is named this, also a nickname for the piratical skull and crossbones flag?
3. In the 1953 Disney cartoon of Peter Pan, Hans Conried does Hook’s comedically sinister voice: what other mustached villain did he voice for the Dudley Do-Right cartoon?
4. In most play versions of Peter Pan, the same actor who plays Captain Hook also plays this other role?
5. In Steven Spielberg’s 1991 Hook, this actor who plays Hook has a voice cameo as a pilot, who gets to say “This is your captain speaking..."
6. Bob Hoskins, who played Smee in the 1991 Hook, played him as well in the unrelated 2011 miniseries Neverland. What Welsh actor played “Jimmy Hook” in that film, alongside Keira Knightley’s quite tall Tinkerbell?
7. The name of the crocodile who ate Hook’s hand is the same as a mechanical man from the land of Oz, as well as a social media site.
8. In the Peter and the Starcatcher book series, which became a Broadway musical, a two-handed pre-croc version of Captain Hook was known as what?
9. There were six Tinker Bell animated films—since they were direct to DVD, you may not have noticed any of them came out! Who voiced young Jim Hook in the fifth installment? – again, if you haven’t heard of these, this actor was low-key.
10. 2020’s Come Away is set in a world where Peter is brother to what girl, another star of Victorian children’s stories?
11. In Jake and the Never Land Pirates, Captain Hook has a mom, voiced by this rock-star-wife-turned-reality-star.
ANSWERS BELOW! Are you a true V11LLAIN?
1. JM Barrie’s play suggests that Hook was a graduate of what prestigious British school, one frequently mentioned in crossword puzzles?
ETON
2. Hook’s ship is named this, also a nickname for the piratical skull and crossbones flag?
THE JOLLY ROGER
3. In the 1953 Disney cartoon of Peter Pan, Hans Conried does Hook’s comedically sinister voice: what other mustached villain did he voice for the Dudley Do-Right cartoon?
SNIDELY WHIPLASH
4. In most play versions of Peter Pan, the same actor who plays Captain Hook also plays this other role?
WENDY’S FATHER/GEORGE DARLING
5. In Steven Spielberg’s 1991 Hook, this actor who plays Hook has a voice cameo as a pilot, who gets to say “This is your captain speaking..."
DUSTIN HOFFMAN
6. Bob Hoskins, who played Smee in the 1991 Hook, played him as well in the unrelated 2011 miniseries Neverland. What Welsh actor played “Jimmy Hook” in that film, alongside Keira Knightley’s quite tall Tinkerbell?
RHYS EVANS
7. The name of the crocodile who ate Hook’s hand is the same as a mechanical man from the land of Oz, as well as a social media site.
TICK-TOCK
8. In the Peter and the Starcatcher book series, which became a Broadway musical, a two-handed pre-croc version of Captain Hook was known as what?
BLACK STACHE
9. There were six Tinker Bell animated films—since they were direct to DVD, you may not have noticed any of them came out! Who voiced young Jim Hook in the fifth installment? – again, if you haven’t heard of these, this actor was low-key.
TOM HIDDLESTON
10. 2020’s Come Away is set in a world where Peter is brother to what girl, another star of Victorian children’s stories?
ALICE
11. In Jake and the Never Land Pirates, Captain Hook has a mom, voiced by this rock-star-wife-turned-reality-star.
SHARON OSBOURNE