Pop culture · October 29, 2026

Puzzle #21 answers

The five places from Where Was It? Pop culture #21, and the story behind each one.

1. 01

   Books

   Edmond Dantès spends fourteen years locked in this island fortress off a French port before his escape.

   Château d'If, Marseille, France

   

   The Château d'If is a fortress on the Île d'If, the smallest island of the Frioul archipelago, about 1.5 km off Marseille. In Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès is imprisoned there.

   43.280, 5.325

2. 02

   Music

   Singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey, born Elizabeth Grant, was born in 1985 in this city.

   New York City, USA

   

   Lana Del Rey, born Elizabeth Woolridge Grant on 21 June 1985 in New York City, is an influential figure in alternative pop. Kiss and Pete Seeger also have New York roots.

   40.713, -74.006

4. 03

   Anime

   One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda was born in 1975 in this castle city on the island of Kyushu.

   Kumamoto, Japan

   

   Kumamoto is the capital of Kumamoto Prefecture on Kyushu. Eiichiro Oda, creator of One Piece, the best-selling manga in history, was born there on 1 January 1975.

   32.803, 130.708

5. 04

   TV

   Band of Brothers filmed on this East Sussex heathland, the model for Winnie-the-Pooh's Hundred Acre Wood.

   Ashdown Forest, East Sussex, UK

   

   Ashdown Forest is an ancient open heathland on the High Weald, about 48 km south of London, and the model for A. A. Milne's Hundred Acre Wood. Band of Brothers (2001) used it as a filming location.

   51.072, 0.043

6. 05

   Film

   The fan-vaulted cloisters of this English cathedral became Hogwarts corridors in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

   Gloucester Cathedral, Gloucester, UK

   

   Gloucester Cathedral stands in the north of Gloucester near the River Severn. Its cloisters played Hogwarts corridors in the Philosopher's Stone (2001), the Chamber of Secrets and the Half-Blood Prince.

   51.867, -2.247