Previous Quiz Answers

• Christmas Quiz

  1. In The Stories of English, author David Crystal explains how some phrases are a result of cultural understandings that extend beyond language. He gives an example where somebody might say that their wristwatch ‘isn’t _______ street’, to explain that it isn’t expensive. What London street does he use as an example?

  1. Bond
  2. Carnaby
  3. Oxford
  4. Fleet

  2. In Ian Fleming’s beloved story of a magical flying car Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Commander Pott shows the twins Jemima and Jeremy his latest invention – a sweet with two small holes drilled through the middle. What is so special about these boiled sweets?

  1. The flavor changes as you suck them
  2. They make a whistling sound
  3. They heat up and cool down in your mouth
  4. They make your tongue go numb

  3. Christopher Clark’s Iron Kingdom examines the complex 350-year-old Prussian state, which perished in the ashes of the Third Reich. Who was the last king to rule Prussia?

  1. Fredrick the Great
  2. Otto von Bismarck
  3. Wilhelm II
  4. Paul von Hindenburg

  4. Robert A. Heinlein coined the term ‘grok’ in Stranger in a Strange Land, and referenced it over 400 times in his novel. This led to grok being used in conversation by his fans, before being officially added to the English Dictionary in the late 1960s. What does grok mean?

  1. To understand
  2. To imitate
  3. To mistake
  4. To provoke

  5. Our edition of Greatest War Speeches 1939–1945 brings together 50 of Winston Churchill’s greatest and most electrifying wartime orations. Where and when did Churchill make his first public speech?

  1. Manchester in 1899
  2. London in 1896
  3. Southampton in 1894
  4. Bath in 1897

• Christmas Quiz

  1. In The Stories of English, author David Crystal explains how some phrases are a result of cultural understandings that extend beyond language. He gives an example where somebody might say that their wristwatch ‘isn’t _______ street’, to explain that it isn’t expensive. What London street does he use as an example?

  1. Bond
  2. Carnaby
  3. Oxford
  4. Fleet

  2. In Ian Fleming’s beloved story of a magical flying car Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Commander Pott shows the twins Jemima and Jeremy his latest invention – a sweet with two small holes drilled through the middle. What is so special about these boiled sweets?

  1. The flavor changes as you suck them
  2. They make a whistling sound
  3. They heat up and cool down in your mouth
  4. They make your tongue go numb

  3. Christopher Clark’s Iron Kingdom examines the complex 350-year-old Prussian state, which perished in the ashes of the Third Reich. Who was the last king to rule Prussia?

  1. Fredrick the Great
  2. Otto von Bismarck
  3. Wilhelm II
  4. Paul von Hindenburg

  4. Robert A. Heinlein coined the term ‘grok’ in Stranger in a Strange Land, and referenced it over 400 times in his novel. This led to grok being used in conversation by his fans, before being officially added to the English Dictionary in the late 1960s. What does grok mean?

  1. To understand
  2. To imitate
  3. To mistake
  4. To provoke

  5. Our edition of Greatest War Speeches 1939–1945 brings together 50 of Winston Churchill’s greatest and most electrifying wartime orations. Where and when did Churchill make his first public speech?

  1. Manchester in 1899
  2. London in 1896
  3. Southampton in 1894
  4. Bath in 1897

  6. Michael Crichton’s rip-roaring novel Jurassic Parkfollows the story of an amusement park where tourists can visit real, genetically re-created dinosaurs. How many different species of dinosaur can be found in the park?

  1. 5
  2. 15
  3. 150
  4. 1555

  7. Maya Angelou’s empowering memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings forged a path for Black American women’s writing and its literary success led to Angelou becoming an international household name. What British author did Maya love as a child?

  1. Geoffrey Chaucer
  2. Emily Dickinson
  3. William Shakespeare
  4. Jane Austen

  8. The Folio Book of Humor includes David Sedaris’s essay Your English is So Good. In this piece, Sedaris explains his frustration around small talk, and ponders replying to the inane question of ‘So how was your trip in?’ with ‘Well, I was originally going to fly, but then this ________ offered to carry me very gently in her mouth.’ What animal does he refer to here?

  1. Hippo
  2. Fox
  3. Tiger
  4. Panda

  9. In A History of Christianity, author Diarmaid MacCulloch traces the religion from an obscure sect in first-century Palestine to one of the largest and most powerful in the world. MacCulloch reveals that the Church was able to expand due to documents written in what language?

  1. Greek
  2. Latin
  3. Hebrew
  4. Egyptian

  10. In the short story The Question Mark in Mr Campion and Others, when Miss Chloe Pleyell gets engaged to Sir Matthew Pearing, Mr Campion crosses her name off his list entitled ‘Elegant Young Persons Whom I Ought to Take to Lunch’ and moves her into what category instead?

  1. People I Must Send Christmas Cards to
  2. People I Must Invite to my Dinner Party
  3. People I Must take to the Opera
  4. People I Must Never Speak to Again

  11. And now for a Picture Round! We have zoomed into the background of some of the illustrations in our Christmas Collection. Can you guess which book each illustration belongs to?

  

  1. The Spy Who Loved Me
  2. Marvel: The Bronze Age
  3. Mr Campion and Others
  4. The Folio Book of Humour

  12. Can you remember what novel includes this illustration of a steam train?

  

  1. Sharpe’s Tiger
  2. Rebecca
  3. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
  4. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

  13. And what about this illustration of a cottage?

  

  1. Iron Kingdom
  2. Letters from Fairyland
  3. Doctor Zhivago
  4. The History of Christianity

  14. Can you tell what story these big leaves might belong to?

  

  1. A Storm of Swords
  2. Jurassic Park
  3. Stranger in a Strange Land
  4. Sharpe’s Tiger

  15. And finally, what book are these mountains from?

  

  1. A Storm of Swords
  2. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
  3. Doctor Zhivago
  4. Marvel: The Bronze Age 1970-1980

• Friday, 30 October 2020

  1. Mario Puzo’s brilliant and brutal story The Godfather follows the feuds of several Mafia families living in New York after the Second World War. What was the name of the racing horse that Jack Woltz found the head of in his bed?

  1. Beau
  2. Khartoum
  3. Capilet
  4. Samson

  2. The Complete Flower Fairies offers a series of joyful and magic-filled poems, and also includes delicate watercolours painted by the author Cicely Mary Barker. Which volume of the Flower Fairies did the author write and illustrate first?

  1. Flower Fairies of the Garden
  2. Flower Fairies of the Winter
  3. Flower Fairies of the Spring
  4. Flower Fairies of the Wayside

  3. Modern fantasy classic The Farseer Trilogy introduces readers to an eccentric array of characters from Lady Patience to Fitz and The Fool. Another significant character is the girl from Buckkeep Town, Molly Chandler. What is her nickname?

  1. Nosegay
  2. Mouthlay
  3. Earday
  4. Eyebay

  4. Waterloo provides a vivid account of Napoleon’s defeat by Wellington. What 1813 battle, also known as the Battle of Nations, led to Napoleon’s retreat into France?

  1. Battle of Marengo
  2. Battle of Leipzig
  3. Battle of Wagram
  4. Battle of Austerlitz

  5. Which character in The Godfather was rumoured to be based on Frank Sinatra?

  1. Vito Corleone
  2. Johnny Fontane
  3. Carlo Rizzi
  4. Peter Clemenza

• Friday, 25 September 2020

  1. Stephen King’s short story ‘1408’ in The Folio Book of Horror Stories follows the prolific horror writer Mike Enslin. What new book is Mike in the process of writing when strange supernatural things start happening?

  1. Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Houses
  2. Nights in Ten Haunted Hotel Rooms
  3. Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Graveyards
  4. Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Castles

  2. In Agatha Christie’s gripping tale Miss Marple Tells A Story, the narrator explains how she discovers who murdered Mrs Rhodes at the Crown Hotel in Barnchester. What small detail gave the attacker away?

  1. They put on a fake accent
  2. They wore a large hat as a disguise
  3. Their hands wouldn’t stop shaking
  4. They didn’t make eye contact with Mr Rhodes

  3. Hew Strachan’s harrowing account of the First World War, Under Fire, covers the physical and psychological horrors endured by soldiers fighting on the Western Front. After the final bombardment, the soldiers discover men from both sides have died in a very unusual way. What happened to them?

  1. They were shot with arrows
  2. They were trampled by horses
  3. They had drowned in mud
  4. They had sacrificed themselves

  4. As significant a narrative now as it was 20 years ago, Jared Diamond’s Guns Germs and Steel explores how and why Eurasians developed the weapons, diseases and technologies that enabled them to dominate the world. What country was Diamond visiting that inspired him to write this book?

  1. New Guinea
  2. Malaysia
  3. New Zealand
  4. The Philippines

  5. G. Wells’s epic narrative, The Time Machine, starts when a Victorian scientist propels himself into the year 802,701 AD. There, he discovers an Elfin species called Eloi, who live on the earth’s surface. What do the Eloi fear more than anything?

  1. Spiders
  2. Heights
  3. Snakes
  4. The dark

• Friday, 28 August 2020

  1. In Three Men in a Boat, J explains his frustration as the summer weather is not as warm as predicted. He exclaims ‘the barometer is useless; it is as misleading as the __________’.
  1. Radio forecast
  2. Newspaper forecast
  3. Television Forecast
  4. Online forecast
  2. In a letter written to his sister, Vincent van Gogh describes his trip to the South of France as tremendously cheerful, packed full of ‘white scarves, red, green and yellow parasols’. What city is he in?
  1. Arles
  2. Marseille
  3. Toulouse
  4. Bordeaux
  3. In Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Cathy plays games on the grounds of Thrushcross Grange during long summer days where she can stay out from ‘breakfast till tea’. One day, she pretends that she is not herself, but instead?
  1. A French mermaid
  2. An American cowboy
  3. A Scottish monk
  4. An Arabian merchant
  4. Eagle Against the Sun covers the American war with Japan during World War II. What is the only US State that celebrates VJ Day on 14 August as a state holiday, otherwise known as Victory Day?
  1. Maine
  2. New Jersey
  3. Rhode Island
  4. Delaware
  5. ‘Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.’ This famous line from Shakespeare’s sonnet Shall I compare Thee to a Summer Day inspired the novel The Darling Buds of May, by which famous author?
  1. Thomas Hardy
  2. Oscar Wilde
  3. H. E. Bates
  4. D. H. Lawrence
  6. Elizabeth David writes about being sat on the banks of the Seine during ‘one golden September’ in An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, looking at the landscapes and riverscapes that are so beautiful they look almost painted. Which artist does she compare the landscape to?
  1. Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
  2. Édouard Manet
  3. Henri Matisse
  4. Gustave Courbet
  7. The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan illuminates the events of D-Day on 6th June 1944. However, the invasion was initially planned to take place on 5th June. What caused the attack to be postponed by one day?
  1. Some equipment needed to be repaired
  2. The weather was too bad
  3. There were rumours that Hitler had surrendered
  4. The tide was out
  8. The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments covers the story of an experiment where William Thomson and James Prescott Joule go out on a cloudy walk in August 1847 to measure the temperature of different parts of the Cascade de Sallanches waterfall. This led to progress in what essential theory?
  1. Kinetic theory of gases
  2. Unit of measurement
  3. Linear wave theory
  4. Heliocentrism
  9. In Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Peter hops into Mr. McGregor’s garden to eat some of his freshly grown summer vegetables. But after eating too much, he starts to feel rather sick and looks for which garden herb to settle his stomach?
  1. Dill
  2. Parsley
  3. Basil
  4. Rosemary
  10. In the Emily Dickenson poem Indian Summer, the poet writes: ‘These are the days when skies resume, The old – old sophistries of June – A blue and gold ________’
  1. Mistake
  2. Belief
  3. Day
  4. Haze

• Friday, 30 July 2020

  1. In an exhilarating account of 617 Squadron’s bombing raid, The Dam Busters covers the attack on the dams of the Moehne, Eder and Sorpe during World War II. What type of bomb was specially designed for this quest?
  1. Earthquake bomb
  2. Bouncing bomb
  3. Barrel bomb
  4. Bunker buster
  2. Elizabeth David’s An Omelette and a Glass of Wine is a dazzling collection of articles that combines food writing with joyful storytelling. In the book, David gives a recipe for pot-au-feu. What is a classic ingredient in this?
  1. Chicken
  2. Lamb
  3. Beef
  4. Pork
  3. In the devastating tale Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy unleashes a harrowing social commentary on the unjust challenges facing the working class. In the novel, what does protagonist Jude Fawley do for a living?
  1. Teacher
  2. Scholar
  3. Carpenter
  4. Stonemason
  4. In the beloved story of the boy who never grew up, Peter Pan and Wendy takes readers into the adventure and chaos of Peter Pan and his friends. Which of the following is not the name of a lost boy?
  1. Slightly
  2. Smee
  3. Nibs
  4. Curley
  5. Three Men on the Bummel is Jerome K. Jerome at his very best, packed full of observational wit and comedy. But what is the definition of the titular word bummel?
  1. A journey without an end
  2. A push bike
  3. A difficult or tumultuous expedition
  4. A speedboat
  6. The Age of Gold tells the story of the Gold Rush that started in 1848 when carpenter James Marshall discovered flecks of gold in a dry riverbed. What US state was he in when he made this discovery?
  1. California
  2. Oregon
  3. Washington
  4. Arizona
  7. In a beautiful collection of eight stories, Chinese Fairy Tales & Fantasies offers insight into different Chinese philosophies and traditions. In the story titled The Girl in Green, the elusive girl reveals she is disguised as what insect?
  1. A green bee
  2. A grasshopper
  3. A June beetle
  4. An aphid
  8. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a glamorous, scandalous and often outrageous story which follows the life of Lorelei Lee as she searches for a millionaire. This story inspired a 1953 musical-film of the same name. What famous actress played Lee?
  1. Jayne Mansfield
  2. Marilyn Monroe 
  3. Grace Kelly
  4. Kim Novak
  9. Our beautiful edition of Twelfth Night provides a large-format for reading Shakespeare’s sparkling comic masterpiece. It is believed that Twelfth Night was first performed on what Christian holiday in 1602?
  1. Candlemas 
  2. Epiphany
  3. Christmas
  4. Ash Wednesday
  10. Following on from the story Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea continues the beloved tale as Anne flourishes into adulthood. In the story, what animal does Anne mistaken for her own, and sell?
  1. Sheep
  2. Cow
  3. Chicken
  4. Llama

• Friday, 19 June 2020

  1. In the magical dream-like world of Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll takes us on a journey into the absurd landscape of his imagination. What nursery rhyme does the Dormouse sing at the Mad Tea Party?
  1. Old MacDonald
  2. Ring a Ring o’ Roses
  3. Humpty Dumpty
  4. Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat
  2. The A Song of Ice and Fire saga by George R. R. Martin is packed with animals that inhabit the world of Westeros and beyond. Which animal would not be found in the A Game of Thrones series?
  1. Mammoth
  2. Saber-Toothed tiger
  3. Basilisk
  4. Shadow cat
  3. Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park is described by Lucy Worsley in her introduction as ‘complex, mature Austen’, covering the familiar themes of love and social class against a backdrop of war and politics. In the story, what breed is Lady Bertram’s beloved dog?
  1. Pug
  2. Labrador
  3. Poodle
  4. Corgi
  4. In the enchanting story of Winnie-the-Pooh, readers can meet the delightful Piglet, excitable Tigger and practical Rabbit – to name just a few! What is Rabbit’s favourite food?
  1. Cabbage
  2. Radishes
  3. Carrots
  4. Turnips 
  5. In the critically acclaimed novel War Horse, Michael Morpurgo tells of a horse that  gets sold to the army in 1914 to be on the battlefields of the Western Front. What is this horse’s name?
  1. Simon
  2. Joey
  3. Ted
  4. Albert
  6. In the epic His Dark Materials trilogy many characters have a dæmon, which is considered to be an animal manifestation of that person’s soul. What animal form does Mrs Coulter’s dæmon take?
  1. Orangutan
  2. Red-tailed Monkey
  3. Baboon
  4. Golden Monkey
  7. The Velveteen Rabbit is a beautifully moving tale of enduring love. In the story, what illness does The Boy get that means all his treasured toys must be burned?
  1. Rubella
  2. Mumps
  3. Scarlet fever
  4. Polio
  8. In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? protagonist Rick Deckard is desperate to have enough money to own his own real-life animal. Which exotic creature is he tempted to buy while passing a pet shop?
  1. Ostrich
  2. Lion
  3. Zebra
  4. Elephant
  9. The Tales of Beatrix Potter follows twelve classic stories of charming animals with human characteristics. In The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, what animal island do they visit?
  1. Owl Island
  2. Toad Island
  3. Mouse Island
  4. Rabbit Island
  10. In Stephen King’s electrifying psychological thriller The Shining, Jack comes across a nest while on the roof of the Overlook Hotel. What is living in this nest that later becomes a bad omen of things to come?
  1. Wasps
  2. Bees
  3. Hornets
  4. Spiders

• Friday, 12 June 2020

  1. Love Song from The Best of Dorothy Parker

     He is jubilant as a flag unfurled—

     Oh, a girl, she’d not forget him.

     My own dear love, he is all my world,—

     And I wish ____________________

  1. I’d never met him
  2. I would regret him
  3. I hadn’t bet him
  4. I could upset him
  2. To the Cuckoo from Selected Poems byWilliam Wordsworth

     Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring!

     Even yet thou art to me

     No bird, but an invisible thing,

     A voice, _____________

  1. from a tree
  2. a mystery
  3. of victory
  4. a history
  3. Eletelephony from The Folio Book of Children’s Poemsby Laura E. Richards

     Howe’er it was, he got his trunk

     Entangled in the telephunk; The more he tried to get it free,

     The louder buzzed the ________

  1. tolophee
  2. tiliphee
  3. telephee
  4. telemee
  4. 24C from If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho

     ]we live

     ]

     the opposite

     ]

     __________

  1. Daring
  2. Luxurious
  3. Beautiful
  4. Grace
  5. Sonnet 106 from Shakespeare’s Sonnets

     When in the chronicle of wasted time

     I see descriptions of the fairest wights,

     And beauty making beautiful old rhyme

     In praise of ladies dead, and _________

  1. Eternal flight
  2. Figures of delight
  3. Lovely knights
  4. Absent nights
  6. To a Mouse from Selected Poems & Songsby Robert Burns

     Still you are blest, compared with me!

     The present only touches you:

     But oh! I backwards cast my eye,

     On prospects dreary!

     And forward, though I cannot see,

     ____________

  1. I worry and wonder!
  2. I speculate and dread!
  3. I guess and fear!
  4. I angst and remember!
  7. White Flock from Selected Poemsby Anna Akhmatova

     The road is black by the beach-

     Garden. Lamps yellow and fresh.

     I’m very calm.

     I’d rather not talk about_____

  1. this
  2. him
  3. them
  4. her
  8. This Be The Verse from Collected Poemsby Philip Larkin

     Man hands on misery to man.

         It deepens like a coastal shelf.

     Get out as early as you can,

         And

  1. Never remind yourself
  2. Having children doesn’t help
  3. Don’t blame oneself
  4. Don’t have any kids yourself
  9. The Thread of Life by Christina Rossetti from A Folio Anthology of Poetry

     And sometimes I remember days of old

     When fellowship seemed not so far to seek

     And all the world and I seemed much less cold,

     And at the rainbow’s foot lay surely gold,

     And hope felt strong and life itself ________

  1. No feat  
  2. Not weak
  3. A treat
  4. Asleep
  10. Craftmanship and Emptiness from Selected Poems by Rumi

      A builder looks for the rotten hole

      Where the roof caved in. A water carrier

      Picks the empty pot. A carpenter

      Stops at the house with no _____

  1. Windows
  2. Door
  3. Furniture
  4. Floor

• Friday, 5 June 2020

  1. In The Mask of Command, author John Keegan considers the nature of generalship through the lives of four notable commanders, including the 18^th President Ulysses S. Grant. What was Grant’s job before his presidency in 1869?
  1. An attorney
  2. A commanding general
  3. A philosopher
  4. The Mayor of Buffalo
  2. Travelling from the Middle Ages all the way to the 20^th Century, Mark Girouard presents an architectural and social history in his fascinating book Life in the English Country House. In the book, Girouard makes an analogy in which he describes a country house as being an engine. What is the fuel?
  1. Money
  2. Land
  3. Power
  4. Inheritance
  3. Our edition of The Bayeux Tapestry features a colour reproduction of the tapestry, so that readers can follow the ‘life story of a masterpiece’. The original tapestry is housed in the Museum of Bayeux in Normandy. Approximately how long is it?
  1. 8 meters
  2. 38 meters
  3. 68 meters
  4. 128 meters
  4. In Stacy Schiff’s biography of Cleopatra, she investigates the celebrity behind Cleopatra’s image, from 51BC all the way into modern culture today. Which one of the options below has Cleopatra’s image not depicted?
  1. A video game
  2. A strip club
  3. A cigarette 
  4. A fizzy drink
  5. South Polar Times is a complete facsimile of 12 original issues of the expedition magazine that Captain Scott and his team created while exploring the Antarctic. In the writing about their expedition, which seal breed do they say is the rarest in Antarctic regions?
  1. Sea leopard
  2. Ross’ Seal
  3. Weddell’s Seal
  4. Crabeater Seal  
  6. In Truman Capote’s incredible investigation of a brutal murder In Cold Blood, he attempts to understand the minds of the killers Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. What other famous author wanted to help Capote with his research and also corresponded with the murderers?
  1. Ursula Le Guin
  2. Harper Lee
  3. Augusta, Lady Gregory
  4. Angela Carter 
  7. During John Steinbeck’s time in North Africa he wrote articles for the New York Herald Tribune, which later formed the basis of  his incredible book Once There Was a War. He wrote about a problem the locals and soldiers were having in Algiers: what issue were they having with money?
  1. The money was being printed on blotting paper that rips easily
  2. There was a lot of fake money in circulation
  3. Banks had shut down so money was hard to come by
  4. People had started trading materials rather than money
  8. The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan is a collection of over 1,000 interviews, undertaken to create a comprehensive record of D-Day. The binding on our edition uses a photograph by Robert Capa, who was the first photographer to land on Omaha Beach. Why is the picture blurry?
  1. He was so terrified his hands were shaking
  2. The camera had water in it and was damaged
  3. He was running while he took the picture
  4. The camera was a new model that Capa hadn’t used before
  9. A staggering account of his experiences in Auschwitz and Buchenwald, Night by Elie Wiesel is a terrifying and intimate first-person account of the Holocaust. In what year was Wiesel awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for speaking out against oppression and racism?
  1. 1966
  2. 1976
  3. 1986
  4. 1996
  10. In The Italian Renaissance, Peter Burke examines how social history shaped the Renaissance. Burke places significance on the ‘power of the patron’, an individual who  had great influence on Renaissance artists and artworks. Who was Da Vinci’s patron when he created his masterpiece Virgin of the Rocks?
  1. Ludovico Sforza
  2. Cosimo de Medici
  3. Cesare Borgia
  4. Charles VIII

• Friday, 29 May 2020

  1. What book was Douglas Adams reading when he came up with the idea for his best-selling series?
  1. The Restaurant at the End of the World
  2. Mostly Harmful
  3. Hitchhiker’s Guide to Europe
  4. Life and the Universe
  2. What is the significance of the number 42?
  1. The number of hours before the world ends
  2. The age of the Babel fish
  3. The meaning of life
  4. The number of planets in the galaxy
  3. In Mostly Harmless, it is explained that ‘the easiest way to fool a completely logical robot is to feed it the same stimulus sequence over and over again so it gets locked in a loop’. What food do scientists feed a robot to prove this?
  1. A salmon sandwich
  2. A tuna sandwich
  3. A herring sandwich
  4. A mackerel sandwich
  4. The series introduces readers to Zaphod Beeblebrox’s lethal cocktail recipe: The Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. Which of these ingredients is not included in this cocktail?
  1. Tequila
  2. Gin
  3. Rum
  4. Vodka
  5. What famous television programme did Douglas Adams briefly appear in?
  1. Fawlty Towers
  2. Monty Python’s Flying Circus
  3. Blackadder
  4. Black Books
  6. What is so special about Marvin the Paranoid Android?
  1. He has a brain the size of a planet
  2. He has a heart the size of a football field
  3. He has eyes that can see as far as 5,000 miles away
  4. He has such good hearing that he can hear loud thoughts
  7. Which novel in Adams’s ‘trilogy of five’ opens with this line: ‘The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This had made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.’
  1. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
  2. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
  3. Life, the Universe and Everything
  4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
  8. What creative outlet do the alien vogons use as a form of torture?
  1. Painting
  2. Guitar playing
  3. Poetry
  4. Knitting
  9. The Hitchhiker’s story was a radio show before it became a series of books. In the BBC radio series, the character we know as Slartibartfast had a different name, that was changed for the novel. What was it originally?
  1. Phartiphukborlz
  2. Lardeyompy
  3. Farbelonking
  4. Naveltoneous
  10. And finally, towels are extremely useful in the Hitchhiker’s universe. Which of these is not listed in the novels as a use for a towel?
  1. Wrap it around you for warmth
  2. Wave it as a distress signal
  3. Use it to dry yourself
  4. A cover to protect you from insects

• Friday, 22 May 2020

  1. In which Limited Edition is a blank page included with an invitation for the reader to draw on it?
  1. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
  2. Pilgrim's Progress
  3. The Story of Babar
  4. Studies from Nature
  2. Our edition of Boris Pasternak’s great Russian novel Doctor Zhivago includes a dazzling new translation by Nicolas Pasternak Slater. How is the translator related to the author?
  1. Son
  2. Grandson
  3. Nephew
  4. Cousin
  3. Our edition of Utamaro's Studies from Nature is an exquisite facsimile of Japanese art and poetry. But which of the following do not feature in this title?
  1. Birds
  2. Crawling creatures
  3. Shells
  4. Trees
  4. Made into a facsimile using rarely seen archive material from The Morgan Library, our edition The Story of Babar is full of colourful nostalgia for the beloved Le Petit Elephant. What was the name of Babar's cousin who becomes his queen?
  1. Celeste
  2. Cécile
  3. Celine
  4. Claudette
  5. A guide to living, courtship and pleasure, The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana offers much more to readers than the sexual aspect it became famous for. Which of these subjects below is not covered in The Kama Sutra?
  1. How to make money
  2. How to teach parrots to talk
  3. How to make lemonade
  4. How to teach a fish to swim
  6. In our glorious edition Hansel and Gretel and Other Stories by the Brothers Grimm, witches are described as having red eyes and not being able to see very far; but they have a fine sense of ____________?
  1. Humour, like naughty children
  2. Speed, like hunting dogs
  3. Smell, like wild beasts
  4. Taste, like hungry bats
  7. Packed full of satire, adventure and surrealism, Gulliver’s Travels takes readers on a voyage, visiting everything from the belligerent Lilliputians to the gentle Houyhnhnms. What is the protagonist Gulliver’s first name?
  1. Lemel
  2. Agur
  3. Solomon
  4. Hezekiah
  8. 8.The brilliant comic prose of Gargantua and Pantagruel tells the story of giant Gargantua and his son Pantagruel, living in 16^th century France. In one of the stories, Gargantua recounts the remarkable tale of a royal giant who was born out of an unusual body part. What was it?
  1. Ear
  2. Mouth
  3. Nose
  4. Eye
  9. Which of our Limited Editions is widely considered to be the first English novel?
  1. The Song of Songs
  2. The Door in the Wall
  3. The Pilgrim’s Progress
  4. The Pearl Manuscript
  10. Russell Hoban’s genre-defying masterpiece Riddley Walker is written in ‘Riddleyspeak’ a phonetic version of English. Which of the words below would you not find on the pages of Riddley Walker?
  1. Spare the mending (experiment)
  2. Soar vivers (survivors)
  3. All as cited (excited)
  4. Stand there under (understand)

• Tuesday, 19 May 2020

  1. My mother, who hates thunder storms,
     Holds up each summer day and shakes
     It out suspiciously, lest swarms
     Of grape-dark clouds are lurking there
     1. Selected Poems by Emily Dickenson
     2. Collected Poems by Philip Larkin
     3. Selected Poems by Anna Akhmatova
     4. Selected Poems by Rumi
  2. My mother obeyed her Sister Superiors where the Lady Jessica disobeyed. Which of them was the stronger? History has already answered.
     1. Fahrenheit 451
     2. American Gods
     3. Dune
     4. The Handmaid’s Tale
  3. The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news.
     1. Emma
     2. Sense and Sensibility
     3. Mansfield Park
     4. Pride and Prejudice
  4. He remembered a greenhouse on a winter day, pushing aside thick jungle leaves to find a creamy pink hothouse rose poised alone in the wilderness. That was mother, smelling like fresh milk, happy, to herself, in this room.
     1. Something Wicked this Way Comes
     2. Oryx and Crake
     3. Anansi Boys
     4. Ubik
  5. Olive had great courage. Perhaps it takes courage to raise children.
     1. The Franchise Affair
     2. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
     3. East of Eden
     4. Doctor Zhivago

• Friday, 15 May 2020

  1. 

     1. Buttercup from The Princess Bride, illustrated by Mark Thomas  
     2. Myrna Minkoff from A Confederacy of Dunces, illustrated by Jonny Hannah
     3. Marion from The Franchise Affair, illustrated by Mark Smith
     4. Curley’s Wife from Of Mice and Men, illustrated by James Albon

  2. 

     1. Ernesto Palmer from Get Shorty, illustrated by Gary Kelley
     2. Ernst Stavro Blofeld from Thunderball, illustrated by Fay Dalton
     3. Vladimir Harkonnen from Dune, illustrated by Sam Weber
     4. Harry Haller from Steppenwolf, illustrated by Dan Hillier

  3. 

     1. Anne from Anne of Green Gables, illustrated by Anna C. Leplar
     2. Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, illustrated by Sara Ogilvie
     3. Mattie from True Grit, illustrated by Juan Estaban Rodríguez
     4. Jo from Little Women, illustrated by Rebecca Green

  4. 

     1. The Escapist from The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, illustrated by Chris Samnee
     2. James Bond from Diamonds Are Forever, illustrated by Fay Dalton
     3. Lord Peter Wimsey from Hangman’s Holiday, illustrated by Paul Cox
     4. Jack Reacher from Killing Floor, illustrated byOliver Barrett

  5. 

     1. Alice from Alice in Wonderland, illustrated by Charles van Sandwyk
     2. Sophie from Howl’s Moving Castle, illustrated by Marie-Alice Harel
     3. Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web, illustrated by Garth Williams
     4. Sophie from Sophie’s World, illustrated by Sandra Rilova

  6. 

     1. Edward Rochester from Jane Eyre, illustrated by Santiago Caruso
     2. Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, illustrated byRovina Cai
     3. John Willoughby from Sense and Sensibility, illustrated by Philip Bannister
     4. Henry Crawford from Mansfield Park, illustrated by Darya Shnykina

  7. 

     1. Tatiana Romanova from From Russia with Love, illustrated by Fay Dalton
     2. Vivienne Michel from The Spy Who Loved Me, illustrated by Fay Dalton
     3. Gala Brand from Moonraker, illustrated by Fay Dalton
     4. Pussy Galore from Goldfinger, illustrated by Fay Dalton

  8. 

     1. Jules Maigret from Maigret and the Calame Report, illustrated by Harry Brockway
     2. Hercule Poirot from Five Little Pigs, illustrated by Andrew Davidson
     3. William Blore from And Then There Were None, illustrated by David Lupton
     4. Sherlock Holmes from The Selected Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, illustrated by Max Löffler

  9. 

     1. Arya from A Game of Thrones, illustrated by Jonathan Burton  
     2. Nancy from Oliver Twist, illustrated by George Cruikshank  
     3. Anthea from Five Children and It, illustrated by H. R. Millar
     4. Dolores from Lolita, illustrated by Federico Infante

  10. 

      1. Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol, illustrated by Michael Foreman  
      2. Ahab from Moby-Dick, illustrated by Rockwell Ken
      3. Horatio Hornblower from The Hornblower Set 1: Mr Hornblower, illustrated by Joe McLaren
      4. Samuel Hamilton from East of Eden, illustrated by Edward Kinsella

• Thursday, 7 May 2020

  1. The year is 2031 and a strange object is hurtling towards the sun … Folio returns to the incredible work of Arthur C. Clarke with the science-fiction masterpiece Rendezvous with Rama.When the crew of the Endeavour first land on the strange metal cylinder that is Rama, what is it described as being as silent as?
     1. The ocean
     2. A breath
     3. A tomb
     4. The moon
  2. Thomas S. Kuhn transformed the world of science with his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. What term did Kuhn create in his writing to explain his ground-breaking theory, which has subsequently become used as a popular phrase?
     1. Missing link
     2. Absolute zero
     3. Paradigm shift
     4. Limiting factor
  3. The fight for the Iron Throne continues in George R. R. Martin’s epic story A Clash of Kings.Chaos ensues for the Stark family as they are each forced to make life-altering decisions. What Stark character has the direwolf named Summer, who manages to escape Winterfell to be reunited with her owner?
     1. Bran
     2. Sansa
     3. Rob
     4. Arya
  4. Philip Larkin was one of the most widely read and treasured poets of the 20^th Century. His Collected Poems is packed full of his trademark wit and wickedness, as well as remarkable lyricism and poignant observations. In his poem Mr Bleaney, why does the speaker take to ‘stuffing my ears with cotton-wool’?
     1. To drown out the sound of flies
     2. To drown out the silence in his head
     3. To drown out the sound of cars driving outside
     4. To drown out the sound of his neighbour’s TV
  5. In Charles van Sandwyk’s captivating collection of stories titled Mr Rabbit's Symphony of Nature and Other Tails, the character Mr Rabbit explains that: ‘rabbits cannot sing’. What does Mr Rabbit do instead as a creative outlet?
     1. Ballroom dancing
     2. Music conducting
     3. Cello playing
     4. Calligraphy
  6. Oscar Wilde wrote De Profundisduring his time in Reading Gaol. But what is the significance of Wilde’s 3.3. cell number, that Patti Smith explores in her magnificent new introduction to this edition?
     1. Jane Wilde was 33 when she gave birth to Oscar
     2. Jesus Christ was 33 when he died
     3. Dorian Gray was 33 when he sold his soul
     4. Aubrey Beardsley was 33 when he was arrested
  7. Published to commemorate the 75^th  anniversary of VJ Day, Ronald H. Spector’s Eagle Against the Sun is the staggering account of the Pacific War, covering everything from the raid on Pearl Harbor to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What campaign what the first major offensive for the allies in the Pacific theatre?
     1. Iwo Jima
     2. Wake Island
     3. Midway
     4. Guadalcanal
  8. The Queen of Crime returns to Folio with Five Little Pigs, one of Poirot’s most compelling cases. The story follows a gripping investigation that takes place sixteen years after the murder happened. But who in the story is considered the little pig who cries ‘wee wee wee all the way home’?
     1. Amyas Crale
     2. Philip Blake
     3. Elsa Greer
     4. Angela Warren
  9. In Lee Child’s dazzlingly gripping crime thriller Killing Floor, protagonist Jack Reacher arrives in the fictional town of Margrave, Georgia, by bus. When interrogated, why does he say he was travelling to Margrave?
     1. To look into the musician Blind Blake
     2. To find his brother, Joe Reacher
     3. To kill a Military General  
     4. To get to Florida
  10. Based upon stories from Norse legend, Wagner’s libretto The Ring of the Nibelungis an incredible combination of magic, mythology and enchanting characters. Our new edition features Stewart Spencer’s definitive translation that sits alongside the original German. What German theatre held the first ever complete performance of the original opera?
      1. The Margravial Opera House
      2. The Bayreuth Festival Theatre
      3. The National Theatre Munich
      4. The Berlin State Opera

• Tuesday, 05 May 2020

  1. H. G. Wells makes astonishing predictions of future technologies, such as genetic engineering and organ transplants, in his novel The Island of DoctorMoreau. What animal is not in the mix of the hybrid creature called M’ling?
  1. Bear
  2. Dog
  3. Ox
  4. Pig
  2. Acclaimed author Octavia E. Butler is known as one of the most important figures in speculative fiction, as her novel Kindred changed the very foundations of the genre. What was one of Butler’s jobs before she became a famous and prolific writer?
  1. Potato chip inspector
  2. Fizzy drink tester
  3. Shoe box constructor
  4. Sauce quality assessment taster
  3. Frank Herbert’s phenomenal tale of desert warriors and messiahs, Dune, takes place on the planet Arrakis. How do the people of Fremen travel on this planet so as not to  attract the terrifying giant sandworms?
  1. They travel in helicopters
  2. They walk in a nonrhythmic pattern
  3. They only travel at night
  4. They ride sandboards so their movement is silent
  4. Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake is an eerily prophetic story that asks essential questions about humanity and our existence: ‘How slippery is the slope? Who’s got the will to stop us?’ What would the main character Crake encourage you to do with his invention of ‘ChickieNobs’?
  1. Farm them
  2. Pet them
  3. Eat them
  4. Kill then
  5. The sci-fi adventure that launched a global franchise, Planet of Apes is an epic narrative in which a human population is ruled by an intellectually superior civilisation of apes. On his first interaction with a gorilla, dressed ‘as you and I are’, what does Ulysse recognise as their only difference?
  1. He wore rings on his toes
  2. He wore gloves on his feet
  3. He held his gun with his foot
  4. He wore socks on his hands

• Friday, 02 May 2020

  1. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
  1. Sense and Sensibility
  2. Pride and Prejudice
  3. Emma
  4. Mansfield Park
  2. One evening of late summer, before the nineteenth century had reached one-third of its span, a young man and woman, the latter carrying a child, were approaching the large village of Weydon-Priors, in Upper Wessex, on foot.
  1. Tess of the d’Urbervilles
  2. The Mayor of Casterbridge
  3. Jude the Obscure
  4. Far from the Madding Crowd
  3. I’ll make my report as if I told a story, for I was taught as a child on my homeworld that Truth is a matter of the imagination.
  1. Brave New World
  2. The Dispossessed
  3. The Left Hand of Darkness
  4. A Wizard of Earthsea
  4. First of all, it was October, a rare month for boys.
  1. Something Wicked this Way Comes
  2. Ubik
  3. The Illustrated Man
  4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
  5. It was one of those days when it seemed to James Bond that all life, as someone put it, was nothing but a heap of six to four against. 
  1. Goldfinger
  2. Diamonds Are Forever
  3. The Spy Who Loved Me
  4. Thunderball
  6. Call me Ishmael.
  1. Moby-Dick
  2. Atlas Shrugged
  3. East of Eden
  4. Crime and Punishment
  7. A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head.
  1. A Confederacy of Dunces
  2. Catch-22
  3. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
  4. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
  8. We slept in what had once been the gymnasium.
  1. Kindred
  2. The Handmaid’s Tale
  3. Oryx and Crake
  4. Fahrenheit 451
  9. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
  1. A Clockwork Orange
  2. Nineteen Eighty-Four
  3. Planet of the Apes
  4. Get Shorty
  10. The history of the Galaxy has got a little muddled, for a number of reasons: partly because those who are trying to keep track of it have got a little muddled, but also because some very muddling things have been happening anyway.
  1. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
  2. Life, the Universe and Everything
  3. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
  4. Mostly Harmless

• Tuesday, 28 May 2020

  1. In his critically acclaimed title The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins hypothesised that if aliens from space ever visited Earth, the first question they would ask, in order to assess the level of human intelligence, would be: ‘Have they discovered ________ yet?’
  1. Evolution
  2. Electricity
  3. Vaccines
  4. DNA
  2. The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments explores the methods behind some of science’s most dazzling discoveries. One chapter describes Isaac Newton’s fearless experimentation by carefully inserting a needle in between his eyeball and its socket. Which ground-breaking theory did this experiment lead to?
  1. Brain neurons
  2. Measurement
  3. Light and colours
  4. Gravity
  3. In his incredible account of evolution and biology The Diversity of Life, Edward O. Wilson describes how the Megamouth Shark was discovered in 1976. The shark is described as being ‘cylindrical and flabby, its eyes small, its movements stiff and slow’ and with a tendency to stay in deep and dark waters. How were they first discovered?
  1. One was washed ashore after a storm
  2. One was caught in a parachute being used as a sea anchor
  3. A diver encountered one while conducting deep-sea research
  4. One was caught on film while a documentary was being made
  4. In one of the essays in The Folio Book of Science, entitled NASA Goes Deep, Carolyn Porco explains the practicalities of America’s eight year long reach to first walk on the Moon. During those eight years, NASA’s annual budget went as high as how much (in today’s money)?
  1. 5 billion dollars
  2. 15 billion dollars
  3. 30 billion dollars
  4. 100 billion dollars
  5. In his award-winning book The Elegant Universe, Brian Greene explains the significance of the discovery that found ‘protons and neutrons are not fundamental, each consists of three smaller particles, called quarks’. Physicist Murray Gell-Mann named them quarks, inspired from a passage in what James Joyce novel?
  1. Finnegans Wake
  2. The Dubliners
  3. Ulysses
  4. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

• Friday, 24 April 2020

  1. Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s magical story The Little Prince follows the adventures of a Prince who lives on a very small planet; hardly any bigger than a house!After staying up all night reading the story, what famous director immediately purchased the film rights to The Little Prince, but failed to make a film after an argument with Disney?
  1. Jean-Luc Godard
  2. Frank Capra
  3. Orson Welles
  4. Alfred Hitchcock
  2. The story of a lovable bear named Winnie-the-Pooh is one that has enchanted readers for generations. So much so, that since 1984 there has been an Annual Poohsticks Championship. What English county hosts this Winnie-the-Pooh inspired event?
  1. Wiltshire  
  2. Oxfordshire
  3. Nottinghamshire
  4. Hampshire
  3. The Folio Book of Children’s Poetry is packed with over 80 poems. In Spike Milligan’s electric and nonsensical poem On the Ning Nang Nong, he explains that the ‘Cows go Bong’, ‘The trees go Ping’ and ‘All the mice go Clang!’ What do the monkeys say?
  1. Bang
  2. Boo
  3. Bing
  4. Blang
  4. One of the most influential and controversial novels of the 20^th century, and now a book that is studied in classrooms around the world, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is a gripping study on class, democracy and masculinity. What famous band has not released a song based on the title, a chapter or sentence in this novel?
  1. The Offspring
  2. U2
  3. Rage Against the Machine
  4. Iron Maiden 
  5. First published almost 150 years ago, Black Beauty is a moving story that focuses on the life and experiences of a horse and its treatment by humans. Anna Sewell’s love of horses started as a child, when she spent a lot of time around them. Why was this?
  1. She injured her legs, so often travelled in horse-drawn carriages
  2. She grew up on a farm that kept horses
  3. Her family bred horses for shows
  4. Anna’s father drove a Mail coach which was transported by horses
  6. Roger Lancelyn Green offers incredible retellings of myths and  folklore in his book Tales of Ancient Egypt. One of the stories centres on seven years of starvation where ‘no corn grew, the fruits dried up, the cattle grew thin’ because the river Nile stopped rising. What God caused  this?
  1. Isis
  2. Thoth
  3. Osiris
  4. Khnemu
  7. Philip Pullman’s masterful trilogy His Dark Materials centres on 12-year-old Lyra Belacqua, and follows her journey to the North and beyond. What epic poem influenced Pullman while he was writing this story?
  1. Beowulf
  2. Paradise Lost
  3. The Waste Land
  4. Divine Comedy
  8. Charles van Sandwyk’s beautifully imagined How to See Fairies introduces readers to the magical inhabitants of the fairy realm. In his preface, how does van Sandwyk explain he knows Fairies definitely exist?
  1. There is a right and a wrong way to draw them
  2. Sometimes he can hear them talking
  3. Telling stories brings them to life
  4. They leave clues around his garden
  9. A magical and enchanting story, Howl’s Moving Castle is filled with eccentric, colourful characters and many delightful twists and turns. What is the titular character’s full name?
  1. Hugh Jones
  2. Howell Hughes
  3. Howell Jenkins
  4. Huw Williams
  10. The classic children’s tale The Hundred and One Dalmatians is a beloved story featuring one of the most devious villains of all time, the infamous Cruella de Vil! Why was Cruella expelled from her school as a child?
  1. For stealing a cat
  2. For drinking ink
  3. For persistent absence  
  4. For attacking a teacher

• Tuesday, 21 April 2020

  1. Greil Marcus’s Mystery Train chronicles the growth of rock ’n’ roll from its roots in blues to popularity in the 1960s and 70s. Marcus focuses on four musicians: The Band, Randy Newman, Elvis Presley and Sly Stone. What significant event happened in the same year that Sly and the Family Stone made their first record?
     1. Race riots started in Detroit
     2. John F. Kennedy was assassinated
     3. Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon
     4. The last episode of Star Trek was aired
  2. Helen Castor’s remarkable account of Joan of Arccharts her journey from peasant to patron saint of France. However, just two years after the unprecedented victory of the French Army, Joan is put on trial by the Burgundians and burned at the stake. What was the crime she was convicted of?
     1. Witchcraft
     2. Theft
     3. Heresy
     4. Murder
  3. First published in 1859, Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Speciesrevolutionised our understanding of life on earth, and remains one of the most influential books ever written. What characteristic did Darwin famously say a scientific man ought to have?
     1. A neutral mind
     2. A love of God
     3. An inquisitive brain
     4. A heart of stone
  4. Shedding light on every facet of a complex, tortured and dazzlingly talented man, Letters of Vincent van Goghprovides readers with a detailed insight into the mind of this famous artist. Why did Van Gogh often use himself as a model in his paintings?
     1. His pieces would take months to paint
     2. He couldn’t afford to pay someone to model
     3. He liked his self-portraits the most
     4. He wouldn’t let anyone enter  his studio
  5. M. F. K. Fisher inspired a new way of cooking with her memoir The Gastronomical Me. Each essay provides a vivid snapshot of her life in a glorious swirl of taste, food and memories. The first thing Fisher recalls wanting to taste again is described as a ‘greyish pink fuzz’. What is she describing?
     1. A peach
     2. Strawberry jam
     3. A trifle
     4. A raspberry

• Friday, 17 April 2020

  1. A story of obsession and adventure on the high seas, Moby-Dick is a sublime work of fiction. But on publication in 1851, what literary friend of Herman Melville’s did he dedicatethe book to?
     1. Charles Dickens
     2. Walt Whitman
     3. Nathaniel Hawthorn
     4. Edgar Allen Poe
  2. Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre is a masterclass in storytelling. However, many of Jane’s experiences are based on real events that the author experienced. Which of the following statements about Charlotte Bronte is not true?
     1. She worked as a governess
     2. She went to a boarding school with a cruel headmaster
     3. She fell in love with a married man
     4. Her husband was blind
  3. Boris Pasternak wrote Doctor Zhivago in 1956. Its narrative spans the stirring years of the 20^thcentury, as protagonist Yuri Zhivago lives through the First World War and the Russian Civil War. But in which  country was Doctor Zhivago first published?
     1. England
     2. Russia
     3. Poland
     4. Italy
  4. Homer’s epic story The Odysseyfollows an incredible voyage fraught with perils from the Lotus Eaters, the Cyclops, the Sirens, and the fearsome crags of Scylla and Charybdis. On his return home, after ten years away, what does Odysseus disguise himself as?
     1. A beggar
     2. A goat
     3. His father
     4. Penelope’s servant 
  5. John Steinbeck’s generational epic East of Eden draws on the stories of Adam and Eve, and the fatal rivalry of Cain and Abel, to recount the intertwined fates of two families. The novel is set in The Salinas Valley, which is otherwise known as what?
     1. The fruit bowl of the world
     2. The salad bowl of the world
     3. The soup bowl of the world
     4. The fruit bowl of America
  6. Written as a collective cry for Victorian London’s underclass, Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twistwas penned as a reaction to the new Poor Law, which was passed in 1834 and introduced workhouse regimes for those living in poverty. When was this Law finally abolished in the United Kingdom?
     1. 1895
     2. 1921
     3. 1948
     4. 1975
  7. Thomas Hardy’s stirring narrative on class divide and social mobility, Tess of the d’Urbervilles,is set against the backdrop of rural England. What famous landmark does Tess find herself by, in the novel’s dramatic crescendo?
     1. Stonehenge
     2. Hadrian's Wall
     3. Land’s End
     4. Yorkshire Dales
  8. Every page of Laurence Sterne’s comic masterpiece The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman is hilarious, compelling and unpredictable. At the end of Chapter XXIII, the novel leaps forward to Chapter XXV. Why is this?
     1. Laurence Sterne left Chapter XXIIII on a boat and never got it back.
     2. The chapter was so controversial that the publishers removed it but forgot to change the chapter numerals.
     3. Tristram Shandy worried that the chapter was too good, and didn’t want the rest of the book to suffer by comparison.
     4. There was never a Chapter XXIIII; it was a printing error that became another detail in the unconventional story and therefore was never corrected. 
  9. In Sappho’s lyrical collection of poems If Not, Winter, the reader can find beauty in both her fragments of poetry and the empty spaces where the words have been lost over time. Approximately how many lines from Sappho’s poetry survive?
     1. 1,000
     2. 790
     3. 650
     4. 83
  10. Lewis Caroll’s tale Alice in Wonderland is full of outlandish creatures and quizzical conversations, and it is jam-packed with Carol’s trademark nonsense. But which magical character from Alice in Wonderlandis based on the author himself?
      1. The Cheshire Cat
      2. The Caterpillar
      3. The Dodo
      4. The Mock Turtle