The Quiz Page

The Literary&Numbers Quiz

Every question and/or answer contains a number, mostly relating to books and authors, some to music, or TV, and a random question thrown in now and again.
You can play this on your own or at your writer’s group. Do let me know how you get on!

(Answers are on the Answers page.)

  1. How many detective novels did Agatha Christie write?
  2. When was the first James Bond book, Casino Royale, published?
  3. Who wrote The 39 Steps? 
  4. The ? Protocol by Frederick Forsyth.
  5. In Gone with the Wind, in what year was Alabama destroyed by fire?
  6. The opening words to George Orwell’s 1984 are It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking how many times?
  7. How many books did Enid Blyton write?
  8. Harper Lee wrote two books; To Kill A Mockingbird and Go Set A Watchman. How many years apart did she write them?
  9. In Scrabble, which is the only letter that is worth 5 points?
  10. Who wrote 101 Dalmations?
  11. Who wrote 3 men in a boat?
  12. A 20-year correspondence between an American writer in New York and an antiquarian book dealer in London is called what?
  13. How many syllables are there in a Haiku?
  14. Which book title is the temperature at which paper is believed to ignite?
  15. How many splendid suns did Khaled Hosseini write about?
  16. What was Patrick McGoohan’s number in The Prisoner?
  17. According to Katie Melua, how many bicycles are there in Beijing?
  18. In what year did Bob Dylan win the Nobel prize for literature?
  19. How many ways are there to leave your lover?
  20. There are two Beatles song titles that contain numbers. Multiply those numbers.

New Year Quiz

  1. Which painter said, “I’ve just kept on ceaselessly painting in order to learn painting.”?
    a) Andy Warhol
    b) Vincent Van Gogh
    c) Banksy
  2. What are Janus words?
    a) Words relating to the month of January
    b) Words best avoided
    c) Words that have two different, opposite meanings
  3. What does NaNoWriMo stand for?
    a) National Novel Writing Month
    b) November National Writing Month
    c) National No Writing Month
  4. What is an unreliable narrator?
    a) A narrator in a story who is always late
    A narrator who has no idea of the plot
    A narrator of a story who misleads the reader
  5. What does Deus Ex Machina mean?
    a) For goodness sake!
    b) God from a machines
    c) Character who has died
  6. What is a Pomodoro?
    a) An Italian pasta dish
    b) A time management technique
    c) A hair style
  7. How many syllables are there in a Haiku poem?
    a) 21
    b) 11
    c) 17


Last Lines Quiz

Which books are these Last Lines from and who wrote them?

  1. Tomorrow is another day.
  2. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
  3. He is coming, and I am here.
  4. The old man was dreaming about the lions.
  5. He loved Big Brother.
  6. It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.
  7. Oh, my girls, however long you may live, I never can wish you a greater happiness than this.
  8. Oh, Aunt Em! I’m so glad to be at home again!
  9. He reached the top of the bank in a single, powerful leap. Hazel followed; and together they slipped away, running easily down through the wood, where the first primroses were beginning to bloom.
  10. And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea.

Answers are on the Answers page!

Settings

These are all well-known settings from novels, films, radio or TV. Who lived/visited these? See how many you know! Don’t scroll down to quickly – that’s where the answers are.

  1. Nelson Mandela House
  2. 23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam
  3. Number 4 Privet Drive
  4. Manderley
  5. Wuthering Heights
  6. Tara
  7. Southfork
  8. Neverland
  9. Central Perk
  10. The Chocolate Factory

And here are the answers:

  1. Delboy, Rodney and Grandad
  2. Tony Hancock
  3. The Worsleys (Harry Potter)
  4. Max de Winter (Rebecca)
  5. The Earnshaws and Heathcliff
  6. The O’Haras (Gone with the wind)
  7. The Ewings (Dallas)
  8. Peter Pan
  9. Friends
  10. Willy Wonka

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