FUNDAMENTALS
How much do you know about your favourite writers? Take this week’s quiz on contemporary authors. Write in with your suggestions, questions (with answers) to senjam@gmail.com.
CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS
1. Which Mumbai born novelist is the professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County? 2. Identify this author — He was born in Brno in Czechoslovakia. In 1975, he and his wife settled in France and in 1981, he became a French citizen. Who? 3. Which best-selling author was once a endocrinologist and chief of staff at New England Memorial hospital in US? 4. This author was in the US Army Reserve Officers Training Corps but his poor eyesight kept him from serving in the Vietnam war. He had just one article to his credit when his best-selling book came out in 1984. Name him. 5. Which author made a debut under the pseudonym John Lange with a book named Odds On? 6. His first novel was called Black Sunday. He later achieved fame with another book that became an ever better known film. Name the author and the book. 7. In 1999, this author underwent five operations to set broken bones after he was hit by an out of control motorist, while he was walking alongside the road in Maine. Name him. 8. This author has worked as a teacher at Amnesty International and at the Chamber of Commerce in Manchester. Identify this best-selling cult author.
ANYTHING GOES
1. Anne Frank wrote most of her diary in the form of letters to a person whose identity has puzzled researchers and scholars. What was her name? (Prof Adv Hariharan, Thiruvananthapuram) 2. The renowned Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti sang in this U2 song inspired by the Bosnian war. Name the song. (Cdr G.R. Balakrishnan (Retd), Chennai) 3. Excessive teeth grinding or jaw clenching has a medical terminology. What is it? (Madhavi Chandran, Kochi) 4. This famous non-profit organisation was founded in 1924 at YMCA in California, USA, by Ralph Smedly to improve the communication and leadership skills of the members. Now the organisation serves over 3,45,000 members in 142 countries under the motto ‘where leaders are made’. Identify this famous organisation. (Arnab Ghosal, Secunderabad) 5. How did Antarctica get its name? (Gayatri Jeevan, Thiruvananthapuram) 6. Baiju, the white spirit which is extremely popular in China, is distilled primarily from which grain? (Deepak Gomes, Kolkata) 7. Frank Worrell made his Test debut in 1947-48 vs England and then he took a voluntary break from Test cricket. Why? (Rajeev Lochan, Kolkata)