Write from the start..
Can you name famous novels from opening lines?
A TEEN genius can identify 129 books consecutively just from their opening sentence.
Clever Monty Lord, 14, from Bolton, now holds the Guinness World Record by beating the previous record of 30, held by a man in India.
But do you know your F Scott Fitzgerald from your Dickens?
Take our literary quiz to see how many of these novels you can name from their opening lines...
1. Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
2. Roger, aged seven, and no longer the youngest of the family, ran in wide zigzags, to and fro, across the steep field that sloped up from the lake to Holly Howe, the farm where they were staying for part of the summer holidays.
3. I scowl with frustration at myself in the mirror. Damn my hair – it just won’t behave, and damn Katherine Kavanagh for being ill and subjecting me to this ordeal.
4. Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.
5. We slept in what had once been the gymnasium.
6. Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again.
7. Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy.
8. He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf stream and he had gone 84 days now without taking a fish.
9. “The Signora had no business to do it,” said Miss Bartlett, “No business at all. She promised us south rooms with a view close together, instead of which here are north rooms, looking into a courtyard, and a long way apart. Oh, Lucy!”
10. Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress.
11. In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.
12. All children, except one, grow up.
13. When Mr Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventyfirst birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton. 14. I’d never given much thought to how I would die – though I’d had reason enough in the last few months – but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this. 15. It was love at first sight. 16. When he was nearly 13, my brother Jem got his arm badly
CLASSICS 1984, Catch-22 & Narnia broken at the elbow.
17. When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold.
18. There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.
19. In the corner of a first-class smoking carriage, Mr Justice Wargrave, lately retired from the bench, puffed at a cigar and ran an interested eye through the political news in the Times.
20. If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.
21. Well Prince, Genoa and Lucca are now no more than private estates of the Bonaparte family.
22. All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
23. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking 13.
24. I will not drink more than 14 alcohol units a week.
25. You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings.
26. “Where’s Papa going with that axe?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.
27. It’s a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful.
28. Here is Edward Bear, coming down the stairs now, bump bump bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. 29. The primroses were over. 30. The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, springcleaning his little home.
31. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. 32. Call me Ishmael. 33. The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way towards the lagoon.
34. The first place that I can well remember was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it.
35. Renowned curator Jacques Sauniere staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum’s Grand Gallery. He lunged for the nearest painting he could see, a Caravaggio. 36. What’s it going to be then, eh? 37. This is my favourite book in all the world, though I have never read it.
38. When I think of my wife, I always think of her head.
39. My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip.
40. “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.
POPULAR The Handmaid’s Tale