How well do you know Roddy Doyle?
Maybe better than he knows himself, writes Siobhán Breatnach
Hands up who DIDN’T take part in a Zoom quiz during lockdown.
Getting quizzical has been the perfect antidote to staying home in recent months.
But with each week would come a struggle to include the perfect series of questions, an unexpected round or something whacky to throw the previous week’s champion off their game.
A recent story in The New York Times provides the opportunity to do just that the next time you decide the test your family and friends’ general knowledge.
A couple of years ago, in celebration of Roddy Doyle’s 60th birthday, news website Journal.ie ran a quiz to test the nation’s literary prowess and find out just how much people really know about our beloved writer’s life and works.
And thanks to The Times, we now know how well the man himself fared.
Since his first self-published novel The Commitments in 1987, Doyle’s humour and dialogue have become part of a signature style for the author who started out life as a teacher and began writing during the summer holidays.
In the newspaper’s By The Book feature, Doyle talks about such matters as the last great book he read and what’s currently on his nightstand.
(Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, Notes From an Apocalypse by Mark O’Connell and Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit in case you’re interested.)
Towards the end of the interview he’s asked: ‘What books are you embarrassed not to have read yet?’
To which he replies: “I stare at the question but I don’t really get it. Why would I be embarrassed because I haven’t read a book?
“I’ve read all of my own, so I’ll never get caught out there.
“On my 60th birthday, an Irish newspaper ran a quiz about me. I got eight out of 10. But I wasn’t embarrassed. I was actually quite pleased - and a tiny bit worried.”
So there you have it. Eight out of 10. Not bad at all Roddy.
I mean, how well do we ever really know ourselves anyway?
Your turn next. Answers below in green.
CAN YOU BEAT RODDY IN THE RODDY DOYLE QUIZ Where in Dublin is Roddy from?
• Phibsboro
• Kilbarrack
• Raheny
• Baldoyle
For which book did he receive the Man BooknerdPrize?
• Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
• The Snapper
• The Van
• A Star Called Henry
In which fictional town did The Snapper, The Commitments and The Van happen?
• Carrigtown
• Rocktown
• Barrytown
• Smithtown
True or False: Roddy Doyle has won a Bafta?
• True
• False
Roddy Doyle wrote a book with Roy Keane. What’s it called?
• Full Time
• Extra Time
• The Final Whistle
• The Second Half
What’s the slogan for Bimbo’s Burgers?
• Truckin’ good!
• A chip off the old block
• Today’s chips today
• The best catch!
In Oh, Play That Thing who does Henry Smart become a manager for in Chicago?
• Al Jolson
• Louis Armstrong
• Miles Davis
• John Coltrane
Prompted by his reading of Roddy Doyle books, what two words does Dougal call Ted?
• A big gobshite and a big bollox
• A bollox and an arsehole
• An arsehole and a gobshite
• A dickhead and a bollox
Doyle co-authored a book with David Almond, Eoin Colfer, Roddy Doyle, Deborah Ellis, Nick Hornby, Margo Lanagan, Gregory Maguire, Ruth Ozeki, Linda Sue Park, and Tim Wynne-Jones. What was it called?
• Snap
• Shutterspeed
• Selfie
• Click
Doyle’s works have become a popular meme crossover with which franchise?
• Star Wars
• The Avengers
• Star Trek
• Batman