Which sex symbol wasn’t safe from ladies’ wandering hands?
Test yourself in Marcus Berkmann’s festive Books Quiz — and win £1,000!
YOUR STARTER FOR TEN
1. THE Mirror And The Light will be published in 2018, or more likely 2019, and will be the third in which trilogy?
2. THE romance between Bella Swan, a sullen teenage girl, and Edward Cullen, a beautiful vampire, is at the heart of which series of bestselling novels, and, latterly, films?
3. WHICH are there more of in the Oxford English Dictionary: words ending in -ology, or words ending in -ography?
4. WHOSE early-morning exercise regime, as described in a 1957 novel, included ‘20 slow press-ups, enough straight-leg lifts to make his stomach muscles scream, 20 toe-touches and finally arm and chest exercises combined with deep breathing until he is dizzy’?
5. WHICH English Romantic poet’s mother, sister and lover were all called Fanny?
6. WHICH fictional detective had a servant called Magersfontein Lugg and was portrayed by Peter Davison in two BBC series of 1989 and 1990?
7. WHAT symbol is given to an obsolete word in the Oxford English Dictionary, an extinct species in biology and a wicketkeeper on a cricket scorecard?
8. BARBARY, Capilet, Surrey, Galathe and Curtal are all which type of animal, specifically named in Shakespeare’s plays?
9. IN WHICH book, covering ten years of elapsed time, are chronicled the following: the Great Plague, the Great Fire of London, the Dutch raid on the Medway, and one of the first references to a Punch and Judy show, as well as a description of a watch fitted with an alarm, then a cutting-edge innovation?
10. WHAT did Fidel Castro, Bill Clinton, Golda Meir, Sir Oswald Mosley, Leon Trotsky, Richard Wagner, Isadora Duncan, Magic Johnson, Marc Chagall and Burt Reynolds all call their autobiographies?
WHO WROTE WHAT?
WHICH notables published the following memoirs this year? As always, some are more notable than others.
1. Only Fools And Stories 2. How To Be Champion 3. Adventures Of A Young Naturalist 4. How Not To Be A Boy 5. A Baker’s Life 6. Finding My Virginity 7. Thinking Out Loud 8. My Life, Our Times 9. Me. You. A Diary 10. Believe Me: A Memoir Of Love, Death And Jazz Chickens
FILMS & BOOKS
HERE are ten films based on famous books. I’ll give you the three main stars, the director and the year of first release, and I want you to give the title of the book it was based on and its author. The title of the film and the book are the same. Example: Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Scott Glenn, directed by Jonathan Demme ( 1991). Answer: The Silence Of The Lambs by Thomas Harris. Let’s go! 1. Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal. Directed by Blake Edwards (1961) 2. Malcolm McDowell, Michael Bates, Adrienne Corri. Directed by Stanley Kubrick (1971) 3. Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd. Directed by Stanley Kubrick (1980) 4. Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Peter MacNicol. Directed by Alan J. Pakula (1982) 5. Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Russell Means. Directed by Michael Mann (1992) 6. Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Brenda Blethyn. Directed by Joe Wright (2007) 7. Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christopher Fitzgerald. Directed by Sam Mendes (2008) 8. Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch. Directed by Tomas Alfredson (2011) 9. Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris. Directed by David Fincher (2014) 10. Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin, Iain Glen. Directed by Roger Michell (2017)
UNUSUAL WORDS
HERE are some extraordinary words from the works of Nabokov, Burgess and other novel-writing logomaniacs. (Number two is from Shakespeare.) In each case, match the word to the meaning from the list below: ALFEAR; ANDOCRAT; ANORCHID; APTERYX; AXILLA; BALATRON; BATE-BREEDER; BED-SWERVER; BIBLIOCLASM; BOANTHROP 1. A troublemaker 2. An adulteress 3. A destruction of books 4. Someone without testicles 5. Armpit 6. Someone who thinks he is, or acts like, an ox 7. Someone who believes in the supremacy of the male 8. A flightless bird 9. An unintentional clown 10. Uncontrollable fear caused by elves
FROM THE PAGES OF THE DAILY MAIL
HERE are ten multiple choice questions taken from reviews on these pages throughout the year. Don’t look them up on the website! Oh go on then, if you must. 1. ROGER LEWIS enjoyed a book about which London club in January? Its members were ‘a bastion of the Edwardian establishment’ and ‘opposed to modern art in all its manifestations’. a) The Authors’ Club b) The Writers’ Club c) The Architects’ Club 2. ACCORDING to a book reviewed by Helen Brown in January, what is ‘a biscuit tin on a table and a mug of coffee . . . hot chocolate or pea soup and the sound of lively chatter with anoraks drying in the hall’? a) The Danish concept of hygge b) The Dutch concept
of gezelligheid c) The Swedish concept
of lagom 3. WHO, according to a book of theatrical tales relished by Brian Viner in January, never, ever complimented his writing partner for his wonderful lyrics? a) Richard Rodgers
(of Oscar Hammerstein II) b) George Gershwin
(of Ira Gershwin) c) Elton John
(of Bernie Taupin) 4. ACCORDING to The Curious History of Dating, reviewed in January, what is the UK’s most popular venue for a first date? a) Burger King b) Nando’s c) Claridge’s 5. MARK MASON had fun with The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker, about the UK census, in February. Which is the only decade since 1801 in which there was no census? a) 1820s b) 1910s c) 1940s 6. IN BEL Mooney’s review of Heartthrobs: A History Of Women And Desire, we learned a certain heartthrob of the Fifties had his trouser flies sewn up to keep him safe from women’s groping hands at film premieres. Which one? a) b) Paul Montgomery Newman Clift 7. c) SMALL Dirk Bogarde Data by Martin Lindstrom fascinating facts unearthed in March. many What colour toothbrush are 40 handles? per cent of the world’s a) Red b) Blue c) Green 8. BRIAN MacARTHUR loved photographer Ted Blackbrow’s memoir of 50 years on Fleet Street. Which two snooker players did Blackbrow persuade to play a frame in the middle of a desert? a) Steve Davis and
Jimmy White b) Stephen Hendry and
Jimmy White c) Steve Davis and
Stephen Hendry 9. WHO SAID, in a memoir published in April, that ‘you can’t call yourself director of the National Theatre until Harold Pinter calls you a s***’? a) Sir Trevor Nunn b) Sir Nicholas Hytner c) Sir Peter Hall 10. DAVID HEPWORTH’S Uncommon People, about rock stars, was favourably reviewed in May. Who said, ‘We’re the kind of band that if we moved in next to you, your lawn will die’? a) Lou Reed b) Frank Zappa c) Keith Richards