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THE ULTIMATE

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Questions set by Alan Connor, author of The Joy of Quiz

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1WELCOMEThere is one point for every numbered question.

Hopefully, no answer can be provided instantly by the internet but internet searching (or browsing a local bookshop) may help, especially if you have a hunch to go on.

If any question looks hard, think more laterally! Good luck…

THE QUESTION SETTERAlan Connor is the author of the Penguin books Two Girls, One on Each Knee and The Joy of Quiz.

He is also a screenwriter, joke-writer and the question editor for various BBC quiz programmes.

THE JOY OF QUIZIn 1938 Britain started to quiz. Since then, quizzes have become ubiquitous entertainment from pubs to primetime, suffered major criminal investigations, created unlikely folk heroes and been subjected to the rigours of question checkers.

The Joy of Quiz tells the history of quiz and its makers, wonders how we came to make a game out of remembering scraps of information, looks at the tactics of professional quizzers and reveals the shadowy worlds of setters and checkers.

Along the way, it asks questions such as ‘What is a fact, anyway?’ and ‘Whatever happened to prizes like sandwich toasters?’

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2 BY ITS COVER (PART 1 OF 2)

On these pages, you give the titles of the butchered book covers below

(1) (2) (3)

(4) (5) (6)

THE JOY OF QUIZ ‘ An absolute delight’ Simon Humphreys, Mail on Sunday

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4 IF, THEN… (PART 1 OF 2)

On these pages, you fill the gaps…

(19) If 3 is nest and 2 is fire, what is 1?

(20) Likewise, if 1 is spy and 2 is schoolboy, what is 3?

(21) Complete the sample title which completes this progression:

7th: Monkey Puzzle

8th: Noughts and Crosses

9th: Goth Girl

10th: I A N S a I W N G t B

(22) If the 1st to die is his friend, the 2nd to die is her cousin, the 3rd to die is his mother and the 4th to die is her suitor… …who are the 5th and 6th to die?

and

(23) Give the location which completes this progression:

2013: New Zealand

2014: Australia (also Syria, Burma, Korea and Japan)

2015: Jamaica

2016:

THE JOY OF QUIZ ‘Book of the Day: an entertaining sideways social history’ John Gallagher, Guardian

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5 FAMILY AFFAIRS

On this page, you fill the missing first names in these fictional family trees

(Ages are approximate)

Robert Margaret

Jo Meg Beth (24)

(b. 1850s)

Fig Ada

(25)

(b.1890s)

Bob unnamed mother

Martha Belinda Peter unnamed siblings

(26) (b.1830s)

Henry unnamed mother

Isabella (27) (b.1874)

James Lily-Evans

(28)

(b.1980)

THE JOY OF QUIZ ‘An absolute must-read’ Richard Osman

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6 IF, THEN… (PART 2 OF 2)

On these pages, you fill the gaps…

(29) Which of 5, 4, 3 and 2 also belongs at 1?

5: Mus musculus (x2)

4: Oryctolagus cuniculus

3: Homo sapiens

2: Sciurus vulgaris

1:

(30) IF 1 is identity, 2 is supremacy and 3 is ultimatum, what is 4?

(31) Jane (youngest)

? (middle)

Agnes (oldest)

What is the missing single-word answer?

(32) Again, fill the gap:

* A Division of the Spoils (Scott)

* Quinx (Durrell)

* The Last Chronicle of Barset (Trollope)

* (Lewis)

(33) Finally, if snow is 7 and sneeze is 5, what is 1?

THE JOY OF QUIZ ‘Hugely entertaining… cheerfully fascinating’ Reader’s Digest

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THE JOY OF QUIZ ‘An absolute treasure trove of good stuff ’ Stuart Maconie, BBC Radio 6 Music

BY ITS COVER (PART 2 OF 2)

On these pages, you give the titles of the butchered book covers below

(34) (35) (36)

(37) (38) (39)

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8 GENIUS STEALS

On this page are the titles of ten literary works which take their names from other literary works. For example, if you saw “B. S. from To a S.”, you should write “Blithe Spirit; To a Skylark”. Give the titles, which may include well-known poems, plays, essays, etc. as well as novels.

(40) A H. of D. from The W. L.

;

(41) T. is the N. from O. to a N.

;

THE JOY OF QUIZ ‘ As a quiz lover, I feel this book could have been written for me’ Ray Blake, Amazon review

(42) A P. to I. from L. of G.

;

(43) The C. I. of the D. in the N.-T. from S. B.

;

(44) V. F. from The P.’s P.

;

(45) F. from the M. C. from E. W. in a C. C.

;

(46) The S.’ T. B. from The D. of M.

;

(47) Of M. and M. from To a M.

;

(48) The M. C.’d from S. to S. from The L. of S.

;

(49) B. N. W. from The T.

;

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THE ULTIMATE

BOOK QUIZ

Questions set by Alan Connor, author of The Joy of Quiz

Answers

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1 BY ITS COVER (PART 1 OF 2)

(1) A Clockwork Orange

(2) Charlotte’s Web

(3) The Great Gatsby

(4) To the Lighthouse

(5) Esio Trot

(6) The Long Goodbye

SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR

(7) John Grisham

(8) Virginia Woolf

(9) Carol Ann Duffy

(10) Oscar Wilde

(11) William Shakespeare

(12) Ludwig Wittgenstein

(13) Walter Scott

(14) Harold Pinter

(15) Stephen Fry

(16) Edgar Allan Poe

(17) Immanuel Kant

(18) Gabriel García Márquez

IF, THEN… (PART 1 OF 2)

(19) Tattoo (last words in titles of Steig Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy)

(20) People (last words of titles in John le Carré’s Karla Trilogy)

(21) any book (co-)authored by Lauren Child (successive Children’s Laureates)

(22) Romeo and Juliet

(23) Los Angeles / LA suburb / Dickens (locations of successive Booker winners)

FAMILY AFFAIRS

(24) Amy (March, Little Women)

(25) Judith (Starkadder, Cold Comfort Farm)

(26) (Tiny) Tim(othy) (Cratchett, A Christmas Carol)

(27) Emma (Woodhouse, Emma)

(28) Harry (Potter, Harry Potter series)

THE JOY OF QUIZ ‘Book of the Day: an entertaining sideways social history’ John Gallagher, Guardian

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2 IF, THEN… (PART 2 OF 2)

(29) Oryctolagus cuniculus (species in titles of Beatrix Potter books)

(30) Legacy (last words of titles in Robert Ludlum’s Bourne series)

(31) Wuthering (first words, titles of first novels by the Brontë sisters, all publ. 1847)

(32) The Last Battle (final book in sets of 4, 5, 6, 7)

(33) Tickle (Roger Hargreaves’ Mr. Men series)

BY ITS COVER (PART 2 OF 2)

(34) The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾

(35) Emil and the Detectives

(36) Lady Chatterley’s Lover

(37) The Grapes of Wrath

(38) Anne of Green Gables

(39) Animal Farm

GENIUS STEALS

(40) A Handful of Dust The Waste Land

(41) Tender Is the Night Ode to a Nightingale

(42) A Passage to India Leaves of Grass

(43) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Silver Blaze

(44) Vanity Fair The Pilgrim’s Progress

(45) Far From the Madding Crowd Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

(46) The Stars’ Tennis Balls The Duchess of Malfi

(47) Of Mice and Men To a Mouse

(48) The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side The Lady of Shalott

(49) Brave New World The Tempest

THE JOY OF QUIZ (1) ‘ An absolute delight’ Simon Humphreys, Mail on Sunday