Welcome to Art & Literature Quiz #7. These are the opening lines to which famous books?

1. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”

2. “Call me Ishmael.”

3. “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

4. “It was a pleasure to burn.”

5. “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

6. “Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small, unregarded yellow sun.”

7. “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.”

8. “To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth.”

9. “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.”

10. “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”

Welcome to Art & Literature Quiz #6…

1. Which two cities are the settings for Charles Dickens’ ‘A Tale of Two Cities’?

2. ‘Pie Face’ is a character from which comic book series?

3. Where in London can you find ‘Poets’ Corner’?

4. Who designed St Paul’s Cathedral?

5. Who wrote ‘The Midnight Library’?

6. What is the name of Sherlock Holmes’ older brother?

7. What term can be used to describe totalitarian and authoritarian social practices?

8. Which art movement was developed in Europe in the aftermath of WWI in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself?

9. Which former British Prime Minister was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953?

10. In which decade did George Orwell write ‘1984’?

Welcome to Art & Literature Quiz #5…

1. Which novel was first published in Britain under the title ‘The Whale’?

2. What book was being carried by Mark David Chapman when he killed John Lennon in 1980?

3. In 2002, which tennis player published an autobiography entitled ‘Serious’?

4. In Greek mythology, who is the Goddess of love?

5. ‘The Day of the Jackal’ by Frederick Forsyth is about an assassination attempt on who?

6. In which city can you find the ‘Manneken Pis’?

7. Which Jane Austen novel features the ‘Bennet’ family?

8. What nationality was symbolist painter Gustav Klimt?

9. ‘Rip Van Winkle’ was a short story written by who?

10. In which city can you find the ‘Museo Nacional del Prado’?

Welcome to Art & Literature Quiz #4…

1. If a ‘Sonata’ is written for instruments, what is a ‘Cantata’ written for?

2. Which author created the character ‘Alex Cross’?

3. Which Don McClean song was written about Van Gogh?

4. In ‘The Big Bang Theory’ what type of classical instrument does ‘Leonard’ play?

5. Which Mime artist created the Clown-Harlequin ‘Bip’?

6. Where is the annual ‘Fringe Festival’ held?

7. What is the official name of London’s Drury Lane theatre?

8. Which fictional Barrister was created by John Mortimer?

9. Which male voice is between ‘Bass’ and ‘Tenor’?

10. What type of book is Samuel Pepys famous for?

Welcome to Art & Literature Quiz #3…

1. Published in 1920 ‘The Mysterious Affair at Styles’ was whose first novel?

2. Quentin Blake was the illustrator of whose children’s books?

3. In which century is the Victor Hugo novel ‘The Hunchback of Notre-Dame’ set?

4. In which European city can you find the ‘Prado Art Gallery’?

5. What is the first book of the old testament?

6. Which Dutch golden age painter created ‘The Night Watch’?

7. How many lines are there in a sonnet?

8. The Vincent van Gogh painting ‘Starry Night’ depicts a night sky full of stars over which river?

9. ‘Dr. No’ was the first James Bond film… but what was the first James Bond novel released by Ian Fleming?

10. Who penned the American classic ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’?

Welcome to Art & Literature Quiz #2…

1. Where is the Mona Lisa displayed?

2. Grant Wood’s 1930 painting entitled ‘American Gothic’, depicts a man and a woman holding what?

3. Which Italian city was the centre of ‘The Renaissance’?

4. ‘The Tate’ comprises four art museums. Two are in London, what are the other two English locations?

5. ‘The Patriot Games’, ‘Clear and Present Danger’ and ‘The Hunt for Red October’ are novels by which author?

6. The Charles Dickens character ‘Jack Dawkins’ is more commonly known by what name?

7. Who created the ‘Angel of the North’?

8. The ‘HAL 9000’ appears in which science fiction novel?

9. Pablo Picasso spent the majority of his adult life in which country?

10. Which sculptor produced a ‘Lobster Telephone’ in 1938?

Welcome to Art & Literature Quiz #1…

1. Which of George Orwell’s novels is a comedic parable about communism?

2. From which city was Edvard Munch’s ‘Scream’ painting stolen in 1994?

3. ‘Stand on Zanzibar’ is a 1968 new wave novel written by John Brunner. What future world issue provided the primary engine to his narrative?

4. Which Rene Magritte painting depicts a man dressed in a suit and bowler hat with an apple covering his face?

5. In which decade was J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ first published?

6. Which brand of soup did Andy Warhol paint?

7. What was J.K. Rowling’s pseudonym when she decided to write in a different genre?

8. In 2021, which online media giant acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company for a sum thought to be above £500m?

9. Whose autobiography was the 1995 book ‘Dreams From my Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance’?

10. Which art movement was Vincent Van Gogh a part of?