Austen birthday quiz
My friend in the Midlands, Christopher Sandrawich, sent me the quiz he prepared for his society’s Austen birthday dinner, and with his permission, I offer it here. I did not excel at the quiz, but I hope you have better luck. I will offer the answers next week, after my own Denver-Boulder JASNA region’s birthday tea this coming Sunday.
- What is Mr Darcy’s first name?
- Who did Sir John Middleton marry? (Lady Middleton gets zero marks)
- What is Mr Elton’s first name? (Again, Reverend gets zero marks)
- What are the first names of Admiral Crawford’s nephew and niece?
- What is the first name of Isabella Thorpe’s empty-headed, boastful brother?
- What is Mrs Clay’s first name?
- What are the missing words in this remark from Elizabeth to Darcy?
“But if it [love] be only a slight, thin sort of inclination, I am convinced that ___ ___ ___ will starve it entirely away.” - What name is evoked both by Mr Willoughby and by Mercutio (Romeo’s friend)?
- “… Emma and her nephews: in her imagination it maintained its ground, and Henry and John were still asking every day for the story of ___ ___ ___ ___, and still tenaciously setting her right if she varied in the slightest particular from the original recital.”
What are the missing words that tell us what the recited “story” is about?
- What name (character) do Mansfield Park and the novels of Harry Potter have in common?
- Who, here, is thinking of whom?
“He could not be accountable for his children’s want of spirits, or for her want of enjoyment in his company. The former she hoped at last might have been accidental, and the latter she could only attribute to her own stupidity.”
- What three things about Mrs Clay’s appearance does Anne initially think Sir Walter Elliot is constantly being severe about in her (Mrs Clay’s) absence?
- Who is speaking and to whom?
“No, no; stay where you are. You are charmingly grouped, and appear to uncommon advantage. The picturesque would be spoilt by admitting a fourth. Good-bye.”
- What did Willoughby have at Marlborough and what name did he give to this incidental meal?
- What Hampshire word is used in describing Frank Churchill’s busy activity in mending Mrs Bates spectacles?
- What part in “Lovers’ Vows” does Mr Rushworth agree to play: and how many speeches does he have?
- Who is speaking to whom?
“Do you understand muslins, sir?”“Particularly well; I always buy my own cravats, and am allowed to be an excellent judge; and my sister has often trusted me in the choice of a gown. I bought one for her the other day, and it was pronounced to be a prodigious bargain by every lady who saw it. I gave but five shillings a yard for it, and a true Indian muslin.”
- Who is speaking and to whom?
“… I had heard you described by those who knew you intimately. I have been acquainted with you by character many years. Your person, your disposition, accomplishments, manner: they were all described, they were all present to me.”
And now the answers. Click here to reveal.