The Life and Works of Wilkie Collins

15 Points Per Correct Answer - No time limit  

1. What was the occupation of Wilkie's father, William Collins? Doctor Lawyer Artist Merchant

2. What was Wilkie Collins' first job after leaving school at the age of seventeen? Clerk to a firm of tea merchants Cabinet maker's apprentice Lawyer at Lincoln's Inn Court Bookseller's assistant

3. What was the title of Wilkie Collins' first published book? Antonina, or the Fall of Rome The Law and The Lady Rambles Beyond Railways Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq, RA

4. How many times was Wilkie Collins married? Once Never Twice Three times

5. From what illness did Collins suffer throughout most of his adult life? Schizophrenia Haemophilia Rheumatic gout Diabetes

6. Which other 19th century novelist was a close friend of Wilkie Collins, collaborating with him on several short stories and plays? William Makepeace Thackeray Thomas Hardy Charles Dickens Lewis Carroll

7. Which of Collins' books, featuring the private detective Sergeant Cuff, was famously described by T.S. Eliot as "the first, the longest and the best of modern English detective novels"? The Moonstone The Black Robe The Haunted Hotel Armadale

8. Which Wilkie Collins novel, often considered to be his greatest work, includes among its characters a scheming Italian count, a secretive baronet, a poor drawing master and a mysterious woman who has escaped from an asylum? The Evil Genius Blind Love The Woman in White The Queen of Hearts

9. In 1862 the publisher Sampson Low paid Collins £3,000 for the rights to his latest novel - a record amount at the time. Which novel was this? No Name The Dead Secret The Guilty River The Moonstone

10. In which year did Wilkie Collins die, several months after suffering a stroke? 1889 1865 1876 1901