But Where Did She Get Those Wonderful Titles?

15 Points Per Correct Answer - No time limit  

1. Whence did Christie take the title of ‘Taken at the Flood’? The poem ‘Enoch Arden’ by Alfred, Lord Tennyson The Book of Genesis ‘The Wasteland’ by T.S. Eliot Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’

2. Where did the title of ‘Postern of Fate’ come from? The Book of Revelations (The Revelation of St John) A poem by James Elroy Flecker Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ None of these

3. The title of Christie’s novel ‘The Pale Horse’ provides a vital clue as to the nature of the murders contained therein. Where did she get the title? Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ The Book of Job The Book of Revelations (The Revelation of St John) A nursery rhyme

4. One of her most popular novels, ‘The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side’, takes its title from a well-known poem - but which one? ‘The Lady of Shalott’ – Alfred, Lord Tennyson ‘Stanzas Written in Dejection Near Naples’ – Percy Bysshe Shelley ‘The Raven’ – Edgar Allan Poe ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ – John Keats

5. Dame Christie made enthusiastic use of nursery rhymes in choosing titles for her books. Which of these ‘playroom’ titles tells us nothing about either the characters or the plot? Hickory Dickory Dock One, Two, Buckle My Shoe And Then There Were None Five Little Pigs

6. ‘By the Pricking of My Thumbs’, another Tommy and Tuppence mystery, is one of Christie’s most chilling stories. It deals with a hidden room, a horrific murder and pure, cold-blooded insanity. Which theatrical source gave her the title? Goldsmith’s ‘She Stoops to Conquer’ Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ Shaw’s ‘Saint Joan’ Webster’s ‘The Duchess of Malfi’

7. Christie took a phrase used several times in the Book of Ecclesiastes as the title of another of her novels. Which novel is this? Evil Under the Sun Murder is Easy Death Comes as the End Ordeal by Innocence

8. A Christie mystery which begins ‘In my end is my beginning…’ (a line also used as the ending of the poem 'East Coker' from 'The Four Quartets' by T.S. Eliot) takes its title from a poem by William Blake. What is the poem? Auguries of Innocence Intimations of Immortality Jerusalem Absent in the Spring

9. The Miss Marple book, ‘The Moving Finger’, is a tale of blackmail. A mysterious letter-writer points the accusing finger at several people in the book. Which source provides the title’s inspiration: ‘the moving finger writes; and, having writ, moves on’? The Book of Daniel We can't know - the line actually appears in all three Coleridge’s ‘Kubla Khan’ Edward FitzGerald’s ‘The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam’

10. True or false: The title of ‘Sad Cypress’ is taken from a tragedy by William Shakespeare. True False