Arts and Books Mixed Bag 3 Trivia Quiz

Answer: P.D James

Phyllis Dorothy James was born in Oxford in 1920. She became Baroness James of Holland Park in 1991. Dalgliesh featured in her debut novel, 'Cover Her Face' in 1962 and he has since appeared in more than a dozen more. She also created the female private detective Cordelia Gray.
The alternatives each created their own memorable sleuth -- Dexter was the inspiration behind Inspector Morse, Wingfield gave us Inspector Jack Frost, and Rendell wrote a series of novels featuring Chief Inspector Wexford.

Answer: Gringotts

All of the above options are the names of institutions located in Diagon Alley, but it is at Gringotts Bank that witches and wizards keep their money and other valuables. Their greedy nature makes goblins ideal bankers but, just in case, the lower vaults are also guarded by dragons.
For the record, Ollivanders are 'Makers of Fine Wands', Madam Malkin's provides 'Robes for All Occasions' and Eeylops is the 'Owl Emporium'.

Answer: Botticelli

Sandro Botticelli, or Il Botticello (meaning 'the little barrel') produced some the best-known works of the early Florentine school. His classic 'Primavera', which depicts numerous mythological gods, and his 'The Birth of Venus', which shows the goddess as a naked woman who has emerged from the sea, can both be seen at the Uffizi in Florence.

A number of his frescoes including 'Sixtus II', 'The Punishment of Korah' and 'The Temptation of Christ' adorn the walls of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. Of the alternatives, Gentile Bellini was of the same era as Botticelli, born in 1429, but he was from Venice. Titian was also Venetian, and later (born 1485). Donatello was from Florence, but earlier (born 1386) and better known as a sculptor than a painter.

Answer: Kipling's 'Gunga Din'

Best-known for its oft-quoted last line "You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!", this epic is one of Rudyard Kipling's most famous poems. Written in 1892 and set in British India, where Kipling himself was born, the poem tells the story of a native water-carrier who saves a soldier's life at the expense of his own.

Answer: Puccini's 'Tosca'

The fifth of Puccini's twelve operas, 'Tosca' premiered in January 1900 and is still in the Top Ten of 'most-performed operas' today. It is set in Rome at the beginning of the 19th Century. The three characters mentioned in the question are the leading tenor, baritone and bass roles respectively, with the title character, Floria Tosca, played by the soprano.

Answer: Uncle Tom's Cabin

Set in Kentucky, Harriet Beecher Stowe's work is now widely regarded as the most important of all anti-slavery novels. Subtitled 'Life Among the Lowly', it was the best-selling novel of the 19th Century and had a profound effect on attitudes in the period leading up to the Civil War.

Indeed, Abraham Lincoln is quoted as having said, "So this is the little lady who made this big war", when he met Stowe early in the conflict. The alternatives were also classic novels first published in the 1850s. 'The House of Seven Gables' is an American classic by Nathaniel Hawthorne published in 1851, 'Bleak House' by Charles Dickens came out in book form in 1853, and Gustave Flaubert's controversial 'Madame Bovary' was released in 1857.

Answer: The Valkyries

Valhallah is the mythical home of Odin. The Valkyries escort the Einherjar, the souls of the greatest warriors, to Valhallah. There they wait to defend the gods at Ragnarok, which is to be the final great battle between the gods and their enemies. Those deemed unworthy by the Valkyries go to Hel, the underworld of the dead.
The other alternatives are also races from the nine worlds of Norse mythology -- the Alfar are elves from Alfheimr, and the Jotnar are giants from Jotunheimr.

Answer: Carousel

Molnar's original book was set in Budapest, but Rogers & Hammerstein relocated the story to a fishing village somewhere on the New England coast. The use of this particular novel made 'Carousel' unique in that it was the first 'tragic' musical. The show debuted on Broadway in 1945 and featured such memorable songs as 'June is Bustin' Out All Over' and 'You'll Never Walk Alone'.

Answer: Fyodor Dostoevsky

Renowned as both a novelist and a short-story writer, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born in Moscow in 1821. Although he was once imprisoned and sentenced to death for being an intellectual radical, Dostoevsky died a national hero and his grandiose tomb can be seen at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersberg.

Besides 'Crime and Punishment', first published in monthly installments in 1866, his notable works include 'The Brothers Karamazov' and the controversial 'Notes from Underground'. Of the alternatives, Nabokov's best-known novel was the controversial 'Lolita', published in 1955 and made into a film by Stanley Kubrick in 1962. Chekhov wrote primarily short stories and plays, notably 'The Seagull' and 'The Cherry Orchard'. Although best known as a poet in his home country, the rest of the world remembers Pasternak for the epic 'Dr. Zhivago'.

Answer: Edouard Manet

Manet was one of the key figures in the movement from Realism to Impressionism. Most of his works depict 'modern life' -- he painted Parisians at the opera, watching horse-racing and skating, plus numerous Paris café scenes. Both of the paintings referred to in the question can be seen in Musee d'Orsay in Paris, although an earlier, smaller version of 'Luncheon' hangs in the Courtauld Gallery in London.
The three alternatives were all younger than Manet -- Monet was born in Paris in 1840, Renoir in Limoges in 1841, and Gauguin, another Parisian, in 1848.