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'84, Charing Cross Road' Trivia Quiz

The late Helene Hanff burst on the literary scene with this collection of letters she wrote for two decades to a used book store. Now it's a minor classic.

A multiple-choice quiz by tjoebigham. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
tjoebigham

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
58,991

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
20

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
12 / 20

Plays
612

Awards
Top 20% Quiz

Last 3 plays: Guest 193 (9/20), Guest 101 (18/20), Guest 80 (10/20).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 20

1. What was the store? Hint

Waldenbooks

Barnes and Noble

Powell's

Marks and Co.

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Question 2 of 20

2. Where was the store located? Hint

Paris, France

London, England

Sydney, Australia

Dublin, Ireland

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Question 3 of 20

3. Who was Helene's main correspondent? Hint

Frank Doel

Winston Churchill

Cecily Farr

George Orwell

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Question 4 of 20

4. What authors did Helene first receive? Hint

Keats and Shelley

Donne and Marvell

Shakespeare and Marlowe

Hazlitt and Stevenson

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Question 5 of 20

5. True or False: Helene once ordered a Bible.

Answer: (One Word)

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Question 6 of 20

6. What did Helene send over to the booksellers? Hint

tea

linen

food

coal

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Question 7 of 20

7. For what dish did Helene get a receipe? Hint

Yorkshire Pudding

Lobster Newburg

Veal Picatta

Salisbury Steak

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Question 8 of 20

8. Whose diary did Helene order? Hint

Thomas Mann

Anne Frank

Samuel Pepys

Henry David Thoreau

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Question 9 of 20

9. What TV mystery show did Helene write scripts for? Hint

Dragnet

Sherlock Holmes

Ellery Queen

Richard Diamond

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Question 10 of 20

10. What Christmas gift did Helene get from the shop? Hint

A dreidel

A tablecloth

hosiery

A scarf

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Question 11 of 20

11. Who was the English professor who inspired Helene's love of literature? Hint

William Strunck,Jr.

Noah Chomsky

William Lyon Phelps

Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch

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Question 12 of 20

12. Who was the author of a fishing treatise that Helene ordered? Hint

Robert Hughes

Izaak Walton

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Zane Grey

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Question 13 of 20

13. Who was the novelist who ended Helene's bias against fiction? Hint

Daphne DuMaurier

Henry Green

L.P. Hartley

Jane Austen

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Question 14 of 20

14. What author did Helene NOT order? Hint

John Donne

Charles Lamb

Laurence Sterne

W. Somerset Maugham

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Question 15 of 20

15. True or false: Helene once ordered musical scores.

Answer: (One Word)

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Question 16 of 20

16. What happened to Helene in 1956? Hint

her dog died

her apartment caught fire

she was evicted

she caught the flu

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Question 17 of 20

17. What was the main reason Helene couldn't visit the shop? Hint

dental bills

fear of flying

bankruptcy

emergency surgery

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Question 18 of 20

18. Did Helene ever order paperbacks?

Answer: (One Word (yes or no))

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Question 19 of 20

19. What happened in 1968? Hint

the shop burned down

she visited England

her books burned in a fire

Frank Doel died

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Question 20 of 20

20. Did Helene ever visit the shop?

Answer: (One Word (yes or no))

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Most Recent Scores

Feb 21 2024 : Guest 193: 9/20
Feb 21 2024 : Guest 101: 18/20
Feb 19 2024 : Guest 80: 10/20

Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. What was the store?

Answer: Marks and Co.

'Marks and Co.', by the way, did not stand for 'and company', but for 'Marks and Cohen', the partners who owned the store.

2. Where was the store located?

Answer: London, England

The title of the book referred to the London street where the shop was.

3. Who was Helene's main correspondent?

Answer: Frank Doel

For two decades she and Doel wrote letters to each other.

4. What authors did Helene first receive?

Answer: Hazlitt and Stevenson

They were the 'Selected Essays' of essayist William Hazlitt and 'Virginibus Puerisque' by Stevenson.

5. True or False: Helene once ordered a Bible.

Answer: true

Though Jewish, she expressed interest in having an old Vulgate Bible.

6. What did Helene send over to the booksellers?

Answer: food

For some time after World War Two Britain was still on food rationing, so Helene's shipping of eggs, meat and other foodstuffs was very welcome.

7. For what dish did Helene get a receipe?

Answer: Yorkshire Pudding

The 'pudding' is really a light, hollow pastry.

8. Whose diary did Helene order?

Answer: Samuel Pepys

Pepys' diary is a window into the world of seventeenth century England.

9. What TV mystery show did Helene write scripts for?

Answer: Ellery Queen

Before the 70's version with Jim Hutton in the title role, there was the 50's version.

10. What Christmas gift did Helene get from the shop?

Answer: A tablecloth

It was a hand-embroidered linen tablecloth made by a next-door neighbor of the shop.

11. Who was the English professor who inspired Helene's love of literature?

Answer: Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch

Best known as 'Q', Quiller-Couch wrote volumes on literature that Helene read in the Depression when she couldn't attend college.

12. Who was the author of a fishing treatise that Helene ordered?

Answer: Izaak Walton

It was the classic 'The Compleat Angler'. She also got Walton's 'Lives', biographies on many of Walton's contemporaries.

13. Who was the novelist who ended Helene's bias against fiction?

Answer: Jane Austen

She went gaga over 'Pride and Prejudice'.

14. What author did Helene NOT order?

Answer: W. Somerset Maugham

She was interested only in the older English authors.

15. True or false: Helene once ordered musical scores.

Answer: true

Handel's 'Messiah' and Bach's 'Saint Matthew Passion'.

16. What happened to Helene in 1956?

Answer: she was evicted

She was evicted from her old apartment.

17. What was the main reason Helene couldn't visit the shop?

Answer: dental bills

The cost of dental surgery was a big block to her visiting Marks and Co.

18. Did Helene ever order paperbacks?

Answer: no

She was a diehard lover of old hardcover books.

19. What happened in 1968?

Answer: Frank Doel died

The death of her longtime correspondent on December 22, 1968 was a great blow to her.

20. Did Helene ever visit the shop?

Answer: yes

Thanks to the sales of her book, Helene finally visited England and though the shop had closed for good, she finally saw the bookshop that was a part of her life all those years.

Source: Author tjoebigham

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