Once Upon An Eggshell Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jax, Ian, Pat and Ralf

When I was a child I used to head straight for the B section in the children's library and eagerly seize on anything new by Enid Blyton. My favourites were the various adventure series. I still remember the pleasure of gradually collecting an entire set of Famous Five books of my own which I still have to this day.

Roger and Diana, their orphan cousin Snubby (real name Peter) and Barney the circus boy (along with his pet monkey Miranda) are from the "R" mystery series, so-called because each of the six titles begins with the letter R.

Jack (another orphan), Peggy, and her younger twin brother and sister, Mike and Nora feature in the "Secret" series of books. Things start to get quite exotic from the second book onwards, when the children befriend Prince Paul of Baronia who has a private plane at his disposal among other things.

Philip, Dinah, Jack and Lucy-Ann are the children in the "Adventure" series. Jack owns a pet parrot called Kiki, much to the envy of all young readers.

Jax, Ian, Pat and Ralf are no strangers to adventure themselves, all being, at one time or other, leaders of the Scrambled Eggheads.

(Question and information submitted by emiloony)

Answer: Moon

Written by the gifted L.M. Montgomery, who also gave the world the gift of "Anne of Green Gables", the 1923 "Emily of New Moon" tells the story of a young girl who, upon the death of her father, is taken to live at her deceased mother's home, "New Moon", a beautiful property on Prince Edward Island. We share her life there with a strict and rigid Aunt Elizabeth, a loving Aunt Laura, her elderly cousin Jimmy, a horde of initially unfriendly class mates, her first ghastly teacher, Miss Brownell, Perry the hired boy, Jimmy, the boy who would one day become her husband, and her moody, tempestuous but loving friend, Ilse.

Emily is a deeper, more intense character than the lovely Anne from Green Gables, and many of the adventures she deals with in this wonderful book happened to Lucy Maud Montgomery herself as a girl. The book is rich with an array of other fascinating characters, engrossing story lines, a little mystery, and even a trace of the supernatural towards its close. I read it many times as a child, have read it to my own two girls, and hope one day to read it again to my eldest daughter's four year old twin girls who are busy right now having an argument that would rival any that Emily and Ilse ever had.

(Question and information submitted by Creedy)

Answer: Timmy

To this day I can remember the excitement I felt with the arrival of each new book. I would make a point of going to bed early in the evening to settle down with these treasures, often reading until well after midnight, being unable to put the book down until it was completely finished. I would even use a torch under the bedclothes so that my parents didn't realise I was still awake!

As a child I lived each adventure that Julian, Dick, Anne, Georgina (George) and their dog Timmy undertook; it was all so exciting at that young age, and I really could imagine I was there with them on Kirrin Island foiling the smugglers, or at each of the other seemingly mysterious locations to which their adventures took them.

Enid Blyton eventually wrote 21 books in the "Famous Five" series, far more than originally intended owing to the unprecedented demand for each new issue. Whilst I never read the later novels, as I was perhaps too grown up by the time they were published, I still have copies of the first thirteen books in the series.

(Question and information submitted by moonraker2)

Answer: Carrie's War

A war was raging many miles away in Europe, but "Carrie's War" was not about soldiers or fighting, but instead about the internal battles and coming of age of a young girl thrown into adulthood far too early. Instead of playing with childhood toys or games, 12 year old Carrie Willow and her younger brother were ripped from the bosom of their family to become evacuees of war, billeted far away from home amongst strangers in a small Welsh mining village.

Funny, sad and thought-provoking, the story provided us with a clever insight into the mind of a young child, how she adapted to her new surroundings as well as coming to terms with some of the complexities of the adult world from an early age.

What I found so magical about the book was the way the author, Nina Bawden, weaved her characters into the story and brought them to life. The bullying shopkeeper Mr Evans, friendly evacuee Albert Sandwich, mentally disabled Johnny Gotobed, and not forgetting the wise-woman, Hepzibah Green. The scents and smells the heartwarming Hepzibah created seemed so real that it felt like she was inviting the reader into her home, offering comforting food in her warm kitchen, while telling magical tales in front of a roaring fire. Each and every one of us should have a Hepzibah in our own family!

(Question and information submitted by Plodd)

Answer: Hilary Knight

Born in NY in 1926, Hilary Knight has illustrated over 50 books, but none more famous than "Eloise". His inspiration came from a painting his mother - herself an illustrator - did in the 1930s.

Alistair Sim was a character actor, famous for playing Scrooge.
Leslie Moonves is President and CEO of CBS.
Maurice Sendak was also an illustrator of children's books, most notably "Where The Wild Things Are".

(Question and information submitted by VanCoerte)

Answer: Mr Plod

The original Noddy books were published between 1949 and 1963.
Noddy had a best friend called Big Ears and drove a little yellow and red car. He also wore a blue hat with a bell on the end.
I loved Noddy as a young child and still love him as an old child!

(Question and information submitted by veronicavee)

Answer: Mr. Nilsson

Pippi Longstocking, who claims that her full name is Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Efraim's Daughter Longstocking, was the star of a series of books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. The first three chapter books were published in 1945-1948 followed by several picture books published from 1969 onwards. The books have been translated into over 60 languages.
I used to borrow the books from the library of the small town I grew up in and I still remember in which aisle and on what shelf I could find the Pippi Longstocking books.

(Question and information submitted by caparica)

Answer: A paperknife once owned by Margit Balicki

"The Silver Sword" by Ian Serraillier is a wonderful book about resilience and struggle in difficult times and how war affects ordinary people. Read it!

In the US, this book was published under the title "Escape From Warsaw".

(Question and information submitted by fallingman)

Answer: The kids were having 'too good a time without any parental control'

Children everywhere loved "The Boxcar Children" for the same reason librarians opposed it: the Boxcar Children were without parental control, and independent. Warner wrote 19 stories, and other writers still continue the saga. So far (in 2015) there are a total of 139 "Boxcar Children" mysteries and 21 specials, as well as a prequel, "The Boxcar Children Beginning: The Aldens of Fair Meadow Farm" by Patricia MacLachlan, famed author of "Sarah Plain and Tall".

(Question and information submitted by Coach_in_China)

Answer: Anthony Buckeridge

Apart from the "Jennings" books, Buckeridge was well-known for the Rex Milligan series, which also featured a schoolboy.
Buckeridge was born in London, UK and died in 2004 at the ripe old age of 92.

(Question and information submitted by Jennings)