Tom's Toms Trivia Quiz

Answer: He was a prize-fighter

Cribb was born in Gloucestershire in 1781 and his first fight was in 1805. He won the championship by beating Jem Belcher in 1807. He was undefeated until he retired from the ring, although one of his victories over the black American Tom Molineaux was controversial.

In retirement he was a publican. His pub, the Union Arms in Panton Street off the Haymarket, was renamed the Tom Cribb in his honour in 1960.

Answer: Sophia Western

The other ladies all feature in Tom's love life, but it is Sophia, the daughter of his uncle's neighbour Squire Western, whom he marries.

Answer: Czechoslovakia

He was born Tomas Straussler at Zlin in Czechoslovakia (now in the Czech Republic) in 1937. His father was killed in Singapore during World War II: after the war his mother married a British officer and Tom took his stepfather's surname. He once said that his dramatic aim was "to achieve the perfect marriage between ideas and farce or high comedy".

Answer: Lady Godiva

The story is that Godiva, the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia in the 11th century, pleaded with her husband to reduce the heavy taxes that he had levied on the people of Coventry. He promised to do so only if she would ride naked through the city on market day.

She took him up on the offer and sent word to the townspeople, asking them to stay indoors when she rode through the streets; and they all did so, except a tailor called Tom, who peeped at her and was struck blind. Godiva and Leofric were historical personages, but the story of her ride does not appear in written records before the 13th century, and the tale of Tom is a much later addition.

Some people think there may be a grain of truth in the old story: for example, Godiva might have done some form of public penance for some reason in Coventry.

Answer: Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks' performance also won a Golden Globe award for best actor.

Answer: Rugby

The book is semi-autobiographical, being based on Hughes' own days at Rugby under the reforming headmaster Dr Thomas Arnold.

Answer: Gloucestershire

He joined Gloucestershire after his military service, and left the county in 1960 after a dispute about the captaincy. He later played for Worcestershire, and at the end of his career spent a year in Queensland as player and coach. For some reason he was widely regarded as an unreliable Test player, though his career average in Tests is as good as most of his contemporaries. For most of us who were lucky enough to see him, a Graveney cover-drive remains the standard by which we judge all others.

Answer: Oxford

Great Tom, weighing 7½ tons, is the great bell of Christ Church, the largest of Oxford's colleges. In former times the college had 101 scholars and they were required to be in college by nine o' clock, so the bell rang 101 times at that hour to summon them. Until 1884, time was determined locally in the UK; and Oxford, on longitude 1° 15' W, was five minutes behind Greenwich.

When Greenwich time was generally adopted, Christ Church stuck to its old usages, and the bell continues to be rung at 9:00 Oxford time, although today's undergraduates don't have to obey it.

Answer: Watson

Additionally, Tom Watson was three times winner of the Vardon Trophy, six times PGA of America Player of the Year and captain of two US Ryder Cup teams.

Answer: Victor Appleton

The Tom Swift books and many other popular series were produced by a syndicate masterminded by Edward L. Stratemeyer, who was what today's literary world calls a "book packager". Most of the Tom Swift books were written by a man called Howard Garis, but Victor Appleton was the pseudonym under which they appeared.

The books' hero, an ingenious inventor, seldom simply "says" anything: he "adds eagerly" or "smiles ruefully." Hence the punning "Tom Swiftie" joke.