Author Biography: TabbyTom

1.

  Title Characters - 10 questions - 4 mins

A literary work is often named after its main character. Some titles are descriptions of characters, not names. For example, in John Fowles' novel, Sarah Woodruff is "The French Lieutenant's Woman." How many of these title characters can you identify?

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Apr 26 07

Category: Literary Titles

Average
TabbyTom
7553 plays

2.

  The Lyrics of Noel Coward - 10 questions - 4 mins

For his devotees, Coward is "the Master," but he seems to have been overlooked so far on Fun Trivia. So here are a few questions, mainly about his better known songs.

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Feb 23 13

Category: Coward, Noel

Average
TabbyTom
2368 plays

3.

  French Literature 842 - 1980 - 20 questions - 7 mins

When I took some of the quizzes in the "Literature by Region" sub-category, I was surprised to see that there was very little material on French literature. So I've tried to produce a quiz, if only to encourage someone else to do better.

Tough, 20 Qns, TabbyTom, Jun 27 07

Category: French Literature

Tough
TabbyTom
2195 plays

4.

  London Alphabeticals No 2 - 25 questions - 7 mins

For anyone who enjoyed my first "London Alphabetical" quiz, here is a second on the same theme. Again, the main source of information is the London Encyclopaedia compiled by Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert and published by Macmillan.

Average, 25 Qns, TabbyTom, Feb 23 18

Category: London

Average
TabbyTom
Feb 23 18
8487 plays

5.

  London Alphabeticals - 25 questions - 6 mins

I've had a few compliments on my "UK Alphabeticals" quiz, so here is a similar quiz restricted to London. Non-Brits may find it difficult. My main source of information is Weinreb and Hibbert's London Encyclopaedia, published by Macmillan.

Average, 25 Qns, TabbyTom, Feb 22 22

Category: Specific Cities and Towns

Average
TabbyTom
Feb 22 22
7416 plays

6.

  UK Alphabeticals - 25 questions - 6 mins

I enjoyed Jim_in_Oz's quiz "Aussie Alphabeticals", and so I've tried to create an alphabetical quiz for the UK, with a question for every letter except X.

Average, 25 Qns, TabbyTom, Dec 27 22

Category: Mixed UK

Average
TabbyTom
Dec 27 22
7966 plays

7.

  My True Love Guild To Me - 7th Day - 10 questions - 4 mins

Quiz Maker Guild author Tabby Tom has wrapped a Christmas quiz gift of "Seven Swans A-Swimming." See how much you know about swans, swimmers and heptads (groups of seven).

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Dec 29 12

Category: Twelve Days of Christmas

Tough
TabbyTom
9361 plays

8.

  Streets of London - 10 questions - 3 mins

"Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London" and see how many you can recognize from their brief descriptions.

Easier, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, May 08 16

Category: London

Easier
TabbyTom
1191 plays

9.

  Eponymous Noblemen - 10 questions - 5 mins

Many things are named after their discoverers or inventors. If these were British noblemen, the name that's used may be the title, not the surname. Can you work out the titles of the following nobs who have left their mark on the language?

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Jun 10 18

Category: Eponyms (Words from Names)

Average
TabbyTom
Jun 10 18
3675 plays

10.

  È La Solita Storia (It's The Same Old Story!) - 10 questions - 4 mins

According to some literary critics, there are only a tiny number of really different dramatic plots. So if you go to the opera often, you will probably find a lot of similarities between the stories.

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Feb 03 13

Category: Opera

Average
TabbyTom
295 plays

11.

  The UK According to Whitaker: 1900 - 10 questions - 4 mins

I've recently bought a facsimile reprint of Whitaker's Almanac (a British reference book) for 1900. From it I've culled the following ten questions about the UK at the end of the nineteenth century.

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Jul 10 20

Category: 1900s UK History

Average
TabbyTom
Jul 10 20
2851 plays

12.

  Let's All Go Down The Strand - 10 questions - 4 mins

The title of this quiz is from the chorus of an old music-hall song. But what will you see if you follow this advice, walking from west to east along one of London's most famous streets, in 2013?

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Feb 08 13

Category: London

Average
TabbyTom
714 plays

13.

  London Churches - 10 questions - 4 mins

Even for those of us with no religious belief, London's churches are important landmarks and many are architectural masterpieces. Can you recognize a few central London churches?

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Jun 13 16

Category: Religious Buildings

Average
TabbyTom
Jun 13 16
223 plays

14.

  London In Literature - 15 questions - 6 mins

Naturally enough, a lot of English literature is concerned with the capital, and many authors are intimately associated with the city. Here is a quiz on London in literature from the fourteenth to the twentieth centuries.

Tough, 15 Qns, TabbyTom, Feb 22 23

Category: British Literature

Tough
TabbyTom
Feb 22 23
2597 plays

15.

  Poetic Parodies - 10 questions - 5 mins

Verse parody in English is as least as old as Chaucer, but this quiz deals with the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Can you identify the poets who are the authors or targets of ten parodies?

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Dec 25 16

Category: Name the Poet

Average
TabbyTom
Dec 25 16
2214 plays

16.

  Historic Hastings - 10 questions - 5 mins

Every Brit knows about the Battle of Hastings, but the town has also made a few other contributions to British history. This quiz calls for a general knowledge of British history and life rather than a detailed knowledge of Hastings.

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Jun 30 11

Category: British Local History

Tough
TabbyTom
1327 plays

17.

  "Done into English": 1,000 Years of Translation - 10 questions - 5 mins

Translation is an under-appreciated art. Much of it may be hackwork, but for a thousand years the best translators have been enabling readers of English to understand and enjoy the world's masterpieces in that language.

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Jan 02 21

Category: Tougher Mixed Literature

Tough
TabbyTom
Jan 02 21
1454 plays

18.

  Written in Prison - 10 questions - 5 mins

Throughout the ages, writers have fallen foul of the law, sometimes because of their writings and sometimes for other reasons; so it's not really surprising that many works of literature were written in prison. This quiz deals with a few of them.

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Mar 28 15

Category: Author's Life

Average
TabbyTom
763 plays

19.

  Early Days of ITV - 10 questions - 4 mins

Independent (i.e. commercial) television came to Britain in 1955, and soon gained the biggest share of the rapidly expanding TV audience. This quiz covers some of its best known programmes from the 1950s.

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Mar 08 04

Category: UK Classic TV

Average
TabbyTom
1859 plays

20.

  Private Eye - 10 questions - 5 mins

Founded in 1961, "Private Eye" has become Britain's best known satirical periodical. This quiz deals with some of its main features through the years.

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Nov 26 07

Category: UK Newspapers

Tough
TabbyTom
415 plays

21.

  British Reference Books - 10 questions - 4 mins

Dedicated trivia buffs need to be acquainted with reference books. This quiz deals with some of the better known British works.

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Jan 08 14

Category: Non-Fiction

Average
TabbyTom
991 plays

22.

  Victorian and Edwardian Music Hall - 10 questions - 4 mins

The British music hall has gone the way of the bustle, the gas mantle and the hansom cab, but a few snatches of its songs live on in the folk memory. This quiz covers some of the best known.

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Apr 24 09

Category: 1930s Music and before

Average
TabbyTom
732 plays

23.

  Operatic Aliases and Disguises - 10 questions - 5 mins

Opera plots frequently revolve around intrigue and deception, and so it's not surprising that characters sometimes assume false names or appearances. Can you solve these questions of operatic identity?

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Apr 10 22

Category: Opera

Average
TabbyTom
Apr 10 22
282 plays

24.

  Author Anagrams - 15 questions - 11 mins

Fifteen British and American authors introduce themselves with anagrams of their names (in capitals) and a few more clues (usually references to their works). Many anagrams were generated by Anagram Genius software. Fill in the blanks with the names.

Difficult, 15 Qns, TabbyTom, Aug 17 05

Category: Writers & Authors

Difficult
TabbyTom
2152 plays

25.

  We're the Men from Sussex! - 10 questions - 4 mins

"We plough and sow and reap and mow, and useful men are we," according to our county song, and we do plenty of other things as well. Can you identify these Sussex men?

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Jun 05 16

Category: England

Average
TabbyTom
Jun 05 16
199 plays

26.

  The City Of Oxford - 10 questions - 4 mins

We've all heard of Oxford University, and the aptly-named Frideswide has an excellent quiz on it. But Oxford isn't just an academic centre, and so here is a quiz about the city and its history which has little connection with its famous seat of learning.

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Apr 27 18

Category: Southern England

Tough
TabbyTom
Apr 27 18
704 plays

27.

  Sir Walter Raleigh - 10 questions - 5 mins

Explorer, soldier, courtier, lover, poet, historian, - Sir Walter Raleigh was all of these. Here are a few questions on his unusually varied life.

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Aug 11 05

Category: People Q-S

Tough
TabbyTom
1197 plays

28.

  The Life Of John Milton - 10 questions - 5 mins

How much do you know about the life of one of our greatest (and probably least likeable) poets?

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Feb 13 04

Category: Milton, John

Tough
TabbyTom
738 plays

29.

  Guilding the Stone - June - 10 questions - 5 mins

The Quiz Makers Guild monthly birthstones series reaches June - the pearl, according to the American Gem Society. This quiz explores some of the cultural associations of the pearl.

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, May 23 09

Category: Guilding the Stone

Tough
TabbyTom
998 plays

30.

  The Life Of Samuel Johnson - 10 questions - 5 mins

I've always been an admirer of Samuel Johnson, both as a man and as a writer. If you share my tastes, can you answer the following questions on his life?

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Mar 25 03

Category: Johnson, Samuel

Tough
TabbyTom
430 plays

31.

  Hogarth - 10 questions - 5 mins

Beef-eating, beer-swilling Englishmen like me feel an affinity for Hogarth; but I hope he's more widely appreciated. Here are a few questions on his life and work. All the pictures mentioned are on the web, though the originals are nearly all in London.

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Mar 09 22

Category: People H-J

Tough
TabbyTom
Mar 09 22
712 plays

32.

  Art Under Attack - 10 questions - 7 mins

This quiz is a response to a challenge from kevinatilusa. Many of us know little about art, but we know what we don't like. Can you answer these questions on critical condemnation over two centuries?

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Dec 11 09

Category: Art History

Tough
TabbyTom
749 plays

33.

  Kipling's British History - 10 questions - 4 mins

Inspired by LilahDeDah's "Kipling World Tour," I've attempted a quiz on British history in Kipling's verse. My main source is "Kipling's English History" by Marghanita Laski, based on a BBC radio series. I haven't retained Kipling's Cockney spellings.

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Dec 28 04

Category: Kipling, Rudyard

Average
TabbyTom
506 plays

34.

  The Wallace Collection - 10 questions - 5 mins

People called Wallace have distinguished themselves in many fields. How much do you know about these Wallaces?

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Sep 17 08

Category: Same Surname

Tough
TabbyTom
684 plays

35.

  Nell Gwyn - 10 questions - 5 mins

The mistresses of British kings can be numbered in hundreds, but one of the best known and best loved is Eleanor ("Nell") Gwyn. This quiz is based largely on Derek Parker's biography of her, published by Sutton Publishing in 2000.

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Mar 20 11

Category: People E-G

Tough
TabbyTom
773 plays

36.

  British Measurements - 10 questions - 4 mins

The UK has succumbed to the Système International d'Unités (a.k.a. the metric system), but old units are still remembered and sometimes used in some activities. How much do you know about these?

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Sep 01 22

Category: Measurements, Time and Distance

Average
TabbyTom
Sep 01 22
2146 plays

37.

  Early Days Of English Cricket - 10 questions - 6 mins

Most cricket quizzes seem to deal with very recent history, so I'm trying to balance, by going back to the days when the game was taking shape.

Difficult, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Jan 10 05

Category: England

Difficult
TabbyTom
849 plays

38.

  Literary Heavyweights - 10 questions - 4 mins

Having been overweight for most of my life, I tend to feel sympathetic towards generously proportioned literary figures. Can you identify these literary references?

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Feb 08 14

Category: Literary Characters

Tough
TabbyTom
372 plays

39.

  April 22nd in History - 10 questions - 4 mins

Like other quizmakers, I've been tempted to make a quiz about events that happened on my birthday. In my case, that's April 22nd. Main sources: "The Wordsworth Book of Days" and "Encyclopaedia Britannica".

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Apr 27 03

Category: April May June

Average
TabbyTom
816 plays

40.

  Doctors in Literature - 10 questions - 5 mins

Some fictional doctors are selfless saviours, some are unscrupulous quacks, and some are just fairly ordinary human beings. Here are a few questions on physicians in literature.

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Feb 08 14

Category: Literary Occupations

Tough
TabbyTom
952 plays

41.

  Guild-y as Sin: Sloth - 10 questions - 5 mins

In 1321, Dante climbed the terraces of Purgatory and saw a new deadly sin on each level. Now the Quiz Makers' Guild is making the same trip, and seeing things Dante never dreamed of. The fourth level is Sloth. Coming soon: Greed, by patricck.

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Aug 26 17

Category: Thematic Abstract Ideas

Average
TabbyTom
Aug 26 17
411 plays

42.

  London in Quotations - 10 questions - 6 mins

The British capital has been celebrated and execrated in prose, poetry and song for centuries. Can you answer a few questions about a cross-section of quotes?

Very Difficult, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Nov 10 05

Category: U.K. People

Very Difficult
TabbyTom
1445 plays

43.

  Quotes by Dr Johnson - 25 questions - 8 mins

In just about any dictionary of English quotations, Dr Johnson is one of the main sources with his unique mixture of wit, wisdom and downright rudeness. How well do you know his sayings?

Tough, 25 Qns, TabbyTom, Aug 01 08

Category: Complete The Quote

Tough
TabbyTom
1113 plays

44.

  Quotes About History - 10 questions - 5 mins

History has been argued about since ancient times, so it's not surprising that many prominent men and women have voiced opinions about it. Do you recognize these quotations?

Difficult, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Feb 15 14

Category: Quotes

Difficult
TabbyTom
716 plays

45.

  Authors' Dedications - 10 questions - 6 mins

Authors use the device of the dedication to express all kinds of feelings for others. This quiz takes ten dedications from the "Bloomsbury Dictionary of Dedications" by Adrian Room. The dedication itself often gives some kind of clue to the answer.

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Feb 25 22

Category: Literature: Something in Common

Tough
TabbyTom
Feb 25 22
629 plays

46.

  George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman Novels - 10 questions - 4 mins

Fraser's novels take up the story of Harry Flashman, the villain of 'Tom Brown's Schooldays'. In a series of racily written and superbly researched books, Fraser shows us how Flashman climbed to the top of the tree in Victorian England.

Average, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Feb 04 07

Category: Fraser, George Macdonald

Average
TabbyTom
700 plays

47.

  Oxford in Quotations - 10 questions - 6 mins

Here are just a few of the many quotations inspired by the city and university of Oxford.

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Feb 11 05

Category: U.K. People

Tough
TabbyTom
469 plays

48.

  Tom's Toms - 10 questions - 5 mins

Ten questions on ten Toms from real life and fiction.

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Aug 01 05

Category: First Names T-Z

Tough
TabbyTom
806 plays

49.

  Title Characters No 2 - 10 questions - 5 mins

Can you identify the characters who are described in the titles of ten literary works (e.g. Sarah Woodruff, in John Fowles' novel, is "The French Lieutenant's Woman")?

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Jan 19 14

Category: Literary Titles

Tough
TabbyTom
1218 plays

50.

  The Clergy in English Literature - 10 questions - 5 mins

The clergy has figured largely in English literature over the centuries. Here are a few questions about fictional clerics.

Tough, 10 Qns, TabbyTom, Feb 08 14

Category: Literary Occupations

Tough
TabbyTom
557 plays