Ben Aaronovitch Trivia

1. The shop manager in the London Silver Vaults recalls the name of a lady by saying it was from a poem by Richard Lovelace, which was then recorded by Fairport Convention. What is the lady's first name?

From Quiz Peter Grant Gets Amongst Our Weapons

Answer: Althea

The full title of the poem is "To Althea, from prison". As the book claims, this was recorded by Fairport Convention, back in 1973 on the album "Nine". The best-known lines (to my mind) from this poem are: "Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage" In the context of the book, the first victim had been in the London Silver Vaults demanding that the store produce a ring that he believed his ex-wife, Althea had sold to them. Sudden, unexplained death followed, so the staff of the Folly get involved and the tale begins.

From Quiz The October Man

Answer: Trier

According to Tobias Winter, the narrator of this tale, Trier was voted Germany's quaintest town 5 years running. He also claims that the main public order issue in the town is at the local wine fair. In the mundane world Trier is on the German-Luxemburg border and sits in the wine making region of Moselle. The town has a less attractive place in history. It was the site of one of the largest witch trials in history in the late sixteenth century. Approximately 1,000 people are believed to have been put to death. Trier is also the birthplace of Karl Marx. Mannheim is where the story opens, with Tobias on leave and enjoying socialising at his parent's house.

From Quiz Taking the Rivers of London at False Value

Answer: Serious Cybernetics Corporation

At the end of "Lies Sleeping", the second Faceless Man is arrested by Peter but promptly shot by former PC Leslie May. As a result of having a prisoner die whilst in his custody, Peter is suspended. Pretending to have left the police, this provides a convenient cover for an investigation into money laundering. There is a second more magical aspect of the investigation that makes Peter the prime candidate for the role. Serious Cybernetics Corporation is not that far away from Sirius Cybernetics Corporation as per the "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" books by Douglas Adams. There are a number of other references to these books' the company founder, Terence Skinner, seems to be fixated on the books. This makes a contrast with the late and unlamented second Faceless Man who was a bit of a Tolkien fanatic.

From Quiz The Hanging Tree

Answer: Tyburn

It is Lady Tyburn, goddess of the River Tyburn, who in "Whispers Under Ground" rescued Peter from entombment in the platform of Oxford Circus. This was in return for a favour to be called in at a later date. That time has now come to pass. Her mortal daughter, Olivia, has been identified at the scene of a drug related death in a private flat. So private that the entire block of flats has the police Diplomatic Protection Squad stationed outside on a permanent basis.

From Quiz The "Broken Homes" of the "Rivers of London"

Answer: Sons of Weyland

DCI Nightingale has a gentleman's cane, which is also his wizard's staff. Even when there were more practitioners most wizards didn't see the need to possess one. Even fewer felt the need to know how to construct them. Thomas Nightingale is an exception to this rule, having sought out and learning the secrets from the Manchester based "Sons of Weyland". In the world we inhabit there exists a Neolithic long barrow in Oxfordshire named "Wayland's Smithy". The character "Wayland the Smith" comes from Scandinavian and/or Germanic mythology. I have to presume that this is the inspiration for the name "Sons of Weyland" in this novel.

From Quiz Can You Hear the "Whispers Underground"?

Answer: Spray painting graffiti

Macky is starting to write a message on the wall in the centre of the tunnel. He gets so far, then he is killed by a ghostly train. A few minutes later this cycle repeats. PC Grant discovers that he can interact with Macky to the point of holding a conversation, but this doesn't change the outcome. The school and tunnel described exist in the real world, and can be found on maps of London. This is the case with most of the places described by the author in this series.

From Quiz Peter Grant Gets Amongst Our Weapons

Answer: Platinum

The rings are interlocking puzzle rings which form into a sphere with inscriptions. The Folly is initially puzzled at the rings being made of platinum as Peter and Thomas are both under the impression that platinum has only been mined since the early twentieth century and the rings are clearly far older.

From Quiz The October Man

Answer: Kyll

The local river goddess goes by the name Kelly. Her river is the Kyll, a tributary of the Moselle, which is the principal river through Trier. In keeping with the logic within the Rivers of London series, the genius loci of a river is the parent of the genius loci of tributaries, or at least for the section that they control. Kelly's mother, goddess of the Moselle, was killed by the German state during World War II, which makes her rather negative towards the police, an organ of the German state. But a new child goddess has now arrived and is being brought up by Kelly; in effect, she is bringing up her own mother.

From Quiz What Lies Sleeping in the Rivers of London

Answer: Holland Park

If you are aware of the tube map of London, then you might have noticed that only one of the options is on the Central Line. Otherwise, it is back to reading the book. Zach Palmer, part fae, hundred per cent devious and tricky interviewee of the year, has been released after questioning. He is out of custody and Peter is driving him back to whichever place Zach identifies as home. Which may or may not be one that the police are already aware of. Zach offers this titbit in an attempt to distract Peter's line of questioning about Lesley May. The ghosts in question are Vikings, or at least Norse. He then lets slip a notable element in the plans of the Faceless Man.

From Quiz The Hanging Tree

Answer: Jonathon Wild's final ledger

Jonathon Wild is a notorious character in London's history. Before any organised police existed, he operated as both the law and a law breaker. He ran a gang of thieves in the style of Ankh Morpork from Terry Pratchett's Discworld. If a gang member or associate upset him he betrayed them to the authorities. He'd rob the rich of their valuables and then for a fee recover them. The importance of the Final Ledger to this story, is that it is hoped to reveal the location of some more of Isaac Newton's papers on magic. Not everything he wrote made it into the archives of The Folly. These papers might include a Third Principia by Newton. The first and second principia being "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica" and "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Artes Magicis". The former can be found with ease in most mundane libraries, the latter only in specialist collections such as those of The Folly. It is possible that Sir Isaac's explorations of alchemy, including the ability to transmute lead into gold, may have borne fruit. Thomas Nightingale wants the information for The Folly to prevent others learning it. Others want it for the alchemy itself.

From Quiz Foxglove Summer

Answer: Samantha

Samantha or Stan was injured in an accident involving alcohol and a quad bike. She has called in her police friend as her stash of illegal drugs, poached meat and red diesel has been raided. The theft appears to have happened around the same time as the girls going missing. By the end of the story, the chief suspect is an invisible, carnivorous unicorn. Nothing unusual in that, certainly nothing to do with UFOs. UFO detection does provide Peter with an alibi when he purchases electronics so that he can search for magical creatures. Matthew Ten-Tons appears in the third book of this series, "Whispers Underground".

From Quiz The "Broken Homes" of the "Rivers of London"

Answer: Architect

Erik Stromberg is dead, he died about 30 years prior to the events in the tale. It is not the story of his life that is important, it is the legacy that he has left that affects this story. Erik was clearly not a fan of the "building houses that people might want to live in" school of architecture. Except of course for the house that he built for himself.

From Quiz Can You Hear the "Whispers Underground"?

Answer: Baker Street

Baker Street, with its statue of the famed detective Sherlock Holmes outside, is the location here. Using the CCTV (which is rather prevalent on Transport for London property) the victim has been seen coming out of the tunnels and clambering on to the platform, where he promptly dies. The cause of death is having been stabbed by a bit of pottery. Two problems arise from this event. The first one is how he got into the tunnels in the first place. The second is that the victim's father is a US politician, important enough to get the FBI involved by way of a liaison officer.

From Quiz Moon Over Soho

Answer: London Nightclub, the Blitz 1941

In a situation where they should have died, the three ladies were saved by their mental picturing of music. Thereafter they "lived" for want of a better word, by draining life energy from Jazz musicians, the more skilled the musician the better. They appear not to have realised what they were doing, not having memories of the past and not consciously causing the demise of the musicians. The bombing incident is a matter of history, not the author's imagination. The nightclub in question was the Café Paris in Soho. During the blitz, they owners thought that the club ballroom was safe, being underground. Sadly, in March 1941, a bomb penetrated the nightclub via a ventilation shaft. Over 30 people were killed. The club reopened after WWII and remained open until closing down due to the Covid lockdowns in 2020.

From Quiz "Rivers of London" by Ben Aaronovitch

Answer: Case Progression Unit

The "Case Progression Unit" is not considered to be a prestigious role, doing paperwork so "proper" police can get on with their jobs on the street. However due to his other activities (interviewing the murder witness) on the morning he is supposed to start, Peter's appointment changes to one of the departments of "The Economic and Specialist Crimes Unit". More precisely, a one-man department run by Inspector Nightingale that fits nowhere else in the police hierarchy.

From Quiz The October Man

Answer: Ferdinand Tietz

According to the curator of the museum, Methe was the daughter of Dionysus and Staphylus was the husband of Methe, Methe being the goddess of drunkenness. Within the book the plot relates to the models for these statues. The local river goddess appears to have been the model for the statue of Methe. In reality Ferdinand Tietz was a prolific eighteenth-century sculptor. Two of his pieces are "Allegorie des Sommers" and "Allegorie des Winters". It may be a coincidence that the two main police characters in the book are Vanessa Sommer and Tobias Winter. Finally, to quote the author's technical notes: "There is no statue of Methe or Staphylus at the Stadmuseum in Trier, although given how many statues Ferdinand Tietz knocked out during his career and his obsession with Greek mythology there's bound to be at least one of them somewhere."b

From Quiz Taking the Rivers of London at False Value

Answer: Rotting fish

The term signare refers to something akin to a magical signature. It is a sensation that is left behind after a spell has been cast. This concept is also related to vestigial and vestigium, terms left for the traces that magic leaves on surrounding surfaces. The best interpretation I can come up with is that signare is a particular type of vestigium. The signare here is rotting fish, salt and seaweed. The hint of razor strop was part of the signare of the second faceless man, Martin Chorley who died at the end of "Lies Sleeping". The cry of seagulls forms part of the signare of Leslie May. This probably harks back to her coastal hometown of Brightlingsea in Essex. Candlewax is from the signare of Ladies Caroline and Helena, who were last seen in "The Hanging Tree". None of these practitioners appear in this novel.

From Quiz What Lies Sleeping in the Rivers of London

Answer: Goat and Crocodile

Walbrook, although a tributary of the tidal River Thames, is not part of the human side of Mama Thames family, although as a river she is family by water. She isn't related to Father Thames either, although she survived the pollution of the Victorian era. Her origins, revealed towards the end of the book, are back in the era of Roman London. The Goat and Crocodile is identified as being in Shoreditch, and is noted as a pub catering to the demi-monde. As, indeed, is the Chestnut Tree near Marble Arch.

From Quiz The Hanging Tree

Answer: Montreux Jazz Café in Harrods

All of these places exist in London, but presumably Reynard has decided on the location with the most entrances to make surveillance difficult. Despite the plans for a peaceful negotiation, and to arrest Mr Fossman for possible involvement with the deceased drug user, it all goes pear shaped. Three additional people get involved. Former PC Lesley May, an armed American and a previously unknown practitioner of magic, Lady Caroline, all stick their oars in and a ruckus ensues. The electronics section at Harrods suffers a lot of collateral damage as magic drains most modern electronics. In some parts of the story the new practitioner is formally referred to as Lady Caroline, but in others as the Right Honourable Caroline. Her mother, though, is accorded the title Lady Helena under all circumstances.

From Quiz Foxglove Summer

Answer: Mortimer Trail

All these paths exist in the UK, but only one of them passes anywhere near Herefordshire, and that is the Mortimer Trail. The trail is referred to repeatedly throughout the book. The trail runs from Ludlow in Shropshire to Kington in Herefordshire. Whiteway Head also appears on the map as the book describes. Whiteway Head was a significant location on the networks of historical tracks both in British History and in this novel.

From Quiz The "Broken Homes" of the "Rivers of London"

Answer: National Trust

In the story, West Hill House is a National Trust property on Highgate Hill. Naturally this was nothing like the houses he designed for the proletariat to live in. This is a charge that has been levelled at many designers of post-war council housing in the UK. In the story, this building had been burgled, although the National Trust didn't know what had been stolen. This, plus a dead safe-cracker with a guidebook to the property attracted the attention of PC Grant. Back in the real world, although there is a large house at the top of the hill, it is Georgian. It appears nothing like the building described in "Broken Homes". The author's notes at the back of the book provide more information as to which aspects of the various buildings and architecture are real and which are figments of the imagination.

From Quiz Can You Hear the "Whispers Underground"?

Answer: I'm here to cut the grass

The floating market isn't a waterbourne event, although that would be thematic for a "Rivers of London" novel. It is one that is held at different places on each occasion, like the "oldest, established, permanent, floating, crap game in New York" from the musical "Guys and Dolls". The market is referred to as a Goblin market, for those of the magical persuasion. A similar market can be found in the Neil Gaiman book "Neverwhere". This is described as being a similar concept to a "nazareth", which is apparently a market for goods of dodgy origins, or in plain English stolen. Whether this term exists outside of TV and literature I don't know. The wrong answers are all obtained by combining two of the titles of the "Rivers of London" novels.

From Quiz Moon Over Soho

Answer: Suicide by drugs and alcohol

Having had the self-realisation that they are not normal humans, the three sisters, as they describe themselves, commit suicide with phenobarbital tablets washed down with alcohol. The scene of this was the same place as they had died originally, the Café Paris in Soho. DCI Nightingale was preparing to call in the phosphorus grenades, the standard method of ethnically cleansing vampires. Not unreasonable as they were guilty of the deaths of a number of musicians whilst maintain their apparent age of early 20s. Demon Traps do appear in the book, described as a sort of magical landmine and whilst the story is part of the "Rivers of London" series and drowning in a Thames tributary would be suitably thematic, neither of these is the resolution.

From Quiz "Rivers of London" by Ben Aaronovitch

Answer: Isaac Newton

The building is described as "The First Home of English Magic" with Isaac Newton the "first man to systemise the practise of magic". Above the door, the Latin phrase "Scientia Potestas Est" is inscribed, which can be translated as "Knowledge is Power". The building contains various rooms including three libraries. The other three names listed, while all noted in history as magicians and alchemists, do not appear in this book.

From Quiz Peter Grant Gets Amongst Our Weapons

Answer: George sent me

The Goblin market is a floating market, in the sense that the venue keeps changing. Described as "a combination mobile social club, shabeen and car boot sale for London's supernatural community", this one is held in Lloyd Square, Islington. However, as events in this book indicate, the family running the Goblin Market are looking for a permanent site. This family is currently headed by Robin Goodfellow.

From Quiz The October Man

Answer: Harp

The living room of Vanessa's flat is filled with a concert harp. She tells Tobias that she is accomplished enough to "make it do what I want", but claims she doesn't enjoy it. Her mother paid for her to have private lessons from an early age, so she feels obliged not to let the learning go to waste. It also explains the unusual callouses on Vanessa's fingers that Tobias notices when he first meets her.

From Quiz Taking the Rivers of London at False Value

Answer: Operation Fretwork

All of these are police operations in the series to date. Operation Carthorse is the search for Lesley May after she sided with the second Faceless Man. Operation Manticore relates to the two girls who go missing in "Foxglove Summer". Operation Wentworth is the investigation into the demolition of Skygarden Tower at the end of "Broken Homes". The various operations related to the Martin Chorley and Lesley May were combined into Operation Jennifer at the start of Lies Sleeping. Operation Fretwork is investigating the movement of money, possibly a couple of hundred million pounds stolen from the Malaysian Development Fund. The Russian security agencies might also be involved.

From Quiz What Lies Sleeping in the Rivers of London

Answer: Drawing

Peter is trapped by a fake police officer in a fake police car driven by one of the Faceless Man's associates. Or possibly it is a real police car driven by a corrupt police officer. Either way, Peter is tricked into getting into the car and is then overpowered. When he regains consciousness, he is tied up in an unknown building with electrical cables plugged into the mains, which disrupts his spell casting. Then he is shoved into a hole in the ground which he shares with Foxglove. Foxglove's role is that of guard and reinforcement of the magic negation around Peter that prevents his escape. However, they do develop a rapport which starts when he sees her sketching him.

From Quiz The Hanging Tree

Answer: Very nice. Mine's a Jaffa Cake.

For some reason I find this line hilarious, but that might say something about me better left hidden. The response makes more sense if you are aware that there exists a "Viscount biscuit". There also existed an aeroplane, the Vickers Viscount. Lady Caroline started casting spells in the fiasco that followed Peter's meeting with Reynard. Her relationship with her mother reveals a hitherto unknown female tradition of spell casting in the UK. Unknown by The Folly, that is. In the Harrods café, Lady Caroline created coils of smoke that looped themselves around various combatants. In the commotion she was the only one arrested, as the other parties of interest managed to escape.

From Quiz The "Broken Homes" of the "Rivers of London"

Answer: German White Library

This is discussed by Professor Postmartin when he explains about the stolen book that Peter has identified. A book of magic, as opposed to a magical book, with the (translated) title "On the Fundamentals that Underlie the Practise of Magic". Professor Postmartin explains that the library was held in Cologne. At the time of the French Revolution the city was occupied by France. The revolution closed down all the universities. Subsequently the entire library was smuggled out to Weimar. It then was renamed "Deutsche Akademie der Hohere Einsichten zu Weimar".

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