The Paper Chase Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hamlet

The Spark Notes translation of this into modern English offers "Take me to him. Ready or not, here I come", a phrase used in the well-known game of Hide and Seek. Hamlet was instructing them to escort him to Claudius, shortly after he had accidentally killed Polonius, and must face the consequences of that act.

The game of paper chase involves the quarry running off, dropping a trail of pieces of paper to be followed by the group of runners that follow on the hunt. After an agreed interval has lapsed, they set off on the chase. The quarry wins if the destination is reached before the hunters catch up. The game is played outdoors, and works best if the area has natural cover so that the trail can be made a bit tricky. As the game has evolved, different names have been used to designate the quarry (generally fox or hare) and the hunters (usually called the hounds).

Answer: The Royal Shrewsbury School Hunt

Shrewsbury School organised a game with formal rules, a set course, and terminology that is still used by the club. The game was called The Hunt, and introduced the youngsters to the formal social structure of the world of fox hunting. The trail was laid by foxes, and the chasers were called the hounds.

The activity then became organised into a club, with the emphasis on the cross- country run itself, rather than on the need to catch anyone. The hunting terminology remains, however, with the officers of the club called Huntsmen and Whips, and the runners referred to as Hounds.

In his 1903 novel 'The Way of All Flesh', based on his own school days at Shrewsbury, Samuel Butler referred to the protagonist's love of running with the hounds, and finding a lengthy cross country run a familiar experience.

Answer: Tom Brown's School Days

The analogy change from foxhunting (a chase that is based on following a scent) to hare coursing (which uses sighthounds) makes sense when you consider that the bits of torn up paper are actually being seen by the hunters/hounds. As described in the book, the whole group involved enthusiastically tore up used copybooks, along with any other printed material on hand, to produce a copious supply of paper.

The two fastest boys were then chosen to go out and lay the trail. The first hunter to find the trail alerted the rest, and they worked cooperatively to keep to the course.

This is one of a number of activities used by the headmaster of Tom's school (a fictionalised version of Rugby School and its headmaster Dr. Thomas Arnold) to develop their character (as well as physical fitness).

The book is perhaps better known for popularising the sport of Rugby, albeit in a form that was quite different from the modern form of the game.

Answer: Their father was falsely convicted of espionage

This book may have been inspired by the then-current Dreyfus Affair; it has also been noted that much of the plot is similar to that of 'The House by the Railway' by Ada J. Graves, which had been published in 1896. The setting was almost certainly chosen because the author frequently walked to the railway station near to her residence, and observed the activity in that area.

The three children (Roberta, Peter and Phyllis) amused themselves by waving to the passengers in the trains, and get to know them, leading to a number of different adventures. One of their friends, whom they called The Old Gentleman, turned out to be a director of the railway, and was able to help them clear their father, as well as providing other assistance.

It was his grandson, Jim, who was injured in a railway tunnel during a paper chase, and rescued by our heroes.

Answer: Laying a false trail that sent the hunters on a more difficult track

When Jerusha Abbott became too old to be cared for in the orphanage in which she had spent her entire life, one of the trustees arranged for her to be given a college education, so that her potential as a writer could be developed. The first thing she did on arrival was change her first name (which had been taken by the orphanage's matron from a gravestone) to Judy. The book follows her development during the years of her education, and her final discovery that her benefactor was a man with whom she had been developing a loving relationship without knowing that he was the mysterious man she had nicknamed Daddy Long Legs. In the incident mentioned in the question, the two people laying the trail had placed a false trail suggesting they had managed to climb into a window high up on the wall of a barn, when in fact they had simply walked around the barn.

The 1966 film adaptation of the book, starring Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron, moved the orphanage to France (fitting in with the lead actress's nationality), and made numerous other changes to the characters and plot. The 1935 Shirley Temple film 'Curly Top' took even more liberties, to fit in with the fact that the lead actress was a little girl - she was adopted rather than being sent to college, and her benefactor fell in love with her older sister.

Answer: Orson Welles

The versatile Mr. Welles also played the lead role of the fugitive Nazi war criminal Franz Kindler (now known as Charles Rankin, teacher in a Connecticut prep school) in his third film as director. When a former associate comes to beg him to turn himself in, so that they can both stop running, Kindler strangles him. Just then, some of his students come running through the woods on a paper chase, and he must re-lay the trail so that it does not lead them straight to the body. One of the more memorable aspects of this film was its inclusion of actual footage from Nazi death camps, the first Hollywood film (as opposed to newsreels and documentaries) to do so.

Answer: Harvard Law School

More specifically, James Hart (Timothy Bottoms) is a first-year law student in a course on contract law with the internationally-recognised expert in that field, Professor Charles Kingsfield (John Houseman). The film was based very closely on the 1971 novel by John Jay Osborn, Jr - who had graduated from Harvard Law in 1970.

In a function at Harvard Law School to celebrate his book's 40th anniversary, Osborn said that the professor was a composite character based on a number of his actual instructors at Harvard. Houseman has said that his portrayal drew on a number of his own experiences at Julliard, as well as stories he had heard about some Harvard professors (albeit different names came up in interviews about the film and about the subsequent television series).

He was awarded an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for the part. The film follows Hart and the other law students with whom he forms a study group through their first year; not all of them make it, but Hart does succeed in passing the course with flying colours.

Answer: Break a window in Toad Hall

After the cricket game led to an unintended broken window, Badger decided (along with Ratty and Mole) to get the youngsters involved in a strenuous activity that could be undertaken well clear of Toad Hall. Badger organised it all, with Ratty and Mole at checkpoints along the way. Of course, Mr Toad had to cheat by driving the course in his beloved motor car. Three youngsters who disguised themselves as one weasel as a joke helped make things more interesting, but were disqualified along with the errant Toad.

These losers had to pick up all the paper when the honest runners had finished.

Answer: Mallory

Of the four Keaton children, Alex was already in college, Andrew (at this time) was not yet in pre-school, and Jennifer never experienced any difficulties in school. Mallory, however, found that her talents did not lie in the traditional school curriculum, and was often portrayed as the 'dumb' one, particularly by her super-competitive older brother. Played throughout the show (1982-1989) by Justine Bateman, Mallory was actually quite talented in the area of fashion, and an excellent judge of personal character, which allowed her to offer useful advice to her family and friends on a number of occasions. And she did pass that exam, proceeding on to be in college the following season.

Answer: Hash

Malaysia being then part of the British Empire, British colonial officers decided that a regular Monday evening run based on a traditional paper chase would be a fun social activity. So were formed the Hash House Harriers, named after the club where some of the original members lived. According to the constitution which was eventually set up in 1950, the club's objectives were:

"To promote physical fitness among our members
To get rid of weekend hangovers
To acquire a good thirst and to satisfy it in beer
To persuade the older members that they are not as old as they feel"

In line with these goals, the "hares" lay a trail (usually using more modern materials such as sawdust or powdered chalk) which periodically comes to a check - a break in the trail, when slower members have a chance to catch up while the leaders have to cast around looking for the new beginning. Most clubs combine the social (often alcohol-based) activities with the running ones, but the emphasis on the two aspects varies from club to club.