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Quiz about 84 Charing Cross Road
Quiz about 84 Charing Cross Road

'84, Charing Cross Road' Trivia Quiz


The late Helene Hanff burst on the literary scene with this collection of letters she wrote for two decades to a used book store. Now it's a minor classic.

A multiple-choice quiz by tjoebigham. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
tjoebigham
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
58,991
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
20
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
12 / 20
Plays
616
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
- -
1. What was the store? Hint


2. Where was the store located? Hint


3. Who was Helene's main correspondent? Hint


4. What authors did Helene first receive? Hint


5. True or False: Helene once ordered a Bible.

Answer: (One Word)
6. What did Helene send over to the booksellers? Hint


7. For what dish did Helene get a receipe? Hint


8. Whose diary did Helene order? Hint


9. What TV mystery show did Helene write scripts for? Hint


10. What Christmas gift did Helene get from the shop? Hint


11. Who was the English professor who inspired Helene's love of literature? Hint


12. Who was the author of a fishing treatise that Helene ordered? Hint


13. Who was the novelist who ended Helene's bias against fiction? Hint


14. What author did Helene NOT order? Hint


15. True or false: Helene once ordered musical scores.

Answer: (One Word)
16. What happened to Helene in 1956? Hint


17. What was the main reason Helene couldn't visit the shop? Hint


18. Did Helene ever order paperbacks?

Answer: (One Word (yes or no))
19. What happened in 1968? Hint


20. Did Helene ever visit the shop?

Answer: (One Word (yes or no))

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. What was the store?

Answer: Marks and Co.

'Marks and Co.', by the way, did not stand for 'and company', but for 'Marks and Cohen', the partners who owned the store.
2. Where was the store located?

Answer: London, England

The title of the book referred to the London street where the shop was.
3. Who was Helene's main correspondent?

Answer: Frank Doel

For two decades she and Doel wrote letters to each other.
4. What authors did Helene first receive?

Answer: Hazlitt and Stevenson

They were the 'Selected Essays' of essayist William Hazlitt and 'Virginibus Puerisque' by Stevenson.
5. True or False: Helene once ordered a Bible.

Answer: true

Though Jewish, she expressed interest in having an old Vulgate Bible.
6. What did Helene send over to the booksellers?

Answer: food

For some time after World War Two Britain was still on food rationing, so Helene's shipping of eggs, meat and other foodstuffs was very welcome.
7. For what dish did Helene get a receipe?

Answer: Yorkshire Pudding

The 'pudding' is really a light, hollow pastry.
8. Whose diary did Helene order?

Answer: Samuel Pepys

Pepys' diary is a window into the world of seventeenth century England.
9. What TV mystery show did Helene write scripts for?

Answer: Ellery Queen

Before the 70's version with Jim Hutton in the title role, there was the 50's version.
10. What Christmas gift did Helene get from the shop?

Answer: A tablecloth

It was a hand-embroidered linen tablecloth made by a next-door neighbor of the shop.
11. Who was the English professor who inspired Helene's love of literature?

Answer: Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch

Best known as 'Q', Quiller-Couch wrote volumes on literature that Helene read in the Depression when she couldn't attend college.
12. Who was the author of a fishing treatise that Helene ordered?

Answer: Izaak Walton

It was the classic 'The Compleat Angler'. She also got Walton's 'Lives', biographies on many of Walton's contemporaries.
13. Who was the novelist who ended Helene's bias against fiction?

Answer: Jane Austen

She went gaga over 'Pride and Prejudice'.
14. What author did Helene NOT order?

Answer: W. Somerset Maugham

She was interested only in the older English authors.
15. True or false: Helene once ordered musical scores.

Answer: true

Handel's 'Messiah' and Bach's 'Saint Matthew Passion'.
16. What happened to Helene in 1956?

Answer: she was evicted

She was evicted from her old apartment.
17. What was the main reason Helene couldn't visit the shop?

Answer: dental bills

The cost of dental surgery was a big block to her visiting Marks and Co.
18. Did Helene ever order paperbacks?

Answer: no

She was a diehard lover of old hardcover books.
19. What happened in 1968?

Answer: Frank Doel died

The death of her longtime correspondent on December 22, 1968 was a great blow to her.
20. Did Helene ever visit the shop?

Answer: yes

Thanks to the sales of her book, Helene finally visited England and though the shop had closed for good, she finally saw the bookshop that was a part of her life all those years.
Source: Author tjoebigham

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