Sunday Times/Faber Literary Quiz

[phoenixxx]

Hi all

That time of year again...

My early contribution is the pictures section:

1. Dorothy Edwards
2. Frances Partridge
3. Alison Uttley
4. Joan Bakewell
5. William Golding
6. Muriel Spark

Any offers?

[maxwellmarsh]

I think War 2 might be Titus Andronicus

[patrickwhite]

Isn't the answer to pictures 1 Shirley Hughes ? She illustrated My Naughty Little Sister and she is a much loved author and illustrator in her own right.

[Flapwing]

So to recap:
On my scruffy piece of paper we are short of:
Messages 1
Question mark over Messages 2
Financial Fraud 2
Financial Fraud 3
Financial Fraud 5
Shops 1
Question mark over shops 2
Parties 3
Parties 4
Question mark overTeachers 2
Injuries 3
Discussion over Author's death 5
Am I correct?

[LG123]

Hi Flapwing - all agreed, good stuff, but would add:

Financial Fraud 5 - Mantague Tigg/Tigg Montague in Martin Chuzzlewit
Injuries 3 - Barbara Grebe in 'Barbara of the House of Grebe' by Thomas Hardy.

I'm pretty sure Shops 2 is 1984

Also, are we sure about King Lear being Curses 3?

[monaghan]

Pictures 1: I agree that the photo is more likely to be of Shirley Hughes - Dorothy Edwards did not illustrate as far as I can ascertain. Also the two of them came from different backgrounds - Edwards was from a working class background and Hughes from a more affluent one - the family in the photo look fairly affluent. Also looking at adult photos of Hughes she has quite a distinctive mouth which I think is similar to those of thefamily in photo!!

[monaghan]

Flapwing/LG123 : I am confident that Curses 3 King Lear and Shops 2 Winston & Julia 1984 fit as I came up with them independently and they check out.
F Fraud 2 Montague Tigg and Injuries 3 Barbara of the House of Grebe which completely stumped me and have been suggested definitely check out too. Great work!
Holofernes (Loves Labs Lost) for Teachers 2 is also very promising - he def is a teacher and described as a pedant and the play he and Nathaniel perform gets interruptions

[slaney]

If you search google images under "shirley hughes" photo child sister, there is a photo of the eight year old Shirley with her mother and older sister which look pretty much like the people in the original photo.

I am reasonably happy with my suggestion of King Lear for Curses 3 - I suppose someone who says "'tis our fast intent To shake all cares and business from our age, Conferring them on younger strengths" could be said to be a retiree - unless someone has a better idea.

Do we have Injuries 5?

[catherinethegreat]

i don't think pics4 is joan bakewell. maybe enid blyton or elinor brent-dyer but cannot find pics to support this can anyone else?

[captainandy]

Picture 4 is definitely Joan Bakewell. It's a detail from a family snap showing her with her parents.

[bagofbeans]

More to the point, Joan Bakewell's autobiography is called "All the Nice Girls"

[oarsman]

Parties 3 Bella Fleace Gave a Party Evelyn Waugh

[Flapwing]

Well done Oarsman. That one has been driving me mad.

[LG123]

Messages 1 - Freank Churchill in Jane Austen's Emma. The 'Box of Letters' in question is a children's alphabet game, which the adults use, and he spells out a message to Miss Fairfax

[LG123]

Fraud 3 - Smith De Barral in 'Chance' by Joseph Conrad

[Flapwing]

Well done LG123 - I was nearly there. I thought it must be a word game - and was busy looking through Mansfield Park.

[goodfriday]

Shops 1. Does Riceyman Steps by Arnold Bennett fit this question? (Henry and Violet Earlforward) Any thoughts?

[captainandy]

It checks out. Well done!

[buzzercat]

I wondered if Messages 2 was Stephen Wheatley in Spies by Micheal Frayn. I haven't read it but I know the book starts with memories triggered by the smell of a privet hedge and he was made suspicious by his neighbour's blackout curtains (amongst other things) - he thought they were a German spy.

[monaghan]

Great work everyone! Re Curses 5 and 'A Half Life'. Could I just clarify - I had the answer myself as Willie Chandran who is a character in the book (based on Naipul) and is an author, rather than Naipul himself. Reading the question again it is rather ambiguous. What does anyone else think?

[LG123]

Hi Monaghan - I think the answer is the character Willie Chandron, as although the question mentions an 'Author', I've just looked at the Book blurb and that character is an author in the novel.