1 Who revealed in his recent autobiography that he used to drive a gold Rolls-Royce with the number plate YOB 1?
a Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne
b Liam Gallagher of Oasis
c Dave Hill of Slade
d John Prescott
e Sir Roy Strong
Which writer, who died this year, created a character who came from Peru, wore a duffle coat and loved marmalade
2 The lover of which author addressed them by the pet-name ‘Teddy-ponk’?
a Ted Hughes
b Teddy Roosevelt
c Edward Lear
d Edwina Currie
e Edward Garnett
3 Actor Tom Hanks published his first book of short stories this year, all of them based on items in his collection. What are those items?
a Typewriters
b Clothes brushes
c Wellington boots
d Stuffed birds
e Medieval manuscripts
Who revealed in his recent autobiography that he used to drive a gold Rolls-Royce with the number plate YOB 1?
4 Match the writer with the early job:
a David Sedaris
b Kazuo Ishiguro
c William S Burroughs
d Harper Lee
e J D Salinger
1 Ticket agent for Eastern Airlines
2 Beater at Balmoral
3 Activities director on a luxury cruise liner
4 Bug exterminator
5 Christmas elf at Macy’s Department Store
5 All of these people had biographies published about them this year. Place them in order of height, with the shortest first.
a Princess Margaret
b Theresa May
c Prince
d David Bowie
e Hillary Rodham Clinton
6 ‘You’re a f***ing liar. You’re a f***ing liar, and you’re a f***ing s**t.’
Which playwright said this to former National Theatre director Nicholas Hytner, as reported in Hytner’s autobiography, Balancing Acts?
a Alan Bennett
b Alan Ayckbourn
c David Hare
d Harold Pinter
e Jez Butterworth
Sort the quote about Trump with the disgruntled author in question 19, below
7 Which one of these pieces of advice is NOT contained in Ivanka Trump’s new self-help book Women Who Work?
a Know that you can be kind and still be effective
b We each get one life and it’s up to us to live it to the fullest
c One of the best ways to master communication? Ask questions and listen well
d Another way to foster your curiosity is to talk to people
e Work hard, and your daddy will promote you
8 Which diarist revealed that in their youth they had consumed opium, LSD and crystal meth, and that, aged 30, they had carved the word ‘FAILURE’ on to a pumpkin?
a Michael Palin
b Alan Bennett
c David Sedaris
d Tina Brown
e Roy Strong
9 Who, according to a book published this year, wrote this in a Norfolk visitors’ book: ‘Today with my friends we tried to bring modern history to the world’?
a Winston Churchill
b Julian Assange
c Pablo Picasso
d William Gladstone
e Boris Johnson
10 Four of these crime novelists, listed in The Story Of Classic Crime In 100 Books by Martin Edward, are real. One is made up. Which is the odd one out?
a Clinton H Stagg
b R Austin Freeman
c Leonard Gribble
d Algernon P Crust
e Henry Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher
What was the title of Hillary Clinton’s book about the presidential election?
11 Which one of these aphorisms does NOT appear in Hillary Clinton’s book about the presidential election?
a There’s nothing quite like friendship
b I don’t believe any of us can get through life alone
c I just love children – love just sitting with them and being silly
d I have always aimed to make my life like my eggs: sunny side up
e Even the best plans and proposals can land on deaf ears when people are disillusioned by a broken political system
13 What was the title of Hillary Clinton’s book about the presidential election?
a What Happened
b What Happened?
c What Happened!
d What Happened?!
e What HAPPENED?
14 Pair these first sentences from memoirs with their authors:
a You do not usually wake up to news of four deaths of people for whom you feel responsibility; or to a newspaper allegation that you are corrupt; or to a denunciation by a predecessor
b The giant Hercules banks heavily and then rights itself in the black night sky over Afghanistan
c You can only lose your virginity once
d I am a very lucky man.
e As I stand there shaking like a s****ing dog and smelling of mealworms, I clench Joel Dommett’s hand
1 Scarlett Moffatt
2 David Jason
3 Gordon Brown
4 Richard Branson
5 Graeme Souness
16 In her new biography of the novelist Antony Powell, Hilary Spurling reveals that his wife Violet once spotted a schoolgirl playing in the square opposite their house and prophesied: ‘That little girl will get off with man, woman or child.’ Who was that little girl?
a Diana Dors
b Antonia Fraser
c Jilly Cooper
d Joan Collins
e Tina Brown
17 Match the 2017 castaway with their Desert Island book:
a His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
b One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
c Principles Of Orchestration by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
d The Story Of San Michele by Axel Munthe
e The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾ by Sue Townsend
1 Caitlin Moran
2 John McEnroe
3 June Brown
4 Rick Wakeman
5 Ed Sheeran
18 Which writer, who died this year:
a Created a character who came from Peru, wore a duffle coat and loved marmalade
b Wrote the unexpected bestseller Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance
c Started writing full-time after winning $10,000 on Groucho Marx’s TV game show You Bet Your Life
d In 1975 created a hero who starred in 13 novels but whose Christian name he did not reveal until 1996
e Was nicknamed ‘Baby Blackshirt’ at school
1 Nicholas Mosley
2 William Peter Blatty
3 Colin Dexter
4 Robert M Pirsig
5 Michael Bond
19 In 2017, which author wrote of Donald Trump:
a ‘That this guy has his finger on the nuclear trigger is worse than any horror story I ever wrote’
b ‘Voldemort was nowhere near as bad’
c ‘Ask any real alpha males that you know and they’ll say of Trump, “This is the guy we didn’t like at school because he was a bully, but as soon as anyone pushed back at him he’d start to whine”
d ‘I’ve never before imagined America as fragile, as an experiment that could, within my very lifetime, fail. But I imagine it that way now’
e ‘Trump chickened out of Vietnam. End of story’
1 Lee Child
2 Stephen King
3 J K Rowling
4 George Saunders
5 Margaret Atwood
20 In Travis Elborough’s recent History Of The 20th Century As Told In Diaries, Journals And Letters, which diarist says, of the death of Freddie Mercury: ‘Is one less Queen album any loss? The answer has to be no’
a Alan Bennett
b Gyles Brandreth
c Derek Jarman
d Chris Mullin
e Kenneth Williams
Answers: 1: c, 2: a, 3: a, 4: a5; b2; c4; d1; e3, 5: a (5ft 1in); c (5ft 2in); e (5ft 4in); b (5ft 7in); d (5ft 10in), 6: d, 7: e, 8: c, 9: b, 10: d, 11: d, 12: c, 13: a, 14: a3; b2; c4; d5; e1, 15: e, 16: d, 17: a5; b2; c4; d3; e1, 18: a5; b4; c2; d3; e1, 19: a2; b3; c5; d4; e1, 20: c