Quiz results!

The Pursewarden quiz was won once again by novelist and blogger Jim Murdoch. who managed to get every single question right - even one he allegedly guessed! An honourable mention goes to Morag Joss. Morag is also a writer (see my recent post on The Night Following) so it seems to prove that the old saying that good writers are usally also good readers is indeed correct.

1. The 1951 film Captain Horatio Hornblower was an adaptation of not one but three books. Can you name them, the author, and the actor who played Hornblower? The Happy Return, A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours. C.S. Forester. Gregory Peck.

2. An unpopular officer is persuaded by another to fake a duodenal ulcer in order to escape from sea-going duty. Bonus marks for the names of the two characters involved. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat. Lieutenants Bennett and Lockhart respectively.

3. Edmund Talbot lays a cunning plan to be alone with the woman of his desires, a plan involving an old naval tradition. For a bonus mark, what is it? To The Ends of the Earth, William Golding. The "crossing the line" ceremony.

4. One of the central characters is put in the pillory in the City of London after innocently but unwisely getting involved in a stock market scam, and then goes to sea in a privateer. For a bonus mark, who is the owner of the privateer? I would accept either (or both) The Reverse of the Medal or The Letter of Marque, both of course by Patrick O'Brian. Stephen Maturin.

5. Billy lives in dread of a visit from a one-legged man. When he dies in mysterious circumstances following a visit from a former shipmate, what the young hero finds in Billy's sea chest sparks a rollicking yarn. Treasure Isalnd, Robert Louis Stevenson. Everyone got this one!

Now how about some opening lines?

6. I have just returned from a visit to my landlord - the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

7. There was absolutely no possibility of taking a walk that day. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

8. "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled X, lying on the rug. Little Women, Louisa M. Alcott. X is of course Jo.

9. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ... A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

10. It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs ... The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath

Test your knowledge of author's lives. Only the name required here.

11. This writer lived in India but later in Rye, and was the subject of a poisoning attempt. Various books were made into films, including a very famous one starring Deborah Kerr. RUMER GODDEN

12. This writer won the Booker Prize and later ran BBC Radio. Most of his books are currently out of print! PHILIP NEWBY

13. Born in America, this writer came to live in England at the age of 2, subsequently returning to America. Originally a poet, he was to gain fame with a number of hard-boiled detective novels. His style is highly individual and has been much admired, copied and parodied. RAYMOND CHANDLER

14. This writer's early experiences as a rent collector and solicitor's clerk would prove hugely influential in the novels he wrote depicting a particular part of England. He lived for some years in Paris, where he was friendly with a young Somerset Maugham. ARNOLD BENNETT

15. Having attended Eton, which he described as "excellent preparation for vice of any kind", he had a bewildering array of casual jobs, including a lingerie salesman, international art smuggler, and vineyard labourer. In later life he would write a series of hugely under-rated crime novels, all of them very bleak, sometime known collectively as the Factory series. He has been described as the creator of English noir. He wrote under at least two different names, either of which will be accepted. DEREK RAYMOND who also wrote as ROBIN COOK

Finally, a few generalist questions. Again, the name of the book and the author are required.

16. Subtitled An Island Tale, this book tells the story of a man who falls in love with a traveling lady musician. Remarkable for having been written by someone who became a major novelist in their third language. Victory, Joseph Conrad

17. A Booker prize-winner, this rambling but magnificent novel tells the story of an admitted fantasist, and is said to tell the history of the country in question in parallel with that of the central character. The writer would later win the Booker again. Illywacker, Peter Carey. However, several people, including both Jim and Morag said The Life and Times of Michael K by J.M. Coetzee, and I realise that either could be a correct answer to this quetsion.

18. The words "you have been in Afghanistan, I perceive" launch a famous partnership on the reading public. A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle

19. This prize-winning novel describes the sad marriage of a police office in Africa. Written by an author who spent a lot of time in Capri. The Heart of the Matter, Graham Greene

20. The central character, who is described but not named in the title, achieves success in life, but is hiding a dark secret concerning a drunken episode at a country fair many years previously. When he later dies, disgraced and impoverished, his secret having been revealed, he asks that no sexton toll the bell for his passing. The Mayor of Casterbridge (Michael Henchard), Thomas Hardy.

Many thanks to all who took part, and congratulations to Jim Murdoch. I will try another later this year.