Fiction's Foulest Fiends: Vol 2 Quiz

Answer: Hannibal Lecter

Hannibal Lecter was a character in 'Red Dragon' (and sequels) by Thomas Harris. The character was rated number 17 in 'The 50 Foulest Fiends in Literature' feature in the 'Daily Telegraph' in September 2008.
Lecter first appeared in the novel 'Red Dragon' in 1981, but went largely unnoticed until the sequel novel, 'The Silence of the Lambs', became a movie in 1991. 'Red Dragon' was itself filmed as 'Manhunter' in 1986 and there has been hot debate about which was the better Lecter portrayal in movies, Brian Cox in 'Manhunter' or Anthony Hopkins in 'Silence of the Lambs'. Confusingly, 'Red Dragon' was remade as a movie in 2002 with Hopkins in the role.
Hannibal Lecter was a brilliant psychiatrist and prolific serial-killing cannibal who liked to torture his victims. The books and movies explored his mentality and traced what made him what he was.

Answer: Professor Moriarty

'Moriarty' was a character in 'The Final Problem'(1893) and other Sherlock Holmes books by Arthur Conan Doyle. The character was rated number 46 in 'The 50 Foulest Fiends in Literature' feature in the 'Daily Telegraph' in September 2008. Conan Doyle described Professor Moriarity as "a Napoleon of crime".

He was the boss of a crime gang that Sherlock Holmes was determined to defeat. The two came head-to-head in hand-to-hand combat on the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland and both apparently fell to their deaths.

Some commentators, including the Scottish writer Ian Rankin, have contended that Conan Doyle became heartily sick of Holmes and wanted to kill him off in the fall. Fans were outraged and Holmes was brought back to life for more adventures.

Answer: Captain Hook

'Captain Hook' was a character in 'Peter Pan and Wendy' by J. M. Barrie. The character was rated number 40 in 'The 50 Foulest Fiends in Literature' feature in the 'Daily Telegraph' in September 2008.
Apologies for that awful pun.
'Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up' was a play first performed in 1904 and and 'Peter and Wendy' was a novel first published in 1911. Peter Pan was the boy who never grew up who had adventures in Neverland with Wendy Darling, her brothers and others. Captain Hook was a pirate and the chief baddie, who wore a hook after his right hand was chopped off by Peter and eaten by a crocodile.

Answer: Bill Sikes

'Bill Sikes' was a character in 'Oliver Twist' by Charles Dickens. The character was rated number 30 in 'The 50 Foulest Fiends in Literature' feature in the 'Daily Telegraph' in September 2008. Published in 1838, 'Oliver Twist' was the second novel written by Dickens. Oliver was an orphan boy who fell into the company of a criminal gang operating in London's underworld. Sikes was the chief sidekick of the gang's leader, Fagin. Sikes was a cruel bully with a history of violence.

The only person who seemed to like Sikes was his girlfriend, Nancy, a prostitute.

He murdered her, though, because he believed she had betrayed him.

Answer: Mrs Danvers

'Mrs Danvers' was a character in 'Rebecca' by Daphne du Maurier, first published in 1938. The character was rated number 18 in 'The 50 Foulest Fiends in Literature' feature in the 'Daily Telegraph' in September 2008. Mrs Danvers was the housekeeper at an estate called 'Manderlay' in Cornwall, owned by Maximilian de Winter. Rebecca had been his first wife and Mrs Danvers had been devoted to her.

When Rebecca drowned and de Winter brought a new bride to Manderlay, Mrs Danvers continually undermined her and tried to drive her to suicide. Mrs Danvers disappeared, thought to have died in a fire that engulfed Manderlay.

Answer: Milo Minderbinder

'Milo Minderbinder' was a character in 'Catch-22' by Joseph Heller. The character was rated number 44 in 'The 50 Foulest Fiends in Literature' feature in the 'Daily Telegraph' in September 2008.
First published in 1961, 'Catch-22' was Joseph Heller's anti-war novel based on the airmen of a US bomber squadron based in North Africa during WW2. One of the basic themes of the book was that someone would have to be mad to fight in a war, but if they were mad, they would not be allowed to fight. The phrase subsequently became part of everyday language to represent an impossible and contradictory set of circumstances. While most the characters were just trying to get to the end of the war in one piece, Minderbinder was different. He was the mess manager, and was obsessed with making money: this was not war to him, it was a commercial enterprise and he did not mind working with people others considered the enemy. Eventually, though, he was court martialed, for treason, but had made enough money to afford a brilliant lawyer, who got him off.

Answer: Count Fosco

'Count Fosco' was a character in 'The Woman In White' by Wilkie Collins. The character was rated number 33 in 'The 50 Foulest Fiends in Literature' feature in the 'Daily Telegraph' in September 2008.
'The Woman In White' was first published as a novel in 1860. It was the story of an impoverished artist, Walter Hartright, employed to teach two women in England's north west. Eventually, he fell in love with one, Laura Fairlie, but she was betrothed to a nobleman, Sir Percival Glyde. He, though, was just out for her money and was determined to swindle her out of it, with the aid of his friend, Count Fosco. Fosco turned blackmailer, but eventually met a quick end at the hands of an Italian secret society.
At the risk of giving away an answer in some other quiz, a twitcher is a bird watcher.

Answer: Iago

'Iago' was a character in 'Othello' by William Shakespeare. The character was rated number 4 in 'The 50 Foulest Fiends in Literature' feature in the 'Daily Telegraph' in September 2008. 'Othello' was written in about 1603 and was the story of a general in the Venetian army who secretly married Desdemona, the daughter a a wealthy businessman. Iago was Othello's closest adviser, or so he thought until Othello promoted a rival, Cassio, over his head.

He plotted to have Cassio demoted, and convinced Othello that Desdemona was having an affair with Cassio.

He even used his own wife, Emilia, in his evil plans. Taken in by Iago, Othello killed Desdemona.

Answer: Svengali

'Svengali' was a character in 'Trilby' by George du Maurier. The character was rated number 15 in 'The 50 Foulest Fiends in Literature' feature in the 'Daily Telegraph' in September 2008.
Published in 1894, 'Trilby' was set in 1850s Paris. Trilby O'Farrell was the heroine. Although tone deaf, Svengali could hypnotise her to make her a singing sensation, one that virtually all the men fell in love with.

Answer: Augustus Melmotte

'Augustus Melmotte' was a character in 'The Way We Live Now' by Anthony Trollope, published in 1875. The character was rated number 21 in 'The 50 Foulest Fiends in Literature' feature in the 'Daily Telegraph' in September 2008.
Melmotte was a smooth talker who worked his way into commercial circles in London, with the Carbury family falling totally for him. He persuaded them to invest in a railroad scheme in far away America, a scheme he had o intention of completing after he got their money.