Childhood Characters Calling Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) achieved great prominence in the literary world at a very early stage of his career. His reputation probably stagnated a little during the middle period of his life but then was refreshed and he became widely read once again. He maintained a popularity with his readership throughout critical indifference and was considered the 'Poet of the Empire' and the 'People's Poet Laureate'.
He was born in Bombay and was the son of John Lockwood Kipling who was the Head of Department of Architectural Sculpture at the Government School of Art, and of Alice Kipling.

Answer: Noel Streatfeild

'Great Uncle Matthew Gum' appeared in the novel for children 'Ballet Shoes' by British author Noel Streatfeild (1895-1986) published in 1936. Streatfeild wrote about the dancing careers of three adopted children, Pauline, Petrova, and Posy Fossil. The children were brought up in London by their wealthy guardian. The story was so popular with young girls, especially my sisters as I recall, that the novelist returned to the theme with later books called 'Tennis Shoes' (1937) and 'White Boots' (1951).

Answer: Charles Kingsley

The characters 'Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid' and 'Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby' were created by the English author Charles Kingsley and appeared in his fantasy novel 'The Water Babies' which was published in 1863. Their function in the novel was to provide a moral instruction for the immortalized water baby 'Tom'. It is a challenging tale and one I vividly remember from my childhood.

The author Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) was a rector known as 'the Chartist Clergyman' because of his socially challenging views. His other works include other favourites of mine: 'Westward Ho!' (1855) and 'Hereward The Wake' (1863).

Answer: Dodie Smith

'Cruella deVille' appeared in the novel for children called 'The Hundred and One Dalmatians' (1956).
The author was Dodie Smith (1896-1990). She was a very successful English playwright, novelist, and theatre producer. Her plays were very successful and included 'Autumn Crocus' (1930), 'Dear Octopus (1938), 'Letter from Paris' (1952), a clever adaptation of the Henry James work 'The Reverberator'.

Answer: Ian Fleming

'Caractacus Potts' appeared in the children's novel 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' and was the creative invention of Ian Lancaster Fleming who also wrote the suite of novels which featured the character James Bond.

Ian Fleming (1908 -1964) was the son of a well to do family and he was educated at Eton, Sandhurst, Munich University and Geneva University.

Apart from the Bond novels Fleming was an accomplished travel writer and newspaper columnist.
His children's novel 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' was a unique venture for him

In "Who's Who" Fleming listed his recreations as "First Editions, spear fishing, cards, and golf." None of which will come as a great surprise to anyone who has read any of the James Bond novels.

Answer: C S Lewis

'Mr. Tumnus' appeared in the novel for children written by C S Lewis called 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe'.

The author Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was a Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University. His literary output was immense as you might expect from a person in his position and mainly related to his academic studies.
His works for children included: 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe' (1950); 'Prince Caspian' (1951); 'The Voyage of the Dawn-Treader' (1952); 'The Silver Chair' (1953; 'The Horse and his Boy' (1954); 'The Magician's Nephew' (1955) and 'The Last Battle' (1956).

Answer: Beatrix Potter

The character 'Hunca Munca' was created by Beatrix Potter in 'The Tale of Two Bad Mice'.

The author Helen Beatrix Potter (1866 - 1943) was an extremely well known author and illustrator of books for children. Her fame and popularity continues in modern times and there has been a recently released Hollywood film depicting her life.
Her first book was 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit' (1900) and this was followed by 'The Tailor of Gloucester' (1902). The stories reflect her acute powers of observation of family pets and wildlife. Her other books included 'The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle' (1904), 'The Tale of Jeremy Fisher' (1906), and a much anticipated sequel to Peter Rabbit called 'The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies' (1909).

Answer: Sir Walter Scott

'Dumbiedikes' appeared in the very popular novel 'The Heart of Midlothian ' by Sir Walter Scott.

Sir Walter Scott (1771 - 1832) was a well respected Scottish novelist and poet. I particularly loved his historical novels when I was a teenager and still re-read them now.
Scott's main motive for writing these novels (he preferred poetry) may well have been to stave off bankruptcy following the failure of his printing and publishing business. As well as the critical acclaim he received for 'The Heart of Midlothian' (1818) his other historical novels like 'Waverley' (1814), 'Rob Roy' (1817), and 'Ivanhoe' (1819), were all very popular, though he published them anonymously.

Answer: Richard Adams

'Fiver' was a brave and resourceful rabbit who appeared in 'Watership Down' by Richard Adams.

Richard Adams, an English author, was born in 1920. He wrote 'Watership Down' (1972) a story of rabbits who escaped from a doomed warren and work together to establish a new one. His other books included 'Tales from Watership Down' (1996) which continued the animal theme as did his other works 'Shardik' (1974), 'The Plague Dogs' (1977), and 'Traveller' (1988). He has produced other books 'The Girl on the Swing' (1980), 'Maia' (1984), and 'Daniel' (2006) which have human characters.

Answer: Richmal Crompton

The character 'Violet Elizabeth Bott' is described by her creator Richmal Crompton in the 'William' books in which she appears as 'a soppy girl' but she becomes one of the 'Outlaws' which otherwise included William, Henry, Douglas, and Ginger.
English author Richmal Crompton produced a whole series of children's books published between 1922 and 1970.