Common Bond: Literary Character Quiz

Answer: Clock

To punch a clock means to record when you start and end work. In a timed sport (such as basketball or football), you can try to take up as much time as possible, to avoid giving the other team a chance to score. That technique is called running down the clock. Bill Haley and the Comets recorded "Rock Around the Clock" for Decca records in 1954.

Answer: Bess

George Gershwin wrote the opera "Porgy and Bess." In Alfred Noyes's poem "The Highwayman," the landlord's daughter Bess is in love with the criminal and sacrifices her life for his. Brown Bess is a nickname for a muzzle-loading musket used by the British Army from 1722 to 1838.

Answer: Lawyer

Perry Mason is a fictional lawyer created by Erle Stanley Gardner. A TV show with that name was on American TV from 1957 to 1966, starring Raymond Burr as the title character. Clarence Darrow was best known for defending Leopold and Loeb (who murdered a 14-year-old boy for the thrill of committing the perfect crime) and teacher John Scopes (who was on trial for teaching the theory of evolution). Johnny Cochran is most famous for defending O.J. Simpson from charges of murdering ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman.

Answer: George

In a series of children's books, Curious George (a mischievous monkey) is owned by the man in the big yellow hat. George Washington Carver found over one hundred uses for peanuts. Actor George Clooney played Dr. Ross on the American TV show "E/R."

Answer: Titian

Titian was a Venetian artist whose last name was Vecellio (sometimes spelled Vecelli). One of his most famous paintings is "Venus of Urbino." He often painted women with brownish-orange hair, which is why that color is called titian.

Answer: Ned

NED stands for "no evidence of disease" and is used to indicate that cancer is in remission. Ned Kelly led a gang of outlaws that committed armed bank robberies in the 1800s. He has become a cultural icon as the subject of multiple biographies and works of art. Ned Beatty has appeared in over 100 movies including "Deliverance," "Network," and "Toy Story 3."

Answer: Housekeeper

Mrs. Hughes is the housekeeper on "Downton Abbey." Aibileen Clark is one of several African-American housekeepers featured in the novel "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. The character was played by Viola Davis in the movie by the same name. Alice Nelson was the housekeeper on "The Brady Bunch," while Rosario Salazar was Karen's housekeeper on "Will and Grace."

Answer: River

Sending someone up the river is an idiom for sending someone to prison. Selling someone down the river means to betray someone. It comes from the period of slavery in the United States where a slave could be sold to a plantation further south (downriver), where the climate and working conditions were likely to be worse

Answer: Teen/teenage

"Teen Angel" was an sitcom aired on ABC in the 1997/98 season. (It was also the name of a popular song recorded in 1960). "Teen Wolf" is an MTV series about a teenage werewolf. (A film by the same name came out in 1985 and starred Michael J Fox as the title character.) "The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" started as a comic book and was turned into an animated series in 1987.

Answer: Nancy Drew

1. The first Nancy Drew book was "The Secret of the Old Clock," first published in 1930 and revised in 1949.
2. One of Nancy's best friends is Bess Marvin.
3 Nancy's father, Carson Drew, is a prominent lawyer.
4. Nancy's other best friend is George Fayne.
5. In the earliest books, Nancy is a blonde. However, starting in the mid-50s she is described as having titian-colored hair.
6. Nancy's boyfriend is named Ned Nickerson.
7. Nancy's mother is dead. Housekeeper Hannah Gruen takes care of Nancy and her father.
8. Nancy lives in River Heights.
9. Nancy is a teen detective. In the earliest books, she is 16, but her age was changed to 18 in later editions.