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Quiz about Academics Gentlemen Amateur Sleuths

Academics, Gentlemen, Amateur Sleuths Quiz

This quiz highlights the so-called "Golden Age" of the detective novel in English Literature by examining the fictional careers of some academic, gentlemanly and amateur sleuths created in the 1930s and beyond.

A multiple-choice quiz by bracklaman. Estimated time: 6 mins.

Author
bracklaman

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
191,733

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
795

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Described by some commentators as a "vast, wheezing, hulking, somewhat sinister figure" this fictional academic don and private investigator was a larger than life beer drinking member of Oxford University. He specialized in paradoxes and the locked room type of murder mystery. Who was he? Hint

Dr Gideon Pike

Dr Gideon Scafell

Dr Gideon Torr

Dr Gideon Fell

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Question 2 of 10

2. This fictional serving police detective was apparently named after the founder of Dulwich College, where the author's father went to school. Can you name this fictional Old-Etonian detective who first appeared in a 1934 novel? Hint

Broderick Crawford

Roderick Payne

Roderick Allingham

Roderick Alleyn

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Question 3 of 10

3. Please identify this fictional detective who was a professor of English Literature at Oxford University and a spare time sleuth who also liked a pint or two of beer. He was usually seen wearing 'an enormous raincoat and carrying an enormous hat.' Who was he? (What is it about Oxford and detection work, I wonder?) Hint

Gervase Phinn

Gervase Fen

Gervase Finn

Gervase Fence

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Question 4 of 10

4. This fictional detective has been described as "a sophisticated, educated kind of sleuth, clearly intended as something of a self-portrait". He was created by a Poet Laureate and first appeared in 1935. Can you identify him? Hint

Nigel Crossways

Nicholas Day Lewis

Nigel Strangeways

Nigel Dartmoor

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Question 5 of 10

5. This fictional detective first appeared in 1936 and was characterized by an ability to quote apt and sometimes very obscure literary references and allusions from a wide range of literature throughout his investigations. He was a well-educated man of humble origins who ended up as Commissioner of Police at Scotland Yard. Can you identify him? Hint

Inspector Plumtree

Inspector Appleby

Inspector Welreade

Inspector Partridge

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Question 6 of 10

6. This Australian Aboriginal detective was nicknamed "Boney". He first appeared in a novel in 1929. What was his full name? Hint

Napoleon Solo

Napoleon Skywalker

Napoleon Walks Far

Napoleon Bonaparte

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Question 7 of 10

7. More middle class than gentleman I suppose but this middle aged investigator worked for the Public Prosecutor's Office. He regularly admitted to "having a criminal mind" which he asserted helped him solve the crimes he investigated. Who was he? Hint

J T Edson

J G Austen

J G Writer

J G Reeder

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Question 8 of 10

8. This erudite and music loving fictional detective based in contemporary times was another beer aficionado. He was a senior detective with the Oxford Police showing that this Oxford graduate had not endeavoured to move very far away from his alma mater. Who was this character? Hint

Morse

Dexter

Lewis

Samuel

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Question 9 of 10

9. Which author so annoyed her writing peers that they formed "The British Detection Club" (1930) with rules such that "as soon as the sleuth discovers a clue, it must be revealed to the reader"? Hint

Ngaio Marsh

Agatha Christie

Dorothy L Sayers

Patricia Highsmith

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Question 10 of 10

10. The British Detection Club was founded in 1930 in London by Anthony Berkeley. Who was the Club's first president? Hint

D L Sayers

A L Housman

E C Bentley

G K Chesterton

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

Answer: Dr Gideon Fell

Created by John Dickson Carr, an American author with a fondness for the eccentricities of British life, Dr Fell first appeared in the novel "Hag's Nook" (1931). The character was thought to be a caricature of the novelist and essayist G K Chesterton (1874-1936).

Answer: Roderick Alleyn

The series of novels by Ngaio Marsh continued to appear from the early 1930's to the early 1980's. Unusually, Alleyn's character aged throughout the series and in the novel "Last Ditch" (1974) his son Ricky took over the active detection work.

Answer: Gervase Fen

Created by Edmund Crispin. Professor Fen appeared in nine novels and various short stories and has been featured on BBC Radio. If you only have the opportunity to read one of these novels I recommend "The Moving Toyshop" (1946) for humour and puzzlement.

Answer: Nigel Strangeways

Created by Cecil Day Lewis (father of Daniel, you know), in "Question of Proof" (1935). The last novel to feature Strangways appeared in 1966 "The Morning After Death".
A BBC Radio adaptation of "The Smiler" appeared in 1986 starring Simon Cadell as Strangeways.

Answer: Inspector Appleby

Created by Michael Innes, the first novel Inspector Appleby appeared in was "Death At The President's Lodging" (1936).

6. This Australian Aboriginal detective was nicknamed "Boney". He first appeared in a novel in 1929. What was his full name?

Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte

Created by Arthur Upfield. An Australian Television series based on this character appeared in Australia in the 1960s and later in the UK. A late night cult show to watch after the pubs had shut, as I remember!
The show created a bit of a stir through its use of blacking up the lead actor to play the half-caste Boney.
I understand there was a revival of the TV series in the 1990s.

Answer: J G Reeder

He was created by Edgar Wallace and apeared in a series of novels and short stories. The first novel in which J G Reeder appeared was "The Mind of J G Reeder" (1925). His character was later borrowed by the Western Writer J T Edson who featured him in some of his own novels.

Answer: Morse

Endeavour was the first given name that Inspector Morse much preferred to forget.

Created by Colin Dexter.

9. Which author so annoyed her writing peers that they formed "The British Detection Club" (1930) with rules such that "as soon as the sleuth discovers a clue, it must be revealed to the reader"?

Answer: Agatha Christie

The novel of Christie's which so upset her readers and her rival authors of detective fiction was "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" (1926) but I can't tell you why without spoiling the plot!

10. The British Detection Club was founded in 1930 in London by Anthony Berkeley. Who was the Club's first president?

Answer: G K Chesterton

G K Chesterton author of the Father Brown stories. He was used by John Dickson Carr (Secretary of the Club) as the basis for his Dr Fell character.

Source: Author bracklaman

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