Back In Time Trivia Quiz

Answer: Robert Graves

Robert Graves (1895-1985) started his literary career immediately after the First World War. He wrote poems and translated Greek myths and early Roman history (Tacitus, Suetonius). In 1934 his novel "I, Claudius" was published, and it had instant success. The BBC turned the book into a TV series in 1976, starring Derek Jacobi (who also voiced the audio book versions of "I, Claudius" and "Claudius the God").
The novel "I, Claudius" describes the first Roman Emperors: from Augustus until Caligula. "Claudius the God" recounts the reign of Claudius (41-54 AD).

Philip Gardiner has published some scientific books on popular themes such as the myth of the Holy Grail.
Fiona Gibson is a Scottish chronicler. She published some novels aimed at young parents, such as "Mama Said the F-Word" and "The Fish Finger Years".
Kristina Goikotxea is a Basque author living in the Netherlands. She debuted with the novel "Evamar", a story about a Basque family: grandmother Teresa, mother Lucia and granddaughter Evamar.

Answer: Pierre Bezukhov

"War and Peace" starts in 1805, at a dance soiree organised by one of the ladies in waiting to the queen mother Maria Feodorovna. Several members of five noble families are introduced at this dance. But soon the attention shifts to the battlefield, where several of the main characters will have to fight Napoleon's Grande Armée. Pierre Bezukhov is one of the nobles who attends the dance party, and soon gets involved in the war against France.

In the other famous novel by Tolstoy, "Anna Karenina", the title character falls in love with lieutenant Alexei Vronsky.
Fyodor Karamazov is the father of the brothers Dmitri, Ivan and Alexei in Dostoyevski's novel "The Brothers Karamazov".
Boris Godunov is the title character in a theatre play by Alexander Pushkin.

Answer: A Gothic cathedral

Ken Follett was born in 1949. He started writing novels in 1974.
"Pillars of the Earth" is one of his biggest successes. This novel (published in 1989) and the sequel "World Without End" concentrate on medieval England. Tom Builder is a fictional character, who settles down in Kingsbridge and gets appointed to ameliorate the abbey over there. Gradually his ambition grows, and he finally undertakes an attempt to build a cathedral in Kingsbridge.
Ken Follett has declared on his own website the village of Kingsbridge is fictional, but the cathedral Tom Builder had in mind would certainly resemble Salisbury Cathedral.

Trajan' s Column was built in Rome in 113 AD, probably by the architect Apollodorus of Damascus.
Gustave Eiffel completed the Eiffel Tower in Paris in 1889, just in time for the World's Fair.
Jorn Utzon was the architect who designed and constructed the Sydney Opera House, which opened in 1973.

Answer: Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway (1899-1961) debuted in 1926 with "The Torrents of Spring" and "The Sun Also Rises". In 1929, he published "A Farewell to Arms", his memoirs as an ambulance driver in Italy.
"For Whom the Bell Tolls", was printed in 1940. It would remain Hemingway's best known novel, until 1952 when he published "The Old Man and the Sea".
The story of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" concentrates on a small group of rebels, including the American language professor and dynamite expert Robert Jordan. The group wants to sabotage a bridge.

Orwell, Huxley and Sassoon are British authors. Orwell is best known for his novels "Animal Farm" and "1984". Huxley left us "Brave New World". Sassoon was not a novelist, but a poet. Sassoon described the trench war vividly in "Counter-Attack and Other Poems".

Answer: Shogun

Clavell (1924-1994) wrote six novels in what critics name his Asian Saga.
Apart from the four novels mentioned here above, these six novels include "King Rat" and "Noble House". "Shogun" (1975) describes how an English captain on a Dutch ship strands in Japan in 1600. The leading daimyo use Captain John Blackthorne as a trump card in their efforts to become the military leader or Shogun of all Japan.

"King Rat" (1962) is set in a Japanese POW camp near Singapore during the Second World War, and is partially autobiographic.
"Tai-Pan" (1966) describes the history of a leading trade company in Hong Kong in 1841. "Noble House" (1981) follows up on the history of this trade company, this time in 1963.
"Gai-Jin" (1993) focuses on the end of the Edo period, when European and American navies try to force their way into Japan.
"Whirlwind" (1986) is set in Iran in 1979, at the time of Khomeini's coup d'état.

Answer: Marius

Gaius Marius (as was his full name) indeed was Consul of Rome in 107 BC, in 104-100 BC (five consecutive years) and in 86 BC - the year of his death, soon after starting his seventh consulate. Colleen McCullough portrayed Marius' career in "The First Man of Rome" (until the sixth consulate) and in "A Crown of Grass" (the seventh and final consulate).

Pompey (four times consul), Crassus (twice consul) and Lepidus (once consul) are other historic characters appearing in the third book in the series "Masters of Rome", entitled "Fortune's Favourites".
Colleen McCullough won a university degree (Doctor of Letters) thanks to her adequate rendering of Roman history in this book series. But the majority of people will know her novel "The Thorn Birds" better.

Answer: William of Baskerville

Umberto Eco (born 1932) is a professor of philosophy. His debut as novelist was published in 2000: "The Name of the Rose", in which Biblical analysis and knowledge of ancient manuscripts help to solve several murders.
The protagonist is William of Baskerville, a fictional Franciscan friar from England. His name clearly points to one of the best known mysteries by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: "The Hound of the Baskervilles". William states in the book that he received some formal education by Roger Bacon. In fact, William of Baskerville is described in quite a similar way (both in appearance as in manners) as Sherlock Holmes.
Eco continued to write novels such as "Foucault's Pendulum" and "The Prague Cemetery".

William of Aquitaine (1099-1132), Duke of Poitou, was the father of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who would become Queen Consort of France and later of England.
William of Dartmouth (born 1949) is a British politician. He was member of the Conservative party up till 2007, when he joined the party for UK independence.
William of Gloucester (1941-1972) was member of the British Royal family. He died in an accident at an air show.

Answer: Florence, Italy

"The Birth of Venus" is set in Florence, at the end of the Fifteenth Century. The Medici family has been ousted in 1492, and friar Girolamo Savonarola is calling the shots. In this atmosphere, the fourteen year old Alessandra Cecchi meets a painter for whom she will model. Political tribulations and a series of murders disturb the painting adventures.
The novel doesn't confirm that the painter who has an affair with Alessandra, would be Botticelli - the master who created the painting "Birth of Venus".
Sarah Dunant (born 1950) started her career in 1983. Some of her other titles are "Fatlands" (1993, awarded with the Silver Dagger Award) and "Sacred Hearts" (2009, awarded the Walter Scott award for historical fiction).

For the red herrings, I've picked some random cities in Europe with a name starting with F. I have not checked if these other cities were the locations of historic novels.

Answer: Germinal

Zola (1840-1902) was a prolific French author. Between 1871 and 1893, he published about two dozen stories involving two middle-class families: the Rougon family and the Macquart family, who are related by marriage.
"Germinal" (1885) is one of the novels in the Rougon-Macquart series, and describes how Etienne (a descendant of the Macquart family) starts a coalminer's strike. After battles with the police, the coalminers resume work without having obtained any real prospects for better work conditions or better wages.

"Les misérables" is the title of a historic novel by Victor Hugo (1802-1885). The story follows Jean Valjean, an ex-convict.
"La reine Margot" (translated in English as "Queen Margot") is a historic novel by Alexandre Dumas père (1802-1870), who also left us "The Three Musketeers" and "The Count of Monte Cristo". The novel cited here as a red herring is set in Paris on and about August 23rd, 1572 (Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre).
"La condition humaine" (translated as "Man's Fate") is a novel by André Malraux, published in 1933, and describing a failed revolt in Shanghai.

Answer: Erich Maria Remarque

Erich Maria Remarque (1898-1970) was a German novelist. He fought during the First World War in the trenches on the western front, and many incidents he survived are retold in the novel "All Quiet on the Western Front".
"All Quiet on the Western Front" focuses on Paul Bäumer, a young student enlisted in the German army in the Great War (as it was called at that time). Paul and some of his friends are bored between actions, and see the most atrocious scenes when the fighting gets intense. As Remarque explains, the book "will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war."
Remarque's other works have almost all been translated into English. Some titles : "Arch of Triumph"; "Heaven Has No Favorites".

Rilke (1875-1926), Heine (1797-1856) and Klopstock (1724-1803) were famous German poets. Some titles: Rilke wrote "Duino Elegies" and "Sonnets to Orpheus"; Heine is famed for "Germany: A Winter's Tale"; and Klopstock's best known poem is "The Messiah".