Poldark Quiz | Authors | 10 Questions

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The main character from the "Poldark" series of historical novels obtained a facial scar after fighting during which war?

Answer: American Revolutionary War

Captain Ross Poldark was a British redcoat who served during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) for three years until his return to Cornwall in 1783. He recalled his time during the war, serving under Lord Cornwallis, receiving a musket ball wound to his ankle, and a bayonet cut to his face during a local skirmish. The scar was the result of the bayonet cut.

2. Filled with the pleasure of returning home from war, the tired and weary Captain Poldark stumbled home in the rain, across Mellingey stream until "there ahead in the soft and sighing darkness was the solid line of _____________." Where was Poldark's home?

Answer: Nampara House

The fictional Nampara House, or Nampara, was situated on the north-west coast of Cornwall near Perranporth. The house was high above Hendrawna Beach and close to Nampara Cove. It resembled a row of farm-worker cottages, with a fully grown lilac tree overshadowing the windows at the back. Two slovenly caretakers called Jud and Prudie took care of the house, but most of the time they were too lazy or drunk to do anything. Mellor's Cottage featured in "Lady Chatterley's Lover", Thrushcross Grange in "Wuthering Heights" and Thornfield Hall in "Jane Eyre".

3. Elizabeth Chynoweth was the childhood sweetheart of Ross Poldark, but believing he had died during the war she became engaged to his cousin. What was his cousin's name?

Answer: Francis Poldark

Francis Poldark and his cousin Ross had a strong childhood friendship but that all changed when Ross returned home from war. Believing Ross was killed in action, Francis became engaged to the beautiful Elizabeth and eventually married her. George Warleggan started sowing the seeds of doubt and Frances soon became embittered and jealous, wasting away his inheritance on gambling and prostitutes.

After he drowned in a mineshaft, the ruthless Warleggan stepped in and married his widow, exacerbating his long-running feud with Ross.

4. Demelza Carne was a dirty half-starved waif when she first met Ross Poldark, and was later to become his wife and mother to his children. How old was she when they first met?

Answer: 13

"Have they hurt you child"? Ross asked Demelza when they first met after he had saved her from being beaten at a fairground brawl. "Judas God!", she replied, "rot their dirty guts...!". Demelza was just 13 years old when they first met. Daughter of a drunken mine worker who often beat her, she was loud-mouthed, feisty, and had a streak of quirky independence that he admired from the start.

It was the start of a long relationship that had far-reaching consequences.

5. What was the name of Ross Poldark's bitter enemy throughout the series of books?

Answer: George Warleggan

George Warleggan and Ross Poldark were at the same school together and it is not clear from the books why their friendship turned sour. The Warleggan family came from a long line of blacksmiths, but George strived for better things, becoming a mine owner and banker.

He married Elizabeth Chynoweth nee Poldark in 1794, having two children with her; Valentine and Ursula. A further rift appeared when Ross obtained a loan from another bank to open up his own mine. It did not help that Ross was the childhood sweetheart of his wife, and although Ross was in love with Demelza, he was still attracted to Elizabeth, their attraction hidden from all and never spoken of. Just a smouldering look would pass between them...

6. As well as the love triangle between Ross, Demelza and Elizabeth, the "Poldark" books also followed the lives of other couples in search of love and happiness. Which of these was NOT a fictitious couple in the series?

Answer: Anne Elliot and Captain Frederick Wentworth

Sweet and lovable Verity Poldark was Ross Poldark's cousin who eloped with Captain Andrew Blamey when her family refused to let them marry. Drake Carne was Demelza's brother and after much heartache married Morwenna Chynoweth, the governess cousin of Elizabeth. Doctor Dwight Enys was the very good friend of Ross. Dwight married a Caroline Penvenen but they had a turbulent relationship throughout the series. Anne Elliot and Captain Frederick Wentworth were the main characters in Jane Austen's "Persuasion".

7. What were the names of the five children born to Ross and Demelza Poldark?

Answer: Julia, Jeremy, Clowance, Isabella-Rose and Henry

Ross and Demelza had five children together, called Julia, Jeremy, Clowance, Isabella-Rose (Bella) and Henry. Julia (1788-90) was only two years old when she succumbed to morbid sore throat, another name for diphtheria. Jeremy (1791-1815) featured in the third novel called "Jeremy Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall, 1790-1791".

He married Cuby Trevanion, and together they had a daughter, Noelle, but he died at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Clowance was born in 1794 and she went on to marry Stephen Carrington and then Lord Edward Fitzmaurice. Isabella-Rose was born in 1802 and she featured in the last novel, "Bella Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall, 1818-1820".

Henry was a late child, born in 1812 when Demelza was 42 years old. NB. It is possible that Valentine Warleggan may have been Ross's child when he forced himself on Elizabeth Warleggan, but this was never confirmed in the novels.

8. In "The Twisted Sword: A Poldark Novel, 1815", Ross was in Brussels on 22nd June 1815 when he wrote Demelza a letter about Jeremy Poldark. What were the first words written in the letter?

Answer: Demelza, I have to tell you that Jeremy is dead.

With most of their children now grown up, Ross Poldark was visiting Paris with his family when Napoleon escaped from Elba. Jeremy was dragged into the Napoleonic War and when Ross eventually caught up with him, he was laying amongst the battlefields, mortally wounded with a gun shot wound to his back. Ross held his 24 year old son in his arms as he died. "God, Ross thought, what a waste, what a loss! For Demelza, for Cuby, for Isabella-Rose, above all for Jeremy himself". Ross had to send Demelza a letter which he knew would break her heart. "The Twisted Sword: A Poldark Novel 1815" was written in 1990 and is believed to be the most emotional of the whole series.

9. The last book in the "Poldark" series mainly focused on the story of Ross and Demelza's youngest daughter. What career path was she trying to follow?

Answer: Singer

"Demelza began to sing, mischieviously and in a deep voice: "There was an old couple and they was poor, tweedle, tweedle, go twee.""

Like her mother before her, Bella was always singing Cornish ditties, and her love of the theatre made her follow a career on the stage. She was feisty and decisive, following her heart with the impulsiveness and energy she had inherited from her parents. Encouraged by her fiance, Christopher Havergal, to follow her dream, she took to the stage and soon became an overnight singing sensation in London and Paris. Her musical career was short-lived as she lost her singing voice, and so she took up acting instead.

Christopher's womanising ways and a brief affair with a French conductor, Maurice Valery, did not stop her from following her shining star. Written in 2002, "Bella Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall, 1818-1820" was the last book in the "Poldark" series before the death of author Winston Graham a year later.

10. What was the name of the autobiography about Winston Graham which was published in 2003 just after his death?

Answer: Memoirs of a Private Man

"Poldark's Cornwall" published in 1983 had already mentioned some of Winston Graham's reasoning behind writing the series of the "Poldark" novels. In this book he also described why he had named some of his characters and places the way he had.

It was after his death that Macmillan published his autobiography "Memoirs of a Private Man" in 2003. It started from his childhood in Manchester, life in Cornwall, 50 years of marriage to his wife Jean, his 40 novels and subsequent fame.

Winston Graham (1908-2003) was an English writer born in Manchester, who lived for over 30 years in Cornwall. The first novel which started the Poldark series was written in 1945 and titled "Ross Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall, 1783-1787". Such was the popularity of the story that he wrote a further 11 books following the handsome Poldark, his life, loves and his quest for success. A BBC television series was made in both 1975/6 and 2015. Another popular and successful book written by Graham was his 1961 novel, "Marnie", which was turned into a Alfred Hitchcock suspense film starring Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery.

The titles of the twelve Poldark novels ranged from 1783 to 1820 and in chronological order included:

"Ross Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall, 1783-1787"
"Demelza: A Novel of Cornwall, 1788-1790"
"Jeremy Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall, 1790-1791"
"Warleggan: A Novel of Cornwall, 1792-1793"
"The Black Moon: A Novel of Cornwall, 1794-1795"
The Four Swans: A Novel of Cornwall, 1795-1797"
"The Angry Tide: A Novel of Cornwall, 1789-1799"
"The Stranger from the Sea: A Novel of Cornwall, 1810-1811"
"The Miller's Dance: A Novel of Cornwall, 1812-1813"
"The Loving Cup: A Novel of Cornwall, 1813-1815"
"The Twisted Sword: A Poldark Novel, 1815"
"Bella Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall, 1818-1820"

Source: Author Plodd

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
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Poldark Trivia Quiz

Winston Graham takes us to the rugged beauty of Cornwall in his novels about the dashing Ross Poldark. Read about our hero's turbulent striving for social justice, success and love, and not forgetting tales of smuggling and bodice-ripping wenching!

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