Wyndham's Triffid Tale Quiz | John Wyndham

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. On what day of the week did the green flashes appear in the evening sky?

Answer: Tuesday

"You'll find it in the records that on Tuesday, 7 May, the Earth's orbit passed through a cloud of comet debris." So writes our hero, Bill Masen who woke up on the Wednesday morning suspecting that something was wrong because it sounded more like a Sunday morning.

2. What was the name of the company Bill Masen worked for until a triffid sting landed him in hospital with his eyes bandaged?

Answer: Arctic and European Oils

The company had been called Arctic and European Fish-Oil until they started cultivating triffids for their oil. Just before Bill started to work for them they dropped the word 'fish' from their title.

3. Walter Lucknor had a theory about the triffids' superiority over blind men, and explained it to Bill some years before he was proved right. In conversation, what was the trigger that inspired this discussion?

Answer: that triffids stung men across the eyes

The conversation recalled by Bill began with a comment on the noise made by the triffids; Walter described it as talking, but Bill was not convinced it was anything so sophisticated. They then went on to talk about how and where the triffid stung its victims, and Walter then prophesised that the triffid would be a blind man's superior.

4. Hungry because he had not eaten since the previous evening, Bill went into a delicatessen which had been smashed into by a taxi, and collected 'the makings of a good meal'. What else did he do before he left the shop?

Answer: he put what he considered a fair price for the food on the counter

It was not until Bill escaped from his responsibilities with the group of blind people that Coker tied him to that he was more comfortable with collecting provisions. This was the first time he took anything, and writes that "something of the old standards still clung".

5. How did Josella's father die?

Answer: he was stung by a triffid

After Bill and Josella met up they went to her home, and found that the triffids had overrun the place. Her father was killed in the house itself, and they saw the triffid standing over him, waiting for the body to decompose in order to eat.

6. What was the name of the person who was entrusted with the task of recording the disaster and the set-up of the new order?

Answer: Elspeth Cary

Michael Beadly was the man in charge of the group which met at the University, while Miss Berr was the only one in the original group with any medical training, and so was put in charge of that area. Dr Vorless was the man who explained the necessity of changing society's norms to allow for multiple wives in order to repopulate their society with sighted people as soon as possible.

It was this that led to the split in the group, when Miss Durrant remained at Tynsham with those who would not accept this principle.

7. After Coker raided the University building he split the sighted people up in order to singly lead groups in parts of London, marking off the map to give areas to each group. Which area was assigned to Josella?

Answer: Westminster

Bill's party went to Hampstead; after the plague hit them, and the remaining few ran away, he went to Westminster to look for Josella, but could not find her. He returned to the University and we learn later that he missed Josella by moments as Coker found him first; seeing him, Josella was worried that she might be captured again.

When Bill was searching the Beaminster area he admitted that his sole purpose was not to join the Beadley group, rather to find this remarkable young woman. (Walford is the fictional London area in which the television programme 'EastEnders' is set.)

8. Which of the following people, met by Bill in and around Beaminster, do we know by name?

Answer: the lady shop owner

Mrs Forcett came in with Coker and an Alsatian puppy at the end of a long day serching the area for the Beadley party. Bill's recollection of her account of how she came to be saved gives one the distinct impression that this 'unbelievable old lady' was a bit of a lush who was able to survive the blindness because she was sleeping off a drinking bout!

9. What was the eventual outcome of the party led by Miss Durrant at Tynsham?

Answer: they were killed by the plague

Unable to find the Beadley party, Coker returned to Tynsham with his small group in order to help make that community work. Bill was to learn later that the plague came to the house with refugees from London; Coker moved the fit and healthy away (while Miss Durrant remained to nurse the sick and eventually died herself).

After some moves, Coker's group eventually settled in the toe of Cornwall, and from there went to the Beadley community on the Isle of Wight. He was the means of locating Bill and Josella, and that family group eventually joined the community on the island.

10. When Ivan Simpson arrived at Shirning he told Bill and Josella what had been happening to the world outside, as far as he was able. Of all the communities which had started up, a number joined them on the Isle of Wight, although a couple were militant and had been left alone. Which area of the United Kingdom did Simpson say was doing very well because a good number of men had retained their sight?

Answer: South Wales

"You'll find similar lots near the other coal-fields too. Usually the leaders are the men who happened to be on the shift below ground so that they never saw the green stars - though God knows how they ever got up the shafts again."

Source: Author ArleneRimmer

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
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Wyndham's Triffid Tale Trivia Quiz

I think if I were blinded by the comet I would prefer a quick death such as the triffids offered. Wouldn't you?

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