C.S. Lewis: the man who created Narnia Quiz

Answer: Irish

Lewis was born in Belfast in what we now call "Northern Ireland", but in 1898 Ireland (as a whole) was still part of the United Kingdom and British Empire. Lewis attended school in England from age 9 and taught in two universities there. But some claim that they can detect a hint of an Irish accent in the few actual recordings of Lewis's voice that we possess.

Answer: Magdalen

Magdalen College was founded in 1458 and is famous for its impressive tower overlooking the High Street and the River Cherwell, and for having a deer park within the grounds of the College. Lewis had his rooms in the "New Buildings", "new" because they were a later addition built in 1733. On Mayday morning the Choir of the College ascends to the top of the Tower and sings a hymn to the rising sun.

Answer: Warren

Warren (or "Warnie") was three years older than Lewis and they were very close as boys, exploring the world around them in Northern Ireland and creating imaginary lands in their fantasies. When Warren retired from the Army in 1931, he came to live with Lewis and acted as his secretary for the next thirty or so years.

He and Lewis are buried in the same grave in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church, Headington, Oxford.

Answer: T.S. Eliot

All of these men were writers and deeply religious in their own way. But Lewis found the poetry of T.S. Eliot too avant-garde and nontraditional, and even though they were both members of the Church of England, they never got on well together. Ironically it was Eliot who recognized that Lewis was the author of "A Grief Observed", submitted under a pseudonym, and encouraged him to publish this account of his reaction to the death of his wife under his own name.

Answer: The Dark Tower

These science-fiction novels were published between 1938 and 1945, and centre around the figure of Elwin Ransom, a mid-mannered philology don at Cambridge (rather reminiscent of Tolkien), whose adventures take place on Mars, Venus, and finally Earth. Ransom also appears in "The Dark Tower", a fragment of a novel published after his death, which some scholars argued was not actually written by Lewis.

Answer: True

Lewis was also the "Voice of Faith" on BBC Radio. He gave several series of 15-minute talks explaining the Christian faith to the British people in language and analogies that they could understand. These talks were later collected and published as "Mere Christianity" (1952).

Answer: University of St Andrews

The University of St Andrews, founded in 1411, is the oldest university in Scotland and the third-oldest English-speaking university. Lewis was not trained in theology and in fact was poorly regarded by 'professional' theologians. But the University granted him the degree for "capturing the attention of many who will not readily listen to professional theologians".

Answer: The Magician's Nephew

Although in terms of a chronological sequence "The Magician's Nephew" is the first story in the collection, relating the creation of Narnia, it was in fact the sixth to be published (1955). Some modern collections in fact print this story first in the volume, but it makes better reading to begin with the first story to be published, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" (1950).

Answer: Apuleius

Apuleius was a second-century AD philosopher and creative writer, whose prose romance "Metamorphoses" or "The Golden Ass" contains a central panel telling the story of the god Cupid and a beautiful human maiden named Psyche. Lewis's novel is part historical fiction and part spiritual adventure.

Answer: Aldous Huxley

All of these writers died in 1963, but Aldous Huxley was the only one to pass away on the same day as Lewis and Kennedy. He is best known for his bleak futuristic novel, "Brave New World". The Boston theologian and philosopher, Peter Kreeft, has written an imaginative fantasy, "Between Heaven and Hell", in which Kennedy, Lewis, and Huxley all meet in the anteroom of the next life.