Art & Literature50 randomly selected Art & Literature questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 26th January 2026 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
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| 1. | Who wrote the 1945 novel Animal Farm? |
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George Orwell | |
| 2. | What is the title of Andy McNab's 1993 book about a patrol behind enemy lines in Iraq? |
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Bravo Two Zero | |
| 3. | Anastasia Steele is the female protagonist in what best-selling series of novels? |
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Fifty Shades (E. L. James) | |
| 4. | The fictional detective C. Auguste Dupin was created by what 19th century American writer? |
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Edgar Allan Poe | |
| 5. | Born in 1948, what international best-selling British writer of crime fiction uses his home town of Brighton as the setting for many of his novels? |
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Peter James | |
| 6. | In Oscar Wilde's only novel, published in 1891, what is the name of the character whose painted image aged instead of him? |
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Dorian Grey | |
| 7. | In the Arthur Conan Doyle stories, Dr. Watson first met Sherlock Holmes after returning from a war in what country? |
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Afghanistan | |
| 8. | "Religion is the opium of the people" is one of the most frequently paraphrased statements of what philosopher and economist? |
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Karl Marx (The German original, "Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkes" is often rendered as "religion... is the opiate of the masses.") | |
| 9. | In a series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, by what name is the main character, John Clayton, better known? |
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Tarzan (Lord Greystoke) | |
| 10. | Who wrote The Prince and the Pauper? |
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Mark Twain | |
| 11. | In which book of the Bible does Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt? |
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Exodus | |
| 12. | Pink Floyd's debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was named after chapter seven of what Kenneth Grahame children's classic? |
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The Wind in the Willows | |
| 13. | What is the title of British author Salman Rushdie's controversial 1988 novel? |
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The Satanic Verses | |
| 14. | Named after his son, who created the literary character Christopher Robin? |
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A. A. Milne | |
| 15. | Since turned into a common phrase, who wrote the 1961 novel Catch-22? |
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Joseph Heller | |
| 16. | Joseph Mallord William are the first names of what 19th century British artist? |
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Turner (J. M. W. Turner) | |
| 17. | By what pen name is English novelist and former British Army soldier Steven Billy Mitchell better known? |
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Andy McNab | |
| 18. | Who was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Florida, Missouri in 1835? |
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Mark Twain | |
| 19. | At 74 x 30 feet, Paradise at Doge's Palace, Venice is reputed to be the largest canvas painting ever done. Who painted it in 1588? |
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Tintoretto | |
| 20. | Whose 1998 autobiography is titled Losing My Virginity? |
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Richard Branson | |
| 21. | In Welsh culture, what 'E' describes a Welsh festival of literature, music and performance? |
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Eisteddfod | |
| 22. | Dubliners is a collection of fifteen short stories, first published in 1914 by what author? |
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James Joyce | |
| 23. | What number and letter is the Baker Street, London address of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes? |
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221B | |
| 24. | First published in 1969, what is Mario Puzo's most famous novel? |
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The Godfather | |
| 25. | In what century was William Shakespeare born? |
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16th (circa 1564) | |
| 26. | What is written on the tiny bottle that Alice finds in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? |
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Drink Me | |
| 27. | The title character of what Old English poem killed Grendel and Grendel's mother? |
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Beowulf | |
| 28. | For what 1951 post-apocalyptic novel is English science fiction author John Wyndham best known? |
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The Day of the Triffids | |
| 29. | What is the name of the ship in the novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson? |
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Hispaniola | |
| 30. | At his own request, what American author's autobiography was published in 2010, 100 years after his death? |
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Mark Twain | |
| 31. | What is the name of the "Dancing Clown" in Stephen King's 1986 horror novel It? |
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Pennywise / Robert Gray | |
| 32. | What fictional detective first appeared in the 1920 novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles? |
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Hercule Poirot (Agatha Christie) | |
| 33. | Who, in 1871, published Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany and Alphabets? |
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Edward Lear (including his most famous nonsense song, The Owl and the Pussycat) | |
| 34. | In what Shakespeare play do we learn "All that glisters is not gold"? |
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The Merchant of Venice | |
| 35. | What was the name of the French penal colony from which Henri Charrière escaped, as described in his 1969 autobiography Papillon? |
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Cayenne / Devil's Island (Bagne de Cayenne / Île du Diable) | |
| 36. | What travel guide was founded in Australia in 1973 by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler? |
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Lonely Planet | |
| 37. | What measures 15 feet × 29 feet and can be found on the back wall of the refectory at the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy? |
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The Last Supper (Leonardo da Vinci) | |
| 38. | Three novels considered masterpieces: Farewell, My Lovely (1940), The Little Sister (1949), and The Long Goodbye (1953) are by what British-American author? |
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Raymond Chandler (all part of the Philip Marlowe series) | |
| 39. | According to the Bible, who committed the first ever murder? |
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Cain (killing his brother, Abel) | |
| 40. | What British explorer wrote the 2016 autobiography Fear: Our Ultimate Challenge? |
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Sir Ranulph Fiennes | |
| 41. | The daughter of a judge, what is the name of the schoolmate Tom Sawyer fell in love with from the first moment he sees her? |
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Becky Thatcher | |
| 42. | A comic travelogue first published in 1889, what is Jerome K. Jerome's best known book? |
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Three Men in a Boat | |
| 43. | Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 is an 1871 painting, more commonly known as what? |
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Whistler's Mother (James McNeill Whistler) | |
| 44. | What is the name ascribed by the ancient Greeks to the semi-legendary author of the Iliad and the Odyssey? |
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Homer | |
| 45. | Published between 1993 and 2013, what series of children's books includes titles such as Measly Middle Ages, Ruthless Romans, Awful Egyptians, and Terrifying Tudors? |
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Horrible Histories (Terry Deary) | |
| 46. | What type of animal is the title character in Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes? |
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Squirrel | |
| 47. | What former British Prime Minister's autobiography is titled A Journey? |
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Tony Blair | |
| 48. | What 1908 children's novel begins with Mole meeting Rat? |
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Kenneth Grahame|The Wind in the Willows | |
| 49. | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a three-act play written in the early 1950s by who? |
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Tennessee Williams | |
| 50. | Correctly spell, in English, the name of this mythical being. |
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LEPRECHAUN (Irish: leipreachán) | |
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