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Books Quiz - Genre - Autobiographies 4 (Questions)

Many ‘autobiographies’ of the 20th and the 21st Centuries were partly works of fiction written by ghostwriters. Some celebrities with little talent for writing employ a ghostwriter to help them tell their stories. These are often embellished and the facts ‘tweaked’ to increase their entertainment value. The American writer James Frey’s autobiography A Million Little Pieces was rebranded as a novel after it was shown to be have been largely embellished. Some celebrities (mentioning no names but let’s just say a ‘Super Model’ and also a 'Spicy Lady') are even rumoured never to have read their own autobiographies!

The last of our quizzes on autobiographies poses the questions of who wrote Common as Muck, Against the Odds and The Kindness of Strangers. If you are good with titles then try and remember that of Jimmy Nail's autobiography. See if you can achieve the perfect score of ten out of ten!

1. A Funny Way to Make a Living! is the title of the autobiography of which member of the Dad's Army cast?
[ ] Clive Dunn
[ ] Ian Lavender
[ ] Arthur Lowe
[ ] Bill Pertwee
2. Who wrote Confessions of an English Opium Eater?
[ ] Daniel Defoe
[ ] Aldous Huxley
[ ] Charles Lamb
[ ] Thomas de Quincey
3. Which comedian wrote the 2006 autobiography Common as Muck?
[ ] Roy 'Chubby' Brown
[ ] Julian Clary
[ ] Billy Connolly
[ ] Harry Enfield
4. Menace is the title of the 2004 autobiography of which former fast bowler?
[ ] Curtly Ambrose
[ ] Dennis Lillee
[ ] Jeff Thomson
[ ] Courtney Walsh
5. Which inventor called his 2006 autobiography Against the Odds?
[ ] Trevor Baylis
[ ] Christopher Cockerell
[ ] James Dyson
[ ] Clive Sinclair
6. Which American writer called her 1933 book The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas?
[ ] Natalie Barney
[ ] Mina Loy
[ ] Dorothy Parker
[ ] Gertrude Stein
7. Which Northern Irish politician wrote the 2001 autobiography Before the Dawn?
[ ] Gerry Adams
[ ] Martin McGuinness
[ ] Ian Paisley
[ ] David Trimble
8. Which former Goon wrote a volume of autobiography titled Peace Work, which begins just after he's been demobbed?
[ ] Michael Bentine
[ ] Spike Milligan
[ ] Harry Secombe
[ ] Peter Sellers
9. Which BBC war correspondent wrote the autobiography The Kindness of Strangers?
[ ] Kate Adie
[ ] George Alagiah
[ ] Martin Bell
[ ] Brian Hanrahan
10. What is the title of Jimmy Nail's 2005 autobiography?
[ ] A Geordie Lad
[ ] A Geordie Soul
[ ] A Northern Lad
[ ] A Northern Soul

 

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Books Quiz - Genre - Autobiographies 4 (Answers)
1. A Funny Way to Make a Living! is the title of the autobiography of which member of the Dad's Army cast?
[ ] Clive Dunn
[ ] Ian Lavender
[ ] Arthur Lowe
[x] Bill Pertwee
He played the ARP Warden, William Hodges
2. Who wrote Confessions of an English Opium Eater?
[ ] Daniel Defoe
[ ] Aldous Huxley
[ ] Charles Lamb
[x] Thomas de Quincey
It was first published in the London Magazine in 1821, then in book form the following year
3. Which comedian wrote the 2006 autobiography Common as Muck?
[x] Roy 'Chubby' Brown
[ ] Julian Clary
[ ] Billy Connolly
[ ] Harry Enfield
Brown's real name is Royston Vasey, and this was chosen as the name for the fictional town in the comedy TV show The League of Gentlemen in which he makes some cameo appearances
4. Menace is the title of the 2004 autobiography of which former fast bowler?
[ ] Curtly Ambrose
[x] Dennis Lillee
[ ] Jeff Thomson
[ ] Courtney Walsh
The title is a reference to the classic Beano comic character Dennis the Menace
5. Which inventor called his 2006 autobiography Against the Odds?
[ ] Trevor Baylis
[ ] Christopher Cockerell
[x] James Dyson
[ ] Clive Sinclair
He invented the bagless vacuum cleaner
6. Which American writer called her 1933 book The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas?
[ ] Natalie Barney
[ ] Mina Loy
[ ] Dorothy Parker
[x] Gertrude Stein
Toklas was Stein's lifelong partner
7. Which Northern Irish politician wrote the 2001 autobiography Before the Dawn?
[x] Gerry Adams
[ ] Martin McGuinness
[ ] Ian Paisley
[ ] David Trimble
The autobiography is one of 15 books to have been written by Adams
8. Which former Goon wrote a volume of autobiography titled Peace Work, which begins just after he's been demobbed?
[ ] Michael Bentine
[x] Spike Milligan
[ ] Harry Secombe
[ ] Peter Sellers
He also wrote poetry with one of his works, On the Ning Nang Nong, being voted the nation's favourite comic poem in 1998
9. Which BBC war correspondent wrote the autobiography The Kindness of Strangers?
[x] Kate Adie
[ ] George Alagiah
[ ] Martin Bell
[ ] Brian Hanrahan
Kate also wrote Corsets to Camouflage: Women and War, Nobody's Child, Into Danger: People Who Risk Their Lives for Work and Fighting on the Home Front: The Legacy of Women in World War One
10. What is the title of Jimmy Nail's 2005 autobiography?
[ ] A Geordie Lad
[ ] A Geordie Soul
[ ] A Northern Lad
[x] A Northern Soul
Nail's name at birth was James Michael Aloysius Bradford