Boston
Abigail's favorite color is a shade of red (the color of dried blood, to be exact!), which makes it very fitting that she loves the Boston baseball team whose name is: _ _ _ _ _ _
Red Sox!
Ogden Nash was an American poet with fantastic humor. He once stated, "If you don't want to work you have to work to earn enough money so that you won't have to work."
What is the last word of this poem by Ogden Nash?
The cow is of the bovine ilk
One end is moo, the other _ _ _ _
The cow is of the bovine ilk
One end is moo, the other milk
Bertie Wooster is a good ol' London chap who just wants to have a sporting time with his friends at the Drones and get away from his haranguing aunts. What is the name of Bertie Wooster's trusted valet, confidant, fashion advisor, and trusted advice giver?
A) Staves
B) Jeeves
C) Merriman
B) - Jeeves!
René Descartes once said, "I think, therefore I am!" Shakespeare's characters are, similarly, always pondering existential questions. Complete this quote by Hamlet:
"To be or _ _ _ _ _ _ _, that is the question."
"To be or not to be, that is the question."
Abigail Geffken, Latinist, typewriterist, reader, writer, friend to cats, walker of arboretums, celebrated her golden birthday in June! How old is Abigail?
A) 18
B) 19
C) 20
B - 19!
Jane Austen was born on the two year anniversary of the Boston tea party. Contrary to what my seven-year-old self believed, the Boston tea party was, in fact, NOT a bunch of people sitting around drinking tea. On what December day did the Boston tea party happen?
A) the 16th
B) the 13th
C) the 1st
A - the 16th!
Ireland is an exemplary place, rich in sheep and potatoes, and the Blarney Stone which granted Mr. Collins his eloquence. Which of these songs was sung by the bearded Irish musician Hozier?
A) Seed
B) The Tide is Rising and So Are We
C) Take Me To Church
C - Take Me To Church
Abigail is an epic aunt who uses real wax seals when corresponding with her nieces and nephews. Unlike her nieces and nephews, however, Bertie Wooster is not so blessed in the aunt department. He's got an ally in Aunt Dalia, though she is in the habit of commenting on his questionable intelligence and comparing him to amphibians. What is the name of Bertie's aunt nemesis?
A) Aunt Agatha
B) Aunt Tuppence
C) Aunt Claudia
A - Aunt Agatha!
Shakespeare plays promote excellent lessons - Julius Caesar, for example, promotes exercise through it's depiction of Lupercalia and good hand-washing habits through it's depictions of Roman conspirators bathing themselves in Caesar's blood. Name at least four characters who appear in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
Suitable Answers: Julius Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, Antony, Calphurnia, Portia, Octavius, Soothsayer, Metellus Cimber, Cinna the Poet, Cinna the Conspirator, Decius Brutus ... and a whole bunch of other guys!
What is the name of Abigail's epic typewriter cat whose got adorable stripes and spots and enjoys lounging on top of books and inside umbrellas?
A) Bracken
B) Asterisk
C) Potato
A - Bracken!
The American Reparatory Theatre (a.r.t.) is a theatre in the Boston/Cambridge area that performs excellent shows featuring cake and British humor - including mentions of marmite! - among other things. How many TONY Awards has the a.r.t. won?
A) 19
B) 18
C) 17
A - 19 - which is also Abigail's age! It must be more than a coincidence
The wet white shirt scene in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice has been considered "the best scene Austen never wrote," but it is surely tied with the dialogue screenwriters of a different Pride and Prejudice adaptation added for Mr. Collins: "What excellent boiled potatoes! It has been many years since I had such an exemplary vegetable."
Which adaptation of Pride and Prejudice used this line?
A) 2005 Pride & Prejudice
B) 1940 Pride and Prejudice
C) Bollywood's 2004 Bride and Prejudice
A - 2005 Pride & Prejudice
True or False: P.G. Wodehouse was inspired to write the Jeeves and Wooster series by his own experiences with his valet, Mason, who once bailed Wodehouse out of jail (following a drunken brawl at the races) by outsmarting the head officer in a game of chess.
False, as far as I know - though, according to the Wiki fan page for Jeeves, Wodehouse employed a valet specifically for "research purposes" while writing the Jeeves and Wooster short stories
At the Plymouth Plantation camp she once attended, Abigail acted in two fragments of Shakespeare plays - once as Lady Macbeth from Macbeth and once as the Wall in the Mechanical's Play from A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The most memorable of the Mechanicals is Bottom, who turns into what animal?
A) Donkey
B) Horse
C) Monkey
A - Donkey
True or false: at a camp at Plymouth Plantation, Abigail utilized her exemplary wit in coming up with one very creative insult that would have made the dramatis personae of King Lear stagger back in astonishment. The insult was, "You gleeking fustybun," and it was so tremendously successful that an onlooker spat out his mouthful of water upon hearing it.
True!
True or False: The Arnold Arboretum was named for an explorer named John Arnold, who lived in Boston and brought home saplings he had laboriously kept alive from one of his voyages. He and his wife, Abigail (!), labeled and potted each sapling. They used different colored ribbons to keep track of the different species. John Arnold eventually founded the Arnold Arboretum. Some of the trees he and Abigail planted still have their original marker ribbons.
False (as far as I know :) )
Snuggling with a cat while reading a book on a comfy chair is an excellent recipe for a cozy evening - unless the cat is the large black cat from The Master and Margarita. This book, published in 1967, is primarily set in which two locations?
A) Moscow and London
B) London and Budapest
C) Moscow and Jerusalem
C - Moscow and Jerusalem
True or False: Stephen Fry, who played Jeeves opposite Hugh Laurie's Bertie in the series Jeeves and Wooster, was one of the first celebrities to re-post the first music video up-and-coming Irish musician Hozier uploaded to the internet when he was a mere lad of 23. Stephen Fry's re-posting helped the music video reach a wider audience, which in turn launched Hozier's career. In true Jeevesian fashion, Stephen Fry used his wisdom and power to aid a dandy young man in need of support.
True!
In which plays do Antony and Edmund die?
A) Antony and Cleopatra & King Lear, respectively
B) Antony and Cleopatra & The Taming of the Shrew, respectively
C) Julius Caesar & A Midsummer Night's Dream, respectively
A - Antony and Cleopatra & King Lear, respectively
Just like Anne Bronte and Jane Austen, Abigail is the sixth child in her family. Sixth children are very epic! What are the names of Abigail's three sisters and two brothers?
Anna, Elisabeth, Benjamin, Naomi, Samuel
The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company has been hosting Shakespeare in the Common at Boston Common for roughly 28 years - their first outdoor production was A Midsummer Night's Dream, which was actually in Copley. Which Shakespeare play are they hosting this summer?
A) As You Like It
B) Merchant of Venice
C) Julius Caesar
The Boston Public Library has it's main building in Copley, but many branches throughout the neighborhoods of Boston. True or False: Outside the building in Copley is a statue of a woman holding a baby. The woman was the wife of the sculptor and the baby was their child. Unfortunately, the sculptor chose to depict his wife without any clothes on, which caused a great stir amongst the Boston public, as many people knew the sculptor and he was not secretive about the fact his sculpture depicted his family.
True! Not very tactful of him
Bertie Wooster gets himself into a lot of scrapes, but whether he's being chased by an angry swan, trying to sneak Roberta Wickham's young cousin back into school after hours, or attempting to take revenge on Tuppy Glossip, Jeeves is always there to sort Bertie out.
Most of the stories are from Bertie's point of view. HOWEVER! There is one from Jeeves'. What is the name of this story?
A) Joy in the Morning
B) Bertie Changes His Mind
C) Thank you, Jeeves
B - Bertie Changes His Mind
Shakespeare has so many Henrys it can be difficult to keep track of them all. Fortunately, he distinctly named each play so as not to cause confusion! We have King Henry IV parts 1 & 2, King Henry V, King Henry VI parts 1, 2 & 3, and Henry VIII. See, not confusing at all.
Which Henry play features the French princess Catherine, who weds the lead Henry at the end?
A) Henry IV
B) Henry V
C) Henry VI
B - Henry V
Abigail's household possesses over 30 typewriters, and Abigail puts them to good use! What was the title of Abigail's 100% analog magazine/newsletter that she ran for multiple years?
A) Paper Blogging
B) The Letterbox
C) The Ink Cartridge
B - The Letterbox!