Answers to Quiz Night at the Writers' Arms held last Friday 25 June

The responce to last Friday's quiz could best be described as modest in the extreme. I forget which of Samuel Beckett's plays has the stage direction that a door should be imperceptibly open, which is to say closed. Replies to our quiz were, I'm afraid, similarly imperceptible, and as a result the highly desirable prize - a Penguin paperback of Dark as the Grave wherein my Friend is Laid - will be returning to its normal place, the pile of books between the TV and the lawnmover.

Here, however, for the sake of those interested and the illumination of future generations, are the answers.

1 - A Christmas Carol.
2 - Octavo is the largest.
3 - Eyind Johnson, author and member of the Nobel prize panel, won the prize in 1974. The others were found not to be quite up to scratch.
4 - Winchester Cathedral.
5 - The Midnight Bell, from Patrick Hamilton's novel of the same name.
6 - Finca Vigia. 'Finca' is 'farm' in English and 'vigia' means something along the lines of 'lookout', which name derives from the fact that Hemingway's place is on a hilltop.
7 - On Beauty by Zadie Smith, author of The Autograph Man in the question.
8 - Palmers Green. The poet was Stevie Smith.
9 - Pier Paulo Pasolini: Il Decameron (1971), I Racconti di Canterbury (1972), Il Fiore delle Mille e una Notte (1974).
10 - 'A', Edgar Allen Poe, was born first, on 19 January 1809. Next was 'C', Harriet Beecher Stowe, who was born 14 June 1811. Last to be born was 'B', Emily Bronte, who was born on 30 July 1818.