Trivia Questions - Winnie the Pooh - Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn - Wizard of Oz stories and More!

 

 

Arts and Literature trivia questions and answers.

What art form is known as xylography?
A: Wood engraving. In Greek xylon means "wood," and graphe means "writing" or "drawing".

Where did the name Winnie, for Winnie the Pooh, come from?
A: From a bear named Winnie in the London Zoo. The animal had been born in Winnipeg, Canada and was brought to London in 1914 as the mascot of a Canadian regiment.

What first name did Arthur Conan Doyle give to his famous detective before he came up with Sherlock?
A: Sherringfored. The name was used in a short story Doyle wrote in 1886. Holmes's sidekick in the story was called Ormond Sacker--soon to be renamed Thomas Watson.

What American literary figure wrote his daughter: "Worry about cleanliness, courage, efficiency and horsemanship, but don't worry about the past, the future, boys, mosquitoes and popular opinion"?
A: Scott Fitzgerald.

Writer Robert Benchley demanded a stuntman's fee for his performance in the 1941 film comedy Bedtime Story. What was his "stunt"?
A: He drank 13 glasses of milk.

Who was the subject of the Auguste Rodin sculpture The Thinker?
A: The poet Dante.

What famous writer fought to ban Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn from the public library, claiming it was inappropriate for "our pure-minded lads and lassies"?
A: Little Women Author Louisa May Alcott.

How did writer L. Frank Baum pick Oz for the name of the fantasyland in his Wizard of Oz stories?
A: He spotted a file cabinet marked O-Z while he was making up the story for his children and their friends.

What is unusual about Mona Lisa's eyebrows in the famous Leonardo da Vinci painting?
A: She has none.

Pinocchio had two pets. What were they and what were their names?
A: A cat named Figaro and a goldfish named Cleo.

What was the name of Popeye's ship?
A: The Olive, in honor of his longtime girlfriend.

Pop artist Andy Warhol once declared that everyone would be famous for how long?
A: 15 minutes.

In what field is the Hugo Award given?
A: Science fiction writing. The award was named for Hugo Gernsback, the "father of science fiction."

What popular American writer coined the word nerd?
A: Dr. Seuss--whose real name was Theodore Seuss Geisel.

What is the literal translation of Dada--the name given to the anti-traditionalist art movement begun in 1916?
A: It means "hobby horse" in French. The name was chosen at random from a dictionary.

In Spain, kids call them Pitufo; in Germany, Schlumpg. What do American kids call them?
A: Smurfs.

What was the name of the last book written by Amelia Earhart?
A: Last Flight.  It was published after she disappeared in the central Pacific in 1937 while attempting an around-the-world flight. Her husband, publisher George Putnam, put it together using her letters, diary entries, charts, cables, and phone conversations.

Lolly Willowes, a novel about a spinster who realizes her vocation as a witch, won what unique honor when it was published in 1926?
A: The book, by British author Sylvia Townsend Warner, was the first offering of the Book-of-the-Month Club.

How many lovers are named in Casanova's memoirs, Story f My Life, first published in their complete form in the early 1960s?
A: Though he boasted about seducing thousands, the great lover named only 116.