The OLM Quiz: The Autumnin’ Empire

Home » Quiz

The Autumnin' Empire

Please wait while the activity loads.
If this activity does not load, try refreshing your browser. Also, this page requires javascript. Please visit using a browser with javascript enabled.

If loading fails, click here to try again

In the Northeast, we've had our turbulent summer of earthquakes and hurricanes, and it's time to settle down to some bland and boring weather. May these ten questions provide a more consistent kind of spice to your day. And please let me know if there's anything you'd like more of, or less of, or some of in these quizzes in the future. - Tony Hightower (Twitter @TriviaNYC)

Start

Congratulations - you have completed The Autumnin' Empire.

You scored %%SCORE%% out of %%TOTAL%%.

Your performance has been rated as %%RATING%%

Your answers are highlighted below.

Question 1

Why was nothing whatsoever published in England between September 3 and September 13, 1752?

A	The Printers' Guild staged one of the earliest modern-style labor strikes
B	The Gregorian Calendar was adopted at that time, and those days technically did not exist
C	The death of King George II, an avid reader, led to "the Fortnight of Grief"
D	A fire, begun by supporters of Pitt The Elder, wiped out London's "Printer's Row"

Question 1 Explanation:

When the switch from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian one happened, there were mass protests from people afraid that something had been stolen from them. (George II died in 1760, and was both not much of a reader and long unpopular with his constituents.)

Question 2

The song "The Impossible Dream" comes from which Broadway adaptation of a classic literary work?

A	The Phantom of the Opera
B	Kiss Me, Kate
C	Man of La Mancha
D	Show Boat

Question 2 Explanation:

Miguel De Cervantes was born on or about September 29, 1547. The filmmaker (and former Monty Python member) Terry Gilliam is currently finishing "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote," the film he was making in his 2002 documentary Lost In La Mancha.

Question 3

The discovery on September 6, 1992, of the starved body of Christopher McCandless served as the inspiration for what epic story of the great outdoors, later made into a film?

A	Hell Or High Water, by Peter Heller
B	Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer
C	Long Way Round, by Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman
D	Desert Solitaire, by Edward Abbey

Question 3 Explanation:

Christopher "Alexander Supertramp" McCandless was found starved to death in the Alaskan wilderness after having given away his possessions. His story was adapted by Sean Penn into the 1996 movie of the same name, starring Emile Hirsch. It's a great film.

Question 4

The Pure Food And Drug Act, the legislation that essentially founded the FDA in the United States, was sponsored by President Theodore Roosevelt after he was moved to do so by what work of fiction?

A	The Smoky God, by Willis Emerson
B	A Pushcart At The Curb, by John Dos Passos
C	The Dust-Layers, by Herman Melville
D	The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair

Question 4 Explanation:

Sinclair (born September 20, 1878) was unhappy with the reception his book brought; he wanted to highlight the plight of the American worker, not the beef industry. "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach."

Question 5

Which of the following characters is not a character in "The Hobbit," the first book in the Lord Of The Rings multiverse, first published on September 21, 1937?

A	Frodo Baggins
B	Smaug, the Dragon
C	Elrond, Lord of Rivendell
D	Gollum

Question 5 Explanation:

Frodo Baggins, the cousin and adoptive heir to Bilbo, picks up where Bilbo left off in The Fellowship Of The Ring, the first book in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

Question 6

Aside from his excellent self-illustrated books of poetry, Shel Silverstein (born September 25, 1932) was also an accomplished songwriter, having written which of the following hit songs?

A	Purple People Eater
B	Fat Bottomed Girls
C	A Boy Named Sue
D	Drop Kick Me Jesus Through The Goalposts Of Life

Question 6 Explanation:

He was actually quite a prolific and successful songwriter. "The Cover Of The Rolling Stone," The Unicorn," "The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan," and of course the classic "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout (Would Not Take The Garbage Out)." Of course.

Question 7

While he was one of the most successful American poets of the 20th century, what was William Carlos Williams' day job, a profession he never left?

A	Pediatrician
B	Patent Officer
C	Bartender
D	Floor manager in a coffee factory

Question 7 Explanation:

Despite his demanding day job, Williams (born September 17, 1883) was very active in New York's poetry and arts community, befriending Pound, Eliot, Duchamp and Man Ray, and personally mentoring many of the Beat poets, the Black Mountain poets, and New Yorkers like Frank O'Hara and Amiri Baraka.

Question 8

Fitz Hugh Ludlow, born September 11, 1836, was an American journalist best known for his early explorations into what aspect of the modern counterculture through his writings?

A	Outlaw Gangs
B	Computer Hacking
C	Songs With X-Rated Lyrics
D	Recreational Drug Use

Question 8 Explanation:

His desert-drug-enlightenment memoir The Hasheesh Eater (1857) was influenced heavily by the opium memoirs of Thomas DeQuincey, and set the tone for the later works of William Burroughs and Carlos Castaneda, among others.

Question 9

Name the celebrated Victorian-era poet who famously eloped (with another author) on September 12, 1846.

A	Christina Rossetti
B	Charlotte Brontë
C	George Eliot
D	Elizabeth Barrett

Question 9 Explanation:

Edgar Allan Poe dedicated his poem The Raven to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, referring to her as "the noblest of her sex." At the time, it was a very nice thing to say.

Question 10

Whose memoir, I'm With The Band, detailed her life as a groupie touring with many of the biggest stadium bands of the 1970s?

A	Bebe Buell
B	Pamela Des Barres
C	Cynthia "Plaster Caster" Albritton
D	Cathy Evelyn Smith

Question 10 Explanation:

Des Barres (born September 9) was connected to, among many others, Captain Beefheart, Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler, Jim Morrison, Jimmy Page, and the actor Don Johnson, who to be fair did have that one hit song in the mid-1980s. I'm With The Band is actually a hell of a fun read.

Once you are finished, click the button below. Any items you have not completed will be marked incorrect. Get Results

There are 10 questions to complete.

←

List

→

Return

Shaded items are complete.