May 16, 2013

THE CHURCHILL QUIZ: FINEST HOUR 140, AUTUMN 2008

BY JAMES R. LANCASTER

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Each quiz includes four questions in six categories: contemporaries (C), literary matters (L), miscellaneous (M), personal (P), statesmanship (S) and war (W), with the easier questions first. Can you reach Level 1?

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Level 4:

1. Which country did Churchill often call “The Great Dominion”? (P)

2. Where did Churchill travel as a correspondent in 1895? (W)

3. What did Churchill call his “factory”? (L)

4. In October 1911 Churchill said to Violet Asquith: “I don’t want tea—I don’t want anything—anything in the world. Your father has just offered me the ———–.” What had H.H. Asquith offered? (S)

5. Whom did Churchill often call “that man” because he did not like to use his name? (M)

6. Whom did Churchill describe in 1931 as “striding half-naked up the steps of the Viceregal Palace…”? (C)

Level 3:

7. Which book by Churchill did John Maynard Keynes describe in 1926 as “a tractate against war—more effective than the work of a pacifist could be”? (L)

8. In his article, “Land of Corn and Lobsters,” written in August 1933, Churchill observed: “A dangerous, yet almost universal, habit of the American people is the drinking of immense quantities of —— ——.” Fill in the blanks. (L)

9. During which war did Churchill write to Pamela Plowden, “I have had five very dangerous days—continually under shell & rifle fire, and once the feather in my hat was cut through by a bullet”? (W)

10. “Before ——– we never had a victory. After ––—– we never had a defeat.” To which event did Churchill refer? (W)

11. Who cabled Kay Halle, the prime mover behind WSC’s honorary American citizenship, ATTAGIRL WELL DONE ISAIAH? (M)

12. Churchill wrote to Rosebery on 17 August 1908: “This is a wonderful event in my life….I never thought this sun would shine for me.” What was the event? (P)

Level 2:

13. They met for the first time on 16 July 1945 in Potsdam. Churchill referred to his “precise, sparkling manner and obvious powers of decision.” Who was he? (C)

14. “Here —–, though all be drifting” was a phrase applied by Churchill to his long and happy marriage to Clementine. Provide the missing word. (P)

15. Name one of the four hymns which were sung at Churchill’s funeral service. (M)

16. When was the first time the small adverts on the front page of The Times, which had long distinguished that newspaper, were banished to an inside page? (S)

17. “The founder of ———– was Christopher Columbus. When he started he didn’t know where he was going; when he arrived, he didn’t know where he was; and he did it all on borrowed money.” Which movement was Churchill describing? (S)

18. Where was Churchill when he heard of the death of Queen Victoria? (C)

Level 1:

19. What was Churchill’s singular achievement at the outbreak of the First World War? (W)

20. What was Churchill’s famous remark about central heating? (M)

21. Which well-known British historian wrote: “Anyone one can run up an account of Churchill and find plenty of faults. They weigh not a feather in the balance”? (L)

22. Which World War II event did Churchill call “The Fourth Climacteric”? (S)

23. Who gave the address when Winston and Clementine were married? (P)

24. “I admired always his courage, integrity of purpose, high comprehending vision. He was one of those—how few—who guard the life of Britain. Now he is gone.” Whom was Churchill referring to in this letter of condolence? (C) 

 

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