50 Fun Facts About Mark Twain

What was Mark Twain's real name?

He was the sixth of seven children; only three siblings survived childhood.

Twain was born in 1835 in a village called Florida, in which state?

The family moved to a Mississippi port town when he was four.

Which Mississippi port town, Twain's boyhood home, became the fictional St. Petersburg?

Slavery was legal there at the time and became a theme of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

After his father died in 1847, Twain left school after which grade to apprentice as a printer?

He later educated himself in public libraries in the evenings and joined the printers' union at 18.

Twain's brother Orion owned which newspaper, to which young Sam contributed sketches from 1851?

Sam worked there as a typesetter before leaving at 18 to print in New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Cincinnati.

Which steamboat pilot took Twain on as a cub for $500, payable out of his first wages?

It took more than two years for Twain to earn his licence for the New Orleans to St. Louis run.

'Mark twain' was the leadsman's cry for a river depth of how much?

It meant safe water for a steamboat; his grave monument is 12 feet tall for the same reason.

Twain's younger brother Henry died in 1858 after what?

Sam had got him the job as mud clerk, claimed to have dreamed the death a month before, and blamed himself for life.

How long did Twain serve in the Confederate Marion Rangers before the unit disbanded?

He turned it into the sketch 'The Private History of a Campaign That Failed'.

Twain went west in 1861 because his brother Orion had become secretary of which territory?

The stagecoach journey across the Plains and Rockies, with a stop among the Mormons of Salt Lake City, fills Roughing It.

After failing as a miner on the Comstock Lode, Twain wrote for which Virginia City newspaper?

He first signed a piece 'Mark Twain' there on February 3, 1863.

Which pen name did Twain use for humorous sketches until 1863, before settling on Mark Twain?

He also wrote a series of comic letters as 'Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass'.

Where did Twain hear the story that became 'The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County'?

Published in the New York Saturday Press on November 18, 1865, it brought him national attention.

Twain's 1866 letters for the Sacramento Union, the basis of his first lectures, reported from where?

He sailed there on the steamer Ajax's maiden voyage.

Twain's 1867 cruise to Europe and the Holy Land, basis of The Innocents Abroad, was on which ship?

On board, Charles Langdon showed him a picture of his sister Olivia; Twain claimed love at first sight.

Twain married Olivia Langdon in February 1870 in which New York town, where the family is buried?

They summered at her sister's Quarry Farm there for over 20 years; Woodlawn Cemetery holds the family plot.

Twain's only son, Langdon, died in 1872 at 19 months of what?

The couple were living in Buffalo, where Twain owned a stake in the Buffalo Express.

What did Olivia's sister Susan Crane build for Twain at Quarry Farm in 1874?

It gave him a quiet place to write and smoke his cigars; many classic novels were drafted there.

Twain built his Hartford home next door to which famous author?

He lived in Hartford for 17 years and wrote Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and A Connecticut Yankee there.

Which inventor did Twain befriend, spending much time in his laboratory?

Twain held three patents of his own, including one for adjustable garment straps to replace suspenders.

Twain's most commercially successful invention was what?

Its pages carried dried adhesive that needed only moistening; more than 25,000 sold.

Twain was an early champion of which forensic technique, central to the plot of Pudd'nhead Wilson?

He had first used it in a tall tale in Life on the Mississippi in 1883.

Who filmed Twain at his Redding home in 1909, producing the only known footage of him?

Some was used in the two-reel The Prince and the Pauper that year.

How much did Twain sink into the Paige typesetting machine between 1880 and 1894?

It amazed viewers when it worked but broke down constantly and was made obsolete by the Linotype.

Twain's publishing house had a hit with whose memoirs before failing on a biography of Pope Leo XIII?

Charles L. Webster and Company sold fewer than 200 copies of the papal biography.

Which Standard Oil executive rescued Twain's finances after 1893?

Rogers had him file for bankruptcy protection and transfer his copyrights to Olivia, then managed his money until every creditor was paid.

Twain's 1895-96 round-the-world lecture tour was undertaken to do what?

He was no longer legally obliged to; the three months in India became the heart of Following the Equator.

Why was Twain's scheduled lecture in Honolulu cancelled during the world tour?

He was ill much of the trip, mostly with a cold and a carbuncle, before sailing on to Fiji and Australia.

In Vienna in 1897 Twain delivered a speech, in the local tongue, titled what?

'Die Schrecken der Deutschen Sprache' greatly amused the Concordia Press Club.

Told the Savage Club had only three honorary members including the heir to the throne, Twain replied what?

He was in great demand as a solo humorous speaker, a forerunner of stand-up.

Why did Twain make short visits to Canada in the 1880s?

Belford Brothers' unauthorised Tom Sawyer alone cost him an estimated $10,000; a resident had to register the copyright.

Twain's 1884-85 series of readings with George Washington Cable was billed as what?

He used the Toronto stops to secure copyright for Huckleberry Finn.

Twain's daughter Susy died in 1896 of what, beginning his years of depression?

Olivia died in 1904 and Jean on Christmas Eve 1909; only Clara outlived him.

Twain's Angel Fish and Aquarium Club, formed in 1906, was for whom?

The dozen or so members were aged 10 to 16; he called it his 'life's chief delight'.

Which university awarded Twain an honorary degree in 1907?

Yale had given him a Litt.D. in 1901 and his home state's university an LL.D. in 1902.

Twain predicted he would 'go out' with what, and did so in April 1910?

He was born two weeks after its 1835 approach and died of a heart attack a day after its closest pass to the Sun.

Twain's grave monument stands 12 feet tall. Why that height?

His surviving daughter Clara placed it; he had preferred cremation but let his family decide.

Twain's only collaboration, The Gilded Age, was written with which Hartford neighbour?

It was also his first attempt at a novel, and gave its name to an era.

Huckleberry Finn was based on which boyhood friend of Twain's?

Tom Sawyer was modelled on Twain himself with traces of Bowen and Briggs.

Which of his books did Twain call 'the best' and like most, despite the critics?

He had obsessed over Joan for forty years, studied her for twelve and dedicated the book to his wife.

When was Twain's pacifist story The War Prayer first published?

An exclusive contract with Harper & Brothers kept it unpublished in his lifetime.

Why did Clara Clemens finally allow Letters from the Earth to be published in 1962?

The family had held back his most irreverent writings on religion after his death.

When was the first volume of Twain's autobiography published, as he had wished?

The University of California edition ran over 736 pages, dictated in whimsical, non-chronological order.

Twain served from 1901 until his death as vice president of which organisation?

He opposed the Philippine-American War and wrote 'King Leopold's Soliloquy' about the Congo.

Which writer called Twain 'the father of American literature'?

He has also been called 'the greatest humorist the United States has produced'.

Twain's famous white suits are best documented from which period?

Modern images suggesting he wore them all his life are unfounded, though a white-suit photo from 1882 exists.

In 1906, Twain urged Congress to extend copyright to the author's life plus how many years?

'Let the grandchildren take care of themselves,' he said.

A dream of his brother's death led Twain to become an early member of which body?

He also belonged to Polar Star Lodge of the Freemasons.

Officials valued Twain's estate at his death at roughly how much?

About $11 million in today's terms; the funeral was at the Brick Presbyterian Church on Fifth Avenue.

Twain's daughter Clara went to Vienna to study piano under whom?

The family lived in Vienna and London from 1897 to 1899.