Q 01/05

Who wrote the words to 'Amazing Grace'?

A) William Cowper

B) John Newton

C) Charles Wesley

D) Isaac Watts

Answer · why

B) John Newton

Newton was a former slave-ship captain turned Anglican curate; the hymn illustrated a New Year's Day sermon in 1773.

Q 02/05

In which hymn collection did 'Amazing Grace' first appear in print, in 1779?

A) Hymns Ancient and Modern

B) Songs of Praise

C) Olney Hymns

D) The Sacred Harp

Answer · why

C) Olney Hymns

Newton compiled it with the poet William Cowper while curate of Olney in Buckinghamshire.

Q 03/05

What is the name of the tune to which 'Amazing Grace' has been sung since 1835?

A) New Britain

B) Eventide

C) Nicaea

D) St. Anne

Answer · why

A) New Britain

William Walker joined the words to the tune in his shape-note book Southern Harmony; more than 20 melodies had been tried before.

Q 04/05

Before his conversion, the author of Amazing Grace made his living how?

A) Hunting whales

B) Mining coal

C) Printing bibles

D) Captaining slave ships

Answer · why

D) Captaining slave ships

A violent storm in 1748 prompted his cry to God for mercy; he later became an abolitionist and lived to see the trade banned in 1807.

Q 05/05

Carl Boberg's 1885 poem 'O Store Gud', later a famous English hymn, was written in which language?

A) Swedish

B) Norwegian

C) Welsh

D) German

Answer · why

A) Swedish

Carl Boberg wrote 'O Store Gud' in 1885 after watching a thunderstorm clear over Mönsterås Bay.