Q 01/05

Oliver Twist was which of Charles Dickens's novels?

A) His first

B) His fifth

C) His last

D) His second

Answer · why

D) His second

His second: Dickens began Oliver Twist while The Pickwick Papers was still coming out in monthly parts, so for months he was writing both at once.

Q 02/05

What was the alternative title of Dickens's novel Oliver Twist?

A) The Workhouse Boy

B) A Rake's Progress

C) The Parish Boy's Progress

D) The Orphan's Tale

Answer · why

C) The Parish Boy's Progress

The Parish Boy's Progress: as a parish orphan, Oliver is raised by Mrs Mann, who pockets most of the allowance meant to feed the children.

Q 03/05

In which magazine was Oliver Twist serialised in monthly instalments?

A) Household Words

B) All the Year Round

C) Blackwood's Magazine

D) Bentley's Miscellany

Answer · why

D) Bentley's Miscellany

Bentley's Miscellany was edited by Dickens himself when Oliver Twist began there, until he quarrelled with its owner Richard Bentley and resigned.

Q 04/05

Which artist provided one steel etching for each monthly instalment of Oliver Twist?

A) Hablot Knight Browne

B) John Leech

C) George Cruikshank

D) John Tenniel

Answer · why

C) George Cruikshank

George Cruikshank later claimed in The Times that he had come up with the story, a claim Dickens's biographer John Forster dismissed as a 'silly story...

Q 05/05

Under what pseudonym was Oliver Twist first published?

A) Ouida

B) Boz

C) Phiz

D) Elia

Answer · why

B) Boz

Boz, Dickens said, came from his nickname for his little brother Augustus, 'Moses', which said through the nose became 'Boses', then 'Boz'.