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

It followed The Pickwick Papers and was serialised in a monthly magazine from 1837 to 1839 under his pen name Boz.

Q 02/05

What was the novel's alternative title?

A) The Workhouse Boy

B) A Rake's Progress

C) The Parish Boy's Progress

D) The Orphan of London

Answer · why

C) The Parish Boy's Progress

It nods to Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress and to Hogarth's satirical print series A Rake's Progress and A Harlot's Progress.

Q 03/05

In which magazine was the novel 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

The magazine's owner Richard Bentley published the book version, with 24 steel plates, six months before the serial finished.

Q 04/05

Which artist provided one steel etching for each monthly instalment?

A) Hablot Knight Browne

B) John Leech

C) George Cruikshank

D) John Tenniel

Answer · why

C) George Cruikshank

The 1948 film's Fagin make-up, prosthetic nose included, was modelled on his drawings.

Q 05/05

Under what pseudonym was the book first published?

A) Currer Bell

B) Boz

C) Phiz

D) Elia

Answer · why

B) Boz

Dickens had used it for his Sketches by Boz; Phiz was the nickname of his illustrator Hablot Browne.