Q 01/05

In which year was Walter Scott born?

A) 1768

B) 1766

C) 1771

D) 1773

Answer · why

C) 1771

Scott was born on 15 August 1771 in a third-floor flat on College Wynd in Edinburgh's Old Town, the ninth child of a Writer to the Signet; six sibling...

Q 02/05

Which childhood illness in 1773 left Scott with a lifelong limp?

A) Scarlet fever

B) Tuberculosis

C) Polio

D) Rickets

Answer · why

C) Polio

The illness was polio, caught at about 18 months; he was sent to his grandparents' Borders farm at Sandyknowe to recover, where his aunt Jenny taught ...

Q 03/05

Which famous Scottish poet did the 15-year-old Scott meet, just once, at an Edinburgh literary salon?

A) Robert Burns

B) Allan Ramsay

C) Robert Fergusson

D) James Hogg

Answer · why

A) Robert Burns

Scott alone could name the author of a poem Burns asked about, and was thanked for it.

Q 04/05

What was Scott's profession alongside writing?

A) Minister

B) Physician

C) Lawyer

D) Soldier

Answer · why

C) Lawyer

Scott was a lawyer: called to the bar as an advocate in 1792, he served as Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire from 1799 and as a Principal Clerk of Sessio...

Q 05/05

Scott's wife Charlotte Charpentier was born in which country?

A) Italy

B) Switzerland

C) France

D) Belgium

Answer · why

C) France

Charlotte Charpentier was born in Lyon, France, in 1770; Scott met her at the spa of Gilsland in Cumberland in 1797 and married her in Carlisle that C...