1 The character with the most lines in a single play is Hamlet, with 1,506. Four of the top five characters are also eponymous with the play. Who is the only one in the top five who is not also the title character of the play?

2 Which 20th-century dystopian classic has numerous references to Shakespeare’s The Tempest and also derives its title from a line in the play?

3 What specific reason did Eugene Schieffelin give for releasing 60 starlings in Central Park in 1890?

4 Shakespeare’s longest play is Hamlet. Which is the shortest, which can be performed in less than a third of the time required for Hamlet, which takes approximately four hours to perform?

5 What is Shakespeare’s contemporary John Taylor believed to have created, which has ensured that he is remembered well into the 21st century?

6 William Shakespeare began to seriously write poetry at the age of 28, with his first collection of sonnets releasing in 1593. What is the most common reason offered for his switch to sonnets at the time?

7 Which of Shakespeare’s plays starts with the male protagonist grieving because of his unrequited love for the beautiful Rosaline?

8 Which Tom Stoppard play, first staged at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1966, is an account of the exploits of two minor characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet?

9 William and Anne Shakespeare were the parents of twins, Judith and Hamnet. Just name both the plays he wrote that featured twins in significant roles?

10 In his will, what was Shakespeare’s bequest to his wife, Anne Hathaway?

Answers

1. Iago, who has 1,088 lines in Othello. Othello himself has just 880 lines!

2. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, from Caliban’s ‘O brave new world that has such people’

3. He wanted to introduce all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays in America. There are 200 million of them now and are regarded as an invasive species affecting the local ecosystem

4. A Comedy Of Errors. The 1982 comedy classic Angoor, directed by Gulzar, was based on this play

5. He is regarded as the painter of the famous Chandos portrait, which is the image of the Bard in almost all contemporary references. It is called the Chandos portrait as it belonged to the family of the Duke of Chandos, who handed it over to the National Portrait Gallery in the 19th century

6. There was an outbreak of plague in Europe in 1592 and almost all London theatres were closed between 1592 and 1594.

7. Romeo and Juliet. Romeo changed his mind very quickly, though, after meeting Juliet at a Capulet ball

8. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. It was also released as a film starring Gary Oldman, Tim Roth and Richard Dreyfuss in 1990, with Stoppard credited as the director

9. A Comedy Of Errors, which featured two sets of twins, and Twelfth Night, featuring Viola and Sebastian

10. His second best bed. In his defence, Anne was wealthy in her own right and probably did not need the money, and as the best bed of the house was normally reserved for guests, this could have been the bed they shared through their marriage

Joy Bhattacharjyais a quizmaster and Project Director, FIFA U-17 World Cup

Follow Joy on Twitter @joybhattacharj

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