On October 15, 1888, the London Police received a letter supposedly written by Jack The Ripper. The ‘From Hell’ letter, as it became known, caused a furore in 19th-century UK. This quiz is therefore about letters and messages.

Noteworthy

1 In 1990, Sylvie Le Bon allowed the posthumous publication of the letters written by one half of a famous literary couple to her partner. Name the writer and the recipient of the letters, which caused a literary furore when published.

2 CEO Stephen Elop wrote a famous open letter to his staff in 2011, referring to the company’s situation as akin to ‘standing on a burning platform’. Which company was he helming at the time, the one he could not save?

3 What resulted from a letter by Bobby Henderson addressed to the Kansas School Board in 2005 after the board’s decision to teach Intelligent Design in schools?

4 The interception of the Zimmerman telegram, in which Germany spoke of its decision to start unrestricted submarine warfare against the US, in 1917 is regarded as the prime reason for the American entry into World War I. To which country’s leadership was the telegram addressed?

5 What is the term used to describe a novel written as a series of documents, usually letters? Some fictional works using this format are Fanny Hill, Dracula and Bridget Jones’s Diary.

6 Which award-winning work of fiction, also adapted to film, features a series of letters to god from Celie, a 14-year-old girl, describing the horrors of her daily existence?

7 Letters from a Father to His Daughter is a collection of 30 letters addressed to a 10-year-old Indira by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Written in 1928, Nehru used these letters to introduce his daughter to natural history and the rise and fall of civilisations. Which famous writer translated the collection into Hindi?

8 Who wrote a famous letter while in Birmingham jail, in response to a statement by eight clergymen from Alabama, explaining and defending the strategy of non-violent resistance to racism?

9 In the 1964 black comedy Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, there are two nuclear bombs carried by a B-52 bomber. One of them bears the name of a type of letter first recorded during World War II. Name the type of letter?

10 “Two pearls have been dissolved, 27 gold coins have been lost and of the silver and copper the total cannot be cast up.” A cryptic message (in translation) after a famous event in Indian history. Identify the event.

Answers

1. Simone De Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre; it was titled ‘Letters to Sartre’

2. Nokia

3. The founding of the religion of Pastafarianism, which believes that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti monster and that the pirate way was the only accepted way of life

4. Mexico. It also spoke of helping Mexico reconquer Texas, New Mexico and Arizona

5. They are known as epistolary novels, from the Greek ‘epistole’ meaning ‘letter’

6. The Color Purple by Alice Walker

7. Munshi Premchand

8. Martin Luther King Jr

9. A ‘Dear John’, usually received by a serviceman from his wife or girlfriend telling him that the relationship is over. The female equivalent is known as ‘Dear Jane’

10. The Third battle of Panipat. The pearls were Sadashivrao Bhau and the young prince Vishwas Rao; the others were the captains and the remainder of the Maratha army

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

Follow Joy on Twitter @joybhattacharj

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