Quiz: Scribes and scribbles

1 With which specific set of stories did Geneva-based journalist Chitra Subramanium first come into national prominence in the mid-’80s?

2 English tradition has it that this two-word term for assistants in the first movable type presses originated from the surname of the assistant to William Caxton, who started the first ever printing press in the West. Famous people who have worked in this capacity in their early days include Ambrose Bierce, Mark Twain and Benjamin Franklin. Name the term.

3 In which work of fiction would you come across two freelance photographers hired by Khabardar magazine to expose the dealings between the Commissioner of Police and a certain Mr Tarneja?

4 Which author’s famous work was based on a set of reports on life in an Okie migrant camp for the San Francisco News in 1936?

5 Which famous writer’s only play, Fifth Column, was based on his experiences as a journalist in Spain during the Spanish Civil war?

6 Which bestselling work of fiction, written by a former journalist, was about a freelance crime reporter named Peter Miller who discovers intriguing mentions of a secret Nazi organisation in a holocaust survivor’s diary?

7 For which magazine did Gonzo journalist Hunter Thompson cover the 1972 Presidential campaign in a set of articles later published as Fear And Loathing On the Campaign Trail ’72?

8 Why did this tweet make headlines, and fill in the blanks. ‘Helicopter hovering over ______ at 1 am (is a rare event)?’

9 If Mithun Chakraborty’s character in the film Guru was modelled on newspaper baron Ramnath Goenka, which real-life person was the inspiration for the role played by R Madhavan (named Shyam in the film)?

10 Which multiple-Oscar-winning film of the ’70s chronicles the story of Howard Beale, a cynical anchor about to be fired by his network, who suddenly becomes hugely popular for ranting openly on air?

Answers

1. The Bofors scandal, which exposed kickbacks in the supply of Field Howitzers to the Indian Army

2. Printer’s Devil. The first assistant’s surname was Deville, from where ‘devil’ originated

3. Kundan Shah’s film Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron

4. John Steinbeck; this was the inspiration for Grapes of Wrath

5. Ernest Hemingway

6. The Odessa File. The writer, Frederick Forsyth, was also a journalist in the siege of Biafra

7. Rolling Stone

8. This tweet by Sohaib Athar was the first time the world got to know about the operation to eliminate Osama Bin Laden. The missing word was Abbottabad

9. S Gurumurthy, who wrote a series of articles on Reliance’s transgressions in that period

10. Network, which won a posthumous Best Actor award for Peter Finch

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

_{Follow Joy on Twitter @joybhattacharj}

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