WINTER QUIRKY QUIZ

I wish all my readers a very Happy Christmas and pleasant New Year holiday.

With some people not returning to work until 4 January 2010, I thought that I would set one of my little quizzes to keep you amused, and to provide an excuse to get away from the TV, and the relatives, for a while.

There will be top quality book prizes for the best three entrants so get your thinking caps on.

An easy one to start.

1] Who said 'Send him to gaol, and you make him a goal bird for life. Besides it is the season of forgiveness.'

2] Which crime writer, and which actor in a crime series, are never odd or even?

3] How would a minister of religion, a word puzzle, a type of code and an aperture be useful in a murder investigation?

4] A famous crime novel begins with the following sentence. Fill in the gaps and name the novel.

'Some women give birth to ______ , some go to bed with them, and some ______ them.'

5] Grace Kelly starred in the film Rear Window, and Catherine Deneuve starred in the film Mississippi Mermaid [ la Sirene du Mississippi]. What is the connection between these two films, apart from having two very beautiful women as the stars?

6] What is the link between a bird of the Icteridae family with yellow and black plumage, metal drawn out to be thin and flexible, and three roses and a bottle of cognac?

7] What is the nominal connection between the discoverer of the secret of life, an Italian navigator, a transcontinental expedition leader, and an English seaside town? And who were their colleagues?

8] Name a crime writer who was born in Malaya in 1907, and a crime writer who lives in Thailand?

9] What sort of cooperation might mysteriously involve a lonely American jockey, Royal cousins, single colloquial nightwear, and a Gallic pseudonym?

10] Who are these ladies?

a) Dulcie Duveen

b) Mary Marston

c) Ellen Gjelten

d) Nancy Neele

e) Cynthia Murdoch

Best of luck and please send your answers to thbear08@googlemail.com by the closing date Wednesday 6 January [midnight GMT].