artcetera

THE WEEKLY QUIZ THAT TESTS YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE ARTS

1 Where would you buy a pint of Shires?

2 And Newton and Ridley?

3 Which novel largely concerns the fortunes of Atkinson Ale of Gildsey (and particularly the ferociously potent Coronation Ale)?

4 Where would you come across the refrain "A pint of plain is your only man"? And what is "plain"?

5 "I can't drink Guinness out of a thick mug. I only like it out of a thin glass. I had a few sips but I couldn't finish it." What's the play?

6 "Hermit hoar, in solemn cell,/ Wearing out life's evening gray;/ Smite thy bosom, sage, and tell,/ What is bliss, and which the way?/ Thus I spoke; and speaking sigh'd; -/ When the smiling sage reply'd - /" What? And who wrote it?

ANSWERS: 1 In Borsetshire, and especially at the Bull in Ambridge (The Archers). 2 In and around Weatherfield, and especially the Rover's Return, though these days it's a free house (Coronation Street). 3 Graham Swift's Waterland (1983). 4 In Flann O'Brien's novel At Swim-Two-Birds (1939). "Plain" is porter. 5 Harold Pinter's The Caretaker (1960). 6 "- Come, my lad, and drink some beer." Dr Johnson, in unusually profound mood.