On Friday evening the new season of the BBC 2 quiz, Mastermind began.  As I’m sure you are aware, this is a competition where contestants-  sitting in a spotlight in the infamous black leather chair- answer questions in two rounds.

The first  round, which lasts two minutes, has questions based on their own choice of Specialist Subject,  they then answer questions in a slightly longer  -2.5 minutes- General Knowledge Round. The combined totals of successfully answered questions from the two rounds are added together and, in these early stages, the contestant with the highest score each week ( or in the event of a tie, the one with the least “passes”) goes through to the semi-finals…and ever onwards.

This week one of the four contestants was Rosalind Winter, a writer from Gloucester, shown on the programme, below. Her Specialist Subject was The Completed Novels of Jane Austen.

If you can access the BBC iPlayer here, you can play along while watching the programme, as I did yesterday.

But if you can’t access it,  I have  listed the questions, below, so you can all join in and play along. I’ll post the answers on Monday, and  I’ll tell you my score, verified by my vigilant son, in the post on Monday too ;)

So…Here are the questions that Rosalind Winter had to face (and do remember, you have only two minutes in which to answer them all!):

1. What was the first of Jane Austen’s novels to be published ? It appeared in 1811 and was described as being “ by a Lady”?

2.I n Pride and Prejudice, who married Mr. Collins after Elizabeth Bennet rejects his proposal?

3. In Emma, at the ball held by Mr. and Mrs. Weston, who turns down an invitation to dance with Harriet Smith with the excuse that he is ” an old married man and his dancing days are over”?

4.The final chapter of which novel opens with the line:

Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can…?

5. Darcy writes to Elizabeth after she rejects his proposal of marriage. In the letter who does he say Wickham had tried to elope with?

6. In Northanger Abbey Catherine Morland spends two years from the age of 15 to 17 reading books that would supply her with useful quotations.What role is she said to have been in training for?

7 .In Mansfield Park , what does Mary Crawford give to Fanny to wear at the ball Sir Thomas holds for her and he brother, William?

8. In whose shop in London,where she is arranging for the sale of some of her mother’s jewels, does Elinor Dashwood unexpectedly meet her brother, John?

9. In Persuasion, what is the name of Sir Walter’s home in Somerset that he has to let to Admiral and Mrs Croft because he can no longer afford to live there?

10. In Emma what position in the village of Highbury did Mrs Bates’ husband hold before his death?

11. The Militia regiment in Pride and Prejudice had their winter headquarters in which town near Longbourn which is also home to Mrs Bennet’s sister?

12. When Sir Walter Elliot notices his daughter Anne’s improved looks he assumes she has been using a particular lotion which he also claims has “carried away Mrs Clay’s freckles”. What is the name of the lotion?

13. To which of his daughters does Mr Bennet say, after she has performed a second song:

“That will do extremely well, child. You have delighted us long enough. Let the other young ladies have time to exhibit” ?

14. In  Mansfield Park what is the title of the play the young people are planning to perform until Sir Thomas Bertram arrives home and puts a stop to it?

15 .In Northanger Abbey Catherine Morland is first introduced to Henry Tilney in the Lower Rooms in Bath by Mr King. What position did Mr King hold there?

16. Emma’s good opinion of Frank Churchill is shaken when she finds out the reason for his sudden trip to London. What was it?

Good luck!