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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the mother's reaction to the Cricks when they return the baby?
(a) She ignores them and only has eyes for the baby.
(b) She pretends that the baby isn't hers.
(c) She shouts for the police to arrest them.
(d) She assaults Mary and tries to scratch her eyes out.

2. What is the title Ernest Atkinson gives Dick in the letter?
(a) Saviour of the World.
(b) An expletive.
(c) Most Beloved Grandson.
(d) Earl of Gildsey.

3. Where did the stuffed pike come from?
(a) Tom caught it and gave it to Dick for his birthday.
(b) It was a wedding present for Dick and Helen Crick.
(c) Dick caught it.
(d) Dick never tells anyone.

4. Instead of living up to their ideals of freedom, brotherhood, and equality, Tom says the French revolutionaries turned straight to what?
(a) Mob rule and mass murder.
(b) Destroying their own civilization.
(c) Napoleon and his promises of glory and Empire.
(d) The radical capitalism of Adam Smith.

5. Where does Price accompany Tom before they part?
(a) All the way home.
(b) The gates of the school.
(c) The bus stop.
(d) The taxi stand.

6. Why does Tom Crick apologize to Price outside the pub?
(a) Tom thinks he wasted the students' time in his history class.
(b) Tom promised Price a lift but now is too drunk to drive.
(c) Tom shouts at the barman and has them both kicked out of the pub.
(d) Tom doesn't really know either.

7. What does Mary stare at all day at the mental hospital?
(a) A picture of Dick Crick.
(b) The ceiling of her room.
(c) A travel picture book of the Fens.
(d) The playground children across the road.

8. While Harry Crick recovers from his ordeal, whom does Mary remind him of?
(a) His wife, Helen Atkinson.
(b) Florence Nightingale.
(c) Sarah Atkinson.
(d) The Virgin Mary.

9. What does Tom tell Dick about Mary's baby?
(a) That it's Dick's fault the baby died.
(b) That the baby was Harold Metcalf's.
(c) That the baby is Dick's.
(d) That the baby really was Freddie Parr's.

10. What does Tom Crick say is the mission of a history teacher?
(a) To motivate his students to be active citizens.
(b) To instill in his students a sense of destiny.
(c) To make sure his students end up loving history.
(d) To teach his students about mistakes.

11. On what days does Tom stay at home at night because Dick spends the evenings out with Mary?
(a) Tuesday and Friday.
(b) Wednesday and Saturday.
(c) Monday and Thursday.
(d) Wednesday and Sunday.

12. What does Tom compare the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to?
(a) Plucking a chicken.
(b) Mary's abortion.
(c) A circus attraction.
(d) A puppet show.

13. What does the letter reveal to Tom and Dick about Dick?
(a) That he is the heir to a vast fortune hidden in the Fens.
(b) That he is the child of incest between Ernest and his daughter Helen.
(c) That Ernest found Dick in the shrubs near a canal and Helen adopted him.
(d) That Dick is entitled to Ernest's seat in the British parliament.

14. What is the historical fact that Tom says "history scarcely finds time to mention"?
(a) That Marie Antoinette never said the phrase, "let them eat cake."
(b) That on the eve of the French Revolution Louis XVI mourned his firstborn.
(c) That King Arthur was not English at all, but rather Welsh.
(d) That 55,000 German civilians died in the fire bombing Hamburg by the Allies.

15. What reason does the headmaster give the students for Tom's retirement from the school?
(a) Because the history department will be cut.
(b) Because Tom is a disgrace to the school.
(c) Health reasons.
(d) Personal reasons.

Short Answer Questions

1. What it the brand of Dick's motorbike?

2. Tom Crick compares history teachers to which fictional character?

3. Price tells Tom Crick of his nightmare about:

4. What is the name of the Cricks' golden retriever?

5. Where does Tom Crick take Price to talk about Tom's forced retirement?

(see the answer keys)

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