Lesson 4.2.1.20

4.2.1.20 The Wipers Times by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman Quiz: AQA English Literature A, Unit 2

20 questions

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Lesson 4.2.1.20, The Wipers Times by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA English Literature A (7712), Unit 2: Texts in shared contexts, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. In what year did the Wipers Times begin publication?

    • 1916
    • 1914
    • 1918
    • 1921

  2. What does "Wipers" mean in soldiers' slang?

    • A military rank
    • Ypres
    • A type of rifle
    • Trench mud

  3. Who created the stage play The Wipers Times with Ian Hislop?

    • David Haig
    • Ben Elton
    • Peter Whelan
    • Nick Newman

  4. What is the typical purpose of a trench newspaper?

    • To entertain and boost morale among soldiers
    • To issue official military orders only
    • To print enemy propaganda
    • To sell news to civilians abroad

  5. Which genre best describes the humour of The Wipers Times?

    • Epic tragedy
    • Satirical comedy
    • Gothic horror
    • Pastoral idyll

  6. Which literary device is central to a trench newspaper's satire?

    • Assonance
    • Apostrophe
    • Caesura
    • Irony

  7. What is the historical significance of a paper produced in the trenches?

    • It proves the trenches were comfortable
    • It shows soldiers creating culture under harsh conditions
    • It shows the war was conducted entirely at sea
    • It shows soldiers were forbidden to write

  8. Which broad aspect of WW1 does The Wipers Times reveal?

    • The peaceful settlement of colonial disputes after the negotiations in Paris and Berlin
    • The rise of the Soviet Union and its impact on the politics of the Western powers
    • The gap between official rhetoric and soldiers' experience
    • The triumphant advance of the British army as it drove the enemy back across France

  9. Which phrase best describes a trench newspaper's relationship with officers?

    • Gently subversive
    • Entirely obedient
    • Officially commissioned propaganda
    • Hostile and violent

  10. Evaluate: what is the value of humour in a WW1 text?

    • It reveals morale, resilience and critique together
    • It removes all sense of suffering, leaving the reader with only light-hearted scenes
    • It shows the war was not serious and that soldiers never felt any fear at the front
    • It proves the writers were civilians who had never served in the trenches themselves

  11. Which concept describes the sense of solidarity among soldiers sharing a trench paper?

    • Cosmopolitanism
    • Camaraderie
    • Monarchism
    • Protectionism

  12. Which kind of source is a trench newspaper for historians?

    • A treaty between nations
    • A secondary history by a later scholar
    • A primary source reflecting soldiers' views
    • A government statistical report

  13. Why might a play based on a real trench newspaper be significant for later audiences?

    • It recovers forgotten voices and wit from the war
    • It replaces all official history, so that the army's own records are no longer needed
    • It proves the war had no humour, since the soldiers were far too miserable to joke
    • It removes the need for research, since the play gives every detail that is needed

  14. Which term describes a text written to mock authority through ridicule?

    • Ode
    • Satire
    • Epistle
    • Elegy

  15. What does The Wipers Times show about how soldiers coped with the war?

    • They gave up writing altogether
    • They avoided all thought of the war
    • They relied entirely on official entertainment
    • They used humour and creativity to survive

  16. Which concept describes the way official language is turned into comic material?

    • Apostrophe
    • Allegory
    • Parody
    • Elegy

  17. Which contextual feature of the war made trench publications possible?

    • Constant rapid movement across open land, which left soldiers with no time to write
    • Complete absence of printing equipment, so the men wrote only by hand on scraps
    • Static trench warfare that gave soldiers time and space to write
    • A ban on all writing, which the officers enforced strictly across the whole front

  18. Which word describes the paper's chief tone towards the war?

    • Frivolous
    • Wry
    • Triumphalist
    • Reverent

  19. Which broader legacy of the trench paper does the play emphasise?

    • Listing the war's naval battles
    • Praising the government's propaganda
    • Remembering ordinary soldiers' humour and endurance
    • Celebrating the generals' strategic genius

  20. Which quality makes a trench newspaper a useful historical source?

    • It was printed by government censors only, with every line checked by an official
    • It was written by soldiers during the war, showing immediate attitudes
    • It contains no information about soldiers, since it was aimed only at the staff officers
    • It was written decades later by historians looking back on the events of the conflict

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