At the end of a novel set in this city, the Latin phrase “Placetne, magistra?” is used by Lord Peter Wimsey to propose to Harriet Vane. After a failed suicide attempt in this city, a man claims that “Death cancels all engagements.” News of two black owls is received as an omen by the Duke of Dorset, who leads a mass suicide in this city out of love for Zuleika Dobson. Another novel ends in this city as the Bollinger Club is heard outside Paul Pennyfeather’s window. After a luncheon in this city, The Waste Land is recited through a megaphone by Anthony Blanche. In that novel, this city is where Charles Ryder meets a character who carries the teddy bear Aloysius (“al-uh-WISH-us”). For 10 points, the opening sections of Evelyn Waugh’s novels Decline and Fall and Brideshead Revisited are set in what university city? ■END■
ANSWER: Oxford (The first novel is Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers.)
<JK, British Literature>
= Average correct buzz position