Problem: (CNN) -- Award-winning pianist Roger Williams, who played before nine U.S. presidents and recorded dozens of albums over his long career, died early Saturday in Los Angeles after a struggle with pancreatic cancer, his assistant said. He was 87.

Jacque Heebner, Williams' personal assistant who said she had known the musician for 77 years, said she was with him inside his home when he died. Even into his final weeks, Williams continued to perform and to champion such causes as music education. He had recently released an album and was under contract for three more, she said.

"There was never a man with a more tender, gentle heart," Heebner said. "He was a charming man, even at the age of 87."

Born Louis Weertz in Omaha, Nebraska, the pianist attended Drake University and the Juilliard School in New York City. He then met Dave Kapp, the founder of Kapp Records, who suggested the musician change his name to Roger Williams, according to a biography on the Hit Parade Hall of Fame website.

His break came in 1955 with his recording of "Autumn Leaves," going on to have hits on the Billboard charts for four decades, according to his official website. His records include "Born Free" and themes from the movies "Doctor Zhivago" and "Somewhere in Time."

Williams' success helped land him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a 2011 induction into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame and many other honors. He was also a workhorse performer, including long stints headlining shows in Las Vegas in which he played his characteristic blend of originals, classics and works from greats like Duke Ellington and more contemporary composers.
1. What was Roger Williams' job?
2. How old was he?
3. What was his birth name?
4. What college did he go to?
5. Where is that?
6. Did he get an education anyplace else?
7. Where?
8. Is that in New York?
9. When did he make the album Autumn Leaves?
10. Was it a success?
11. What chart did the songs show up on?
12. For how long?
13. Is he still living?
14. When did he pass?
15. From what?
16. Where was he?
17. Was he at the store?
18. Who is his assistant?
19. Was she around when he died?
20. Where?
Answer: 1. He was a pianist
2. 87
3. Louis Weertz
4. Drake University
5. New York City
6. Yes
7. Juilliard School
8. Yes
9. 1955
10. Yes
11. Billboard charts
12. Four decades
13. No
14. Saturday
15. Pancreatic cancer
16. Los Angeles
17. No
18. Jacque Heebner
19. Yes
20. Inside his home

Problem: Hello Sandy, We have just returned from our holiday. We went with our friends Edward Smith and his wife Tina to the Yorkshire Moors. This is a beautiful place. It is a natural park. There are lots of places to walk on the tops of the hills, miles of grassland with no people, just sheep and birds. Edward, who had just come out of hospital, could not walk as far as be used to. However this meant that we walked in the mornings, and then stopped at a cafe for lunch each day, before returning to the place we live. Edward and I slept in front of the fire all afternoon, while the ladies went for another walk. Very pleasant! I have taken lots of photos from the place we live, across the valley below us, of the morning sunrise, and the mist in the valley. Also, in England, the old steam powered trains are very popular. I have taken many photos of the train and from it. Yesterday we had the first snow of this winter. It is very early (we usually expect snow in January). It rained all day, then snowed in the evening. Today we have bright sunshine! Both Jenny and I are well I don't know if I told you, in the last e-mail, that Jenny is now working in a hotel. Although she has to work hard, people there are nice and she is enjoying the work. Please write to us to tell us your news. Yours, Victor
1. Where did the writer of the letter go on vacation?
2. Who did he go with?
3. What were their names?
4. Which of them had been unwell?
5. Was he able to walk well?
6. What did they do in the mornings?
7. What did the men do in the afternoon?
8. What did the women do while they did that?
9. Where did they eat?
10. What was below where they stayed?
11. Did the narrator take pictures of it?
12. What else did he photograph?
13. Were they common there?
14. What is his wife's name?
Answer: 1. Yorkshire Moors
2. friends
3. Edward Smith and his wife Tina
4. Edward
5. No
6. walked
7. slept
8. went for another walk
9. a cafe
10. valley
11. Yes
12. old steam powered trains
13. Yes
14. Jenny

Problem: CHAPTER IX

MERRIL TIGHTENS THE SCREW

The _Sorata_ went to sea again next morning, and one night a week later she bore up for Vancouver before a westerly breeze. A thin crescent moon had just cleared the dim white line of the mainland snow, and the sea glittered faintly in her frothing wake under a vast sweep of dusky blue. The big topsail swayed across it, blotting out the stars, and there was a rhythmic splashing beneath the bows.

Anthea Merril stood at the tiller outlined against the heave of sea, for the night was warm and she was dressed in white. Nellie Austerly sat on a locker in the cockpit, and her father on the saloon skylights with a cigar in his hand. Valentine lay on the deck not far away, and Jimmy a little further forward.

"I suppose we will be in soon after daylight, and I'm sorry," said Nellie Austerly. "It has been an almost perfect cruise in spite of the bad weather. Don't you wish we were going back again, instead of home, Anthea?"

Jimmy roused himself to attention, for he would very much have liked to hear Miss Merril's real thoughts on the matter; but she laughed.

"I don't think it would be very much use if I did," she said. "One can't go sailing always--and if you feel that that is a pity, you can think of the rain and the wind."

"Ah!" said Nellie Austerly, "one has to bear so much of them everywhere. Sometimes one wonders whether life is all gray days and rain; but this trip has made me better, and, perhaps, if Mr. Valentine will take us, we will go back next year and revel once more in the sea and the sunshine--we really had a good deal of the latter."
1. What was Anthea wearing?
2. who else was on the boat?
3. what was she doing?
4. what was the boat named?
5. Did Nellie want to go home?
6. what time of day is it?
7. what's the weather like?
8. was the moon full?
9. what shape was it?
10. What was Nellie's father doing?
11. Who was laying on the deck?
12. What has the trip done for Nellie?
13. when does she want to do it again?
14. who would take them?
Answer:
1. white
2. Nellie Austerly
3. Sitting on a locker
4. The _Sorata_
5. No.
6. Night
7. warm
8. No.
9. A thin crescen
10. sitting on the saloon skylights
11. Valentine
12. made her better,
13. next year
14. Mr. Valentine