Infamous Executions Trivia Quiz

Answer: Joachim von Ribbentrop

Joachim von Ribbentrop was found guilty of all charges at Nuremberg and was the first to be hanged. Hermann Göring was scheduled to be the first, but he committed suicide hours before he took his place at the gallows. Martin Bormann, was missing and was sentenced to death in absentia.

Heinrich Himmler never made it to trial as he also committed suicide after being arrested by British forces.

Answer: Hanging

In November 2006, Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging for the killing of 148 Iraqi Shi'ites in 1982. He was hanged at Camp Justice, an Iraqi army base north of Baghdad.

Answer: Australia

On February 3rd 1967 Ronald Joseph Ryan became the last person in Australia to be executed, when he was hanged in Pentridge Prison in Coburg, Victoria - a fitting venue, as his crime of murdering a prison officer took place whilst he was attempting to escape from the very same Pentridge Prison in 1965.

Answer: Catherine Howard

Catherine Howard was Henry's fifth wife. She was executed for her alleged adultery with Thomas Culpepper, a courtier of Henry VIII's. It's generally believed that one of the last things she said before her death was, "I die a Queen, but I'd rather die the wife of Culpepper."

Answer: James A. Garfield

Charles Guiteau shot the twentieth President of the USA James Garfield at point blank range with a pistol inside Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station, Washington, D.C., as the President was about to leave for his summer vacation. James Garfield served only a little over six months in office.

Answer: Thomas More

Thomas More was initially sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, but Henry VIII later commuted this to execution by decapitation. More was 57 years old.

Answer: Derek William Bentley

Derek Bentley's case has become something of a cause célčbre over the years, and there were doubts as to whether the infamous cry of "Let him have it, Chris" by Bentley to Craig was an order to shoot or whether it meant that he should hand over the gun. Craig escaped the death penalty because he was underage. Bentley's conviction was finally quashed in 1998.

The Court of Appeal found that the original summing-up by Lord Chief Justice Goddard was unfair and that Goddard (a notorious hanging judge) had put pressure on the jury to convict.

Answer: Last legal executions in Canada

Lucas was convicted of the murder of an undercover narcotics agent from Detroit. Turpin was found guilty of the murder of a Toronto police officer who stopped his car while he was making a getaway from a nearby robbery. The pair were put to death by hanging. Capital punishment for murder in Canada was abolished in 1976.

Answer: Romania

It is generally believed that Ceausescu was the orchestrater of the most severe Stalinist regime in the whole of the Soviet bloc. After a brief drumhead court martial Ceausescu and his wife were executed for offences ranging from illegal wealth to genocide. Since the 1989 Revolution, Romania has maintained an ever increasing economic recovery.

Answer: Dead Man Walking

Tim Robbins directed "Dead Man Walking" and adapted the screenplay from the non-fiction book of the same name by Helen Prejean. Susan Sarandon plays the part of Sister Prejean who forms a unique relationship with death row prisoner Matthew Poncelet (the character of Elmo Patrick Sonnier) played by Sean Penn.