Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Leslie Stephen was a founding editor of the original Dictionary of National Biography, but will be better remembered as the father of which 20th century writer?
2. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography includes all kinds of people, including businessmen. No prizes for guessing how Jean Jacob Schweppe made his money, but what was the advertising slogan that turned around the fortunes of his company in the 1940s?
3. On 4th December 1154, the only English pope in history was elected. The humble Nicholas Brakespear, probably originally from St Albans, took which name?
4. Not everyone who appears in the Dictionary actually existed. Who was the only mythical figure commonly thought to have been included in the original Dictionary of National Biography?
5. Kings, queens and princes are the stuff the Dictionary is made of. But you don't actually have to have gained the throne to merit an entry. How many female pretenders to the English throne does the Dictionary list?
6. Three Winston Churchills are listed in the Dictionary. What do they all have in common, apart from their name?
7. Discovering odd facts about well-known people is the joy of reading the Dictionary. Edward Elgar's father, for example, was a piano tuner, employed by which Queen?
8. The Dictionary only lists entries for people who died before 2001 and who are British, or have shaped British life in some way. Which of these people is listed in the Dictionary?
9. Isaac Newton is most famous for his laws of motion and his publication 'Principia Mathematica'. He was also a great alchemist, who published a paper commonly known by what title?
10. The Dictionary covers all of British history until the end of the twentieth century. But who is the earliest person to be awarded an entry?
Source: Author
rosc
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.