Trivia Plus: Can You Ace This? Quiz

Answer: Adrien Brody

Adrien Brody won the Best Actor award for his role as Wladyslaw Szpilman in "The Pianist". As of when this quiz was written, he holds the record of being the youngest actor to win the Best Actor award. He was 29 years old. A fun fact: at the Oscar ceremony, Adrien Brody, rather passionately, kissed Halle Berry (the presenter) on the lips, shocking the world and the media.

Answer: Great Expectations

Pip's actual name was Phillip Pirrip but as a child he could only pronounce it as Pip and so the name stuck. Pip (we will call him that) was an orphan who was being raised by his older sister and her husband. When Pip grew older, he was sent to live with old Miss Havisham and her daughter Stella. Pip fell in love with Stella, but the book never revealed whether they married or not. Oh, by the way, Miss Havisham the elder always wore her old wedding dress in remembrance of her set wedding day when her groom suddenly deserted her.

Answer: They have a desire to mate

When females are in heat, male cats are attracted to them. The males will compete for the female, and the winner gets her. After mating, the female grooms herself thoroughly. The cat might not be impregnated the first time, so she mates again, either with the same or a different male.

Answer: A seer

Michel de Nostradame [later changed to Nostradamus] (1503-1566) was a French seer, apothecary, physician, and astrologer. He is well-known for his prophecies. His method of seeing the future was gazing into a bowl of water. Nostradamus had to avoid being accused of witchcraft/heresy so he wrote his prophecies in a mix of different languages and symbols, which today lead to varying interpretations.

Answer: Leisure

Ancient Greeks, concerned with war and art, saw learning itself as a leisure activity. The word "schole" can also mean "learned discussion" but the most commonly used meanings are "rest"; "spare time"; " ease"; and "idleness".

Answer: Meg

As the picture shows, Meg had a penchant for fancy dress, even though she was poor and rarely had nice clothes. Meg was 16 at the beginning of the book, Jo was 15, Beth 13, and Amy 12. Meg realized later in the book, when Beth caught scarlet fever, that fancy things weren't nearly as precious as family. Meg fell in love with John Brooke, Jo's best friend Laurie's tutor. Meg later became Mrs Brooke, and they had twins, a boy (Demi) and a girl (Daisy).

Answer: To put off a task for later

Procrastination is a form of laziness, in my opinion, even though I'm guilty of it all the time! The word's etymology comes from Latin. The prefix "pro-" means "forward" and "crastinus" means "of tomorrow".

Answer: Nellie Melba, a singer

Auguste Escoffier, a French chef, started working at the Savoy Hotel in 1890. When the famous singer Nellie Melba came to stay there in 1893, Escoffier invented the dessert and named it in her honor.

Escoffier also created three other dishes in Nellie's honor: Melba sauce, which is puree of red currants and raspberries; Melba toast, which is very dry, thinly sliced toast; and Melba Garniture, which is chicken, truffles, and mushrooms with tomatoes.

Answer: Dr Joseph Bell

All the other names are made up. Dr Joseph Bell was a surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Conan Doyle met him in 1877 and worked for him as a clerk. Dr Bell could make deductions from seemingly little details, just like the character he inspired. Dr Bell once wrote to Conan Doyle, saying "You yourself are Sherlock Holmes and you know it."

Answer: False

It's "Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio." Open up your big book of Shakespeare and you'll find it in Act 5, Scene I.

Ophelia had just drowned, and some grave diggers were digging up random graves for her body. One of the graves they dug up was Yorick's, and Prince Hamlet picked up the skull and said "Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio." Yorick was Hamlet's father's jester.