Famously First Trivia Quiz

Answer: Marie Curie

Marie Curie, born in Warsaw in 1867, is a staple in "famous firsts" quizzes as her achievements are both impressive and well known. Marie Curie is the perfect - and oft used - example of a woman who was the first person to achieve feats that were open to scientists irrespective of gender. Perhaps one of the greatest compliments that can be paid to Marie Curie is to state that she was the first to win the Nobel Prize on two separate occasions (Physics 1903, Chemistry 1911).

Answer: Yelena Isinbayeva

Steering clear of politics, sporting or otherwise, it is fair to say that Russian pole vaulter, Yelena Isinbayeva, entranced audiences as she broke the world outdoor pole vault record time and time again. A special moment in the event's history took place in London in 2005 where Isinbayeva became the first woman to clear the magical five metres. Isinbayeva would go on to clear 5.06m in Zurich in 2009.

Answer: Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel was a significant presence in German and European politics over the course of many decades, holding the position of German Chancellor from 2005 to 2021 (talk about endurance!). Born in the bustling port city of Hamburg in 1954, Angela Merkel spent many years studying the physical sciences, culminating in a PhD for her thesis on the "examination of the mechanism of decays with singular bond breaking and calculation of their coefficient of reaction rate on the basis of quantum mechanical and statistical methods". (just writing that has brought back the trauma of my university physics days! Let us move on!)

*Courtesy of a translation from a German Redditor, 'taenk'.

Answer: Lys Assia

If the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden taught us anything, it taught us that the competition is all about singing and performance. It is not, I repeat not, political or controversial. At all. With the record set straight, let's head back to the inaugural contest of 1956 when Eurovision was a much simpler affair; seven countries - each with two opportunities to impress - competed in front of a modest audience in Lugano, Switzerland with the host nation emerging triumphant courtesy of Lys Assia and her performance of 'Refrain'.

Answer: Rachel Whiteread

The Turner Prize has been mired in controversy since its inception in 1984. The first winner was Malcolm Morley who was considered by many to be a controversial choice more for his decades-long absence from the British art scene than for his oil-on-canvas work itself. Fast forward to 1993 and sculptor Rachel Whiteread picked up the prize for 'House'. Such is the nature of the Turner Prize, Rachel Whiteread would also pick up the K Foundation's inaugural "worst artist of the year" award in 1994. The prize money was greater for the "worst artist of the year" award than for the Turner Prize. Bizarre is the word that comes to mind for the whole thing quite frankly!

Answer: Nona Gaprindashvili

Patience, strategy, memory and dedication are just a few of the attributes required to make it to the upper echelons of chess; Nona Gaprindashvili of Zugdidi, Georgia demonstrated these traits and more in pursuit of becoming a Grandmaster, a feat she achieved in 1978. Gaprindashvili won the Women's World Chess Championship on five consecutive occasions (1962, 1965, 1969, 1972 and 1975).

Answer: Kelly Clarkson

After the success of 'Pop Idol' in the United Kingdom, it was not long before the United States had their own version of the show, 'American Idol'. The US version would also be a huge success with an estimated 23 million viewers tuning into the Series 1 finale to see Kelly Clarkson crowned American Idol 2002. Clarkson's career took off with US number one hits such as 'A Moment Like This' (2002), 'My Life Would Suck Without You' (2009) and 'Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)' (2012).

Answer: Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale was famous for her nursing endeavours during the Crimean War (1853-1856) but "The Lady with the Lamp" was also renowned for her work in the fields of statistics and data visualisation. Data visualisation, at its heart, is about translating numbers and statistics into visual representations that are accessible to as many people as possible.

Despite being much maligned in the modern era, Florence Nightingale's use of polar area diagrams (a more useful variant of the standard pie chart) helped to tell the medical story of the Crimean War. Nightingale became the first female inducted into the Royal Statistical Society in 1859 and, fifteen years later, was welcomed as an honorary member of the American Statistical Association.

Answer: Valentina Tereshkova

Space exploration is known for its many, many firsts and the first female to venture into the final frontier was Valentina Tereshkova in 1963. Tereshkova spent the best part of three days orbiting Earth alone in Vostok 6. Looking at pictures of Vostok 6 it really is extraordinary to think of anybody in orbit for so long in such a small space. One of the more mundane details of the mission was that Tereshkova was sent to space with no toothbrush - giving the teeth a good scrub must surely have been towards the top of the to-do list upon her return to planet Earth!

Answer: Janet Gaynor

Janet Gaynor, born in Philadelphia in 1906, was one of the big film stars of the late 1920s. In 1929, the very first Oscars were held and the best films of 1927 and 1928 were having their moment in the spotlight. Gaynor became the first person to win the Academy Award for Best Actress on the back of performances in films such as '7th Heaven' (1927), 'Street Angel' (1928) and F. W. Murnau's 'Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans' (1927). Gaynor also received a nomination for Best Actress for her portrayal of Vicki Lester (Esther Blodgett) in the 1937 version of 'A Star is Born'.