Beatles for Brainiacs Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dmitri Bystrolyotov

In a 1968 interview, Paul McCartney explained that "Back in the U.S.S.R." was a parody of a Chuck Berry song in which a Russian spy arrives back home after a long tour of duty. Dmitri Bystrolyotov was the most prominent Fifth Columnist in the years between WWI and WWII for the Soviet Union.

He set up spy networks in most of the countries in Western Europe, and even infiltrated the British Foreign Office. His life was broken, as were so many, by Stalin's purges in the late 1930's. Bystrolyotov, born in the Ukraine, was a true renaissance man, speaking many languages and having the ability to write and paint. Mostly forgotten outside of Russia, Bystrolyotov was the prototype for every movie spy from 'Bond' to 'Bourne'.

He died in 1975. All of the other names are of Soviet era folk singers whose ballads and recordings were distributed underground.

Answer: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

John Lennon indicated that the original lyric to "Sexy Sadie" was "Maharishi". The group had studied with the Yogi years before, and were disillusioned when the great spiritual light crawled into a girl's tent one night. Sadie Bonnell was an ambulance driver in the 1st World War. Prudence Farrow is actress Mia Farrow's sister, and was present at the Yogi's teachings.

Her reticence prompted the Beatles song "Dear Prudence". Swami Brahmananda Saraswati was Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's teacher.

Answer: Louis XIV

Now this was really an easy one. Louis XIV was the longest reigning king in France's history, and was so adored, that it was considered that all of France revolved around him as the planets do the Sun. All of the other answers are sun gods known as Ra in Egypt, Shamash in Babylon, and Sol in the Celtic cultures.

Answer: Queen Victoria

Only Queen Victoria could be called "Her Majesty" in this group. All of the other names refer to the twice divorced woman who wooed Edward VIII away from the throne to become the Duke of Windsor. Her name at birth was Bessie Warfield. She was known as Wallis Simpson when she and Edward married in 1936. Edward's pet name for "the woman I love" was 'Wally'.

As Duchess of Windsor, she was entitled to be called "Her Grace", but never "Her Majesty."

Answer: Pope John XXIII

Paul McCartney wrote 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' as an analogy for when things go unexpectedly wrong. He claims that the references in the lyrics are all purely fictitious and wholly made up by him, yet many people will point to the ritual that occurs at the death of a Pope.

A silver hammer is used by the Vatican chamberlain to destroy the ring and seals of the pope in order to prevent the forging of documents and the issuing of statements postmortem. Whether the chamberlain actually whacks the dead pontiff on the pate with the hammer or not is speculation, but it's all quite unexpected when it happens, isn't it? Henry Maxwell, 7th Baron Farnham was a 19th century Irish peer and MP who was killed in a train wreck, not by a hammer. George Silver was a 17th century expert in swords, not hammers. Syd King was the great player and manager of the West Ham United Hammers in the early part of the 20th century.

Answer: Günther Prien

Günther Prien was the Captain of U-47, and one of Germany's greatest submariners in WWII. His Uboat sank over 30 Allied ships totaling about 200,000 tons before he was presumed killed along with his entire crew on the 7th of March, 1941 in waters west of Ireland.

His distinguished career included winning the Iron Cross. Hartmann, Barkhorn and Rall were German WWII flying aces each with more than 250 kills.

Answer: Nicolaus Copernicus

Copernicus was the Father of Heliocentrism - that is - the science of considering the sun as the center of the solar system rather than earth. Anaximander and Ptolemny were early proponents of Geocentrism. Cardinal Robert Bellarmine had folks burnt at the stake for writing book reports on Copernicus' magnum opus "De Revolutionibus Orbium".

Answer: Samuel Jones Tilden

Sam Tilden was the winner of the 1876 US Presidential election hands down - that is, he got more votes than his opponent. Rutherford B. Hayes, however, was awarded the Presidency by the Electoral College - which had been in place for nearly one hundred years by that time to resolve disputes among candidates with closely even support.

It seems three southern states, (still smarting from the Civil War, and blaming Republicans not only for the war, but for the abuses of Reconstruction as well) sent multiple delegates with conflicting political agendas. Ulysses Grant was the outgoing incumbent just keen to get back to his liquor and cigars in Ohio. Lucius Robinson succeeded Tilden as Governor of New York.

Answer: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson

John Lennon borrowed the image of the walrus from Lewis Carroll's 'The Walrus and the Carpenter', which was a commentary on the capitalist and social system. It wasn't until years later that Lennon realized that the walrus represented capitalism and not socialism and regretted his choice. Lewis Carroll was Dodgson's pen name. Clemens (Mark Twain), (Zane) Gray and C.S. Lewis all published under pen names in their careers.

Answer: George Westinghouse, Jr

George Westinghouse, Jr was the founder of Westinghouse Electric which was founded and flourished using concepts of Tesla's alternating current. Nikola Tesla, desperate for money, sold his patents to Westinghouse for a song and ended his life in extreme poverty as did John McTammany, inventor of the player piano and Charles M. Schwab, President of U.S. Steel and Bethlehem Steel.