Very Difficult 15 Minutes of Fame Quiz | 10 Questions | People

Answer: An elevator operator

Betty Lou Oliver was an elevator operator in the Empire State Building. On July 28, 1945 a B-25 bomber crashed into the building during heavy fog killing fourteen people. Betty Lou became famous because this accident caused her elevator to fall 75 stories, but she survived the plunge.

Answer: She was struck by a meteorite

Mrs Hodges was sleeping on her sofa in 1954 when a 3.86 kg stony meteorite crashed through her roof, bounced off a piece of furniture and struck her. She survived the impact with only relatively minor bruising. No human is known for certain to have been killed by a meteorite in modern times.

There are reports that a meteorite impact may have killed two men and injured five others in the Bundi district of Rajasthan State in India on February 8, 2007.

Answer: She was a pop singer

Decker, known popularly as 'The Singing Nun', was a 'One Hit Wonder' pop singer. The Dominican Nun from Belgium was an overnight sensation when her song 'Dominique' rocketed to the top of the charts. Decker left her order to pursue a musical career, but she faded into obscurity as the 60's progressed. Decker opened a school for autistic children in Belgium with her lesbian lover Annie Pecher, but met with financial problems in the late 70's regarding a disagreement with the Belgium government over back taxes.

This prompted Decker to attempt a 1982 come-back - which failed. Decker and Pecher committed suicide March 29, 1985 by intentionally overdosing themselves.

Answer: A temporary employee

Marina's husband was a chronically unemployed man who had taken on a temporary job for the holiday rush in the Texas School Book Depository. His name was, of course, Lee Harvey Oswald. At first Marina believed the 'truth' as put forward by the Warren Commission which investigated Kennedy's assassination.

However, as the years have passed and new evidence was presented to her, she completely changed her stance. In the 1990's she became involved in a campaign to clear Oswald's name as Kennedy's assassin.

As late as April 1996 she publicly stated that she was misled by govenment authorities involved in the investigation and that Oswald was an FBI informant who had no part in killing the President.

Answer: Aircraft pilot

Roger Peterson was a charter aircraft pilot, but his claim to fame was the role he played in popular music history. Peterson was the pilot of the aircraft that crashed on 'The Day The Music Died,' February 3, 1959. The charter aircraft crashed killing Buddy Holly, Ritchie Vallens and JP 'The Big Bopper' Richardson - three of the largest names in the music industry at the time. Peterson also died in the plane crash.

Answer: Radio broadcaster

William Joyce, or 'Lord Haw Haw' as he was popularly known in Britain, was an Irish-born British citizen who worked as a Nazi propaganda broadcaster during the Second World War. His programs were meant to demoralize the British forces and civilian populations.

After the war, he was tried and convicted of treason for his activities. Joyce was executed by hanging on January 3, 1946. His broadcasts, prefaced by the words "Germany calling, Germany calling," were very popular amongst the British civilians.

His broadcasts, however, served only to steel British resolve in the war effort rather than disheartening the populace, and Joyce was often held up as an object of ridicule or resentment.

Answer: University of Alabama

James Hood and Vivian Malone, both Afro-Americans, were 'headliners' when on June 11, 1963 they attempted to enroll at the University of Alabama. Their attempt was blocked by then Governor George Wallace in his famous 'Stand In The Schoolhouse Door,' in which he symbolically attempted to prevent desegregation of the University.

In a highly publicized event, Wallace stood aside to allow them to enroll only after being confronted by federal marshalls and members of the National Guard. A portrayal of these events appears in the movie 'Forest Gump.' Hood only attended Uiversity of Alabama for two months before dropping out due to the stress he was enduring.

He later attended and graduated from other universities and in 1995, returned to the University of Alabama and enrolled in their doctoral program from which he graduated on May 17, 1997. Hood met with Wallace in 1995 and Wallace apologized for his actions 32 years prior.

Answer: A teen-age runaway

Vecchio, was a runaway teenager from Florida. She was present at Kent State University in Ohio on May 4, 1970 when the Ohio National Guard shot and killed four students and wounded nine others at an anti-war rally at Kent State University. Vecchio was photographed by John Filo as she knelt over the body of one victim, Jeffrey Miller. Filo won a Pulitzer Prize for the photograph, so while it may be said that Vecchio's image will live on forever, her name is not well known. Vecchio married Joe Gillum in 1979 and moved to Las Vegas where she worked as a waitress.

Answer: He was a sailor

Carl Muscallero was a sailor, and Edith Shain was an army nurse. Both were in New York City on August 14, 1945 when Japan surrendered to the United States thus ending the Second World War. During a spontaneous VJ-Day celebration in Times Square, the two were photographed kissing by Alfred Eisenstaedt in what turned out to be one of the most publicized photographs of the era. Eisenstaedt did not know the identity of the couple in his famous photo. Through the years many people came forward claiming that it was them in the picture.

In 2007 forensic investigators stated that they were virtually certain that it was Muscallero and Shain in the photo.

Answer: Army Air Corps pilot

Major Charles Sweeny of the US Army Air Force, was the pilot who flew the B29 bomber 'Bockscar' which dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945, three days after the more publicized bombing of Hiroshima. Due to Nagasaki's hilly terrain, it suffered less damage and fewer casualites than Hiroshima. Still, 40,000 people were killed outright and another 25,000 were injured - not to mention the many thousands who subsequently died from radiation related maladies. Sweeny left active duty in 1946 but remained active in the Massachusetts Air National Guard where he eventually rose to the rank of Major General. Sweeny retired in 1976 and passed away in Boston July 15, 2004. Throughout his life he maintained that the bombing of Japan had been totally appropriate.