Born on December 31st Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bebe Neuwirth

Beatrice "Bebe" Jane Neuwirth was born on December 31, 1958, in Newark, New Jersey, USA. She first appeared on "Cheers" in a one-off guest spot as a date of Frasier's in season four, episode thirteen, in 1986. She was so well received she was asked back the following season in episode four and became a reoccurring character, dating, marrying, and eventually (before the "Frasier" series started) divorcing Frasier Crane. During season ten of "Cheers," she is listed as a cast member, not as a guest star.

Neuwirth is an accomplished Broadway actress having won two Tony Awards: one for Best Actress in 1997 when she played Velma Kelly in "Chicago," and the other for Best Featured Actress in 1986 when she played Nickie in "Sweet Charity." I asked her which she liked more: dancing, acting, or singing since she does all three so well. She told me on Twitter that she liked dancing the best, which is why I chose a picture of dancers for the clip art. I told her about writing to her as a child because I found the letter that I forgot to mail to her. That was a question I asked and she responded, thanking me for writing and then answering that she liked dancing best.

Answer: PSY

Psy was born in 1977 in Seoul, South Korea. His real name is Park Jae-sang. He was born in the Gangnam District of Seoul, which translates as "South of the Han River." Growing up he disliked school and was the class clown. In 1996, he came to the United States planning to study business administration at Boston University, but he quickly lost interest in that as his interest in music grew. He dropped out of Boston University and went to Berklee College of Music instead. He took a few classes there, dropped out, and returned to Korea without a degree in order to become a singer. South Korean rapper zoPD found him and sued him in his second album "In Stardom Version 2.0" in 1999.

In 2001, Psy related his first full-length album, "Psy from the Psycho World!". The South Korean government fined him for the album as they said it had "inappropriate content". In 2012, he released in sixth album, "Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1" which contained the song, "Gangnam Style" which made him an international success. On August 14, 2012, it was listed as YouTube's most-viewed video for the month. On August 21, 2021, it reached number one on the iTunes Music Video Charts.

The picture is of the Han River at sunrise, as Gangnam means "south of the Han River."

Answer: Anthony Hopkins

Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins was born in 1937, in Port Talbot, Glamorgan, Wales. He narrated "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" in 2000, but is probably best known for the "Hannibal Lecter" trilogy which includes: "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991), "Hannibal" (2001), and "Red Dragon" (2002).

"How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (2000) is a live-action movie starring Jim Carrey as the title character. Unlike the original cartoon, it also explains how his heart got to be "two sizes too small." Hannibal Lecter, in that trilogy, was a cannibalistic serial killer.

I chose lambs for the picture, as the title of his well-known movie is "Silence of the Lambs."

Answer: Donna Summer

Donna Adrian Gaines (known professionally as Donna Summer) was born in 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She was known especially for her disco hits, such as "She Works Hard for the Money" and "Hot Stuff." Because she helped make disco popular worldwide, she is known as "The Queen of Disco." Sadly on May 17, 2012, at the age of 63, Summer died from lung cancer in Naples, Florida, USA.

I chose the disco ball since she was the "Queen of Disco."

Answer: gymnastics

Gabrielle "Gabby" Christina Victoria Douglas was born in 1995 in Newport News, Virginia, USA. Douglas started gymnastics when she was six years old. By the time she was eight years old, she had won "the Level 4 all-around gymnastics title at the 2004 Virginia State Championships." When she was fourteen she moved to Iowa with her coach, Liang Chow, to train full-time for the Olympics. In the 2012 Olympics in London, she won two gold medals for Team All-Around. In the 2016, Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, she won another gold medal for Team All-Around.

The picture is a gymnast, albeit a male one.

Answer: Romance

Nicholas Sparks was born in 1965, in Omaha, Nebraska. His younger sister, Daniella "Dana" Sparks Lewis died at the age of 33 from a brain tumor. Her death inspired his book "A Walk To Remember". Like Jamie in the book (which was also made into a movie), no one thought Dana would ever get married as she was so unpopular and always wore ugly sweaters. However, although Dana was so sick, her future husband did propose and they did get married, as did Jamie in the book.

Sparks said he wrote the book "so that you would know what a wonderful thing it was her husband once did for her." Sparks also wrote "The Notebook," among other books.

I chose the candles in the shape of hearts as it is a romantic picture and he is a romance novelist.

Answer: Andy Summers

Andy Summers was born in 1942, in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, England. He started playing the guitar when he was ten years old. Summers had met Sting and other future Police band members shortly after he was invited to join another band called Strontium 90. Sting convinced him to come with them and listen to what they had, and, according to Copeland, after hearing them Summers told him, "Stewart, you and that bass player (referring to Sting), you've got something. But you need me in the band, and I accept." And that was how the Police was formed.

The Police have had many hits including "Roxanne," and "Every Breath You Take." While he was with the band, Summers won two Grammy Awards. The first was in 1979 for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, for "Reggatta de Blanc," and the second was in 1980, in the same category, for "Behind My Camel." In 1984, the Police broke up, and Summers went on with a solo career. He contributed to soundtracks such as "Weekend at Bernie's." In 2007, he was part of the Police Reunion tour.

I had to get creative with this picture. It says June on the cup and has flowers. One can see flowers in the summer, and in the northern hemisphere, summer begins in June. His name is Andy Summers.

Answer: wrap dresses

Diane Simone Michele Halfin was born in 1946 in Brussels, Belgium. Her mother was a Holocaust survivor, rescued from the Auschwitz concentration camp only eighteen months before she was born. Because her mother was down to forty-nine pounds upon leaving the camp, doctors warned her not to have children as either she would die, or the children would be abnormal if they survived at all. In 1969, Diane married fashion designer Prince Egon von Furstenberg, which is also when she decided to become a fashion designer. They divorced in 1983, but she chose to keep his name as her career had been established.

It was in 1974, that she first showed the jersey (a type of knit fabric) wrap dress. It has since become a classic piece of women's fashion found in many closets all over the globe. In 1976, "Newsweek" magazine declared her, "the most marketable woman since Coco Chanel".

When I looked for wrap dresses, they always were on people whom I couldn't use, so I went with just a "wrap" for a picture.

Answer: John Denver

Henry John Deutschendorf Jr changed his name to John Denver because Deutschendorf would not fit on the marquee, and he had lived in Denver much of his life. He was also the poet laureate for the state in 1974. Denver was a folk singer, known for songs such as "Rocky Moutain High", "Sunshine on My Shoulders", "Take Me Home Country Roads", and "Calypso".

He also did some acting. He appeared in such movies as "Oh, God", playing Jerry Landers, a grocery store manager who God hires to be his messenger.

Denver was also a licensed pilot. Sadly, on October 12, 1997, he was flying a plane that crashed into Monterey Bay near Pacific Grove, California, USA. He was flying alone and did not survive the crash.

The picture is of The Rocky Mountains near Denver, Colorado.

Answer: Beach volleyball

Alix Rose Klineman was born in 1989, in Manhattan Beach, California, USA. Two years in a row (2005 and 2006) she was the California Gatorade State Player of the Year for Volleyball. In 2006, she was also the Gatorade National Player of the Year. In both 2004 and 2006, she was the California State Championship MVP. While in college, in 2010, "Volleyball Magazine" named her Player of the Year.

In 2017, Klineman switched from indoor volleyball to beach volleyball. She partnered with April Ross to play. They won the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Hamburg, Germany. The following year they won the gold medal in Tokyo, Japan, at the Summer Olympics.

Since Klineman played beach volleyball, the picture is Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, USA.