Don't Quote Me, Yet Again Trivia Quiz

Answer: Igor Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Strvinsky was born in St Petersburg, Russia, on 17 June 1882. He started to play the piano as a young boy and not long after he was in his teens he had mastered many pieces. He enrolled in university to study law, but was not a good student as he spent more time studying music than law. After his father's death, Stravinsky began taking lessons from Rimsky-Korskov until Rimsky-Korsakov's death in 1908.

In 1908 Stravinsky was commissioned to compose a ballet score for "The Firebird", which had its opening performance in Paris in June 1910, and he became an "overnight sensation". His family joined him in Paris and they moved to Switzerland and spent their time between Switzerland and Russia. By 1913 he had composed the music for two further ballets, "Petrushka" and "The Right of Spring", and he then completed his first opera "Le Rossignol" (The Nightingale). When it seemed inevitable that there would be a war, Stravinsky returned to Russia to collect personal effects and music manuscripts, returning to Switzerland just in time, as the borders were being closed. He did not return to Russia until 1962. In September 1939, Stravinsky arrived the USA and travelled to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he had engagements at Harvard. He eventually settled in Hollywood, becoming a US citizen in 1946. He continued with his compositions until his death in 1971 due to heart failure. He was 88 years of age.

In 1987 he was posthumously given the Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement, and he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

The 16th President of the USA, Abraham Lincoln, was born on 1 February 1809 in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky, later moving to Indiana, which was non-slave territory. He was mostly self-educated and loved to read and in 1830 his family moved to Illinois, which was also a non-slave state. He got a job taking goods down the Sangamon, Illinois and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans. After seeing slavery first hand, he could not stay there, so walked home.

He began his political career in 1832 when he was 23, campaigning for the Illinois General Assembly, where he finished eight, so was not elected. He decided to become a lawyer and taught himself by reading books, and was admitted to the bar in 1836. As a lawyer, he had a reputation of being a "formidable adversary" and was quite successful. He won election to the state legislature and served four terms in the Illinois House of Representatives, and was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1846. In collaboration with another Congressman, he wrote a bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, but due to insufficient support, he abandoned it. After serving one term, he returned to practicing law. In 1856 at the Republican National Convention he was the runner-up for the party's candidate for Vice-President. On 6 November 1860 he was elected President of the US and was the country's first Republican President. After the outbreak of civil war, his main goal was to reunite the nation and end slavery. He was assassinated on 14 April 1865 by John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate spy, who was tracked down and killed after a fight with Union troops. Lincoln's portrait appears on the US $5 Bill.

Answer: Tom Clancy

Tom Clancy was born on 12 April 1947 in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated in 1969 with an English literature degree, and worked for a small insurance agency, which was owned by his wife's grandfather, purchasing it in 1980, and commenced writing "The Hunt for Red October". It was published in 1984, and eventually sold over two million copies. President Ronald Reagan described "The Hunt for Red October" as "... my kind of yarn. " That book earned Clancy $1.3 million by 1988 and he entered into a $3 million contract for three more books.

Several of Clancy's books have been made into movies, with one of his famous characters, Jack Ryan, appearing in four of them. Jack Ryan has been played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck.

Clancy, along with other joint investors, bought the Baltimore Orioles in 1993. He died on 1 October 2013, the cause of death not being disclosed.

Answer: Al Capone

Alphonse Gabriel Capone (Al Capone), was born on 17 January 1899 in Brooklyn, New York City, his parents having emigrated to the US from Italy. He was one of nine children. At school he had trouble following rules and was expelled when he was 14 for hitting a female teacher. He worked at odd jobs in the Brooklyn area and befriended gangster Johnny Torrio. He was in gangs such as the Bowery Boys and the Junior Forty Thieves, and he joined the Five Points Gang in Lower Manhattan. Whilst working as a doorman at a dance-hall saloon, he got into a fight and his face was slashed three times on the left-hand side, which resulted in the nickname he despised - "Scarface". Whilst working for gangster Frankie Yale, Capone was arrested for disorderly conduct. He was accused of two murders but he was never tried.

He relocated to Chicago in 1919 and went to work for John Torrio, where he helped manage Torrio's bootlegging business, eventually becoming a full partner. When Torrio was shot and killed Capone became boss. Between 1925 and 1930, Capone reportedly had an income of one hundred million dollars through bookie joints, gambling, speakeasies, brothels, race tracks, nightclubs and breweries and distilleries, A new Police Chief ran Capone out of Chicago, and he eventually settled in Florida. His most famous killing was the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" on 14 February 1929. He murdered and had murdered many people over the years, but in 1931 he was indicted for income tax evasion and he was sentenced to 11 years in prison. He was released in 1939 and he returned to his home in Florida. He died in January 1947 from cardiac arrest, even though he was suffering from syphilis.

Answer: J Paul Getty

Jean Paul Getty was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on 15 December 1892. He was named by "Fortune" magazine in 1957 as the richest living American. He went to the University of Southern California, the University of California at Berkeley, and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he graduated with degrees in economics and political science in 1914. As his father was in the oil business, Getty worked firstly on his father's oil fields and then ran his own company in Tulsa, and by 1916, at 24 years of age, he was a millionaire. He moved to Los Angeles in 1917 to become a "playboy" for two years before returning to Oklahoma. During the Great Depression he invested wisely and acquired more company, eventually consolidating them into Getty Oil. He invested in oilfields in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, hence making him very, very rich.

In the 1950s he moved to the United Kingdom and lived in a 16th century Tudor manor in Surrey. He was married and divorced five times and had five sons. He died of heart failure on 6 June 1976 at the age of 83.

Answer: General Douglas MacArthur

Douglas MacArthur was born on 26 January 1880 at the Arsenal Barracks in Little Rock, Arkansas, his father being a captain in the US Army, who received the Medal of Honor when he served with the Union Army in the Battle of Missionary Ridge in the American Civil War and being promoted to Lieutenant General. Douglas MacArthur was quoted as saying "I learned to ride and shoot even before I could read or write - indeed, almost before I could walk and talk".

His family moved to Washington DC, and then to Texas. Douglas entered West Point on 13 June 1889, where he was a classmate of Ulysses S Grant III. After finishing West Point he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant into the US Army Corps of Engineers and served in Manila. He spent the next few years as an aide-de-camp to his father, traveling to Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Java, Singapore and India. In 1908 he was given his first command at Fort Leavenworth and was promoted to captain in 1910. In 1915 he was promoted to major, and then later to colonel. In 1917 he sailed for France and participated in World War I. After the War he became the superintendent of West Point and promoted to brigadier general. He was promoted to general in 1930 and became the Army Chief of Staff, and in 1935 was chosen by President Franklin D Roosevelt as military adviser to the Philippines. He became commander of the US forces in the Pacific in 1941. At the end of the war he was appointed Supreme Allied Commander by Harry S Truman and spent the next six years in Japan as commander of the occupied forces. During the Korean War he was placed in command of the United Nations forces. He died of biliary cirrhosis on 5 April 1964, aged 84. He was the recipient of approximately 100 military decorations from the US and other countries. He has been depicted in several movies, some of the actors who played him were Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier and Tommy Lee Jones.

Answer: Walt Disney

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was born in Chicago on 5 December 1901, his family later moving to Kansas City in 1911. One of his schoolmate's parents were involved in the theatre and thus the young Disney was introduced to motion pictures and vaudeville. His father bought into a business in Chicago so the family moved back there in 1917, where Walt attended school by day and took art classes by night, and he became a cartoonist for his school newspaper. During World War I he dropped out of high school to join the army, but was rejected as he was too young, so he joined the Red Cross and drove an ambulance for twelve months in France. After the war he moved back to Kansas City to pursue an artistic career. He and a cartoonist friend, Ubbe Iwerks, set up their own company "Iwerks-Disney", but it was short-lived. By this time Disney was very interested in animation and became an animator and opened his own animation business and his "Newman Laugh-O-Grams" became quite popular in Kansas City.

Disney then set his sights on Hollywood and he and his brother Roy set up their own cartoon studio and had some success with "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" series of cartoons. He then developed a new character who would eventually become Micky Mouse. And of course, the rest is history.

He conceived the idea of "Disneyland" and every child (and adult) in he world wanted to go to that magical place. His company made so many wonderful animated and live-action movies that have become classics. On the 25 December 1966, he died of acute circulatory collapse due to lung cancer. He was not cryonically frozen as urban legend would have it, but was cremated.

During his career he was nominated 59 times for an Academy Award and won 22 as well as four honorary Oscars. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and he received the Congressional God Medal in 1968. He received many other awards.

A minor planet discovered by a Soviet astronomer in 1980 was named "Disneya" after Disney.

Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the island of Corsica on 15 August 1769. He was enrolled in a religious school in Autun, France, where he learned to speak French and then he went to a military academy. In 1784 he joined the Ecole Militaire in Paris, and was the first Corsican to graduate from this elite college. During the French Revolution he supported the Jacobin faction, and returned to Corsica with the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Corsican militia. The French monarch was overthrown and France was declared a republic. In 1792 he was promoted a captain in the regular French army. The city of Toulon had risen against the republican government and was occupied by British troops, and Napoleon was appointed artillery commander at the Siege of Toulon. The French captured the city and Napoleon was promoted to brigadier general. He was only 24 years old. In 1795 he led the defeat of royalist insurrectionists, thus earning patronage of the new government, the "Directory".

In 1796 he took command of the "Army of Italy" which he led on a successful invasion of Italy, however he refused to march on Rome to dethrone the Pope. He had the ability to win battles with various troop deployment. He had a plan to capture Egypt and in partnership with Indian princes attack the English. He won several battles and was ultimately pursued by the Royal Navy and the British Fleet, led by Horatio Nelson, destroyed or captured all but two French ships in the Battle of the Nile. Bonaparte fled back to Egypt and then returned to Paris, where he was given a hero's welcome. He overthrew the Directory and made plans to take over as a dictator. He was elected Emperor of France in 1804 and was crowned by Pope Pius VII as Napoleon 1. In the years 1803-1815 the Napoleonic wars took place with several European countries and his fleet was wiped out by the British at the Battle of Trafalgar. War continued with Britain. In 1812 he led his army into Russia but things did not go well and he had to retreat with severe losses. In 1814 he abdicated the throne and was exiled to the island of Elba, from where he escaped the following year and returned to Paris. He planned war against the allied forces of Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia, however at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium, the British, the Prussians and the Dutch (together with others) defeated him.

He was again exiled, this time to the British-held island of Saint Helena, which is in the South Atlantic. On 5 May 1921 he died, aged 51, and was buried on Saint Helena but in 1840 his remains were returned to France, where he was entombed in a crypt.

Answer: Theodore Roosevelt

Alice Lee Roosevelt was born on 12 February 1884 in New York City to Alice and Theodore Roosevelt. Her mother was an heiress and her father, at that time, was a New York State Assemblyman. Her mother died two days after her birth. Roosevelt was very distraught by his wife's death and left New York City and went to live in North Dakota for two years. He left baby Alice Lee with his sister, who was known as "Bamie" or "Bye". She very much influenced the young Alice, who later said "If auntie Bye had been a man, she would have been President". After her father married Edith Kermit Carow, Alice was raised by Edith and her father, and they went on to have five children. As she got older, she became more independent and often visited Bamie and her grandparents who lived in Boston. She did not get on with her stepmother and her father did not pay her much attention.

When Alice was 17, her father became President of the US following the assassination of William McKinley and Alice became a fashion icon. When she made her debut in 1902, she wore a beautiful blue gown that would become known as "Alice Blue". She became well known for smoking cigarettes in public, partying until all hours, riding in cars with men unchaperoned and even keeping a snake in the White House. She met her future husband, Nicholas Longworth, when she accompanied an American delegation of diplomats to China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and Hawaii. On her return to Washington she and Nicholas Longworth III became engaged. He was a member of the US House of Representatives from Ohio and a Republican. They were married in 1906 and their wedding was attended by more than 1,000 people. She wore a blue wedding dress and cut the wedding cake with a sword. Following her husband's death in 1931, and her fortunes were not so good, she appeared in cigarette advertisements to raise money. She later married Alexander McCormick Sturm.

She had been a life-long Republican, but she got quite close to the Kennedy family and LB Johnson, and voted Democrat in the 1964 elections. She also supported Bobby Kennedy. She died on 20 February 1980 aged 96. She outlived all her siblings even though she was the first-born.

Answer: Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley, the younger of identical twins, was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, on 8 January 1935. Unfortunately his twin Jesse Garon Presley, was stillborn. The family was poor, with his father, Vernon, going from job to job. Elvis' first public performance was in a talent contest on 3 October 1945 when he was ten years old. He sang "Old Shep" dressed as a cowboy and came fifth. For his 11th birthday he received his first guitar and received lessons from two uncles. His family moved to Memphis, Tennessee in November 1948. When he was in eighth grade, all he could manage was a "C" in music and was told by his music teacher that he had no aptitude for singing.

Elvis never learned to read music and he studied and played by ear and at that time was quite involved in gospel music. In 1953 he went to Sun Records to pay to record a disc, purportedly as a gift for his mother. In 1954 he auditioned for a vocal quartet, but they told him that he could not sing, To earn a living Elvis drove a truck, and was told by a friend to stick to truck-driving "because you're never going to make it as a singer". How wrong he was!

Elvis Presley went on to become one of the most famous entertainers in the world and he became a household name. His many number one hits include "Heartbreak Hotel", "Don't Be Cruel" "Hound Dog", "Love Me Tender" "All Shook Up", "Jailhouse Rock", and many many more. He starred in over 30 movies. He was nominated for and won several Grammy Awards. He has two Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has been inducted into many Halls of Fame, some of them being the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Country Music Hall of Fame, Rockabilly Hall of Fame, and Gospel Hall of Fame, just to name a few. He died on 16 August 1977. He was only 42 years old.