Remains to Be Seen: Famous Body Parts! Quiz

Answer: Percy Bysshe Shelley

Shelley died in 1822. He drowned when his boat was caught in a sudden storm whilst sailing from Livorno to Lerici. His body was washed ashore, and in conformity with local quarantine regulations, was cremated on the beach.
His heart was snatched from the fire by Edward Trelawney, who gave it to Mary Shelley, who kept it with her for the rest of her life. It is buried next to her grave in St Peter's Church, Bournemouth. Shelley's ashes were buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome.

Answer: Oliver Cromwell

Cromwell died in 1658 and was buried intact. However, when the monarchy was restored his body was exhumed, hanged, drawn and quartered, and his head displayed on a pike as a warning to any would be regicides. After being displayed at Westminster Hall the head ended up in a small museum, from where it was purchased by Josiah Wilkinson. It remained in the possession of him and his heirs until 1960 when it was finally buried in a chapel in Cambridge.

All of the other choices were signatories to the death warrant of Charles I.

Answer: No

Pathologist Dr Thomas Harvey removed Einstein's brain without informing his family. He wanted it medically examined to see if the brain of a great genius was actually different to those of ordinary people. Not surprisingly Einstein's family were not very happy about this and for some 30 years Dr Harvey had the brain at his home preserved in two jars. Eventually the family gave their permission for it to be sliced into 240 pieces for scientific investigation. Today many of these pieces are still held in various medical and scientific institutions whilst the bulk of the brain is at Princeton Hospital.

Answer: Robert the Bruce

Robert the Bruce died in 1329. His deathbed wish was that his heart be taken on a Crusade because he had not been able to go on one himself. In 1330 Sir James Douglas took the heart on a Crusade to Spain. He was killed in battle and the heart was returned to Scotland by Sir William Keith and was buried at Melrose Abbey. The body of Robert the Bruce is in Dunfermline Abbey.

Answer: Westminster Abbey

Thomas Hardy's will specified that he be buried next to his first wife, however, his fans thought this was not sufficient recognition and lobbied for him to be buried in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey. After considerable argument between family and fans a compromise was reached and his heart is with his wife and his ashes are in the Abbey.

Answer: His penis

On May 6 1821, the day after he died, an autopsy was carried out on Napoleon Bonaparte, which was witnessed by several people, including priest Ange Vignali. He is alleged to have collected a souvenir of the occasion and in 1916 his heirs sold a quantity of Napoleonic memorabilia which included Napoleon's penis, although its authenticity has never been verified.

The organ has been sold several times since and was last heard of in the collection of an American urologist.

Answer: Sarah Bernhardt

Sarah Bernhardt injured her leg in 1905 and unfortunately it failed to heal. In 1916 it had to be amputated due to gangrene. She continued to act with just the one leg, although the parts she took allowed her to remain seated. According to legend P.T. Barnum offered a considerable sum of money for the amputated limb which he wanted to put on display, but he was turned down.

Its actual whereabouts are unknown.

Answer: Daniel Sickles

Daniel Sickles lost his right leg to a cannonball during the Battle of Gettysburg. It is reported that he calmly smoked a cigarette en route to the medical tent, where the leg was amputated. Knowing that the Army Surgeon General was setting up a display of lost limbs and the items that damaged them he donated the leg, and it is now in the National Museum of Health and Medicine, complete with cannonball. Sickles died of natural causes in 1914 and the rest of him is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Answer: Part of his spinal column

Twelve days after murdering President Lincoln John Wilkes Booth was shot in the back of the neck and killed. During his autopsy the third, fourth and fifth vertebrae were removed to give access to the bullet, and these are now in the Museum. He was eventually buried in an unmarked grave in Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore.

Answer: Sir Walter Raleigh

After his execution in 1618 Walter Raleigh's body was buried in St. Margaret's Churchyard, London, but his wife, Elizabeth Thorgmorton, kept his embalmed head in a red leather bag. This was with her constantly until her death 29 years later. The head then passed to their son, Carew, who kept it until he died, when he was buried in his father's grave along with the head.

In 1680 he was exhumed and reburied, still with the head, in West Horsley, Surrey.