Tenuous Links Trivia Quiz

Answer: Laura

Petrarch (1304-1374) was an Italian poet from Arezzo. In many of his sonnets he declared his love for a certain Laura, a girl he would have first seen in Avignon in 1327. Although Petrarch never mentioned her surname, scholars generally agree that It would be Laura de Noves (1310-1348), who was at that time married to Hugues II de Sade, a distant ancestor to Donatien Marquis de Sade (1740-1818).
The TV series "Twin Peaks" (1989-1991) had as theme "Who killed Laura Palmer?"
And Laura Pausini (born 1974) debuted in 1993 with "La Solitudine".
Beatrice was the untouchable love interest of Petrarch's contemporary Dante. Norma is a character in "Twin Peaks". And Georgia Todrani (born 1971) is one of Pausini's colleagues.

Answer: Bathtub

William Howard Taft (1857-1930) was elected President of the USA in 1908. He was one of the physically most imposing presidents up till the end of the Twentieth Century: tall and obese. Rumour has it that once his toe was stuck in the faucet of his bathtub, but this is an urban legend. We could well assume that with regard to his physique, he had to let install a larger bathtub in the White House - another undocumented anecdote.
Jean-Paul Marat (1743-1793) was a French journalist and revolutionary. He was killed in his bathtub by Charlotte Corday.
Eli Wallach (1915-2014) played Tuco, one of the three title characters in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (1966). In one scene Tuco was taking a bath when an enemy stormed in. Tuco simply raised his gun out of the water and shot the enemy dead.

Answer: Richard Burton

Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) was an adventurer and scholar. Together with John Speke (1827-1864), he went looking for the source of the Nile. But he also translated "Arabian Nights" into English and published the English translation of the "Kama Sutra".
Another person adopted the stage name Richard Burton: the Welsh actor born as Richard Walter Jenkins (1925-1984). This actor starred with Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011) in the epic movie "Cleopatra" (1963) and was twice married to her.
As for the red herrings: Hilton (1887-1979) was Elizabeth Taylor's first husband, and Fortensky (1952-2016) was her last husband.

Answer: Greenwich

Edmond Halley was born in the county Middlesex in 1656 and died in Greenwich in 1742. He is best known as an astronomer who predicted the return of a comet, but was also active in geology, geometry, math and meteorology.
Elizabeth I was born in Greenwich in 1533 and died in Surrey in 1603. She was the Queen of England from 1558 until her death.
Christopher Wren (1632-1703) was an architect who erected dozens of buildings in London and its suburbs (but also in Cambridge and Oxford). As for Greenwich, Wren built the Flamsteed House (part of the Greenwich Observatory) and several wings of the Greenwich Hospital. But besides his work as an architect, he also endeavoured in astronomy, optics and meteorology.
The borough of Greenwich is situated to the south of the Thames and is very suitable for navigation. That's part of the reason why the zero meridian was drawn right through the centre of Greenwich.

Answer: They were ambidextrous

James Garfield (November 19, 1831 - September 19, 1881) was the 20th President of the USA.
Da Vinci (April 15, 1452 - May 2, 1519) was an Italian painter and scientist.
Einstein (March 14, 1879 - April 18, 1955) was a German scientist.
Sharapova (born April 19, 1987) was a Russian tennis player.
O'Sullivan (born December 5, 1975) is an English snooker player.
Starr (born July 7, 1940) was an English musician, drummer for the Beatles.
Franklin (January 6, 1706 - April 17, 1790) was an American scientist and politician.
So they are not sharing the same zodiac sign - neither in the western astrology nor in the Chinese astrology.
Garfield married only once and Einstein twice, so not all of these were married at least four times.
These people did not share the day of death - nor the day of the week: Franklin died on a Saturday, while Einstein and Garfield died on a Monday.
But all these people were ambidextrous: they could use both hands with the same ease. Da Vinci is known having taken notes in Latin with his right hand and in ancient Greek with his left hand.

Answer: William Tell

Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) was a German poet and playwright, besides philosopher. He wrote plays about different historical or pseudo-historical characters: Joan of Arc, Mary Stuart, William Tell, Don Carlos of Spain, Albrecht von Wallenberg.
Rossini (1792-1868) was an Italian prolific opera composer, whose last opera was entitled "Guglielmo Tell".
Claes Bang is a Danish actor (born 1967) who played the character William Tell in the eponymous movie of 2024.
According to traditional lore, William Tell would have lived about 1307 in Switzerland. When the Habsburg governor Gessler imposed strong laws upon the Swiss, it was Tell (a famed crossbowman) who lead the revolt. Legend has it that Gessler kidnapped Tell's son and insisted that Tell shoot an apple of his son's head.

Answer: They were born in April 1889

It is their birth year and birth month that links these people.
Gabriela Mistral was born on April 7, 1889 as Lucila de Maria del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga in Chile. She started writing poems under different pen names, but finally decided upon the alias Gabriela Mistral. In 1945, Mistral won the Nobel Prize for Literature. She died in 1957.
Arnold J. Toynbee was born in London on April 14, 1889. He studied the classics at Oxford and was appointed professor in ancient history. His magnum opus was "A Study of History", ten volumes discussing the rise and fall of several civilizations. Toynbee died in 1975.
Chaplin was born in London on April 16, 1889. He started acting when still a young boy. In 1914 he turned to the movies, and there he evolved to someone who did almost everything: acting, directing, composing music, producing... He died in 1977.
Hitler was born in Austria on April 20, 1889. Up till the first World War he tried to enter academic training as a painter. During the First World War he enlisted and rose to the rank of corporal. Afterwards he enrolled in German politics, and the rest is well-known history: in 1933 he became Führer (head of state of Germany), and in 1939 he caused World War II. Hitler committed suicide in 1945.

Answer: Isadora Duncan

Isadora Duncan (1877-1927) was an American dancer and choreographer. On September 14, 1927, she drove off as passenger in an open car, but her scarf got tied up in one of the wheels. She was ejected out of the car and died on the spot - either because of the strangulation or as a consequence of the injuries sustained while falling out of the car.
Astrid of Sweden (1905-1935) was the Belgian Queen from 1934 onwards. On a holiday in Switzerland, her husband Leopold III lost control over the car he was driving, and they crashed into a tree. Leopold survived, but Astrid died instantaneously.
Marc Bolan (1947-1977) was singer and guitarist for the British band T-Rex. When he and his girlfriend Gloria Jones drove home from a restaurant, Gloria lost control over the wheel. The car crashed and Marc died right there, while Gloria was severely injured.
James Dean (1931-1955) was an American movie actor. He drove his Porsche to a racing event when he slammed into another car, and was fatally injured.

Answer: Chair

I suppose all these people used all four of these pieces of furniture, but there is a more specific link.
Charles Eames (1907 -1978) was an American designer. Together with his wife Ray Eames (1912-1988) he developed several types of chair, of which the Eames Dining Chair and the Eames Lounge Chair are very recognizable.
C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) was a British author, best known for his children's books in the series "The Chronicles of Narnia". One of the instalments in this series is "The Silver Chair".
Alfred Southwick (1826-1898) was an American dentist, better known as the inventor of the electric chair.
So while many of us would like to use an Eames chair and some would like to sit in the silver chair mentioned by Lewis, I doubt that anyone of us would like to try out the chair invented by Southwick.

Answer: April 15, 1912

I'm quite convinced every quizzer will know exactly what happened on each of these days in history. But you needed to link these names to the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912.
The name that may appear as the most direct link, is William Murdoch (born 1873), who was First Officer on the Titanic.
The other people were passengers of certain renown.
John Astor (born 1864) was a real estate investor and hotel owner.
Archibald Butt (born 1865) was advisor to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft.
Isidor Strauss (born 1845) was owner of the department store conglomerate Macy's. Ida Strauss (born 1849) was his wife.
December 7, 1941 is the date of the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. Among the more than 2400 victims were admiral Isaac Kidd, sergeant Walter Zuschlag, civilian Eunice Wilson (perhaps the youngest victim: she was only seven months old), and quartermaster Daryle Artley.
November 22, 1963 was the date President John Kennedy and police officer JD Tippitt were shot and killed, but also the British authors Aldous Huxley and C.S. Lewis died of natural causes.
September 11, 2001 was the terrorist attack performed with four airplanes. Among the victims were David Angell, creative producer of the NBC television chain; Garnett Bailey, scouting director for NHL team Los Angeles Kings; retired Navy admiral Wilson Flagg; and Christine Egan, a Canadian nurse epidemiologist. Nearly 3,000 Americans and others were killed.