Those We Lost In 2010 Pt IV Trivia Quiz

Answer: Norman Wisdom

Wisdom's character of Norman Pitkin, who appeared in 15 films from "Trouble in Store" (1953) to "The Sandwich Man" (1966), showcased Wisdom's great talent as a physical comedian and made him a box office star in the UK. Pitkin's role was always the same, pretty much.

He was a junior worker, whose inability to do the job he was employed to do was a torment to his boss, often the character of Mr. Grimsdale, played by Edward Chapman. Wisdom continued to play this junior role in films such as "The Square Peg" (1958) until the age of 50, at which point he retired the character and took up a role on Broadway.

He was an immediate success there too, winning a Tony nomination for his first role. He continued acting up to the age of 90 when he retired in order to concentrate on his golf.

Answer: Joan Sutherland

Joan Sutherland made her professional singing debut in her native Australia but it was a move to London in 1951, off the back of victory in a vocal competition called the Sun Aria, that would eventually lead her to stardom. It took a while to come. Not until the late 1950s, after her husband Richard Bonynge had suggested changing her style to that of a coloratura, did the depth of her talent start to be appreciated, with her performances at the Royal Opera House in London being particularly lauded.

In 1960, she won a Grammy for the album, "The Art of the Prima Donna" and that same year she was granted the title "La Stupenda", or "the stunning one", after a performance of Handel's "Alcida" in Milan. The name was to remain with her throughout the remainder of her career.

Answer: Fractals

Mandelbrot made his breakthrough when studying the "noises" that disrupted electronic transmissions at IBM. He discovered that these seemingly random noises in fact followed a pattern. What's more, the patterns displayed "self-similarity"; when you zoomed in on a section of the transmission, no matter what the magnification, the pattern exhibited was a replica of that displayed by the whole transmission.

Inspired by his discovery, he looked at the natural world and noticed the same "self-similarity" present in coastlines, among other natural phenomena.

This led to Mandelbrot devising a statistical model that described such self-similar shapes; and so fractal geometry was born.

Answer: John Kennedy

Sorensen always claimed that those famous lines were written by Kennedy himself but many commentators have suggested this is false modesty. Sorensen was Kennedy's special adviser and principal speechwriter throughout Kennedy's period in the Oval Office. The day after Kennedy's assassination, Sorensen offered his resignation to Lyndon Johnson but it was turned down. He stayed on for three months to help aid the transition to the new administration.

Sorensen remained close to the political arena in his career as a lawyer, advising governments on legal matters. He also advised Ted Kennedy when the senator got into trouble over an incident at Chappaquiddick in which a party worker drowned after Kennedy's car was driven off a bridge. That support was said to have damaged Sorensen's chance of becoming director of the CIA when he was nominated by President Carter in 1977.

Answer: Argentina

In his thirty-odd years in the Argentine Navy, Massera rose from the rank of midshipman to commander-in-chief. Just two years after reaching that position he colluded with other senior military figures to overthrow the Argentine government and establish a military junta.

The junta was to rule the country for seven years but Massera stood down from it after just two. Nevertheless, his part in its taking of power and in the atrocities that it committed saw him sentenced to life imprisonment in 1983 for human rights violations.

Answer: Leslie Nielsen

Nielsen was rarely struggling for work from his television debut through to his final year. His first hit, "Forbidden Planet" was only his second film role and led to many more offers. Primarily a dramatic actor, his star was re-born with an appearance in the 1980 film, "Airplane!".

His straight-faced performance in the hugely successful comedy led to roles in a string of other spoof TV and movie titles. Undoubtedly, the most successful of these were the three "Naked Gun" movies in which he starred with Priscilla Presley and OJ Simpson. All three movies reached number one at the box office in the US.

Answer: Richard Holbrooke

Holbrooke entered the diplomatic arena in 1962 upon leaving university. His first posting was to Vietnam, where he worked with local governments to provide aid and economic development to the south of the country. Owing to his expert, on-the-ground knowledge, President Johnson invited him to join his government as a specialist adviser as the war in Vietnam grew in scale and complexity. Later in his career, he took up a broader foreign policy position in the Carter government but his crowning glory came when working for a third Democratic administration; that of Bill Clinton.

In the break-up of Communist Europe at the end of the 1980s, one country, Yugoslavia, fractured into vicious warring factions and began a period of ethnic cleansing. Four years of fighting had left thousands dead and many more homeless and stateless. Peace in the region was a long time in coming but Holbrooke, as chief architect of and lead negotiator in the peace process, finally persuaded the leaders of the Bosnian Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats to sign an agreement that has been described as "the most impressive example of conflict resolution". A sign of its success was the relative stability in the region in the years that followed.

Answer: Captain Beefheart

Don Van Vliet grew up in the same Californian town as Frank Zappa and the two became friends. Influenced by Zappa's early career, Van Vliet began performing as Captain Beefheart, a name he and Zappa had come up with together, in 1964. The first album, recorded with the newly-formed Magic Band was "Safe as Milk" (1966) that, whilst not exactly a straightforward blues-rock album, was less avant-garde than his future recordings. The one album that set the benchmark for future rock experimentation and inspired countless musicians after him was 1969's "Trout Mask Replica". Containing 28 tracks in total, the album was only committed to vinyl after Beefheart had made his band rehearse it for eight months solid while all living in his two bedroom apartment just outside Los Angeles.

Van Vliet retired from the music business in 1982, having released 12 albums. He returned to the art form that had occupied his childhood, painting and sculpting. His debut exhibition took place in New York in 1985. By the mid-1990s, by then suffering from multiple sclerosis, Van Vliet had become a recluse. Despite his illness, it is believed he continued to paint although very few of his works after this period were ever displayed in public.

Answer: Italy

Bearzot's playing career comprised two spells each at Torino and Internazionale and he won one international cap for his country. It was in the coaching arena where he excelled. After a brief spell as a head coach in the third tier of the Italian league, Bearzot eschewed the material benefits of coaching at club level and took up a position within the national set-up. He started as the coach of the Italian under-23s before acting as assistant coach to two successive Italian managers in the early 1970s.

His time at the helm of the Italian national side started promisingly, with the team attracting praise for its playing style after achieving fourth place at both the 1978 World Cup in Argentina and the 1980 European Championships at home in Italy. He built on these performances at the 1982 World Cup in Spain. The tournament started poorly for Italy. They drew all three of their first round games, inspiring stinging criticism from the Italian press. Bearzot used this to his advantage, banning his players from talking to the press and building a siege mentality amongst his squad. The tactic worked. In the second round Italy disposed of two strong teams in Argentina and Brazil. Victory in the semi-final over Poland was followed by a 3-1 success against West Germany in the final. The game was poor but that was forgiven by the Italian public as Bearzot had delivered Italy's first global title for 44 years.

Answer: The Wombles

Beresford's early writing career came as a speech writer and journalist. In her late thirties she tried her hand at children's fiction. None of her creations brought her tremendous success until she had the idea to create "The Wombles", supposedly inspired by her daughter's mispronunciation of Wimbledon Common.

The furry recyclers made their first appearance in print in 1968. Later that same year they were featured on the BBC storybook show "Jackanory" and the popularity of that show prompted the broadcaster to commission an animated series. Over the following 35 years, "The Wombles" were translated into 40 languages, had two top 40 hits in the UK pop charts, appeared in a stage show and played a part in the Queen's golden jubilee celebrations. Beresford was made an MBE in 1998.