Follow That Fellow Trivia Quiz

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln, the US President during the American Civil War, died on April 15th 1865, after being shot in the head whilst attending a play at Ford's Theatre the previous evening. His assassin, John Wilkes Booth, an actor who opposed the abolition of slavery, was killed 11 days later by a Union Army soldier.

Lincoln's address at the dedication of the cemetery for the soldiers killed at the Battle of Gettysburg is now one of the best-known speeches in American history. With the opening line "four score and seven years ago" he linked the struggles of the Civil War to the founding principles of the United States of America, set out in the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy were the other US Presidents to have been assassinated up to the end of the twentieth century. In total, during this period eight US Presidents died in office: four were assassinated and four died of natural causes.

Answer: Boris Yeltsin

Boris Yeltsin served as Russian President from 1991 to 1999, resigning from the office on the eve of the Millennium, and handing the job over to his Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin. His initial popularity soon waned as a severe ongoing economic crisis hit the country, leaving millions of people living in poverty. In fact, the recovery of the Russian economy didn't really begin until after Yeltsin had left office. Unfortunately he is now most often remembered for his failed policies and his increasing ill-health and erratic behaviour in later years.

Mikhail Gorbachev was the last Soviet leader; Dmitry Medvedev was the third President of Russia, serving from 2008 to 2012; and Roman Abramovich was the billionaire Russian businessman who bought Chelsea Football Club in 2003.

Answer: Killed in a plane crash

Dag Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash in September 1961, while on his way to what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His aim was to broker a peace deal between the government and the leader of the breakaway province of Katanga, but his plane came down in Northern Rhodesia (now known as Zambia). As the cause of the crash was never fully determined, much speculation remains over whether it was an accident or an assassination. In September 2013, the Hammarskjöld Commission recommended that the inquiry into the former Secretary-General's death be reopened.

U Thant was a Burmese diplomat prior to his appointment as UN Secretary-General in the wake of Hammarskjöld's death. 'U' was not his given name, but the Burmese equivalent of the title 'Mr'.

Answer: Fall of the Berlin Wall

Helmut Kohl was Chancellor of West Germany from 1982 to 1990 and of unified Germany from 1990 to 1998. The fall of the Berlin Wall took place on November 9th 1989, and is remembered as the first step to German reunification which followed, almost a year later, on October 3rd 1990. Kohl was also a leading force in the creation of the modern European Union, and became only the second person to be named as an Honorary Citizen of Europe in recognition of his achievements.

The Weimar Republic is generally considered to have collapsed in 1933, when Adolf Hitler's Nazi party took political control of Germany. The German parliament returned to a refurbished Reichstag building in 1999 (it had burnt down in February 1933), while the Euro became the official currency in 1999 (although the first coins and banknotes didn't become available until 2002). Both events took place during Gerhard Schröder's period in office.

Answer: Emperor Showa

Hirohito was the 124th Emperor of Japan, reigning from 1926 to 1989, and as such was Japan's head of state during the Second World War. Although Japan was a constitutional monarchy, Hirohito was closely involved with the decision to declare war and is believed to have intervened in military policy through the duration of the war. Hirohito's imperial order for Japanese civilians to commit suicide rather than surrender is particularly controversial. Criticism of Hirohito's role in the war was taboo in Japan while he was still alive, but has been the subject of some debate since.

Japanese emperors are traditionally given a posthumous name based on the term used for the era of their reign. Emperors Taisho and Meiji were Hirohito's father and grandfather respectively, while Heisei is the name of Akihito's era.

Answer: John Paul I

Cardinal Albino Luciani, born in the northern Italian town of Canale d'Agordo in 1912, took the name Pope John Paul on his election in 1978. He chose the name to honour his two immediate predecessors, who had been responsible for his previous appointments to, firstly, bishop and then cardinal. Unfortunately he swiftly became known as Pope John Paul I, as he died after just 33 days as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, and his successor took the name John Paul II in his honour.

Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Montini) was John Paul I's direct predecessor, while John XXIII (Angelo Roncalli) held the office before Paul VI. Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) was pope from 2005 until February 2013, when he became the first pope to resign since 1415.

Answer: Evita

Eva Duarte (known as Evita) was an actress who became a popular politician following her marriage to Juan Perón in 1945. Although Eva planned to run for the office of Vice President in 1951, a lack of support and increasing ill-health meant she was unable to see the plan through. She is remembered in Argentina for her charitable works, support for women's suffrage and her early death, at the age of just 33.

Isabel Martinez de Perón did however become her husband's vice president when he was re-elected for a second period in office in 1973 (his first period as president had ended in 1955 when he was overthrown by a military coup and forced into exile). Perón's failing health and subsequent death meant his wife (as vice president) succeeded him in 1974.

The incorrect answers are all other musicals composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. 'Aspects of Love' is based on a novella by David Garnett; 'The Woman in White' is based on the novel of the same name by Wilkie Collins; and 'Love Never Dies' is a sequel to 'The Phantom of the Opera', which is based on the novel by Gaston Leroux.

Answer: African National Congress

Nelson Mandela, who died at the age of 95 in 2013, was a key revolutionary leader against the apartheid government in South Africa in the 1940s and 50s before being convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the state and jailed for life in 1962. 'Apartheid' can be translated from Afrikaans as 'the state of being apart' and was a system of racial segregation that severely limited the rights of the black majority in South Africa.

Mandela served 27 years in prison before his release in 1990. He then worked with President F. W. De Klerk to end apartheid rule in South Africa. They were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for this work in 1993.

The People's Democratic Party is a right-wing political party of Nigeria; the Orange Democratic Movement is a political party in Kenya; and the National Liberation Front is an Algerian party that traces its history to the campaign for independence from France.

Answer: President of the European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union (EU) and is responsible for its day-to-day organisation. It is made up of various commissioners (appointed by individual EU member states) who each have responsibility for a different policy area, such as transport or education. Although appointed by their national government, commissioners are supposed to represent the interests of the wider EU rather than their own national interests. The term 'European Commission' can also be taken to mean the wider civil service organisation that supports the work headed by the commissioners.

The President of the European Commission is voted for by the heads of government of the various EU countries and both they and their commissioners have to be approved by the European Parliament. Both Romano Prodi and José Manuel Barroso are former prime ministers of European countries; Romano Prodi first became Italian Prime Minister in 1996 while José Manuel Barroso took up the same role in Portugal in 2002.

Answer: Gough Whitlam

Gough Whitlam (full name Edward Gough Whitlam) was a Labor politician who was elected Prime Minister of Australia in 1972. He was dismissed from office during the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis by the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr.

In Australia, the Governor-General's role is generally considered to be largely ceremonial, with any actions being carried out on the prime minister's advice. Therefore Kerr's dismissal of Whitlam was seen as controversial (as Whitlam certainly didn't advise Kerr to sack him) and turned out to be widely unpopular.

Sir Edmund Barton was the first Australian Prime Minister, taking up the role on January 1st 1901. Alfred Deakin was the second prime minister, who had three separate periods in office between 1903 and 1910. Harold Holt was prime minister from 1966 to 1967, when he went missing while swimming in the sea and was officially presumed dead.