Those Wicked Games They Play... Quiz

Answer: Paris Hilton

Paris's great grandfather, Conrad Hilton, founded the Hilton Hotels franchise (now Hilton Hotels & Resorts) in 1919. He planned to leave 97% of his estate to a charitable organisation, but Barron Hilton, Paris's grandfather, contested this. In 2007, the chain was sold to The Blackstone Group in a $26 billion deal. Following this sale, Barron Hilton followed in his father's footsteps as originally planned. Despite this, Paris still gained wealth and her media exposure had supposedly only contributed more to her purse.

Paris has also known for hosting several reality TV series in search of a new 'BFF' - that's 'best friend forever' - which have a flawed concept but summatively are made for the drama, not for a real life best friend (should we call it unreality TV?). Paris has also enjoyed 'designer dogs' as she has dressed them up in human clothes but dog sized - a sort of anthropomorphism. Whilst she has turned her hand to singing and acting, neither of them really took off.

Answer: Jack Black

The game referenced is Blackjack, where going over 21 points is a bad idea. This quiz originally intended to use only board game hints, but this one was too good to pass up!

'Jack' Black (Thomas Jacob Black) was born in 1969. Whilst he struggled in formal education, he came through as an entertainer, and has kept up with this line of work with music, acting, and comedy. The other half of his music act, Tenacious D, is Kyle Gass.

In "King Kong", he played the role of Carl Denham, a troubled film-maker in debt. As he planned to set sail to make a new film based on footage of a mysterious island, the trip turned out to be a fight for survival - but he refused to come back empty handed...

Answer: Michael J Fox

Michael J Fox suffers from Parkinson's disease, diagnosed in 1991, which is a degenerative illness leading to movement difficulties and eventually cognitive problems. He has been dedicated to finding a cure for this condition since.

"Stuart Little" was released in 1999, and features a family who adopted a mouse as their second son. However, this mouse could talk. Whilst he was not well received initially by the house cat and the son, they came to love him.

His role as the "Back to the Future" trilogy (1985-1990) was as Marty McFly, a teenager who, initially, was accidentally sent to the past in a DeLorean automobile. Several of the plots in this trilogy revolved around this time travel, a complex theme, and the trilogy has been well received since.

Answer: Duncan Bannatyne

Duncan Bannatyne was worth an estimated £430 million, according to 2011's release of the Sunday Times Rich List. He served with the Royal Navy at 15, but at 19 was discharged for attempting to throw a senior officer off a jetty. Following a period of odd jobs, he didn't try his hand at business until he was 30. Then, things really took off since, after buying several ice cream vans, he was able to fund a nursing home business which he sold for £46 million in 1997. Following this, he went into his hotel business amongst other ventures, and has remained successful since.

To elaborate a bit on "Dragons' Den" - Bannatyne and four other businesspeople were pitched products or business concepts. In return for their investment, those pitching traded off an (often large) share of the equity of their company. Informally, Bannatyne has been a particularly shrewd investor, being perhaps the hardest to get a deal with, as his average rate of investment has been low compared to the other regular dragons.

Answer: Jade Goody

Jade Goody was born on 5th June 1981, and appeared in the third series of UK "Big Brother" (2002), a reality television series documenting the interactions of strangers placed in the same house for several months. She became famous for her lack of general knowledge, or rather the broadcasting of erroneous facts.

Five years later in 2007, she returned to the "Big Brother" house in the 'celebrity' format (I use the term 'celebrity very loosely...) of the show. Her treatment of fellow housemate Shilpa Shetty caused controversy, and caused a large dent in her otherwise fairly decent popularity.

Less than two years later, in March 2009, she died of cervical cancer. Her death prompted the increase in publicity of this tragic illness, and had an immediate effect on the amount of women between 25 and 64 taking smear tests. Whether this effect has remained is yet to be seen, however, publicity of these diseases certainly can't hurt.

Answer: Marlene Dietrich

"The Blue Angel" was directed by Josef von Sternberg, who claimed to have 'discovered' Dietrich. Some of her more successful movies were said to have spawned from their 'partnership' of sorts. Her first American film "Morocco" (1930) was the only film of hers to receive an Oscar nomination, for example. It is said he helped mould her into a femme fatale, glamorous lady. Once he was fired, she supposedly never reached the same heights.

However, she was still successful. After her efforts to support Allied forces in World War 2 (despite her German lineage, she did not support their actions) she enjoyed a life onstage starting around the early 1950s. Known for her 'see-through dress' and her ability to captivate an audience, she kept this up until the 60s and 70s when her health began to deteriorate.

In 1975, she broke her leg whilst on stage, and in 1976 her husband died. After 1979, she became reclusive and allowed only a select few to talk to her. She allowed her voice to be used in "Marlene", a documentary film made in 1984 about her life. She died not long after in 1990 due to renal failure, but is still remembered.

Answer: Nadya Suleman

As one might have supposed, the name Octomom may be a little misleading, as she had several children prior to the octuplets. This knowledge has made her unpopular to some, as she was employed and on public benefit systems. It has been suggested she had the embryos implanted so that they would not be destroyed, and the doctor who performed this procedure has since been medically discharged.

She and her parents have both financially struggled with this many children, and her parents have had to declare bankruptcy.

Answer: Harrison Ford

Born on July 13, 1942, Harrison Ford has enjoyed a busy acting career. The 'ruin-searcher' hint alludes to his time spent as Indiana Jones, which is probably his most well known role. Interestingly, as is the case with "The Wizard of Oz", Ford was not first choice for the role, but eventually won the role as Tom Selleck, the primary candidate, could not accept.

Whilst he has acted in many different roles, it has not been his only interest. In addition to aviation, he has also shown interest in supporting the Archaeological Institute of America. He also has a species of spider named after him called Calponia harrisonfordi, found in 1993.

Answer: Betty White

Betty White was born in January 17, 1922, and is perhaps best known for her role as Rose Nylund on "The Golden Girls", a humorous sitcom frontlining four older women and their antics. Other than "The Golden Girls", she has worked in a variety of different avenues in the entertainment industry, including authoring, singing, and hosting a gameshow. She has displayed a strong work ethic and a wicked sense of humour and has kept busy even in her old age, and indeed throughout her life, as she began her television career at the age of 17.

Mrs. White is the suspect hinted at in the opening lines to the question.

Answer: Miley Cyrus

Miley Ray Cyrus was born in November 23, 1992. As suggested, she is well known for her role as Hannah Montana in a show of the same name. Hannah Montana was portrayed as a popstar who lived a double life, and her 'normal' persona was called Miley Stewart. "Hannah Montana" has now concluded its final series, running from 2005-2011. In real life, she hasn't quite kept the squeaky clean persona of Hannah Montana, so it's probably for the best it's finished.

She has also recorded three albums, as of August 2011, which have been fairly successful, and was named #1 on the "Top Ten Richest Teens of Hollywood" list in 2011. Her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, has also been an actor and musician best known for the song some people love to hate, "Achy Breaky Heart", and Miley Cyrus has expressed interest in following a similar line of work.