Can a Zebra Really Change Its Stripes? Quiz

Answer: He split with the Roman Catholic Church.

Known as "The King's Great Matter", Henry VIII (1509-1547) did everything in his power to affect a divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Henry tried unsuccessfully to make his case to Pope Clement VII that since he had married his brother's wife, he and Catherine were not able to produce a much needed male heir. Henry had become quite smitten with Anne Boleyn who refused his advances, making Henry all that more determined to make her his wife. As a result, King Henry VIII formed the Church of England and made himself its Supreme Head.

I always found it interesting that Henry VIII blamed the lack of a male heir on his wives. Had the science of human reproduction been known at that time, he would have known that the father, not the mother, determines the sex of the unborn child.

Answer: Arlen Specter

Arlen Specter, the senior senator from Pennsylvania, has had an interesting history of switching political parties. He was a Democrat before becoming a Republican in 1965. After 44 years as a Republican, he exchanged parties again, becoming a Democrat on April 28, 2009.

Robert A. Casey, Junior has been the junior Democratic senator from Pennsylvania. Alan Stuart (Al) Franken has been the Democratic junior senator from Minnesota. Margaret Chase Smith was a Republican senator from Maine.

Answer: Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, Confederate States of America, USA

The flag of Spain flew over Mexico from 1519-1685 and again from 1690-1821. France's flag was present from 1685-1690. Mexico controlled Texas from 1821-1836. From 1836-1845, Texas was its own country, the Republic of Texas. In 1845, Texas became part of the United States of America and remained so until 1861 when it seceded from the USA and flew the flag of the Confederate States of America. From 1865 on, the Stars and Stripes of the USA have flown over the great state of Texas.

Answer: Robert E. Lee

General Robert E. Lee was a magnificent leader of first the Army of Northern Virginia for the Confederate States of America and then, 1865, the General-in-Chief of the Confederate forces. Many believe that it was Lee's brilliant military tactics that allowed the South to remain in the war longer, and he made it more difficult for the Union Army to defeat the Confederate Army.

Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, James Longstreet and John B. Hood were also graduates of West Point who had to make the near impossible decision to leave the Union Army and become part of the Confederate Army when the states where their homes were located seceded from the USA in 1861.

Answer: US Tareyton

One of the most successful advertising campaigns of the 1960s and 70s, the commercial showed models sporting a black eye (makeup, of course) inferring that they would rather come to blows than to switch from the cigarette that they were smoking (US Tareyton, of course).

The first advertisement was printed in "Life" magazine in 1963. In 1966, the ad moved to television. Former celebrities that appeared in these ads included Martha Stewart and Lyle Waggoner (who would go on to fame on the Carol Burnett Show).

Answer: Saul of Tarsus

Saul of Tarsus was an avid persecutor of Christians as recorded in the Book of Acts in the New Testament. He even participated in the murder of Stephen, a disciple of Jesus. On the road to Damascus to torture more Christians, Jesus appeared in a vision to Saul asking, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Saul replied, "Tell me, Lord, who are you?" Jesus answered, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting". Saul, after the encounter was blind for three days and then was reborn with the Holy Spirit now calling himself Paul. (The quoted passages are taken from "The New English Bible", copyright 1970 - Acts, Chapter 9, verses 3-6).

Paul went on to become a zealous spokesperson for the new religion, Christianity, and authored several books now contained in the New Testament. Some of these include "The Letter of Paul to the Romans" and "The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians".

None of the other people in the answer choices experienced a life changing event such as Saul/Paul. Joseph of Arimathea was the man believed to have given the followers of Jesus the tomb in which to lay His body to rest after He was crucified. Jesus of Nazareth is believed to have been the Messiah (saver)which precipitated the Christian religion. Herod the Great is best known for murdering male children in Judea under the age of two in an effort to kill a child (Jesus) that had been born who he thought would go on to become the Messiah.

Answer: James Strom Thurmond

Following the American Civil War, the states in the South aligned themselves with the Democratic party since it was Mr. Lincoln's party, the Republicans, who controlled the Union and had defeated the Confederate States. When I first moved to South Carolina in 1998, I made a comment to the American Government teacher at the school where I was working that Republicans and Democrats had been at odds with each other since 1859, the beginning of the Republican party in the USA. The teacher replied, "Not here in South Carolina; we only had one political party, the Democrats, since 1859 until Strom (aka James Strom Thurmond) converted!"

In 1954, Strom Thurmond won the first successful write-in campaign in the USA to be elected to the office of US Senator from South Carolina. He had previously been Governor of South Carolina. He served from 1956 (long story, but he resigned the 1954 seat he won and then won again in 1956) until 2003 (that's 8 elected consecutive terms) when he died at the age of 101. He was, during his lifetime, the oldest living person to have served in the United States Senate. While in the US Senate, Thurmond staged a filibuster against the 1957 Civil Rights Act which lasted 24 hours and 18 minutes, the longest to date at the time.

Lindsey Graham was Republican Senator from South Carolina in 2009. James Byrnes, a Democrat from South Carolina, served as Secretary of State under President Harry Truman. In August 2009, Mark Sanford was the Republican governor of South Carolina.

Answer: Christine Jorgensen

George William Jorgensen, Jr. began to be concerned about his "lack of male physical development" after returning from World War II. After much research and soul searching, Jorgensen traveled to Denmark where he met Dr. Christian Hamburger. The "sex change" operation took several procedures.

It was, at first, advertised as the first time that such surgery had been performed. However, in the 1930s, a Danish artist formerly known as Einar Webener went from a male to a female, becoming Lili Elbe.

This, then, was first recorded sex assignment surgery. Jorgensen took the name of Christine to pay tribute to the doctor (Christian Hamburger) who had performed the surgery.

Answer: Judas Iscariot

Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus to the Romans by identifying Him with kiss. For this service, he was paid thirty pieces of silver. But why did Judas hand Jesus over to the Romans? Some Biblical scholars feel that Judas' actions were contained in the Old Testament prophecies and, therefore, had to come true. Others point to the fact that Judas was a member of a militant organization that felt if the Messiah came to them, He would overthrow Roman rule. As Jesus was being proclaimed the Messiah, Judas was upset that Jesus was preaching love and forgiveness instead of forceful action.

Simon (aka Peter), Thaddeus and Matthew were other disciples of Jesus. The other eight were Thomas, James, Simon, John, Phillip, Bartholomew, Andrew and James (yes, there were two named James and two named Simon, although the first Simon is better known as Simon Peter).

Answer: Henry IV

King Henry IV was King of Navarre from 1572-1610 and in 1589 he was also crowned King of France. Henry (1553-1610) was raised in the Reformed Church (Protestantism) as a boy. In 1572 he converted to Catholicism. In 1576, he aligned himself with the Huguenots (Protestantism). By 1593 he was back to Catholicism. He was stabbed and killed in 1610 by a fanatical Catholic follower. Debate still rages over the reasons behind Henry's frequent conversions. Some historians believe that Henry joined whatever group was best suited to him politically at the time. Others feel that Henry had a strong conscience that required him to keep re-thinking his choices. One historian put it this way, "His (Henry's) heart was with the Reformed Church (Protestantism) but his sword was with the monarchy". In other words, Henry had to court the favor of the Catholics in order to stay in power.

King Louis XVI was king of France during the French Revolution, eventually being beheaded. King Louis XV was his predecessor who was unable to solve France's financial woes which led, in large part, to the French Revolution in 1789.

King Francis I was king of France while King Henry VIII was on the throne of England. So now we are back to where we started!