Perchance to Dream Trivia Quiz

Answer: sewing machine

Elias Howe was trying to invent a sewing machine. He had solved everything but how to attach thread to a needle. He had been using a needle with the hole for the thread in the middle but it wouldn't hold pieces of cloth together. In the dream, the natives were preparing to boil him alive; as he tried to get out of the big kettle they thrust their spears at him.

He noticed that the spear points had holes in the ends. Thinking of the dream later, he hit upon the idea of putting the hole in the tip of the needle, rather than in the middle. And so, Mr. Howe invented the sewing machine.

Answer: Frankenstein

While staying at the home of Lord Byron, Mary Shelley and others also visiting, were challenged to write a ghost story. After several weeks, Shelley had a waking dream in which the story of a strange scientific experiment was revealed to her. Topics discussed in Europe at the time included galvanism and other scientific oddities, likely being the basis for her dream, but her idea was a leap ahead of other literature of the time. It became "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus", often considered one of the first science fiction stories.

Answer: Jack Nicklaus

Of the golfers listed, Jack Nicklaus is the correct answer. In 1964, he was in a slump, shooting in the high 70s in tournaments. Then one night he dreamed of a way to change his swing. Trying it on a golf course the next day he brought his game back into the mid- to high-60s.

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

A few days before his assassination, Abraham Lincoln told his wife of a detailed dream he had a few days earlier. In it, he awoke during the night, hearing people weeping. Walking downstairs to the East Room of the White House, he saw a body wrapped in funeral vestments. Asking a soldier standing nearby who it was, the soldier said "The President, he was killed by an assassin!" At that point Lincoln awoke from the dream.

Answer: hair loss

Madam C.J. Walker was a black woman, born Sarah Breedlove, in Louisiana in 1867. Living a hard life, her hair eventually started falling out. Nothing helped but one night she had a dream in which a black man told her what herbs and ingredients to mix together to cure the problem. She did, including sending to Africa for some which were not available in the U.S., and after finding that it worked for her and friends, she started manufacturing and selling that and other personal care products, primarily for black women. At her death in 1919, she was a millionaire several times over.

Answer: Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson was a strong believer in the power of dreams. The idea for "Jekyll and Hyde" came to him in a dream after he had spent two days trying to think of a plot for a novel. Not only did Stevenson look forward to dreams but found he could make a dream repeat itself with a different ending.

He said dreams occur in "that small theater of the brain which we keep brightly lighted all night long". He also remarked that dreams were more entertaining to him than any literature.

Answer: Dante

Durante degli Alighieri, most often known as Dante, wrote the epic poem "The Divine Comedy" sometime between 1308 and his death in 1321. Something seemed wrong about the conclusion of the work, and it wasn't until eight months after Dante's death that his son had a dream about where the missing cantos (sections) were hidden.

The complete work is considered the greatest work in the Italian language and one of the greatest pieces of world literature. The sculptor Rodin said he fashioned "The Thinker" to be contemplating "The Divine Comedy". Without a dream it might only be known as a lesser poem, if known at all

Answer: Melbourne Cup

Walter Craig was an Australian pub owner with a horse he wanted to enter in the 1870 Melbourne Cup, one of the world's premier horse races. In a dream a few days before the race, Craig saw his horse win and could identify his jockey, right down to the colors of his silks. Curiously, Craig noted that the jockey was wearing a black armband.

The next day Craig died and in a few days his horse won the Cup race, with his jockey wearing a black armband in memory of Mr. Craig.

Answer: The Terminator

James Cameron was in Italy in 1981, working on the final cut of a movie when he became ill and had the dream of a vicious metal-human hybrid. The dream was the seed of the plot for "The Terminator", released in 1984, which propelled Cameron's directorial career. It didn't hurt Arnold Schwarzenegger's career, either.

Answer: Yesterday

Paul McCartney claimed that he indeed wrote "Yesterday" in his sleep. This is the same man who said he had a dream that a man on a flying pie told him his musical group should be named The Beatles but let's give him the benefit of the doubt. "Yesterday" marked the beginning of independence among the Beatles. McCartney is the only Beatle performing on "Yesterday" (a string quartet accompanied him), the first time a band member performed alone under the group's name.

It's a good thing he remembered the song; it was performed over 7-million times in the 20th century alone and McCartney received a royalty payment every time.