Which One Is Different? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, a town in Austria. His father, Alois Hitler, was born Alois Schicklgruber, but took his stepfather's name of Hitler. One wonders whether all the Third Reich unpleasantness could have been avoided, had he kept his birth name. Somehow "Heil, Schicklgruber!" has more of a comic than a militant ring to it. Sniggering in the ranks is not helpful if you are trying to conquer the world.
Both Bruce Willis and John McEnroe were born in Germany while their fathers were stationed there as members of the US Armed Forces.
Angela Merkle was born in Hamburg to a Lutheran pastor, a native of Berlin. Her mother was of Polish descent.

Answer: Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf was cremated and her ashes buried under an elm tree in the garden of her Sussex home.
Oscar Wilde died in Paris and is buried in the Pierre Lachaise cemetery there.
Napoleon's body was taken to France from St Helena where he died and he has an impressive porphyry tomb in Les Invalides, Paris.
Picasso was privately buried in the grounds of his house at Vauvenargues, near Aix. His widow did not even allow his children to attend.

Answer: Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman is taller than both of her husbands: Tom Cruise is 5ft 7in and Keith Urban is just an inch shorter than his wife at 5ft 10in.
Maria Sharapova is 6ft 2in tall, which no doubt helps with those powerful serves her tennis opponents have to face.
At 6ft 1in, Brooke Shields was two inches taller than her first husband, Andre Agassi, but with her second marriage she upgraded to the 6ft 2in Chris Henchy.
Of six-foot-tall Geena Davis' four husbands, only actor Jeff Goldblum was still taller when she donned the three-inch stiletto heels. However, this did not stop her trading him in for the much shorter plastic surgeon, Reza Jarrahy, to whom she has been married since 2001.

Answer: Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan appeared in 68 films between 1937 and 1964, but none of them was a musical. His thespian talents did not include dancing, singing or playing the piano.
Nixon not only played the piano very well, but could also give a fair performance on the accordion, the violin and the clarinet. His musical talents even stretched to composing a short piano concerto, which he played on the "Jack Paar Show" in 1961. If you are interested in this rather surprising spectacle, you can watch him do so on YouTube!

Answer: John F. Kennedy

Whereas approximately 10% of the world's population is left-handed, eight of the first 45 US Presidents are left-handers, which my trusty calculator tells me is 17.7%. Conspiracy theory, anyone?

Answer: The zipper

Whitcomb L. Judson invented the zipper in the 1890s. He called it "the clasp fastener". His aim was to invent something that would do away with buttoning boots and shoes.
The bra was invented by Mary Phelps Jacobs, who patented her design in the US in 1914 and sold the garments under the name of Caresse Crosby.
American entrepreneur Mary Donovan is credited with the invention of the first waterproof disposable diaper. In 1949 she unsuccessfully tried to sell the idea to various manufacturers - no doubt they were men, and never had to change a diaper in their lives. However, in 1951 she sold her patents to the Keko Corporation for a million dollars.
Another American inventor, Mary Anderson, patented her windshield wiper in 1903. It was controlled manually by a lever inside the car. Several others came up with similar ideas around the same time, in different countries, but Anderson is generally given the credit for the invention.

Answer: Jim Lovell

So near and yet so far! Lovell is the only person who flew to the moon twice without landing, and he is also the first astronaut who flew in space four times. His more scary claim to fame is that he was the commander of Apollo 13, the mission that developed a critical technical failure but which eventually returned safely to Earth. Tom Hanks played Lovell in the movie "Apollo 13". So Lovell never got to walk on the moon, but on the other hand, how many people can say they have been played by Tom Hanks in a movie? Charles Duke, James Irwin and Edgar Mitchell were three of the twelve men who walked on the moon as part of the Apollo space program.

Answer: Hugh Jackman

Diane Keaton was born Diane Hall; Katy Perry's birth name is Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson and Demi Moore started life as Demetria Gene Guynes.

Answer: Alan Alda

Alan Alda, who was born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo, has no full siblings. His half-brother Anthony, who is 20 years his junior, is also an actor.
Scarlett's twin, actor Hunter Johansson, appeared with her in the 1996 movie "Manny and Lo".
Kiefer Sutherland's twin sister Rachel is also in show business, but works behind the scenes on the production side.
Ashton Kutcher's fraternal twin, Michael, sadly suffers from cerebral palsy.

Answer: John F. Kennedy

For those of us who would like to know whether we have what it takes to join Mensa, there is a 30-question quiz on the Mensa website that will screen the minnows from the whales. It should be easy for Funtrivia players!