4th January Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hortense de Beauharnais

It was unhappy marriage from the start. Hortense was the daughter of Napoleon's wife Josephine and her first husband who had been guillotined during the Revolution when Hortense was only 11 years old. She was the mother of Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, wjo later became Napoleon III.

Answer: Peter Pan

Jacob's father died when he was just a child. Both Jacob and his brother Wilhelm went on to study law as their father had. Jacob worked as a librarian, most notably in the private library of Jerome Bonaparte, King of Westphalia.

Among philologists, Jacob Grimm is well known for Grimm's Law (1822). Building on earlier work by Christian Rask and Friedrich von Schlegel he formulated the series of consonant changes that marked the separation of the Germanic group of languages from Proto-Indo-European.

Answer: Louis

Braille went blind at the age of three, when he stabbed himself in the eye with one of his fathers tools. The system Braille created was inspired by the system he was taught with at school - copper letters raised on paper and a system he was shown by a captain in the French army using 12 raised dots to send messages on the battle field.

Answer: Palace of Whitehall

Between 1530 and 1698, the Palace of Whitehall was the main residence of English monarchs in London. It is suspected that Michelangelo's sculpture "Cupid" was lost in the blaze along with other art masterpieces.

Answer: Topsy

Topsy was fed carrots laced with potassium cyanide before the execution. This was meant to help the 6,600 volt current used to electrocute her. Topsy was put to death after killing three of her trainers.

Answer: Ornithologist

Ian Fleming was an avid bird-watcher himself, and he was familiar with the real Bond's book "Birds of West Indies". Fleming contacted the real Bond and asked permission to use his name and Bond reportedly said "Fine with it". The real James Bond died on Valentine's Day in 1989.

Answer: Utah

Utah is known as "the beehive state". 68% of it's population is Mormon. The dinosaur Utahraptor was named after the state. Utah has the lowest child poverty rate in the U.S.

Answer: Isaac Newton

Newton's father died three months before his birth. His mother remarried when he was three, but Newton disliked his step-father. A list of his own sins that Newton drew up includes "Threatening my father and mother Smith to burn them and the house over them."
(some sources give his birthdate as 4th January 1643)

Answer: T.S. Eliot

Along with the Nobel Prize for Literature, Eliot was also awarded the Order of Merit by King George VI, and other accolades. He has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Answer: St Elizabeth Ann Seton

St Elizabeth was the first native born American to be canonized. She is the patron saint of Catholic schools, Shreveport in Louisiana, and the State of Maryland.