April 15th, an Eventful Date Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1912

1,514 people died, more than two thirds of the people on board, and it remains one the largest losses of life in a maritime disaster.

RMS Titanic, operated by White Star Line, was traveling from Southampton to New York. She remains on the seabed although artifacts have been recovered.
As a result of the tragedy greater scrutiny was focused on passenger ships leading to the formation of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) which still Governs maritime safety today.
The story of the Titanic has been covered in the media numerous times, most famously in the 1997 film 'Titanic'. To commemmorate the 100 years since the tragedy a four-part mini-series was produced for ITV1 (UK) by Julian Fellowes and the '97 film was re-released in 3D.

Answer: Hillsborough Disaster

The Hillsborough disaster remains one of the deadliest stadium disasters. The crush was caused by thousands of Liverpool FC supporters being herded through the tunnels towards the holding pens and finding themselves pressed against the tall fences; people at the back of the crowd had no idea how packed together everyone was at the front and there were no stewards or police directing people to the sidepens, with the result that more and more people were filling the cramped space.
As the game began people at the front tried to escape the pen by climbing over the fence, some were pulled up into the West Stand by fellow supporters and holes were forced into the fence by people desperate to escape the crush.
Over 750 people were injured and 96 were killed either on the day or in the days afterwards (except for a 22 year old man who died four years after the accident after lying in a non-responsive state after suffering brain damage).

Answer: Tax Return Deadline

April 15th is generally the day that American tax returns are due.

March 1st was used originally when Federal Income Tax was introduced in 1913, but this changed in 1955 and has remained the same since.

Answer: Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci

Generally regarded as a genius, Leonardo da Vinci was multi-talented and excelled in a wide range of fields: there certainly isn't enough room in this answer box to go into them all!
Unfortunately, I don't think his genius is related to his date of birth otherwise I would probably be a lot more successful than I am now!

Answer: Emma Watson

Born in Paris she lived there with her parents until she was five, and then moved to Oxfordshire. She was cast as Hermione when she was just 9 years old, meaning that by the end of filming for the final instalment "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" in 2010 she had been playing Hermione for 11 years.

She has also worked as a model and has participated in other acting roles such as "Ballet Shoes" and "The Tale of Despereaux".

Emily Dale played Katie Bell in the first two films, Evanna Lynch played Luna Lovegood and Anna Shaffer played Romilda Vane.

Answer: Emma Thompson

Emma Thompson was born 15th April 1959, she has had a career spanning more than three decades and has been successful at screenwriting as well as acting, in 1995 she won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for "Sense and Sensibility", based on the Jane Austen novel of the same name.

Answer: Seth Rogen

Seth Rogen is part of a group of actors who often appear in Judd Apatow's films along with Paul Rudd and Steve Carell amongst others. His breakthrough came in the film "Knocked Up" in which he starred alongside Katherine Heigl and the film was well received by critics.

Answer: Jeanette Antoinette Poisson

During her life she was also known as Reinette (Little Queen). She was born on 29th December 1721 making her only 42 years old at the time of her death from tuberculosis.

Madeleine de La Motte was her mother, Marie-Louise O'Murphy de Boisfaily was another of the King's mistresses and Marie Leszczynska was the Queen with whom Reinette had a cordial relationship.

Poisson is also the French name for 'fish'.

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

Shot at Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth on 14th April, Lincoln was mortally wounded and died early the next day. Booth managed to get away without being caught and was on the run for 12 days before being found in Virginia where he was then killed after a short fight with Union Troops.

Lincoln is often ranked in the top three US Presidents in surveys by scholars. He is especially famous for his support of the abolition of slavery and for leading the country through the American Civil War - and he is one of the best known US presidents to non-Americans, like me.

Answer: Kenneth Williams

Well known for his roles in 26 of the 31 released Carry On Films and also for radio comedies, he also provided the voice for Willo the Wisp which was a cartoon shown on British television from 1981 featuring characters such as Mavis the Fairy and one of my favourite cartoon villains, Evil Edna who was a witch in the form of a television set. In the original series Kenneth Williams provided all the voices for the characters and Willo the Wisp the on-screen narrator was a caricature of him.