Out of Time and Out of Place Trivia Quiz

Answer: Paul Tibbets

Lovell, Swigert and Haise were the three astronauts on the unlucky Apollo 13 mission. Near disaster struck two days into the trip, intended to make a landing on the Moon, with the explosion of an oxygen tank. The mission was aborted and the astronauts returned safely to Earth six days after their original take-off.

Paul Tibbets was the pilot of Enola Gay, the aircraft which carried the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in August 1945.

Answer: Claudius

Even if you don't know your Roman history, Shakespeare's play about Julius Casesar has the famous words 'et tu Brute', which eliminated Brutus. Cassius was described as having a 'lean and hungry look' in the same play while Casca struck the first blow.

The dastardly deed took place in 44 BC, while Claudius dates from rather later. He succeeded Caligula as Emperor of Rome in 41 AD. He died, most likely from being poisoned by his wife, in 54 AD and was succeeded by Nero.

Answer: Jean-Paul Sartre

Beginning in May 1789, the French Revolution saw the downfall of the French monarchy and the execution of King Louis XVI and his Queen, Marie Antoinette, in 1793. Georges Danton was one of the early leaders of the revolutionaries, but fell foul of them himself, being guillotined in 1794. Robespierre and Lavoisier also went to their deaths the same way.

Jean-Paul Sartre wasn't born until the twentieth century, and is remembered as a philosopher and writer.

Answer: Thomas Blood

The plot, to blow up the Houses of Parliament with King James I of England and the government in it, is one of the most famous events from British history. It is still commemorated each year on November 5th with fireworks and bonfires. Although the name of Fawkes is best remembered, it was Catesby who was the leader of the plan.

Thomas Blood hadn't been born at the time, but did make his mark in the same century as he attempted to steal the Crown Jewels in 1671. He and his fellow conspirators managed to get some of the treasures from the Tower of London, but were soon apprehended.

Answer: George Vancouver

Frobisher lived from the 1530s until 1594 and was one of the many explorers to search for the Northwest Passage. Drake was born in around 1540 and lived until 1596. He became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world, and defeated a few Spaniards during his lifetime. Raleigh was a little later, living from the mid sixteenth century until he was executed in 1618. He concentrated on South America, in particular searching for El Dorado.

Vancouver lived in the eighteenth century and explored the Pacific coast of the northern parts of America and Canada. He gave his name to various place in the region, in particular the city of that name in British Columbia.

Answer: Georgy Zhukov

Foch was a French general who ended World War I as the overall commander of the French, British, Italian and American troops. Kitchener was the Secretary pf State for War in the British government from 1914 until 1916, when he died. His ship hit a German mine and he drowned. John Pershing, often referred to as 'Black Jack', was the commander of the American Expeditionary Force from 1917-1918.

Zhukov is a figure from World War II, although he did fight as a conscript during World War I. He was the leader of the Soviet troops when Berlin was taken, in 1945, turning to politics after the end of the war.

Answer: Iglesias

Titian was a renowned painter of the Venetian School of the sixteenth century. Raphael lived from 1483 until 1520, while Giovanni Bellini, the most successful of several painters from the family, lived from around 1430 until 1516.

Iglesias is not an Italian name, but a Spanish one. The most famous people to bear the name are father and son Julio and Enrique, who made their names as singers rather more recently than the Renaissance era.

Answer: Jefferson Davis

The British commander, Lord Cornwallis, and his troops were trapped at Yorktown, Virginia, with French troops, lead by Lafayette, and American troops under the command of George Washington surrounding their position. With a sea blockade as well, Cornwallis's position was untenable and he surrendered on 19th October 1781. The war was brought to an official end with the signing of the 1783 Treaty of Paris.

Jefferson Davis was involved in a later war - the American Civil War - and wasn't born until 1808.

Answer: Leonid Brezhnev

There were two stages to the 1917 revolution. The first, in February, led to the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the establishment of the Provisional Government, of which Kerensky was a member. In October, the Bolshevik Party of Lenin and Trotsky seized control with Lenin becoming leader. Trotsky was assassinated in 1940 on the orders of Stalin.

Brezhnev was only ten or eleven in 1917. He became General Secretary of the then USSR in 1964, succeeding Khrushchev.

Answer: Charlemagne

The King's Crusade, its alternative name, saw the involvement of the King of England, Richard I, King Philip II of France and the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa in an attempt to defeat the Muslim leader Saladin. Three years of fighting, from 1189 to 1192, was brought to an end by the Treaty of Jaffa signed in September 1192.

Although Charlemagne was also a Holy Roman Emperor, the first to be so named, he was long dead by the time of the Crusades. He died in 814.