Eponymous Noblemen Trivia Quiz

Answer: Falkland

The first verifiable sighting of these islands was by a Dutch navigator in 1600. The islands were uninhabited when Strong landed, but the British didn't stay. It was French explorers, mainly from Saint-Malo, who first made a serious attempt at settlement: they named the islands "Les Īles Malouines" after their home port, and this is the origin of the Spanish name Malvinas. Sovereignty was the subject of disagreements between Britain, France, Spain and later the newly independent republic of Argentina: the dispute flared up memorably in 1982.

Answer: Sandwich

The Earl, it is said, would eat slices of meat between rounds of bread at the gaming table, and snacks of this kind came to be known as sandwiches. In his early spell at the Admiralty he seems to have been determined to run the department efficiently and to root out abuses, but his third term there was a period of almost unparalleled ineptitude and corruption.

He did, however, see to it that Captain Cook's vessels were well fitted out, and it was for him that Cook named the Sandwich Islands (i.e. Hawaii).

Answer: Derby

Lord Derby had an estate near Epsom called The Oaks, and he gave this name to a race for 3-year-old fillies which he established in 1779. After the first Oaks, he and his friends conceived the idea of a similar race for both colts and fillies. Legend has it that Derby and his friend Sir Charles Bunbury tossed a coin to decide whose name should be given to the race, and Derby won.

When the race was run for the first time in 1780, Bunbury had his revenge: his colt Diomed became the first Derby winner.

Answer: Elgin

Bruce was 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine. His acquisition of what we now call the Elgin marbles was controversial, even at the time. There were grounds for believing that he got them not by straightforward purchase but by bribery. Though he originally wanted them for himself, he fell on hard times and had to offer them to the British government, who paid £35,000 for them in 1816. Since Greece gained independence from the Turks in the 1820s, the marbles (housed in the British Museum) have been a bone of contention between the Greek and British authorities.

Answer: Wellington

Today, a Wellington boot is a knee-length waterproof rubber boot, worn in wet or muddy conditions. But the original nineteenth-century Wellington was a fashionable high leather boot, reaching above the knee at the front and cut away behind. There are quizzes about the Duke by deadmeat and bpykh.

Answer: Raglan

Raglan was successful at the battles of Alma and Inkerman, but he is chiefly remembered for giving the misunderstood order for the disastrous charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, and is usually blamed for the failure of the commissariat in the winter of 1854 - 55. He died shortly before the siege of Sebastopol.

Answer: Cardigan

Accounts of Cardigan show him to have been an unpleasant fellow in many ways, but nobody can doubt his courage. George Macdonald Fraser makes him an important character in his novel "Flashman at the Charge."

Answer: Queensberry

The Queensberry rules were intended to govern boxing with gloves, which was superseding the old bare-knuckle code.

Answer: Lonsdale

A Lonsdale belt was originally presented by the Earl, as President of the National Sporting Club, to the champion in each British weight division: a champion who successfully defended his title twice could keep the belt. Today, the belts are presented by the British Boxing Board of Control, and to keep a belt a boxer must defend it three times. Belts were originally made of gold: today they are of gold-plated silver.

Answer: Yarborough

If the Earl could find enough takers, he ought to have done well out of his bet: the odds against a yarborough are about 1,827 to 1.