A Day Late and a Dollar Short Trivia Quiz

Answer: William Shakespeare

Out of context, this pithy quote might seem as though it were spoken by someone having a calm, introspective moment. On the contrary, Frank Ford from 'Merry Wives of Windsor' was in an irate vengeful state, having been called a cuckold: "God be praised for my jealousy! Eleven o'clock the hour. I will prevent this, detect my wife, be revenged on Falstaff, and laugh at Page.". Unlike the rather more sinister 'Othello', Ford's jealousy was largely played off as a joke, as might be fitting in a comedy.

Answer: Alexander Graham Bell

One could imagine Bell encouraging one of his patients with such an aphorism. His father and grandfather had been speech therapists, and his mother was deaf, so Bell's engagement both personally and professionally drew his interests to acoustics. This, of course, culminated in the formal invention of the telephone.

On the topic of doors, Helen Keller topically said in her autobiography that Bell had opened the "door through which I should pass from darkness into light".

Answer: Ricky Gervais

Before settling on comedy, Gervais had dabbled in gardening, radio and had even struck a short-lived attempt at a music career. Gervais' breakout role was in the original UK version of 'The Office', which brought him acclaim at age 40 and enabled him to expand the audience for his stand-up comedy routines often themed around controversial humour.

He was also known for shows like 'An Idiot Abroad' featuring the escapades of his provincial and rugged friend Karl Pilkington with Stephen Merchant helping to set tasks.

Answer: Maya Angelou

In her youth, Maya Angelou was sexually abused by her mother's boyfriend. Whilst she told her brother and ultimately testified in court about her experience, he was convicted and jailed for just one day. Four days after his release, he was killed, and Angelou thought it was her voice that killed him. The sense of the power of words stayed with her, but she turned their purpose primarily for the advocation of good: for civil-rights activism; for enfranchising the voiceless; for empathy and compassion.

Whilst she may no longer be physically present to fight these battles, her words will have inspired - and will continue to inspire - others to take up the banner for good.

Answer: Ray Bradbury

Published in 1957, 'Dandelion Wine' was a reminiscent novel told from the point of view of Douglas, a sick twelve-year-old boy. In one of the chapters, 'The Swan', the family's lawnmower Bill became enamoured of a ninety-five-year-old woman, Helen Loomis. She felt that he had reminded her of a handsome but reckless man in her youth and was his reincarnation, a fated interaction perhaps.

The quotation continues: "And you were born either too early or too late. It was a terrible bit of timing. But perhaps I am being punished for being a silly girl. Anyway, the next spin around, wheels might function right again.".

Answer: Elizabeth I

Henry Sidney was in charge of enacting Elizabeth's rule and laws in Ireland in the 16th century, and this letter concerned resolving the conflict between two feuding Irish earls and the requirement to not only advise, but to act. Although Elizabeth signed off the letter as 'your loving maistres (mistress)' their relationship was often reluctant, with him leaving Ireland in 1571 due in part to the Queen's slight appreciation of his efforts there.

Answer: Helen Hunt

Some might have wondered if her Oscar for Best Actress in 1997 was 'As Good as It Gets'. But, having taken time out to direct and produce films - and to also produce a child of her own - Helen Hunt came back in fine form to secure a second Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category for her work in 'The Sessions'.

Here, she played a sex surrogate who helped to relieve a polio sufferer of his virginity. In an interview with IndieWire, Hunt admitted that any concerns about the scenes involving nudity were allayed by the strength of the script and the sensible and mature take on sex that she felt was suitable and appropriate for teenagers to watch.

Answer: Jean-Paul Sartre

Sartre was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize for Literature for 'Nausea', but declined as it was in his eyes a bourgeois institution. It was considered one of the canonical existentialist works - depicted was a dread so poignant that it surpassed mere depression and such feelings could hardly be put into words. Sartre valued the human value of subjectivity and personal commitment as a means of transcending existential angst - the moroseness of this quote may convey the sense that the character had not yet embraced his ability to live authentically and challenge the comfort of inauthenticity. Of course, as a chronic procrastinator, the quote caught my eye for more obvious reasons...

Answer: Martin Luther King Jr.

In this 1967 speech at the Riverside Church in New York City, Martin Luther King Jr explained why he talked about war when others told him that peace and civil rights don't mix and that he was hurting his peoples' cause:

"It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor -- both black and white -- through the poverty program. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Then came the buildup in Vietnam and I watched the program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such."

With tales of 'endless wars', growing wealth inequality and avertible poverty in some Western countries it would seem these words still hold contemporary relevance.

Answer: Henry David Thoreau

'Walden' was Thoreau's acclaimed set of essays written about the two years and two months spent in a cabin near Walden Pond. It took nine years to complete. Whilst he lived a relatively secluded life in these years, he was two miles from Concord and occasionally hosted parties for guests. His 'Civil Disobedience' set the groundwork for future non-violent activists: he peacefully protested against the government's use of slaves by refusing to pay his taxes.

Expanded, the quote continues as follows...
"No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof. What everybody echoes or in silence passes by as true today may turn out to be falsehood tomorrow, mere smoke of opinion, which some had trusted for a cloud that would sprinkle fertilizing rain on their fields."