A Short Story Trivia Quiz

Answer: Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (1934-1968) was born in Smolensk Oblast, Russia, in the village of Klushino-which was later renamed in his honor. On April 12, 1961, Gagarin in his capsule Vostok 1 made the first complete orbit of the Earth. The feat not only gave the USSR a lead in the much-touted Space Race with the USA, but also it made Gagarin an international celebrity. Two days later, he received the USSR's highest honor, Hero of the Soviet Union.

His ending, in contrast, was banal: he was killed during a routine aircraft training mission.

Answer: Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was born in Bonn in the Holy Roman Empire (there was no Germany as such yet) and moved to Vienna at age 21. He first performed publicly when he was eight years old; his father had hoped he would be the next Mozart. As *the* transitional figure between the Classical period (Haydn, Handel, Mozart) and Romantic period (Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky), Beethoven dominates his musical era the way no composer has done before or since in the history of European music.

The works of Beethoven are too numerous to list here, many of which were composed after he grew partially and then completely deaf; these include symphonies, concertos, sonatas, string quartets, Masses, and exactly one opera, 'Fidelio'. The ominous "fate knocking at the door" opening of his Fifth Symphony is one of the most recognizable motifs to have permeated Western popular culture.

Answer: Prince

Prince Rogers Nelson (1958-2016) pioneered the Minneapolis sound, a blend of funk rock, synth-pop, and New Wave, in the late 1970s and influenced music for decades. Prince's most successful album was 'Purple Rain', the soundtrack to the movie of the same name.

In the 1990s, he fought for creative control with Warner Bros., who owned the trademark to his name. The accomplishments of the artist usually known as Prince include winning 7 Grammy Awards, selling over 100 million albums, and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Answer: Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan, born Temüjin (c.1162-1227), was the founder and first Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which after his death became the largest contiguous empire in world history. In 1206 he took the name Genghis Khan ("supreme conqueror"). Using various political and military tactics, he united disparate nomadic tribes of Northeast Asia to form his empire that that spanned the Black Sea to the Pacific Ocean.

He brought prosperity by stabilizing trade on the Silk Road, but he also practiced brutal war campaigns and genocide. Tradition holds that he died after falling off his horse.

Answer: Yasser Arafat

Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini (1929-2004) was a freedom fighter to the Palestinians and a terrorist to the Israelis. An ardent anti-Zionist, Arafat dedicated himself to Palestinian national aspirations. Until his death in 2004, he chaired the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969; served as President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) from 1994; and led the Fatah political party (which he founded) from 1959.

His legacy is controversial, to say the least, and not everyone recognized his legitimacy.

For example, in 1995, Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York had Arafat removed from Lincoln Center during a golden anniversary celebration of the UN. At one point he was released from his compound in Israel with a promise he would call on Palestinians to cease attacks on Israel--which he did a few months later.

However one may regard Arafat, a national hero or an unrepentant terrorist, most Western commentators have acknowledged his mastery of asymmetric warfare (unconventional warfare between mismatched sides) and his impact on the conflict in the Middle East.

Answer: Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco Bahamonde (1892-1975) became the youngest general in Europe in the 1920s. It wasn't too long before 'El Paquito' ("little Frank") became 'El Caudillo' (military dictator). Following the Spanish Civil War and the collapse of the Republic, Franco and the Nationalists took control of Spain in 1939. Under Francoist Spain, trade unions were suppressed, and women could not testify in a trial or have their own bank account. Traditional Spanish activities like bullfighting and flamenco dancing were encouraged, while cultural forms of expression considered "non-Spanish" were quashed. Generalissimo Franco ruled with an iron fist for 36 years until his death in 1975.

Answer: Picasso

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was not only a painter and sculptor but also a ceramicist, a stage designer, a playwright, and a poet. He co-founded Cubism in France in 1907 with Georges Braque (1882-1963). In later life his work shifted to Neoclassicism and Surrealism.

Picasso's works include 'The Dwarf Dancer' (1901) of his Blue Period; 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' (1907), the first Cubist painting; 'Three Dancers' (1925), appearing in the first Surrealist exhibition; and 'Guernica' (1937), inspired by bombing of the Basque town in the Spanish Civil War.

The artist may have been short, but his name was not. His full name was Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso!

Answer: James Madison

James Madison (1751-1836) was elected fourth President of the USA in 1808 and served 1809-1817. Americans consider him a Founding Father and the Father of the Constitution for his influence in the planning and ratification of that document at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, his key role in the framing of the Bill of Rights (the first ten Amendments), and his promotion of the Constitution through the 'The Federalist Papers', co-written with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. Earlier, the Princeton-educated statesman had served as 5th US Secretary of State (1801-1809) under Thomas Jefferson. With Jefferson, Madison co-founded the Democratic-Republican Party in 1792 (succeeded by the Democratic Party).

In surveys conducted between 1948 and 2018, Madison was consistently rated in the top 20 among U.S. Presidents.

Answer: Toulouse-Lautrec

Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (1864-1901), also known as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, was born to an aristocratic family. His contemporaries in Post-Impressionism included Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin. After sustaining injuries to both legs, Henri's legs stopped growing in his early teens although his upper body became adult-sized. (There are many theories about why, including a genetic disorder, brittle bone disease, and rickets accompanied by early puberty). Limited physically, he immersed himself in art and in the cafés and music halls of Paris. Through his works as a painter, illustrator, and lithographer, he recorded the late-19th-century Bohemian lifestyle of Montemarte, Paris.

He was skilled at capturing people in their work environments, and he could craftily depict crowd scenes in which each figure was highly individualized, in a linear style that emphasized contour.

He was only 36 when he died of cirrhosis and syphilis.

Answer: Voltaire

François Marie Arouet (1694-1778) wrote under the pseudonym Voltaire during the period known as the Enlightenment, on the eve of the Revolutionary period in France. His legacy includes the play 'Zaïre' (1732), his 'Lettres philosophiques' (1734), the satirical novel 'Candide' (1759), and the 'Philosophical Dictionary'--not to mention assorted poems and scientific studies.

In many of his writings he crusaded against injustice, intolerance, cruelty, and tyranny with incisive wit, and for this he endured periods of banishment when he nettled those in power, yet he managed to influence the course of Western civilization beyond his time.