Ballpark Figures Trivia Quiz

Answer: Elvis Presley

Elvis's income ballooned to $60 million in 2010, some $5 million more than the previous year. Enough to earn him second place in the 2010 Forbes List of top dead money earners. Much of this is due to Graceland admissions and the Elvis Presley Cirque du Soleil spectacular in Las Vegas. His 75th birthday celebrations also added to the earnings, aided by merchandise deals.

Answer: Dr Seuss

Dr Seuss is perhaps best known for his "Cat in the Hat" series of children's stories, with "Green Eggs and Ham" and "Fox in Socks" following closely behind.

Since his death in 1991, his stories have remained popular and at the time of publishing the Forbes List, he was likely to sell 3 million copies in 2010 alone. Several of his stories have been made into movies, and many of his characters now are enjoyed through the technology of iPhone apps.

Answer: New York Yankees

Steinbrenner earned $8 million in the months after his death, and reportedly will keep earning for as long as the Yankees keep winning. His posthumous earnings are enough to score 9th place on the Forbes List of dead money-spinners 2010.

Nicknamed "The Boss" or "Manager George", he died after a heart attack in his home in Tampa, although it was thought he was also suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

Answer: Albert Einstein

Einstein's name may be associated with physics, but these days it's used to sell merchandise. The majority of money was earned through the "Baby Einstein" range of goods designed to make babies smarter. The estate also markets trucks and glasses, and has recently branched into video games.

Answer: Charles M. Schulz

The precursor to the "Peanuts" comic strip was "L'il Folks", published by the "St Paul Pioneer Press" from 1947 to 1950. "Peanuts" first appeared in 1950, featuring many of the same characters as the earlier strip. The strip ran continuously for almost 50 years, until Schulz, due to old age and ill health, could no longer produce it. In his will, he asked that the characters remain true and that no new comic strips based on them ever be drawn and this request has been complied with since his death in 2000.

Despite this stipulation, the Iconix Company purchased the rights to the "Peanuts" Brand in 2010 for $175 million. The Schulz estate continues to earn money from the comic strip, which appears in some 2,200 newspapers worldwide.

Schulz's estate earned $33 million in 2010, achieving fourth place on the Forbes List of top deceased money-spinners.

Answer: The Millennium Trilogy

Stieg Larsson was known as science fiction "fandom" author during his life, but on his death, three complete but unpublished manuscripts were found. The first story, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" was posthumously published in 2005 and won the Glass Key award for best Swedish crime novel. The second in the trilogy "The Girl Who Played with Fire" received the same honour the following year. The final novel in the series "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" was published in 2007, but wasn't published in the U.S. until 2010.

More than 40 million copies of the books have been sold worldwide, and they are being made into movies, starring Daniel Craig. There is also an incomplete fourth manuscript being held by his partner Eva Gabrielsson who is currently fighting for rights to the novels.

He earned $15 million in 2010, and sixth place on the Forbes dead money-earners' list.

Answer: John Lennon

Mark Chapman tragically shot dead former Beatle, John Lennon, outside his apartment building at 10:50pm on December 8th 1980.

Lennon was one of the founding members of the Beatles, and formed a powerhouse song-writing duo with fellow Beatle Paul McCartney. As a solo performer, Lennon has sold over 14 million units in the U.S. alone and in 2008 "Rolling Stone Magazine" ranked him as fifth greatest singer of all time. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

In 2010, EMI launched the "Gimme Some Truth" campaign which re-released many of Lennon's works. This resulted in several Top Ten chart appearances, earning his estate $17 million dollars this year alone, and also fifth spot on the Forbes biggest dead money earners 2010.

Answer: J.R.R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) was the best-selling fantasy author of "The Hobbit", "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Silmarillion". Tolkien sold the film, stage and merchandise rights to the "Lord of the Rings" to United Artists in 1968. Although he wasn't opposed to adapting the novel into a movie, he was openly critical of scripts and scenes of "screams and rather meaningless slashings". Despite this, the trilogy filmed in New Zealand and directed by Peter Jackson, was a huge success, winning several Oscars.

According to the Forbes list, Tolkien made over $50 million last year, earning him third place on the list of top dead moneymakers.

Answer: Richard Rodgers

Even accounting for the fact that a Nederland's Music group bought the rights to all Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical works in 2009, Richard Rodgers makes the list of top money earners due to his work with Lorenz Hart.

Rodgers died of a chronic illness in 1979 at age 77.

Answer: Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson was great in life, but his income in death has been phenomenal, and earned him the number one spot on the Forbes List of dead money-spinners in 2010. His posthumous earnings of $275 million include takings from record sales, radio airplay, memorabilia and a video of rehearsals for his planned London concerts. More money though, came from a half-share in hundreds of songs by other artists, including Elvis Presley and the Beatles.

Jackson died on June 25, 2009 after suffering a cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles. It has been determined that prescription drugs caused the arrest.