Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. She was 4 years old when she saw her first ballet, The Sleeping Beauty. Noticing that the little girl was entranced, her mother whispered 'Would you like to be dancing up there with the corps de ballet?' 'No', she replied. 'I'd rather dance alone.' Who was she?
2. His father was a coach and had him out on the backyard rink every winter night by the age of 4. At 6 he joined a novice team, and in 1978 he was not only the youngest player in the World Junior Hockey championships, but the highest scorer. Who is he?
3. At the age of three he was imitating his sister's playing on the harpsichord. At the age of 4 he composed his first piece. His father, an ambitious musician, exhibited him all over Europe to overwhelming acclaim, but his adult career was rocky and disappointing. Possibly the greatest European musical prodigy of all time...who was he?
4. His parents were poor immigrants and hadn't a lot of time for their children, yet he taught himself to read at the age of 4 from the shop signs on the streets of Brooklyn. At 7 he taught himself to read Yiddish. He went on to a distinguished career in biochemistry, and an immortal career in literature. 'Nightfall', published at age 20, has been long considered one of the best short science fiction stories ever written. Who was he?
5. She was a chubby, working-class kid from Sydney with an astonishingly mature voice that her mother, a trained singer, helped to develop. At the age of 8 her technique was that of an artist twice her age and her pitch was uncannily perfect. Even so, when she tried out for the school choir she was turned down because her voice was 'too loud'. Who is she?
6. Her father was a second-rate portrait painter but he trained her well and by the age of 12 she was considered something of a phenomenon in Parisian artistic circles. At age 15 she was painting portraits professionally and at 18 she became the official portrait painter to the queen. Who was she?
7. He was born with a talent for danger and an uncontrollable urge to climb almost anything. As a boy he climbed every tree in the neighbourhood, his grandmother's roof, and even the bell tower of his father's church. It is no wonder that Mount Everest drew him simply because, as he put it, it was there.
8. She made her film debut at the age of 3 and by the age of 5 she had become the number one box office attraction in America. Who was she?
9. Her father's career as a teacher was stunted by his Polish nationalism, but at night he would discuss science with his children, especially his brilliant daughter Manya. She was a highly academically gifted child who was always at the top of her class and like her father, she was fascinated by scientific research. Who was she?
10. Lots of gifted kids seem to have had gifted, ambitious parents who spent a lot of time with them. This kid didn't. He was a poor boy in Prague with a very neglectful mother and an abusive stepfather. Desperate for a chance to get a musical education, he clung to the back of a stagecoach for over 100 kilometers in order to cast himself on the mercies of an uncle. The uncle took him in, educated him, and at the age of 19 he was playing violin in the court orchestra in Hanover next to the equally young Ludwig van Beethoven. Who was he?
Source: Author
dobrov
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
bloomsby before going online.
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