Famous Johns Trivia Quiz

Answer: John Kennedy

In a sense, John Kennedy spent the early years of his life in his older brother Joe's shadow. Joe was a fine footballer, a leading student and admired by all. John, endowed with many gifts and talents of his own, was somewhat rebellious at school in an attempt to make his own name.

This included carrying out deeds such as blowing up a toilet seat with a huge firecracker. John Kennedy was dogged with poor health all his life but managed to reach the top level in whatever field he attempted throughout his career, including winning a Pulitzer Prize and becoming President of the USA.

His brief time as leader of that nation from 1961 to 1963 spanned events such as the Bay of Pigs incident, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Space Race, the Civil Rights Movement, the building of the Berlin Wall, and the initial stages of war in Vietnam. One of the most popular Presidents ever elected, he was assassinated in 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald. "To die while one's star still burns brightly in the sky is perhaps the greatest gift of all." - Edgar Allan Poe.

Answer: John Lennon

Born in Liverpool, England in 1940 during the Second World War, and murdered in New York, USA in 1980, John Lennon was a founding member of the world famous band "The Beatles". He had a rather sad early childhood which could account for his later troubled years and his rebellious attitude to life.

It also created a musical wonder however who made his demons work for him in the form of melody. He was murdered by Mark David Chapman on 8 December, 1980, on his return home one night to his New York apartment with his second wife, Yoko Ono.

His murderer, still in jail in 2011, has been denied parole six times. John Lennon, troubled, rebellious and unsettled, was not a nice person at times by any stretch of the imagination, but gave the modern world a great gift of a new form of music. For that, more than his frailties, he will be remembered.

Answer: John the Baptist

John the Baptist, cousin to Jesus, was a preacher who baptised people in the Jordan River. He spoke to all who would listen about the forthcoming arrival of the Lord. John unfortunately also spoke out against King Herod's marriage to the widow of his brother, a practice which was against Jewish law at the time.

The new Mrs Herod had a daughter accomplished in the art of dance and Herod was so pleased with her performance that he announced he would give her anything she wanted. She requested John's head on a platter. That's one version of the story.

Another is that Herod feared the large following that was gathering around John and decided John had to go. Both versions could be true. All that is no consolation to John however.

Answer: John McEnroe

Born in 1959, McEnroe rose to number one position in the world tennis rankings. His career wins included seven Grand Slam singles titles, nine Grand Slam doubles titles and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title. His shot making and volleying were astonishing, but his on court temper was foul, earning him the nicknames "Mac the Brat" and "Superbrat". Once married to Hollywood fellow brat Tatum O'Neil, whose reputation for misbehaviour was as bad as his own, McEnroe now works as a Grand Slam tennis television commentator.

Answer: Pope John Paul II

Born in 1920, Pope John Paul II passed away in 2005 after leading the Catholic church for twenty-six years. He has been described as one of the most influential people of the twentieth century. Highlights of his time in the papacy included his influence in ending communist, his attack on the excesses of capitalism, and a healing of the church's breaches with Judaism, Islam, the Eastern Orthodox faith and the Anglican faith.

He has also been criticised for his conservative stance on other issues, that of upholding the church's stance against artificial contraception, and its stance against women in the priesthood.

This brilliant and talented leader was fluent in many languages. These included Italian, French, German, English, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Croatian, Latin and of course, Polish. During his papacy he travelled widely (120 countries) and survived three assassination attempts, one of which wounded him shockingly.

His life drew to a close in 2005. Who could forget the sight of this gallant old soldier of God still striving to carry out his life's work as he struggled to talk and bless the crowds below his window just before his death.

It was incredibly moving and brought tears to the eyes of many.

Answer: Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash died in 2003 after a lifetime of sharing his music with the world. This humble man, who was one of the 20th century's shining stars of music, crossed over from rock and roll, country, blues and gospel in his singing styles - all of which were delivered in his rich bass-baritone voice. Just a couple of the songs forever identified with this great old singer include "I Walk the Line" (1956) and "Ring of Fire" (1963) and "Folsom Prison Blues" (1968).

Answer: King John

Magna Carta has been described effusively as "the greatest constitutional document of all times - the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitary authority of the despot". Oh blah, blah, blah, to the average individual at the time, and for many years to come, it wouldn't have made any difference at all.

The Charter of Liberties, signed in 1100, really deserves the credit for the Magna Carta when one looks at history. It paved the way and set the precedent. John, who reigned from 1199 till his death in 1216 could be petty and cruel, it's true, but he was also hard-working, an able ruler, and a fine, brave soldier.

The other King Johns listed above never existed.

Answer: Johann Sebastian Bach

Born in Eisenach in 1685 into an extremely musical family, Bach's future was almost a given thing. His father was the director of the town musicians and taught Bach to play violin and harpsichord. His uncles were all professional musicians who worked as church or court musicians and taught him organ. Of his four musical siblings, his brother Johnann Christoph Bach, with whom he lived following the early death of his parents, taught him clavichord. Bach's follow up life and astonishing musical output cannot possibly be summed up more than that in here. Suffice it to say this great composer has come to represent, more than any other composer, all that Baroque music stands for. Johann Sebastian Bach died in 1750.

Answer: John Howard

The 25th Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard was born in Sydney in 1939. He graduated in law from the University of Sydney in 1961 and was a practising solicitor for twelve years before his life in politics commenced. On his rise to becoming PM of this nation, he served, respectively, as president of the Young Liberals organisation, member for Bennelong, and Minister for Business and Consumer Affairs and Treasurer when the Liberals were in power.

His next move up the ladder was as Deputy Leader of the Opposition, then Leader of the Opposition, and finally Prime Minister 1996.

A little know fact about Mr Howard is a hearing impediment he's had all his life, which has left him with a slight speech impediment, and for which he has always worn a hearing aid.

This disability greatly hindered his school performance and his ambitions to become a barrister - but also developed his reliance on a truly excellent memory.

Answer: Johannes Kepler

In his laws of planetary motion, Kepler describes, among other things, "the square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit". I'd like to dazzle you with my brilliance and explain all that to you - but I haven't got a clue what he meant. Even worse, I couldn't care less.

Here's something that does make sense however! The groundbreaking work Kepler carried out was the base from which sprang Isaac Newton's theory on universal gravitation.

In other words, fellow quizzers, Kepler planted the apple tree.