Famous People Linked to Malta Trivia Quiz

Answer: St. Paul

According to the Acts, St. Paul was upon a ship carrying 276 people on board. After a severe storm that lasted more than fourteen days, they were shipwrecked but all passengers made it safely to the island. St. Luke, the author of Acts, was with St. Paul, so the story has a lot of detail. St. Paul is credited as being the saint who converted Malta to Christianity.

Initially the locals thought he was a villain, because just after the shipwreck, he was bitten by a venomous viper. But when the saint just shook the snake into the fire and nothing happened to him, the locals thought that he must be a god! The full story is found in chapters 27/28 of the Acts of the Apostles.

Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte

Malta came under French rule in 1798. Malta had been under The Order of the Knights of St. John since 1530, but by the eighteenth century, the Maltese had grown discontent under their rule. Also many knights (many of whom were French) sympathised with Napoleon. So when Napoleon found an excuse to land in Malta, by saying that he needed to replenish his water supplies, he quickly took over the islands without much bloodshed as there was very little local resistance. French rule was to be short lived but that is another story.

Answer: Queen Elizabeth II as Princess Elizabeth

Queen Elizabeth II was married to Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. When Philip was posted to Malta as a serving naval officer between 1949 and 1951, Elizabeth lived in Malta intermittently with her husband in a villa in G'mangia, a Maltese town. Although Charles, their first child was already born he was left in England during this time. Queen Elizabeth has revisited Malta on various occasions since becoming queen.

Answer: Bush & Gorbachev

This meeting is considered by many to be the end of the Cold War. "From Yalta to Malta" was a rhyming catchphrase used which signified that the Malta meeting was considered as important as the Yalta meeting at the end of the Second World War. The two heads met on the Soviet cruise ship the "Maxim Gorky". I remember that the weather during this summit was terrible with a gale force wind and black clouds - not the kind of weather one would associate with a peaceful meeting!

Answer: Caravaggio

At the time that Caravaggio came to these islands, Malta was under the Knights of St. John. The Grandmaster at the time was Alof de Wignacourt. Caravaggio hoped that the Grandmaster's influence could help him obtain a pardon. For his part, Wignacourt was so impressed at having such a first class painter at hand, that he made Caravaggio a knight.

The major work that the painter completed in Malta was the "Beheading of St. John the Baptist". It is a huge painting and the only one to bear the painter's signature. Unfortunately it was not long before the painter was back to his old brawling self.

He was arrested and imprisoned and stripped of his knighthood. Subsequently, Caravaggio escaped and went to Sicily.

Answer: The Kappillan of Malta

Kappillan is a Maltese word meaning parish priest. The novel was written in 1973. During the Second World War Malta was a British colony and naval base and endured heavy bombardments between 1940 and 1942. As an island in the middle of the Mediterranean, Malta was practically the only allied base in the area and was becoming a pain to the Axis powers.

However, Hitler miscalculated, thinking that the island would soon capitulate and so did not opt to a paratroopers attack (similar to what had occurred in Crete). Numerous convoys tried to reach Malta during these times with heavy losses.

It was on the brink of capitulation in August 1942, when a convoy finally made it through. For a more recent novel with links to Malta check out Trezza Azzopardi's "The Hiding Place" which was shortlisted for the 2000 Booker Prize.

Answer: Robert Palmer

Robert Palmer's father was stationed with the Royal Navy in Malta. At the time Malta was an important British Naval base and many British servicemen served in Malta. Palmer returned to Britiain when he was ten. He had an eclectic career, never sticking to one "proven formula". He was successful as a solo artist and also as the singer in the eighties supergroup The Power Station.

Answer: Brigitte Nielsen

Brigitte Nielsen has been married five times, including a two year marriage to Sylvester Stallone (the star in the Rocky movies) in the eighties. Her first Malta wedding happened in 1990 when she wed Sebastian Copeland in a church in St Julian's. This wedding sparked controversy in Catholic Malta but it seems the Church did not recognize the previous marriages as these were not sanctioned by the Church.

However, this marriage lasted only a couple of years. Nielsen was back in Malta in 2006 to marry Mattia Dessi, an Italian bartender who is fifteen years her junior.

This time the wedding ceremony took place in a hotel rather than a church.

Answer: True

"Captain Phillips" was issued in 2013 and starred Tom Hanks. "Munich" was issued in 2005 and was directed and produced by Steven Spielberg. "Troy" was released in 2004 and featured Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom amongst others. "U-571" was issued in 2000 and included an appearance by Jon Bon Jovi.

The award winning "Gladiator" was also released in 2000 and featured Russell Crowe. "Popeye" was the 1980 film for Robin Williams. The film set is still standing and has been turned into a museum and family attraction site. Numerous other films are linked to Malta and the industry is a budding one.

Answer: tenor

Joseph Calleja is today one of the most sought after tenors and as he is still in his middle thirties, he is deemed to have a long promising career in front of him. Calleja has performed in the most important opera houses around the world and is a mainstay of the Metropolitan Opera.

He has sung the lead in an impressive number of different operas. His recordings have met with critical acclaim and chart success. Calleja has also been the recipient of various prizes included being voted Gramophone's magazine 2012 Artist of the Year. Notwithstanding his numerous lucrative engagements abroad, Calleja has remained a very down to earth person and every year he makes it a point to return to Malta and to participate in a concert for the Maltese people.