From First to Worst Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ben Johnson

The 1988 Seoul Olympics was set to be a showdown for two arch rivals, Ben Johnson and American Carl Lewis in the blue ribbon 100 metre sprint. Johnson had lowered the world record at the previous World Championships to 9.83 seconds but Lewis had consistent good form and was the reigning Olympic champion. Johnson won the race in 9.79 seconds, a new world record, with Lewis coming second in 9.92 seconds. Canada collectively whooped with joy with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney ringing Johnson to personally congratulate him. Three days later Ben Johnson was stripped of the medal, the win and the world record (and later, his earlier world record) when he tested positive for stanozolol, a banned steroid.

His fall from grace was immediate and he lost $480 000 per month in income from endorsements. Ben Johnson never made sporting headlines again.

Answer: 15 Months

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military hero and revered Emperor of France 1804-1815. The Battle of Dresden (26-27 August 1813) was the last major battle he won but it more than decimated his men and he lost the subsequent Battle of Leipzig in October 1813. The allies offered peace terms but Napoleon did not accept them. The Allies pressed on and took Paris as Napoleon had not enough men to hold it. Under the Treaty of Fontainebleau the Allies forced Napoleon to abdicate. He was exiled to the small island of Elba off the Italian coast on 11 April 1814, where he was given sovereignty of the small island of 12000.
On Elba, he was cut off from his family and the allowance guaranteed to him by the Treaty. He was also aware of rumours he was about to be banished to a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean. He escaped and started to make his way back to Paris where he was met on the way by Marshall Ney, a former loyal senior officer. He had promised the newly restored King Louis XVIII to bring back Napoleon "in a cage". The two travelled together toward Paris attracting a growing army. Louis XVIII fled to Belgium, realising that he had insufficient political support. Powers at the Congress of Vienna declared Napoleon an outlaw. Four days later, Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia assembled 150,000 men to to end his rule. Napoleon arrived in Paris on 20 March and governed for a period now known as the Hundred Days. He had amassed 200,000 troops, and went on the offensive to split the advancing British and Prussian armies. The French Army of the North crossed the border into the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (Belgium) but was defeated soundly at Waterloo on 18 June 1815.
Napoleon returned to Paris and discovered that he had lost both the legislature and the people (again). He abdicated on 22 June in favour of his son and went into hiding. However all escape routes and ports were blocked so he surrendered to Captain Frederick Maitland on HMS Bellerophon on 15 July 1815 and was sent to St Helena, a remote island 1800 km off the west coast of Africa. His allocated accommodation was in disrepair, and its location was damp, windswept and unhealthy. His health deteriorated rapidly and he died in 1821 aged 51.

Answer: Harvey Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein and his brother Bob co-founded the entertainment company Miramax, which produced many successful independent films. Weinstein won an Oscar for being the producer of "Shakespeare in Love".
In October 2017, when sexual abuse allegations covering a forty year period became public knowledge, Weinstein was fired from his production company and expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Over 80 women made allegations against Weinstein at this time. These actions increased awareness of the #MeToo campaign. He was arrested and charged with rape in May 2018 and found guilty of two felonies in February 2020 resulting of a prison sentence of 23 years.

Bill Cosby was the toast of America when he was an endearing father in "The Cosby Show" which was rated America's favourite TV program 1985-89. However in 2014 when allegations of sexual misconduct were first made public, over 80 women came forward with claims of sexual misconduct dating from to 1965 to 2008 in ten U.S. states and one Canadian province. He was sentenced to three to ten years in prison in September 2018.

Rolf Harris, born 1930, was an Australian entertainer and musician whose career spanned 60 years. However this was all negated in 2014 when he was convicted of the sexual assault of four underage girls, and jailed for five years and nine months.

Lawrence Gerard Nassar, born 1963, was former USA Gymnastics national team doctor, and former osteopathic physician and professor at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. Nassar's sexual assault crimes include at least 265 dating back to 1992. Nassar was sentenced to a total of 175 years in jail.

Answer: Rape

Michael Tyson, born 1966, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005 as "Iron Mike". He reigned as the undisputed world heavyweight champion from 1987 to 1990, claiming the WBC first belt at 20 years and four months, making Tyson the record holder at that time as the youngest boxer to win a heavyweight title. He added the WBA and IBF titles by beating James Smith and Tony Tucker in 1987 making him the first heavyweight boxer to hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles at the same time. Tyson won his first 19 professional fights by knockout, 12 of them within the first three minutes.
Tyson was arrested in July 1991 for the rape of Miss Black Rhode Island, 18-year-old Desiree Washington, in Indianapolis. He was convicted in 1992, sentenced to six years and served three.
After prison, he had a small comeback: Tyson regained the WBC title and belt by beating Frank Bruno in March 1996. Tyson added the WBA by beating champion Bruce Seldon in the first round though Seldon was collapsing on seemingly innocuous punches from Tyson. Evander Holyfield then beat Tyson to earn the WBC belt. On the rematch in June 2017, Tyson was disqualified in the third round for biting Holyfield on both ears, one bite removing part of the pinna of the ear. Tyson was finished. His license was revoked; he was able to regain it a year later but he never regained the form that made him the three-belt champion of the world.

Answer: Jim Bakker

All of the men listed here were TV evangelists who deceived their respective television congregations but Jim Bakker was one of the worst. Bakker had paid $279000 to his former secretary Jessica Hahn in hush money to keep quiet about a sexual encounter from 1980, but he paid her with church funds causing a massive web of lies and fraud.

Investigations were undertaken about the Bakker's finances and in 1989 Bakker was sentenced to 45 years in jail on 24 counts of fraud totalling $158 million taken fraudulently from his congregation. On appeal his sentence was reduced to eight years and he served eight. Ms Tammy Faye divorced Bakker in 1987.

Answer: Marie Antoinette

The other three queens lost their heads by guillotine or axe of the executioner

Marie-Antoinette was the 15th child of the Empress of Austria. When she was 14 she was sent France to marry the heir apparent to the French throne, the Prince Dauphin who was to become King when his father Louis XV died in 1774. She became Queen at 18. At first the French people were enamoured with the beautiful young queen but her fondness for fashion and lavish entertainments attracted unwanted attention, especially when the poor could not afford bread and taxation was too high. The French Revolution occurred. Her husband Louis XVI was executed early in 1793. She had a two day trial in October, where her son was forced to testify against her and she was executed at the end of that trial on 16 October. She was 37.

Answer: Richards made racial comments about members of the audience

Michael Richards was a hit on the nine season run of "Seinfeld". Kramer was different to the other three leads as he had a lot of physical comedy in his performance which earned him three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

After a short lived eponymous comedy show of his own, post-"Seinfeld" he returned to his roots in standup comedy. During a November 17, 2006 session at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood, California, Richards became rattled by a group who were late arriving and made too much noise ordering subsequent drinks. Richards went into a racial slur-ridden rant which was recorded on phones and posted on social media where it went viral. Richards apologised for his actions but it could not save his career

Answer: 7

Lance Armstrong (born September 18, 1971) was an American former professional road racing cyclist. Between 1999-2005 he won the Tour de France seven consecutive times, the most in the event's 100-year plus history. What made it more remarkable was these victories commenced only three years after he was was diagnosed with testicular cancer, which he was advised he would probably not survive. He was first accused of doping after his first Tour win in 1999, an accusation Armstrong would deny many times until, in 2012, a United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) investigation determined he had used illegal drugs over his entire career, and further, he was named as the ringleader of "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen." Armstrong elected not to contest the charges and he received a lifetime ban from all sports.

This ended his sporting career. He allegedly lost $75 million of sponsorship income in a day. Some sponsors sued him for return of sponsorship monies.

He has been rarely seen in the public eye since.

Answer: Aaron Burr

Aaron Burr was a founding father who was elected to the senate in 1791. In 1797 he stood for president against Thomas Jefferson. He did well enough to get the same number of electoral college votes as Mr Jefferson but the house voted for the latter who went on to be one of America's greatest presidents.

In 1804, Burr engaged in the duel in which he fatally shot Alexander Hamilton, a founding father who was respected enough to later appear on the US $10 bill. Mr Hamilton was his political rival, a federalist, whilst Burr was a Democrat-Republican. Dueling was illegal but Burr was never tried, and all charges were dropped. Nevertheless, Mr Hamilton's death terminated Burr's political career; however he was allowed to serve the remainder of his term as vice president.

He moved south to escape the scandal but it 1807 he was brought to trial on treason charges due to secretive political activities. Again he was acquitted and escaped to Europe returning in 1812 to practise law. He re-married at 77 but subsequently divorced adding a further scandal to his tally. He died alone in a boarding house.

Answer: Armed robbery and kidnapping

Orenthal James Simpson (born 1947) was an impressive running back for the Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco Giants between 1969-79. He also appeared in several movies including "The Towering Inferno" (1974), "The Cassandra Crossing" (1976), "Capricorn One"(1978) and the "Naked Gun" trilogy.

In 1994 he was arrested and tried for the murders of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman but was acquitted of both murders in court. In a subsequent civil trial brought by the victims' families, the court in 1997 awarded a $33.5 million judgment against him for wrongful deaths. So whilst not convicted of murder in the first trial, he was later found responsible for both deaths in the second trial. Simpson moved to Florida, in part to avoid paying most of the damages.

In 2007, Simpson led an armed robbery where he stole sports memorabilia from a dealer in a Las Vegas hotel room. By stopping people from leaving the room, this attracted additional charges of kidnapping. He was sentenced to 33 years jail but was released on parole in 2017.