Guess Who's Coming To Dinner Trivia Quiz

Answer: Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde

Oscar Wilde was undoubtedly a genius, but a troubled one. At a time when homosexuality was illegal, he was forced into marriage with Constance Lloyd with whom he had two sons. "The Happy Prince" was written for them.

Accused of gross indecency by the Marquis of Queensberry (who lent his name to the rules of boxing, and was father of Wilde's lover Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas), Wilde was jailed for two years and condemned to hard labour. Wilde died in 1900, at the Hôtel d'Alsace in Paris, aged 46.

Question submitted by Waitakere.

Answer: Richard Cromwell (Lord Protector of England)

Richard Cromwell was the third son of Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector of England. He was born in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, England, in 1626. He died in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England, in 1712, at the amazing age (for the time) of 85.

He lived during one of the most tumultuous periods of English history. He rose far above his abilities when succeeding his father Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1658. Having said that, I would still like to have a conversation with him about the Civil Wars and his long life of relative anonymity after the restoration of Charles II. Despite not fighting in any of the Civil Wars he was nominated by his father to succeed him as Lord Protector, a position he only held for 246 days between September 1658 and May 1659.

After his fall from power, which was brought about by differences between the army and parliament, in 1660 he left England for France under various names which included John Clarke. He was never to see his wife again because he did not return to England until around 1680, by which time she had died. On his return, he lodged with wealthy British merchant Thomas Pengelly and his family in Hertfordshire. Amazingly, he was relatively unmolested by the authorities after his return from exile. He went on to lead an uneventful life and even though he fathered many children, he has no descendants.

Ironically, for a man who had helped to end the monarchy and even replace it, he lived during the reigns of six monarchs. They were Charles I, Charles II, James II, Mary II and William III, and Anne. There is a story that when he was long-forgotten and dressed in poor farmers' clothes, he saw Queen Anne sitting on the throne. No one around him would ever have suspected that the old man had once held such high office in England.

Question submitted by shipyardbernie

Answer: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Ingalls Wilder became famous for her "Little House" series of books. She was born February 7, 1867, to Charles and Caroline Ingalls in Pepin, Wisconsin. She traveled with her family in a covered wagon to several different states before settling in De Smet, South Dakota. There she met and married Almanzo James Wilder, and gave birth to a daughter, Rose Wilder.

In 1894, the Wilders left drought-stricken South Dakota and moved to Mansfield, Missouri where they purchased Rocky Ridge farm. It was here that Laura decided to write her books. She felt the pioneer days were over, and she wanted her daughter and other children to know what life had been like in the those days. She went into great detail about how to do things like make cheese, churn butter, and pioneer life in general. Her books are still very popular today. Laura died February 10, 1957, 3 days after turning 90 years old.

Question submitted by kennell

Answer: Hieronymus Bosch

Very little is known about Bosch, which is why I'd like to meet him more than many other people from history who I admire.

He was born Jheronimus van Aken around 1450 in 's-Hertogenbosch, Brabant, in what is today The Netherlands. Interestingly, his birth name means "from Aachen", whilst the name he is known by historically comes from his birthplace, 's-Hertogenbosch. The latter means "Duke's wood", although Hieronymus just got the "wood" part.

Bosch's best-known work, "The Garden of Earthly Delights", ended up in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, after having been in the hands of the Spanish royal family since the mid-16th century. Bosch's "The Haywain Triptych" also found its way to Museo del Prado, along with several other Bosch works.

There has been a myriad of interpretations of Bosch's work. These tend to reflect trends in art criticism, society at large, and in particular religious dogma. Nobody really knows whether Bosch was a fervent religious believer warning the populace against the wages of sin, or a deviant pedlar of gruesome titillation. Although I'd be curious to try and find out, deep down I'm glad we'll never know, and he'll always remain an enigmatic man of mystery.

Question submitted by thula2.

Answer: New South Wales

John Thomas Lang was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, in 1876. Nicknamed "The Big Fella", Lang was Premier of New South Wales for two terms, 1925-1927 and 1930-1932. He died in Auburn, New South Wales, Australia, in 1975, aged 98.

He was the only Premier of an Australian state to have been dismissed by the state Governor. This came about when Lang ordered the withdrawal of all the state's funds from government bank accounts and held them at Trades Hall in cash. This prevented the federal government from gaining access to the money. The Governor, retired Royal Air Force officer Sir Philip Game, advised Lang that his action was illegal. He told Lang that if he did not reverse it he would dismiss the government. Lang refused, and on 13 May 1932 the Governor withdrew Lang's commission and appointed the UAP leader, Bertram Stevens, as Premier.

There is evidence that Lang was considering arresting the Governor to prevent him from dismissing him. The armed forces of the Commonwealth were put on alert and this action could have led to the Commonwealth Armed Forces fighting the New South Wales Police.

Question submitted by shipyardbernie

Answer: Mary Edwards Walker

Mary Edwards Walker earned a medical degree in 1855. At the beginning of the
U. S. Civil War she volunteered with the Union Army and treated the wounded on both sides. She was captured by Confederate forces and held prisoner for four months, until she was exchanged for a captured Confederate surgeon.

Mary Edwards Walker was awarded the Medal of Honor for her work during the U.S. Civil War. In 1917 the army changed the eligibility so only persons actively involved in fighting can receive the award and nine hundred and eleven recipients' names were taken off the Honor Roll. President Jimmy Carter restored Walker's medal posthumously in 1977.

Question submitted by dekeaunt

Answer: Charles Upham

Captain Charles Upham won the first of his two Victoria Crosses while fighting in the New Zealand Army against the invading German forces in Crete in 1941. Despite being wounded twice, he single-handedly destroyed a superior German force threatening to isolate and wipe out his own platoon. According to the citation for his award, he showed "outstanding leadership skills and utter indifference to danger".

After transferring to Egypt, he took part in the defence of El Alamein against the German Afrika-Korps. In heavy fighting and despite a shattered elbow and arm, he led his men to capture a fortified German position, again showing individual brilliance and bravery in destroying a tank and several other armoured vehicles.

Eventually captured during this engagement, he was shipped to Germany where he became known as a dangerous prisoner because of his frequent attempts to escape his captors.

He managed to survive his imprisonment, and after liberation by the American forces, wanted to join up with them to continue the fight against the Nazis. After the war, he received many accolades and awards for his gallantry, was knighted by the Queen, and lived to the ripe old age of 86.

Question submitted by Warrior100.

Answer: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Pasolini's battered corpse was found in the seaside suburb of Rome called Ostia. He'd been run over repeatedly with his own car, had his genitals pummeled, and been set on fire. Although Giuseppe Pelosi, a young male prostitute, confessed to the murder of Pasolini at the time, almost thirty years later he recanted.

Possible motives behind his murder are abundant since Pasolini riled a wide range of people for a range of reasons. His portrayal of homosexuality outraged the Christian Democrat government, his politics angered both the hard left and the far right, and his last film, "Saḷ (The 120 Days of Sodom)", upset nearly everybody.

Pasolini's films, in particular his later works, are quite challenging for the casual viewer. Nevertheless, their power is by no means all cerebral, but also comes from his expert use of imagery. They aren't lacking in humour either, albeit a rather offbeat, grotesque humour.

Question supplied by thula2

Answer: D. B. Cooper

The hijacker was given the name D. B. Cooper by the media after it was revealed that the man thought to have been the hijacker had bought an airline ticket using the name D. Cooper. At least nine different people have either claimed to be or have been accused of being Cooper over the years. There were fifteen copycat hijackings in 1972, none of which were successful.

Nothing was seen of the ransom money for almost nine years until 1980 when an eight-year-old boy found three packets of the ransom cash in the sandy bank of Columbia River in Washington state.

An Oregon woman, Maria Cooper, claimed that her uncle Lynn Doyle Cooper was in fact D. B. Cooper. She claimed that her uncle arrived at her home the day after the incident in 1971. He was injured but claimed it was as the result of a car crash. Maria Cooper never saw her uncle again and was later told that he had died in 1999. Her parents had long believed that he was the hijacker.

Question submitted by dekeaunt

Answer: Pearl S. Buck

Pearl Sydenstricker was born in Hillsboro, West Virginia, in 1892 to Presbyterian missionaries. She spent most of her younger life living in various parts of China. She returned to America in 1911 to attend Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and graduated in 1914. That year she became a Presbyterian missionary herself and returned to China. In 1924 she returned to America and earned a master's degree from Cornell University. In 1925 she again returned to China with her husband John Lossing Buck who she had married in 1917. She carried on her ministry there until 1932, when she resigned, and returned to America in 1934.

In 1935 she divorced her husband who had stayed behind in China, and she married Richard Walsh the same year. They lived in Pennsylvania. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938 for her many publications describing life in China. In her later years she was a strong supporter of such issues as rights for women and minority groups, and an advocate for adoption of Asian and mixed race children. She was denounced as an American cultural imperialist during the Cultural Revolution in China, most probably because of her 1962 book "Satan Never Sleeps". She was heartbroken when she was not allowed to enter China with Richard Nixon on his 1972 visit.

She died of lung cancer in Danby, Vermont, in 1973 aged 80.

Question submitted by dekeaunt