Guess Who's Coming to Dinner: Volume II Quiz

Answer: Oscar-Claude Monet

Claude Monet and his contemporaries Renoir, Pissarro and Sisley are considered to be the founders of the Impressionist movement in art. In 1873, frustrated by the conservative Académie de Beaux-Arts in France, they organized the Cooperative and Anonymous Association of Painters, Sculptors and Engravers. They held their first exhibition in 1874.

It was at this exhibition that Monet showed his painting titled "Impression, Sunrise". Art critic Louis Leroy used this title when writing his critique of the show which he called "L'Exposition des Impressionnistes". Although intended to be derogatory, the artists liked the name impressionists and used it to refer to their techniques.

In his later life, Monet spent about twenty years painting the water lilies in his garden. His house and garden in Giverny, northern France, were opened to the public in the 1980s although the famous paintings are not housed there.

Question submitted by dekeaunt

Answer: Witold Pilecki

Pilecki's reports on what was really happening inside the camp reached the British government in London via the Polish government-in-exile. His hope was that something would be done to liberate the camps, but his efforts came to no avail. He escaped from Auschwitz in April 1943 and continued to try and convince the Allies to do something, but got no further. In the camp he had organized a remarkable resistance movement known as ZOW which helped prisoners organize themselves, support one another, and raise morale.

When World War II was over, Pilecki stayed true to the Polish-government-in-exile and he took on a new false identity to gather intelligence in Communist Poland. However, his true identity was discovered in 1947 and he was arrested. After a show trial, he was sentenced to death and shot in 1948. His heroism wasn't officially recognized until after the Cold War defrosted in the 1990s. Pilecki was eventually awarded both the Order of Polonia Restituta and the Order of the White Eagle.

Pilecki's full biography is an astounding list of acts of bravery which are second to none. I'm a self-confessed coward, so I'd like to meet Pilecki to find out what makes such an extraordinarily courageous person tick.

Question submitted by thula2.

Answer: Bruce McLaren

Bruce McLaren was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1937. He was racing hotted-up old stock cars at the age of 14, and by 1959 he had secured a contract racing the famous Cooper Formula One cars alongside Australian driver Jack Brabham. He achieved his first GP win at the 1959 United States Grand Prix when he was just 22 years old. He took second place in the Formula One championships in both 1960 and 1962.

In 1963, he founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd while still racing for the Cooper team. He left Cooper at the end of 1965 and started his own GP racing team with co-driver and fellow Kiwi, Chris Amon. In 1966, McLaren and Amon won the 24 Hour Race at Le Mans in a Ford GT40. In 1967, Denny Hulme also from New Zealand replaced Amon who joined Ferrari. Tragically, Bruce McLaren was killed at the Goodwood racing circuit in England in 1970. His car, an M8D, started to break up on the Lavant straight, left the track and hit a bunker that was being used as a flag station.

Question submitted by Warrior100

Answer: Leicester

Richard III was born in Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, England, in 1452. He was King of England from 1483 to 1485 and died in battle in 1485.

King Edward IV, Richard's elder brother, died in April 1483. Richard was named Lord Protector of the realm for Edward's son and successor, twelve-year-old Edward V. Edward V travelled from Ludlow to London, where he was to be crowned, on 22 June 1483. Richard met and escorted him to lodgings in the Tower of London and Edward's younger brother, Richard of Shrewsbury, joined him later. Their father's marriage to their mother Elizabeth Woodville was declared invalid. This made Edward and Richard illegitimate and ineligible to be king.

Richard III was crowned King of England on 6 July 1483 after being endorsed by an assembly of Lords and commoners. Two years later Henry Tudor landed in South Wales with a contingent of French soldiers and recruited more soldiers as they marched through Wales and England. Richard III was killed in the battle of Bosworth Field in Leicestershire. His body was taken to Leicester and buried without ceremony and his remains were lost for more than five centuries.

An archaeological excavation was conducted in a Leicester car park in 2012, on the site once occupied by Greyfriars Priory Church. The skeleton found in the excavation was identified as that of Richard III by the use of radiocarbon dating and DNA comparison with that of two descendants of Richard III's eldest sister Anne of York. After some difference of opinion with authorities in York, Richard III's remains were reburied in Leicester Cathedral on 26 March 2015. He was the last King of England to die in battle on home soil.

Question submitted by shipyardbernie

Answer: Steve Allen

Steve Allen was one of the pioneers of early television in America. He is probably best known as the original host of the iconic late night talk show, "The Tonight Show". Steve's quick ad libs, clever quips, and unique, high-pitched laughter are legendary.

Before venturing into television, Steve had worked in radio where he began to develop his unique style. For TV, he tweaked and embellished it even further. Though Steve left "The Tonight Show" after a few years, he went on to host many other successful shows through the mid-1960s and beyond.

Steve introduced elements that were fresh, offbeat, and entertaining, combining witty monologues, spontaneous banter, wacky skits, crazy stunts, and music. He began involving the studio audience more, and went to locations outside the studio, observing and interviewing people along the way. He also engaged a wonderful supporting cast, introduced America to many talented comedians, and often featured unusual guests. Arguably, his creative innovations directly influenced all subsequent late night talk shows.

Steve Allen was truly a "renaissance man", who accomplished much more than simply a TV show host. Some of his other achievements include: jazz pianist, composer, Grammy winner, writer, actor, and recipient of two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (one for radio, and one for TV). On top of all that, he was said to be a dedicated family man, and a really nice person. He died in 2000 in California.

I find it baffling that even with all of his accomplishments, Steve Allen is still not really an A-list celebrity who everyone knows. "Smock! Smock!"

Question submitted by euphonious.

Answer: An English royal Impostor

Described as a handsome youth of intelligence and good manners, Lambert Simnel was put forward as one of the princes in the tower supposedly killed on the orders of Richard III. A priest named Richard Symonds conceived the idea for Simnel to impersonate one of these princes as a claimant for the crown of England. His reward if successful was going to be the archbishopric of Canterbury. On the false report that the young Earl of Warwick, the son of George, Duke of Clarence, had died in the Tower, Symonds decided that Simnel should impersonate this prince instead.

Taken to Ireland where he gained much support, Simnel was actually crowned as Edward VI at Dublin in 1487. He and his supporters then travelled to England, landing in Lancashire. They then made their way to Nottinghamshire, where a battle took place at East Stoke with the army of Henry VII. Henry VII was victorious and Symonds and Simnel were taken prisoners. Symonds spent the rest of his days in a dungeon but Simnel (unlike another royal imposter Perkin Warbeck, executed in 1499) was pardoned and put to work in the royal kitchens as a scullion (a servant doing menial tasks). He later became a falconer and was last heard of around 1534-35. The first thing that I would ask him is "What were you thinking?"

Question submitted by shipyardbernie

Answer: Gladys Aylward

Gladys Aylward was from a poor London family and was working as a domestic servant when she felt God call her to be a missionary. Having been rejected by the missionary societies for her lack of formal education, she spent her savings on a passage to China. After a perilous journey she worked In Yangcheng and became a confidant of the mandarin who sent her out to enforce the new law forbidding foot binding.

Wounded by the Japanese who put a price on her head when they invaded China, she took 100 children of all ages, on foot, across the mountains to safety. She went on to found orphanages and leper colonies. She died in Taiwan in 1970.

Question submitted by Waitakere

Answer: Gertrude Stein

Gertrude Stein certainly seems to have had an eye and ear for talent. She had a profound influence on the careers of painters such as Picasso, Matisse, and writers such as Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Joyce, and Pound. She had modern sensibilities, and seemed ahead of her time in many ways.

Although her own writing was never widely embraced, her attempts to break through conventional styles had a great impact on later writers. Her poetry and prose were abstract and daring, yet often difficult to understand, partly because her style was idiosyncratic. She seemed to be playing with language, much like the artists she associated with were playing with art. Repetition was a frequently used device in her writing, as in the familiar quote: "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose".

Her best-known and most successful work was "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas", which was inspired by life with her longtime companion.

In the 1920s, there was much confusion, experimenting, questioning, and uninhibited behavior going on (think "Great Gatsby"). The now well-known phrase "the Lost Generation", often used to refer to the youth culture of this time, has been attributed to Stein, who truly lived in the midst of it all. My current favorite Stein quote is: "There ain't no answer. There ain't gonna be any answer. There never has been an answer. That's the answer."

Gertrude is buried in the famous Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, along with Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Chopin, Proust, and Alice B. Toklas, of course.

Question submitted by euphonious.

Answer: GG Allin

Jesus Christ Allin became GG since his brother Merle couldn't pronounce Jesus as a child, but uttered something akin to "Gee Gee". Merle played bass in many of GG Allin's backing bands.

At first glance GG Allin was no more than an untalented musician who used shock tactics to gain attention. However, if you delve a little deeper into his philosophy, which he set out clearly in "The GG Allin Mission Statement" in 1991, he emerges as a fascinating, indomitable (albeit unpleasant) rock and roll outlaw. He was raging against what he saw as the sanitization of rock and roll, and was arguably the punkest of all the punks.

After countless run-ins with the law, GG Allin ended up in prison in 1989 for assault. While in prison, he began correspondence with incarcerated serial killer John Wayne Gacy and commissioned a portrait by the infamous murderer turned painter. Their letters, along with other correspondence by GG whilst in prison, have been published as a somewhat unlikely coffee-table book called "My Prison Walls".

For many years GG threatened to kill himself on stage as the ultimate extreme performance, but he never managed it. In fact his death was rather tame, bland, and predictable by rock and roll standards: he accidentally overdosed on heroin after a New York gig in 1993. GG's final gig and subsequent fleeing from the police was caught on camera and released as an extra to the documentary film about his life, "Hated".

GG Allin wrote misogynist, depraved, abhorrent lyrics and delivered debauched live performances, but, or maybe thus, he deserves his place in the annals of rock and roll history. The likes of Jim Morrison, Iggy Pop, Sid Vicious or Marilyn Manson pale in comparison to GG's wild antics.

Question submitted by thula2.

Answer: Walt Elias Disney

The wonderful Walt Disney and his collaborators created characters such as Mickey Mouse, and made beautiful films based on children's books and fairy tales such as "Pinocchio", "Dumbo", "Bambi", "Cinderella", and my favourite "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". Sadly, he died on December 15 1966 at the age 65 from lung cancer brought on by chain-smoking.

He will never be forgotten after bringing such joy to children's lives. One interesting fact, which seems quite bizarre considering his creation of the worlds' most famous mouse, is that Walt Disney was afraid of mice. A long-standing urban legend is that Walt Disney was cryopreserved. Actually, his remains were cremated on December 17 1966 and his ashes interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, U.S.A.

Question submitted by linda122