Historical England Trivia Quiz

Answer: Henry VIII

Famed for his six marriages, Henry VIII (1491-1547), was responsible for the creation of the Church of England and for making the English people Protestant, whether they liked it or not. His desire for a male heir resulted in his asking the Pope for an annulment from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. This request was denied which led Henry to take issue with papal supremacy. His Act of Supremacy (1534) established the King as the Head of the Church of England.
Lacock Abbey, seen in the photo, was one of the properties seized by Henry. It was sold to Sir William Sharington. The upper floor of the Abbey was converted into comfortable living quarters while the lower level, including the cloisters, were left relatively unchanged. This corridor is on the lower level.
William Henry Fox Talbot, inventor of the photographic negative, inherited Lacock Abbey in the early 1800s and much of his work on developing (pun intended) the negative was done here.

Answer: Admiral Nelson

Admiral Horatio Nelson served in the British Navy from 1771 until 1805, when he died, at the age of 45, at the battle of Trafalgar.
In 1803 he was Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, during the Napoleonic Wars. He was killed on the deck of his flagship, the HMS Victory (which can be toured in Portsmouth, England). His body was returned to England in a barrel of brandy and tour guides will tell you that each of his men had a tot of that liquor after his body was removed.
The column was erected in the 1840s and although we were told that he can see his beloved sea from where he stands, he would need to have extraordinary vision to do so. Robert Hardman of the "Daily Mail" climbed the scaffolding erected around the column during repairs and reported that he could see as far as the Surrey Hills, beyond which lies the Channel.

Answer: The Prime Minister

Technically, 10 Downing Street is the official residence of the First Lord of the Treasury. However since that position has been held by the Prime Minister since 1895, the residence has more commonly come to be known as the official residence of the Prime Minister.
With over one hundred rooms, including a private residence, 10 Downing Street is where the Prime Minister works as well as lives and entertains other members of the government and foreign dignitaries. It is located close to both Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Westminster, which is where the houses of parliament meet.

Answer: Benjamin Hall

Sir Benjamin Hall was a politician and a civil engineer and it was he who oversaw the installation of the bell. He was a tall man so the parallel between his height and the size of the bell could have contributed to the choice of the nickname. Some people believe that Big Ben may have been named after British boxer Benjamin Caunt, but it is Hall's name that is inscribed on the bell, not Caunt's. The original bell, cast on Aug 6, 1856, cracked during testing.

A second bell, cast on April 10, 1858, cracked two months after installation.

It was not as badly damaged as the first and, after being out of commission for three years, they were able reuse the cracked bell by using a smaller hammer and turning it so that the hammer did not strike in the same place.

A piece of metal was also chipped away from around the crack.

Answer: Boadicea

Although her name has several spellings, the one I have used is the version inscribed on the statue in the picture. Boadicea's husband had formed an alliance with the occupying Romans, so their tribe, the Iceni, were not under Roman control while he lived.

As was their custom at the time, the Romans did not honour such alliances beyond the life of the ruler who made them; so after his death, his people were treated as slaves. Boadicea's army was initially successful in driving out the occupying Romans, but she was eventually defeated. Boadicea died shortly afterwards but whether it was from succumbing to illness or by her own hand is unknown.

Answer: William the Conqueror

William the Conqueror became the first Norman King of England when he defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Because this victory changed the line of British kings, this is often seen as the most important battle in British history. William I ruled until 1087 and was succeeded by his son, William II.
The White Tower, seen in the picture, was first erected by William in 1066, but as a wooden fortress. Construction of the stone keep shown in the picture is believed to have been begun later that same century.
The White Tower is the central keep of The Tower of London, famed for the beheadings that used to happen there, and the ravens that occupy the Tower grounds.

Answer: Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), often referred to as the Bard of Avon, was responsible for some 38 plays, as well as many other sonnets and poems. He was a favourite of Elizabeth I and many of his plays were written about her ancestors. Growing up in Canada, we studied a Shakespearean play every year throughout high school, and years later my children did the same.
The building is a recreation of the Globe Theatre, the playhouse built by Shakespeare's playing company. It first opened in 1599 but was destroyed by fire in 1613. It was rebuilt in 1614 and closed again in 1642 by the Puritans.
The building seen in the picture opened in 1997, very close to where the original stood.

Answer: King Arthur

King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table have been the subject of many books and movies over the years. He was portrayed as a unifying force in Britain at a time when one was badly needed. His most trusted advisor was the magician Merlin and he either received his sword from the Lady of the Lake or he pulled it from a stone.

While none of this is very believable, the possibility that Arthur really existed and fought well against invading Anglo-Saxons is very real. The legendary Arthur was said to have been the son of King Uther Pendragon and Igraine, wife of the Duke of Cornwall. Igraine was said to have been fooled by Merlin's magic into believing that Uther was her husband. Arthur's birth was said to have happened at Tintagel Castle (the ruins of which are seen in the photo) where Merlin waited to whisk the infant away to protect him from his mother's husband.

Answer: The Earl of Carnarvon

George Herbert, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon and owner of Highclere Castle (seen in the picture), first started wintering in Egypt for the sake of his health, which became poorly after a very bad car accident. He developed an interest in Egyptology and began funding and overseeing digs. He teamed up with Egyptologist Howard Carter in 1907 and worked with him until 1922, excluding WWI. Herbert was ready to give up, due to a lack of money, but Carter persuaded him to try one more time. It was then that they made their most important discovery, the Tomb of King Tutankhamun.
The Earl died two months after the discovery, probably due to a combination of blood poisoning and pneumonia. At the moment of his death, in Egypt, his dog, back in England, howled once and died and the legend of the Curse of Tutankhamun grew.
The basement of Highclere Castle contains exhibits from King's Tut's tomb. Some of the artifacts are real and some are re-creations.

Answer: A British or Colonial soldier killed during the war

In 1915 Canadian John McCrae wrote the very powerful poem "In Flanders Fields" in which he talked of poppies marking the graves of the dead. Since then the poppy has come to symbolise the fallen soldier.
Artists Paul Cummins and Tom Piper created ceramic poppies to honour and remember the British and Commonwealth soldiers who lost their lives in WWI. The poppies started appearing as a cascade out of one of the windows in the Tower of London and more were added every night until Nov 11th. By that time the moat around the Tower of London was filled with 888,246 ceramic poppies. They have subsequently been removed.
Every night during this time the names of 180 Commonwealth soldiers were read out, followed by the playing of "The Last Post".