Interesting Facts on Famous People No 2 Quiz

Answer: He shot his own plane down

As he entered a dive and fired a short burst from the cannons in the new state of the art machine, Attridge was going so fast that he overtook his own bullets and the plane was hit. It began to grind and shudder and the windshield buckled inwards onto the pilot.

He headed back to his landing strip, but the plane began to lose power so quickly that the very experienced pilot knew he wouldn't make it. He crash landed into a group of trees, demolishing all in the 300 foot distance it took the plane to stop, and breaking off the right wing in the process. Attridge suffered a broken leg and three busted vertebrae as a result of his deadly accurate aim.

Answer: Because he used his brain a lot

Tesla was born in what we know now as Croatia in 1856. He is possibly remembered more for his peculiar beliefs on certain subjects, and his failed inventions, than for his sheer genius which went greatly unheralded during his lifetime. This mechanical and electrical engineer, inventor, and physicist moved to live the USA in 1884 to work for Thomas Edison, who, sad to say, gypped Tesla out of a fortune when he failed to honour a verbal contract that the two men had made. It was only under the wing of George Westinghouse that Tesla made any headway at all with his own groundbreaking discoveries and inventions. These included his work on electricity, X-rays, various electrical devices, remote control devices, fluorescent lighting, vertically lift-off planes, the AC induction motor, transformers, long range weapons, turbines and an entire range of now lost patents and inventions. Some of those blueprints are said to be locked away with the military, but many others more he carried in his mind. These included his belief that energy could be harvested from space and various devices to enable the world to do so, and his experiments with converting matter into energy.

Tesla had an eidetic memory, slept very little, held unusual dietary habits, was obsessed with the number three, hated anything with a round shape, refused to shake hands, and had a horror of touching hair and fat people. He also believed he was in contact with aliens on Mars. If alive today, no doubt, Tesla would be medically diagnosed. Yet his weird and obsessive genius, left on its own, allowed his brilliant mind to conceive some completely astonishing ideas. He said that many of these ideas came to him in visions where he could picture their exact dimensions in his mind before even putting pen to paper. With his death, penniless and in debt, these ideas were lost forever. Along with his belief that his thinking processes changed the colour of his eyes, he also believed that scrunching one's toes one hundred times every night was the means to increase intellectual ability. I've been trying this every night since first reading this. Results: Thinking ability remains unaltered. Toes are complaining heartily.

Answer: Chick Accuses Her Male Colleagues of Sexism

Born in 1944, Californian Laura Chick has graced the political stage in that state for many years. She began her career on the Los Angeles City Council, where she stayed in that position from 1993 until 2001. In this position she took on many of her male colleagues for their sexist attitudes to women, resulting in that somewhat comical headline in "The Los Angeles Times". From there she became the first woman to hold the office of Los Angeles City Controller in 2001.

Her reports and findings exposed an astonishing array of fraud and waste in the city government departmental offices. Though her blunt and forthright style earned her quite a few enemies along the way, she also instigated many positive innovations and changes for that metropolis. Horrifyingly, she also ferreted out the fact that thousands of untested rape kit samples had been put on the back burner by the LA Police Department, and made city officials deal with them immediately.

In 2009, this human dynamo was appointed to the position of Inspector General of the state of California by the then governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

This resulted in the intrepid Laura uncovering millions of dollars of misspent government funds.

Answer: Erno Rubik

Hungary was under the control of a Communist regime from 1947 until 1989. It became a democratic parliamentary republic after that time. Erno Rubik was born there in 1944. He graduated from the University of Budapest as an architect in 1947. In 1983 he founded the Rubik Studio where he concentrated on designing games and furniture.

There, in 1974, he invented the Rubik's Cube, a six-sided cube, each side covered in nine stickers of six varying colours, with the object of this brain-teaser being to twist and turn those sides until each one is only covered in the one colour.

It's been driving people crazy all over the world ever since as they try to solve the puzzle. Erno doesn't care. This reclusive genius has made himself a fortune from his diabolical invention.

Answer: Ashburn smashed another foul which hit her again

How's that for bad luck? What a way to make history! The unfortunate Alice was the wife of the sports editor of the "Philadelphia Bulletin" newspaper. One could say she lost her run-in with Asburn by a nose. Richie Ashburn (1927-1997) played major league baseball for fifteen seasons. On his retirement from the game he became a long term broadcaster for the Phillies, and a newspaper columnist. He is considered one of the most loved sports figures in the history of that famous city. You'll be pleased to know that Alice harboured no ill feelings towards him following his assault on her nose. They remained the best of friends however, although one suspects whenever he came too close to her from that time, that her nose may have twitched nervously.

Another yarn about Ashburn, noted in the ESPN magazine "ESPN Classic" in July 2002, was that, during his career as broadcaster, he took to mentioning the name of a local pizza parlour, Celebre's Pizza, whenever he felt hungry. This was a sure guarantee that within a few minutes, a free pizza would arrive in the press box for him from the parlour. The management of the Phillies asked him to stop doing this as Celebre's wasn't one of the team's sponsors. Ashburn obliged for a while, until one day, knowing that although he couldn't give out free plugs over the air, it was perfectly acceptable for him to send out birthday wishes to anyone. He therefore announced birthday wishes over the air "for the Celebre twins - Plain and Pepperoni".

Answer: "Ma, Ma, where's my Pa?"

Poor old Mr Cleveland. Old sins cast long shadows. He was a good man who'd made one moral slip many years previously. Born in 1837, this man, who was President of the United States from 1885-89 and from 1893-97, came from a religious family. His father was a Presbyterian minister and his mother's side of the family were Protestants and Quakers. On his father's early death, he left school early to help support his family. He eventually managed to continue his education a few years later and became a lawyer in 1959. He was hard-working, lived simply and continued to support his mother and sister for many years. He was, however, prone to enjoying the laid back sociability of the local hotel lounges and saloons every now and then. His political career began in earnest in 1873 when he was elected to Congress, and where he rapidly earned himself the reputation as a blunt and honest politician who was an opponent of corruption.

When news of the illegitimate child leaked out to his political enemies, Cleveland simply instructed his staff to tell the truth. In 1874, he paid child support to a woman who claimed he was the father of her child. While readily admitting he had been involved with her for a short while, several other men had also been involved with the lady in question. She named the child after several of them in fact, and none could be really sure as to whom was the real father. Cleveland consequently assumed the responsibility for her financial support, because he was the only bachelor among them all at that time. He was still a bachelor when he became President and didn't marry until 1885.

Answer: Yes

Buzz Aldrin was highly amused and took it all in good fun. To the delight of all present, he put one of the toys beside him when once giving a speech to NASA. Born in New Jersey in 1930, Buzz Aldrin was the second person to walk on the moon in 1969. According to various reports, he was supposed to have been the first to step onto the surface of the moon, but because of the design of the lunar module, Neil Armstong had to exit before him.

The Pixar character, astronaut Buzz Lightyear, from the "Toy Story" series of children's animated films is absolutely hilarious.

He's a send up of all that is serious about the space program, and science fiction heroic characters, with his rugged, masculine jaw, his sense of destiny, and his somewhat lacking intellectual skills. To infinity and beyond!

Answer: "Right then, I'll say it: Dante makes me sick"

He spoke these words after being told by his doctor that nothing further could be done. Lope de Vega was only second to Cervantes in the golden Age of Spanish Baroque literature. He is considered to be the most prolific playwright who ever put pen to paper. He wrote plays, poems and novels, and many of his works are still performed in the Spanish speaking world today. This incredible list includes 3,000 sonnets, 7 novels, 9 epics and 1,800 plays! The metaphorical tale of "The Dog in the Manger" is his best known work perhaps, with the plot line revolving around the selfish exploits of a hound. His own romantic life was the stuff that plays are written about. He scandalised the Spanish world for many years in this regard, even to the extent that he was exiled for eight years as the result of one of these, and spent time in jail for another.

Dante (1265-1321) was a major Italian writer, with his "Divine Comedy" considered one of the greatest works in Italian literature. It is uncertain why de Vega disliked his works so much, but that he most definitely did. Perhaps his work was constantly compared to that fine writer's style. Who knows?

Answer: Adam Dunn

At 6 foot 6 inches tall, Adam Dunn was born in 1979. He began playing Major League Baseball from the year 2001. By 2010 he had worked his way up through several teams to commence playing for the Chicago White Sox. Known as Big Donkey to members of the various teams of which he has been a member, Dunn played for the Cincinnati Reds from 2001 until 2008. During a game in August, 2004, he hit a ball which went clear out of their Great American Ball Park.

The ball hit the ground almost 550 feet away, bounced a couple more hundred feet, and finally came to a stop on the banks of the Ohio River. That part of the river however belongs to the State of Kentucky. Thus, Adam Dunn did indeed hit a ball so hard that it landed in another state altogether.

Answer: "Die Another Day"

"Die Another Day" is the twentieth of the James Bond Series of films. Starring the smooth Pierce Brosnan as the eternally young Bond, its theme is set around conflict with North Korea, with the usual amount of action, gorgeous girls and heroic exploits.

Born in 1947, Warren Zevon's famous works include "Werewolves of London" and "Lawyers, Guns and Money" and "Johnny Strikes Up the Band". Growing up, he studied modern classical music for a time with the noted composer Igor Stravinsky who was by then living in the US. He subsequently moved to New York, where he soon became known as a folk singer. His fame as a performer developed from that time. Before his death in 2003, Warren Zevon lived long enough to see the birth of his twin grandsons. When asked by a thoughtless reporter, in an interview shortly before his death, whether he had any comments to make about dying, Zevon replied, "Enjoy every sandwich".