Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. In 1821, this tragedian ran off to the USA from London with a flower girl; they had ten children, one of whom was John Wilkes Booth. What was the father's very Shakespearean name?
2. John and two of his brothers followed firmly in their father's theatrical footsteps with their involvement in the theatre business. One of them went on to become, as theatre historians claim, the foremost tragedian of the 19th century. What was his name?
3. Of the ten Booth siblings, five are generally noted: John, his two theatrically successful brothers, one brother who died of smallpox at a young age, and one sister, noted for the memoirs she wrote about her family. What was her name?
4. John Wilkes Booth was named for John Wilkes, an 18th century British politician and distant relative. Wilkes, a member of the notorious Order of the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe, was briefly made an outlaw when he was discovered to have written an illicit poem about a political opponent's mistress. Who was that political opponent, remembered today as an inventive gambler?
5. John's brother, the tragedian, was named for a U.S. actor who was a contemporary of their father. While this namesake was yet another success in the theatre world, his legacy, too, is stained with blood in that he is widely credited with instigating the 1849 Astor Place riot. What was his name?
6. A friend of the Booths owned and operated the Holliday Street Theatre in Baltimore, where many members of the family were known to perform. This friend went on to open a theatre under his own name in Washington D.C., now immortalized as the site of Lincoln's assassination. What was the name of this friend?
7. By invitation from his fiancee, Lucy Lambert Hale, John Wilkes Booth attended Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address in March 1865. What occupation did Hale's father hold such that they were able to attend?
8. Booth had a few allies in his plot to assassinate Lincoln, including two other men who were meant to concurrently assassinate other figures in government. Conspirator Lewis Powell was meant to assassinate the secretary of state; though he did critically wound him, the secretary survived the attempt and Powell was caught. Who was the secretary of state who also spearheaded the purchase of Alaska from Russia?
9. One of Booth's co-conspirators, tasked with assassinating Vice-President Andrew Johnson, lost his nerve and instead spent the night of April 14th drinking. What was his name?
10. American society in the 1860s was full of coincidences. What immediate relative of Abraham Lincoln not only sought the affection of John Wilkes Booth's eventual fiancee, but had his life saved by Booth's brother?
Source: Author
OddballJunior
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gtho4 before going online.
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