Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. I wasn't a particularly nice person, in fact I was one of the Old West's most notorious outlaws. Robbing and murdering were just a couple of my crimes which I committed along with my brother who was a member of my gang.
The little lady I married was my first cousin and we had four children together, although sadly two of them died in infancy.
Which well known Wild West figure was I?
2. I was a prominent political figure and the head of my country during a war against Germany and other nations. (I'm happy to be able to report that we won the war.)
My wife was a distant fifth cousin and together we had six children.
Please point out which powerful political person I was.
3. I was a world renowned European composer, in fact one of the most famous in history. In addition, I was also a highly regarded organist. At the age of twenty two I married my second cousin, Maria Barbara and together we had seven children.
Can you cleverly conclude which classical composer I was?
4. I was one of the most famous European authors, best known for my specializing in the genre of science-fiction.
On October 29, 1891 I took the plunge with my first cousin Isabel Mary to whom I was married for just four years before leaving her to marry one of my former pupils named Amy Catherine Robbins who became my wife on October 27, 1895.
Isabel and I had no children together but Amy gave birth to two sons, George (1901) and Frank (1903) before she left me a widower when she passed away in 1927.
See if you can indicate which scary sci-fi scrivener I was.
5. I was an early 19th century American president. During my time in office the U.S. purchased land from France to further expand. Widely regarded as one America's "Founding Fathers", on January 1, 1772 I rang in the new year by marrying my widowed third cousin, Martha Wayles. Together we had six children. One of them, a son, died at birth, three others died before the age of three and two survived into adulthood. Martha herself would die in childbirth at the age of thirty three after delivering Lucy Elizabeth September 6, 1782.
Which proud papa and president was I?
6. I was a 20th century European physicist and Nobel Prize winner who at different times in my life held citizenship in four countries. On June 2, 1919, I became the second husband of my cousin Elsa. She had two daughters from her first marriage but we had none together.
See if you can identify which one of these individuals I was.
7. I was a Sicilian born mob boss who is reputed to have carried out murders in my teens before coming to America. I was smuggled into the United States aboard a freighter which docked in Norfolk, VA in 1921. Despite being involved in many nefarious crimes such as loansharking, gambling, hijacking and murder, I surprisingly spent only 22 months in prison (1937-1938). I was a "made man" by the age of 19 and ultimately took over the gang formerly known as the Mangano crime family when I gave the OK to rub out the leader, Anthony Anastasia while he was getting a shave in the barber shop of the Park Sheraton Hotel (now the Park Central Hotel) on October 25, 1957.
In 1932 I married my first cousin Catherine Castellano and together we had three sons and a daughter.
(I could tell you who I was, but then I'd have to kill you).
Do you remember which malelovent, murdering mobster I was?
8. I am a European pianist and composer who lived most of my life in the nineteenth century. My first piano teacher was my mum and she taught me to play by the age of six, but later I was trained at the Leipzig Conservatory. On June 11th, 1867 I took as my bride my first cousin, Nina Hagerup who was a noted concert soprano. The following year she delivered a daughter, Alexandra who would unfortunately die a year later due to meningitis.
Can you work out which composer I was?
9. As a child I wanted to become a composer and was especially gifted as a cellist and pianist and could play Bach and Beethoven from memory.
I saw action in WWII and won my country's "Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross".
I married my first cousin Maria Luise on March 1, 1947, a marriage that would last until my death thirty years later. Together we had three children, the first of whom, Iris was born at Fort Bliss, TX (1948) and later another daughter, Margrit (1953) and a son, Peter (1960).
Later as a scientist I would be credited with building the Saturn V rocket for NASA which it used for its Apollo manned moon missions.
I won the NASA Distinguished Service Medal (1963) and the National Medal of Science in 1975.
See if you can select which special scientist I was.
10. OK, I realize the first nine "kissin'cousins" may not have been all that easy to pick out, so I am now going to present you with one that you may find a little easier. In fact I'm going to tell you just about everything except my name so that you can hopefully finish this quiz off in style.
Here we go: I am an American author, poet, literary critic and playwright who is generally recognized to be the inventor of the genre of detective fiction.
I was orphaned as a child when my father abandoned his family and my mom died shortly thereafter. I later enlisted in the Army but failed as an officer's cadet at West Point.
In 1835 I maried my 13 year old first cousin Virginia Eliza Clemm who unfortunately died of tuberculosis in 1847.
In 1841 I wrote what many consider to be the first detective story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue".
For a 60 year period from January 19th, 1949 until January 19, 2009 (the 200th anniversary of my birth) someone would place three roses by my grave marker).
Please ponder which particular poet, playwright and author I was.
HINT: Read the choices carefully.
Source: Author
paulmallon
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
bloomsby before going online.
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