Mixed People Trivia Quiz

Answer: Joan Fontaine

Joan and Olivia both won acedemy awards for best actress in a leading role. Their name was really de Havilland but their mother did not want Joan to be known by the same name as her sister. Olivia had many starring roles including Melanie Wilkes in 'Gone With the Wind'. One of Joan's most noted roles was in Hitchcock's 1940 version of 'Rebecca' for which she was nominated for an acedemy award.

Answer: Shirley Williams

In 1981 four leading members of the Labour Party Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Shirley Williams and Bill Rodgers who were disenchanted with the Labour Party set up a new party called the Social Democrats. After a disappointing result at the 1983 General Election the Social Democrats merged with the Liberal Party in 1987.

Answer: South Africa

Doctor Barnard successfully performed the first ever human to human heart transplant on 3rd December 1967. He transplanted the heart of a woman called Denise Darvall who was killed in a road traffic accident into the chest of a 54 year old patient called Louis Washkansky. Mr Washkansky regained consciousness and lived for eighteen days after the operation.

Answer: Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas was a Welsh poet who wrote 'Do not go Gently Into That Good Night' and 'Under Milk Wood' a play for voices. His poetry was popular both during his lifetime and afterwards. Unfortunately, he was a hard drinking man and died in New York City at the early age of 39.

Answer: Dame Nelly Melba

The Australian soprano Dame Nelly was a huge success and much adored by opera fans. She was the first Australian to achieve internation acclaim as a musician. The dessert peach melba was created in her honour by the French chef Auguste Escoffier at the Savoy Hotel, London.

Answer: Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking wrote "A Brief History of Time" to provide accessible information about cosmology to those with no former training in physics. I have tried to read it and did not find it accessible at all. Hawking was seriously disabled as a result of motor neurone disease which was diagnosed when he was 21 and was given two years to live.

However, he lived until the age of 76. At the time of his death he was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge.

Answer: Brother

When King John inherited the Kingdom its fortunes were sadly depleted, because Richard had spent huge amounts of money on his crusades. Although Richard was King for ten years he spent less than six months in England. Richard has been given the acccolade of the Lionheart super star, but in fact he was not such a hero as he was said to be.

Answer: Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps the US swimmer has won a record of twenty three Olympic gold medals. He won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games which broke his fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games. Mark Spitz a swimmer from the US and Usain Bolt a sprinter from Jamaica are each the holder of nine olympic gold medals. Steve Redgrave has five gold medals won at five consequitive Olympic games.

Answer: Sirimavo Bandaranaike

Sirimavo Bandaranaike was elected in 1960 in as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. Her husband who had been Prime Minister was assinated and Mrs Bandaranaike became a fierce campaigner for the Sri Lanka Freedom Party which had been founded by her husband. She served three terms as Prime Minister 1960-65, 1970-77, and 1994-2000. She died in the year 2000 at the age of 84.

Answer: He invented the moveable type printing press.

Johannes Gutenberg was a German metal worker who invented a printing press which allowed books to be reproduced in bulk. Before his invention every book had to be hand written which made them very scarce and expensive. In 1455 he printed some copies of the bible. Forty of these are known to remain in existence and twelve are complete. Two of these complete versions are in the British library one printed on paper and one on vellum.