Notable Women Trivia Quiz

Answer: Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher was the prime minister of the U.K. from 1979 until 1990. She was the first woman to hold that post, and was also the longest serving prime minister of the 20th century. It was a Russian journalist who first called her 'the iron lady', and the nickname stuck because she was a very uncompromising person both in her policies and in her attitude to her cabinet.

Answer: Mother Teresa

Agnes was born in Macedonia into a financially comfortable family. From the age of twelve she was fascinated by missionary work, and knew that this was what she wanted to do in life. At eighteen she joined the sisters of Loreto and was sent to Ireland. Once she could speak English she was sent to Darjeeling in India.

She became certain that her calling was to help the poorest people of India, and she went to live in the slums of Calcutta. Word spread about the work she was doing and many other people joined her to help.

She went on to open a hospice for the poor, a home for sufferers of leprosy, and a home for orphans and homeless. The Roman Catholic Church has made her a saint.

Answer: Education

Maria Montessori was a qualified teacher and physician. She believed in individuality in learning and that the teacher should set up a framework of learning opportunities and allow the children's curiosity to lead them into learning. Children were often taught in mixed aged groups so that the older could help the younger to learn.

She believed very strongly that children should be respected.

Answer: Polonium and Radium

Marie Curie was a Polish physicist and chemist, she discovered radioactivity for which she won the Nobel Prize in physics (jointly with her husband, Pierre and Henri Becquerel), and then she won a second Nobel Prize for chemistry for isolating two radioactive elements. She is the only woman to have won two Nobel Prizes, and the only person to have won in two different categories.

Answer: Mo Mowlam

Mo Mowlam whose real name was Marjorie, oversaw the negotiations for the Good Friday agreement. It is thought that her down to earth and forthright manner helped with the negotiations. She helped to restore an IRA ceasefire including Sein Fein, and she encouraged talks with all parties including the Ulster loyalists.

However, an increasingly difficult relationship between herself and the unionists led to Tony Blair and his staff taking over Mo's role in the talks. Mo is said to have remarked to President Clinton 'Didn't you know, I'm the new tea lady round here'.

Answer: False

Mary Seacole had a Scottish father and a Jamaican Mother. She learned nursing from her mother who ran a boarding house for soldiers who had been injured. She was a much travelled person and arrived in London in 1854 when she asked the War Office to send her to Crimea as an army nurse.

It was common knowledge that the conditions for the wounded were very bad out there. She was refused but, undaunted, she funded herself to travel there and set up the British hotel near Balaclava where she provided food and comfortable quarters for the sick and injured soldiers.

She even went to the battle field to nurse the wounded and became known as Mother Seacole. When she arrived back in England after the war she was ill and destitute and the British press highlighted her plight.

As a result of this a festival was organised to raise funds for her.

Answer: She is deaf

Evelyn Glennie has been profoundly deaf since the age of twelve and she says that she has taught herself to hear with parts of her body other than her ears. She performs in bare feet to help her feel the music. She has won many awards including Royal Philharmonic Society's Best Soloist of the Year 1991 and Polar Music Prize 2015.

She has been awarded honorary doctorates by many British Universities. Evelyn featured on an album of the Icelandic singer Bjork performing the duet 'My Spine', and has collaborated with many other musicians including Steve Hackett the former Genesis guitarist and the 'King's Singers'.

Answer: She refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person.

Rosa Parks was an American civil rights activist who on 1st December 1955 refused to give up her seat in the black section of a bus to a white person when the white section was full. Rosa was not the first person to do this but because she was prominent in the community and wiling to become a controversial figure the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People decided that she was the best suited to carry out a court challenge.

There was a boycott of the Montgomery buses for over a year and although her case suffered many delays she finally won in November 1958.

Answer: Ballet

Ninette de Valois birth name was Edris Stannus but she changed this at the age of thirteen when she had her first professional dancing role in a pantomime at the Lyceum theatre in London's West End. In 1919 she was appointed principle dancer for the company that then was based in the Royal Opera House London.

In 1924 she joined the Ballets Russes in Russia which was headed by the charismatic Sergei Diaghilev. When she returned to England she created ballet schools in London and Dublin. Later she established the Royal Ballet in London and also the Sadler's Wells Ballet which is a touring company, now known as the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Answer: Cleopatra VII

Cleopatra VII was born in 70/69 BCE and died in 30BCE. She became queen on the death of her father in 51 BCE and ruled successively with her two brothers both called Ptolemy. She was the lover of Julius Caesar and later married the Roman general Mark Anthony.

When their troops were defeated by those of Octavius (later Caesar Augustus) both Cleopatra and Anthony committed suicide. She is remembered in drama as a quintessential femme fatal.