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Origins Of Famous Phrases Trivia Quiz

Some historical phrases are so popular that they are used even by people who don't know the context in which they were first used. Have a try.

A multiple-choice quiz by flem-ish. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
flem-ish

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
89,704

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
5 / 10

Plays
1100

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Who was first offered "Jam to-morrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today"? Hint

the proletariat by the capitalist system according to Karl Marx

the British people by the Labour Party according to Margaret Thatcher

Alice in "Through The Looking Glass"

the Russian people by the commies according to Ronald Reagan

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Question 2 of 10

2. Which playwright first said that "Hell has no fury like a woman scorned" ? Hint

William Congreve

Harold Pinter

William Shakespeare

Edward Albee

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Question 3 of 10

3. Who was in the history of the cinema the first glamorous blonde to be called a
"Blonde Bombshell"? Hint

Marilyn Monroe

Brigitte Bardot

Jean Harlow

Jayne Mansfield

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Question 4 of 10

4. Who said first about what that it was "a riddle wrapped up in a mystery inside an enigma"? Hint

De Gaulle about the probability of a British entry into the Common Market

Lord Kitchener about the policies to be expected of the U.S.A. during World War I

Churchill about the actions to be expected of the Soviet Union during World War II

Orson Welles about the popularity of Hollywood movie-stars

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Question 5 of 10

5. Which politician said to whom: "You have never had it so good." Hint

Nikita Kruschev to the Russians

Margaret Thatcher to the British

Harold Macmillan to the British

Bill Clinton to the Americans

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Question 6 of 10

6. "Tis better to have loved and lost,
Than never to have loved at all"
is a quote from: Hint

Alfred Tennyson: In Memoriam

Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet.

Oscar Wilde: The Ballad of Reading Gaol

D.H. Lawrence: Women in Love.

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Question 7 of 10

7. Who allegedly said "Let them eat cake" and about whom? Hint

Nikita Kruschev about the working-class in Russia

the Pope in an Encyclical Letter about the working-class in general

Marie Antoinette about the French peasantry

Napoleon about his Imperial Guardsmen

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Question 8 of 10

8. What is missing in this popular advertising slogan: " A(n) _________ a day , helps you work, rest and play. " Hint

apple

Big Mac

Mars

coke

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Question 9 of 10

9. Where does this phrase occur for the first time: "A house divided against itself, cannot stand"? Hint

Ronald Reagan addressing the Houses of Congress

Shakespeare in Julius Caesar

Churchill in a radio-speech to the Nation

The Bible

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Question 10 of 10

10. Which of these first suggested in his writings that the British might be "a nation of shopkeepers" ? Hint

Napoleon

Adam Smith

George Washington

General de Gaulle

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Who was first offered "Jam to-morrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today"?

Answer: Alice in "Through The Looking Glass"

The line is a quote from a dialogue between the Red Queen and Alice. To
this rule Alice objects that it MUST come sometimes to "jam to-day".
"No, it can't", said the Queen. "It's jam every OTHER day: to-day isn't any OTHER day, you know."

2. Which playwright first said that "Hell has no fury like a woman scorned" ?

Answer: William Congreve

Congreve lived from 1670 till 1729.
The exact quote is:
" Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."

3. Who was in the history of the cinema the first glamorous blonde to be called a "Blonde Bombshell"?

Answer: Jean Harlow

Jean Harlow's film "Bombshell" dates back to 1933. She was born as Harlean Carpenter and lived from 1911 to 1937. David Stenn wrote a biography about her: "Bombshell. The Life and Death of Jean Harlow."
Jayne Mansfield was born on April 19, 1933 and died in a car-crash on June 29, 1967.
Marilyn Monroe was born on 1st of June 1926, in L.A. and died on 15 August, 1962, in Brentwood, CA.
Brigitte Bardot was born on 28 September, 1934 in Paris.
A typical quote from Jean Harlow herself: "I like to wake up every morning feeling a new man. "

4. Who said first about what that it was "a riddle wrapped up in a mystery inside an enigma"?

Answer: Churchill about the actions to be expected of the Soviet Union during World War II

Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace, Nov. 30, 1874. He died on Jan. 24, 1965. Some of his speeches are part of the history of World War II.
De Gaulle was another great speechmaker. Born at Lille on Nov.22, 1890; died on Nov.9, 1970, at Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises. Even his very name seems to make him into a symbol of France, Gaulle referring to Gallia (= France). Ironically enough such a name also points to his ancestors having left the Gaulish area and having settled elsewhere. Possibly his ancestors came from Gaul and immigrated into the County of Flanders, which was bilingual "in olden times".
Lord Kitchener of Khartoum (born in 1850) was Secretary of War when, on Sunday May 7, 1916, his ship the armoured cruiser Hampshire was sunk west of the Orkneys. Famous because of the "Your Country Needs You"- poster.
Orson Welles was born on March 6, 1915, at Kenosha, Wisconsin. He died of a heart-attack on Oct. 10, 1985.

5. Which politician said to whom: "You have never had it so good."

Answer: Harold Macmillan to the British

Margaret Thatcher is famous for quite a few interesting quotes too.
My favourite one is the one she produced on the day of the birth of her first grandchild: " We are a grandmother".
Queen Elisabeth II may not have been amused by this use of the "Royal Plural".

6. "Tis better to have loved and lost, Than never to have loved at all" is a quote from:

Answer: Alfred Tennyson: In Memoriam

"In Memoriam" dates back to 1850. The quote is from the 21st stanza.

7. Who allegedly said "Let them eat cake" and about whom?

Answer: Marie Antoinette about the French peasantry

The story may be apocryphal but Marie-Antoinette is rumoured to have been so remote from any "worldly matters" that when she heard the peasantry had no bread to eat anymore, she expressed the view that no bread did not yet have to mean they could not have cake.
Anyway, she paid heavily for this (alleged) "guilty ignorance".
At http://womanshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_marie_antoinette.htm the veracity of this anecdote is doubted.

8. What is missing in this popular advertising slogan: " A(n) _________ a day , helps you work, rest and play. "

Answer: Mars

This is from a U.K. advertising slogan for bars of chocolate. The original proverb is of course: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away."

9. Where does this phrase occur for the first time: "A house divided against itself, cannot stand"?

Answer: The Bible

The quote is from Matthew 12.25.

10. Which of these first suggested in his writings that the British might be "a nation of shopkeepers" ?

Answer: Adam Smith

The phrase is usually attributed to Napoleon but there is no written proof of it. The idea is already to be found in Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" (1776). "To found a great Empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers (is) extremely fit for a nation that is governed by shopkeepers".

Source: Author flem-ish

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor thejazzkickazz before going online.
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