Quirks of the Rich and Famous Trivia Quiz

Answer: They were women

If Gaddafi never had any other controversies associated with his name, this one alone would stand out like a neon light. The squad of women are known as the "Amazonian Guard". All of the women who made it to this honoured position were hand picked by Gaddafi himself. Oh, and he insisted they all had to be virgins as well! One isn't quite sure how this fact could have contributed to his personal safety, but coupled with the fact that he also had several wives, perhaps he needed protection from them as well.

Answer: Burned his violins

Wellington had only joined the army in 1787 because he had no other work and his aristocratic family was short of money. Up until 1793 and his marriage proposal, he didn't take his army career seriously however, and more often than not could be seen attending socials, balls, entertaining guests, and partaking in the odd spot or two of gambling, although not excessively so.

He was also a rather fine violinist with an aspiring career in that field. His devastation and anger over the rejection of his marriage proposal was the spur that led to his finally taking his army career seriously - and history is replete with the outstanding success of his endeavours in that regard. Just for the record, he did get to eventually marry his Kitty, some thirteen years later, but alas, the marriage was not a satisfactory one. So much for the romantic gesture of burning those poor, hapless violins.

Answer: Refused to let them marry but tolerated their many affairs

It is believed that the reason he wouldn't let his daughters - of whom he was very fond and educated as much as he did his sons - marry legally, was to prevent minor lines springing up to challenge any claims on his throne after his death. He allowed them as much freedom as a hippie in every other way, tolerated cheerfully all their affairs, adored the grandchildren they produced and was altogether a proud and doting father. Charlemagne was one amazing man and his life makes fascinating reading. Two other personal quirks he had were that he detested doctors in any shape or form and refused to follow any advice they gave; and he disliked getting togged up for fancy occasions, preferring to get around for most part dressed in the ordinary garb of those around him.

Answer: A hammer under his pillow

Nicholson had been friends with Roman Polanski for many years, long before the murder of Polanski's wife. He openly supported Polanski after the tragedy, and, because he also attended the Manson trial, perhaps his own fame, the gory details of the crime, and the easy way in which her home had been accessed by the killers, made the great actor a bit toey. Either way, the hammer was his bedroom companion from then on.

The brilliant, charismatic Nicholson won his first Academy Award for Best Actor for 1975's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and then won again for 1997's "As Good As It Gets". During his long film career he has won a staggering amount of other awards and nominations.

Answer: In dressing gown and slippers

Several overseas diplomats interpreted this as a deliberate insult to them and their country, but it was not the case. Jefferson liked to dress as informally as he could whenever he could, including turning official state dinners into more casual affairs. Why not? It was his home, he could dress as he pleased. Now, however, it would no doubt create an international incident and poor old America would probably be bombed, given the sad state of the world at present.

The brilliant Jefferson, who lived from 1743 to 1826, was the third president of the United States from 1801 until 1808, and was one truly remarkable man and leader.

Answer: Beheading more English notables than anyone else

This list of head-rollers included "two wives, one cardinal, four leading public servants, and six of the king's close attendants and friends, not to mention various heads of monasteries." It doesn't include the lesser classes of people whose heads had a habit of vanishing under Henry's reign as well.

Henry, who reigned from from 1509 to 1547, and who lived from 1491 to 1547, was once handsome, talented, well-educated, charming, and an accomplished musician, writer, poet and athlete. However, he grew to be horribly cruel, a tyrant, unbalanced, ferociously bad-tempered, diseased and enormously obese.

This obesity was so marked that his smarmy little army of courtiers took to wearing padded clothing in an effort to flatter him and make it appear he wasn't as large as he was in reality. Good old Henry, in fact, was a head turner in more ways than one.

Answer: Funeral director

The lovely Angelina was a little bit weird and troubled growing up. Not only did she see this work as the ideal (pardon me while I shudder), but she also went through a period of cutting herself, saying of this later in life that "For some reason the ritual of having cut myself and feeling the pain, maybe feeling alive, feeling some kind of release, it was somehow therapeutic to me". Oh dear. I'd prefer a stiff scotch myself. She was a troubled youngster, gangly, thin, wearing braces and glasses, and, because of the split up of her parents, often forced to wear second-hand clothes - all of which saw her teased mercilessly by her classmates. Her father, Jon Voight, would later claim that his daughter had "serious mental problems" and perhaps for a while, the troubled beautiful actress did. Today, however, surrounded by her brood of children and with her partner, Brad Pitt, Angelina does a staggering amount of charitable work for children and refugees throughout the world. Nobody can deny her talent as an actress. She has won an Academy Award, and multiple Screen Actors Guild Awards and Golden Globes for her work on the silver screen. May she always stay as happy and contented.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelina_jolie if you wish to do any more reading on the lovely Angelina and verify her undertaking ambitions)

Answer: Collecting and selling off movie memorabilia

Debbie, born in 1932, only sold her collection off now and then because the culmination of her three disastrous marriages sent her bankrupt. Her first husband ran off with Elizabeth Taylor, her second husband was a gambler, and her third sent her completely bankrupt. Over time she has accumulated large collections of the memorabilia and has displayed them in museums and at the odd casino or two, but when necessary, she periodically sold them off.

At her most popular, Debbie Reynolds was a big name MGM star.

The movies most associated with her are the series of the "Tammy" films, four in all, from 1957 to 1967; and in 1952, the excellent musical "Singin' in the Rain".

Answer: Hitler suffered from excessive flatulence

Hitler suffered from excessive flatulence from both ends you could say. Goebbels, always in any attempt to portray the German dictator as noble and clean-living, and with an almost God-like status, spread many myths of this kind about Hitler. It wouldn't do after all for the general public to think that their leader had a problem with farting. Hitler was also said to be particularly adamant about the vice of smoking, and commenced a series of vehement anti-smoking campaigns throughout the country on the subject - but who knows, perhaps he was even a closet smoker as well. Yet how incongruous was his stance against smoking if true? If only he'd displayed such vehemence against the ovens being lit up. Perhaps in a thousand years, when all the pain and sorrow he caused has faded into the pages of history, people will be able to stand back and analyse, from the detached position of time and distance, the complexities of the fascinating historical character of Adolf Hitler.

Answer: Insisting every window be thrown wide open even in winter

Victoria was notorious for her dislike of heat, in fact, and no matter how cold it was, even on the chilliest days of winter, she insisted the windows remain open. Only reluctantly would she agree at times to close them if the temperature went lower than 56 degrees Fahrenheit.

Her children took to waving the thermometer outside in the cold air when she was heard coming, so that it would drop lower than it actually was, in order to be allowed to close at least one window. In summers she always surrounded herself with buckets of ice. Lord Clarendon always claimed that his toes were frost-bitten after a visit to the Queen, and the only way Lady Ponsonby could cope was to retire to her bed as often as possible. Comically, Lord Clarendon also detested the wallpaper adorned with thistles that Victoria insisted on having in as many rooms as possible, and he grumbled to his wife, "As for the thistles, they would have rejoiced the heart of a donkey".