Quotes to Make You Chuckle Trivia Quiz

Answer: "Those bloody poofy woolly biscuits"

Lord Lamington served as Governor of Queensland from 1898 to 1901. One day he invited guests to the residence and didn't mention this to his wife until they turned up on the doorstep. There was no fresh cake in the house - horrors! There was however a leftover sponge slab baked a couple of days ago. Mrs Lamington and the cook came up with the brilliant idea of slicing it into small squares, dipping each piece in chocolate sauce until it was absorbed into the sponge, and then rolling each piece in coconut - and the lamington was born. Since then it has been a lifesaver for millions of housewives Australia-wide, has been sold in cake shops and bakeries all over Australia, and is the mainstay of fundraising campaigns for many local schools with their Lamington drives.

Answer: "I'm looking for loopholes"

Born in 1880, and known for his role in films such as "My Little Chickadee" (1940), Fields created a Hollywood screen persona as a hard drinking, children-, women- and animal-hating misanthrope. In real life he was the exact opposite and in fact didn't drink at all until the last few years of his life. Sadly he more than made up for it then.

When he was dying in hospital, his long time lover and companion Carlotta Monti went outside and turned the hose on the roof over the room in which he lay, so that Fields could hear one more time his most favourite sound - that of rain falling on a roof. I think that's rather lovely, don't you? Fields then put his finger to his lips, winked and smiled at the nurse tending him, and died.

Answer: "Does it have a happy ending?"

Groucho Marx (1890-1977) was born Julius Henry Marx into a Jewish family. He was the master of the quip. Fast talking and a rapid thinker, the puns poured out of this incredibly funny man, who also had a remarkably sensitive side which he rarely revealed to the public.

He made thirteen films with his team of siblings, The Marx Brothers, including "Night at the Opera" (1935), which has been ranked by the American Film Institute in their list of the top twelve funniest films ever made. Later in his career Marx then had a successful solo run of hosting radio and television quiz shows as well. Far from being irreligious, as the above incident would seem to indicate, on his death, Marx's grave was marked with his stage name, the dates of his life - and the Star of David.

Answer: "A battleship being launched without a bottom"

The British Government and War Office had been warned for years that Singapore lacked defences to the north. This was inconceivable to them and they chose to disbelieve it, with all recommendations to improve Singapore's defence being ignored. They also blindly believed, or hoped, that the thick northern jungles would prevent any army and its tanks attacking from that direction. Alas, history was to tell a different story with a tragic result for the allies.

Answer: Cirrhosis By The Sea

Niven (1910-1983) is perhaps best identified for his role as Phileas Fogg in the 1956 movie, "Around the World in 80 Days" and won an Academy Award for his role in the 1958 movie, "Separate Tables". He usually played a suave Englishman in his acting roles. Robert Newton (1905-1956) is probably best remembered for his role as Long John Silver in the 1950 Walt Disney version of "Treasure Island".

He was a screen heartthrob of the 1940s and 1950s. Errol Flynn (1909-1959) of course is known for the swashbuckler character he played in movies such as the 1935 movie "Captain Blood", and his real life was just as flamboyant.

He was a wild lad who was never tamed.

Answer: Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill, born 1874 and died 1965, was the greatest politician the United Kingdom has ever known. Army officer, writer, politician, statesman, historian and artist, he was a man for all seasons and, as Prime Minister of Great Britain, brilliantly led that country through the second world war, the worst crisis in its history, when that mighty nation was almost brought to its knees.

The other three prime ministers above were in office many years before Churchill. Peel and Gladstone were prime ministers in the 19th century and Robert Walpole was Prime Minister under the reigns of George I and George II, in the 18th century.

Answer: Peter Costello

Paul Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996. He was known for his ability to put his foot in it almost every time he opened his mouth. Not that it worried him. He was confrontational, rude and aggressive, so much so that it was almost comical.

His rule as leader of Australia included attempting to make Australia a republic, a reconciliation with the Australian indigenous peoples, and strengthening ties with Asia. The latter happened even though he managed, with his comments, to deeply offend the leader of Malaysia along the way, who angrily demanded an apology from the blunt-speaking Keating. Peter Costello, as the then Prime Minister John Howard's deputy, was known as the man who would be king.

He was the longest serving Treasurer in the history of Australia, but lacked perhaps the forceful personality one needed to lead the country.

He never got to be Prime Minister, a position which he said had been promised to him, and when the Coalition lost the 2007 election to Labor, he resigned from the position of the Coalition deputy leader on television - in tears.

The other three gentlemen in the question were all Labor Prime Ministers of Australia.

Answer: Tony Blair

This was reported in Blair's biography by author John Rentoul after interviewing many of Tony Blair's past teachers. Tony Blair was born in 1953. He was the United Kingdom's Labour Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007 and during that time, his government introduced the minimum wage, both the Human Rights and the Freedom of Information Acts, established the Scottish parliament, and the National Assembly for both Northern Ireland and Wales.

He also strongly supported the war on terror and during his rule, backed the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and of Iraq in 2004.

In 2007 he officially resigned as Prime Minister of the UK, very pleased, no doubt, to remove his backside from that position of heavy care and responsibility.

Answer: Muhammad Ali

Ali also said his toughest fight was with his first wife. Born Cassius Clay in 1942, Muhammad Ali won the world heavyweight boxing championship three times, and is considered by many to be the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. Before he turned professional, he also represented America at the 1960 Olympics where he won gold for that country.

After converting to Islam in 1964, and taking on his change of name, he was stripped of his title when he refused to be inducted into the army during the Vietnam War. No matter what he did though, you had to love the man for his skill, his cheek, his humour and his courage in his later terrible struggle with the degenerative disorder, Parkinson's Disease. Who can forget this man who, in 1991, travelled to Iraq in an attempt to have Saddam Hussein free the American hostages there? Or the profoundly moving and heartbreaking sight of that brave shaking figure lighting the torch at the 1996 summer Olympics at Atlanta, Georgia?

Answer: Woody Allen

Woody Allen is known for producing rather peculiar, but very funny movies, and has also produced fine drama as well. Nominated more than 20 times for an Oscar, he has gone on to win many of the film industry's top awards. Apart from his own awards, his films and their stars have also collected a swathe of awards, with his 1977 film "Annie Hall" alone winning four Academy Awards for Best Picture, Screenplay, Director and Actress. Allen himself refuses to attend any of these ceremonies, but did appear once at the ceremony in 2002 to make a plea for movies to continue being filmed in New York, in spite of the September 11 attacks.

He then introduced a short documentary of film extracts made in that beautiful city. Raised in a Jewish family, Allen of course was having a dig at Hitler with the above black humour quote. Wagner was Hitler's favourite composer.