Remember the Fifth of November! Quiz

Answer: Vidkun Quisling

Vidkun Quisling actively assisted Nazi Germany while it was conquering his country with the aim of being in charge of the puppet government. "The Times" newspaper was the first to use the name as a descriptive common noun in an editorial in 1940. It has been in widespread use to describe collaborators ever since. After the war he was arrested, tried for various crimes, including murder, theft, embezzlement and conspiring with Hitler. He was found guilty and was executed by firing squad.

Benedict Arnold is a famous American traitor.
Frits Clausen led the collaborative government in Denmark.
Ferenc Szalasi led the collaborative government in Hungary.

Answer: Lord Haw Haw

William Joyce was born in America, but his family moved to Ireland when he was a young child. He then moved to England in the early 1930s. He joined Oswald Moseley's Union of British Fascists, and just before war was declared in 1939 went to Germany because he feared arrest in Britain.

He became a naturalised German citizen. Lord Haw Haw was a nickname originally applied to broadcaster Wolf Mittler, but when Joyce became the chief propaganda broadcaster it was moved to him. He always started his broadcasts "Germany calling, Germany calling". Listening to him was not illegal and it is estimated that as many as eighteen million people in Britain listened to him.

At the end of the war he was captured, brought to London and tried for high treason at the Old Bailey.

He was found guilty and hanged. It was claimed that when he started broadcasting from Germany he still held a British passport (though it had been obtained on false pretences) and therefore owed allegiance to the King. This gave the British the right to try him and execute him.

Answer: Mary, Queen of Scots

Although she became Queen at only 6 days old Mary did not take up her throne until she was nineteen. She spent her childhood in France and was married to the King of France. During this period Scotland was governed by Regents. She married Lord Darnley, but that marriage ended with his suspicious death.

She then married Lord Bothwell, who was suspected of being involved in the death of Darnley. An uprising forced her to seek sanctuary in England. Many English Catholics believed her to be the legitimate Queen and Elizabeth saw her as a threat.

She was imprisoned in various castles and private houses over an eighteen year period. The Babington Plot was a plot to kill Elizabeth and put Mary on the throne. Elizabeth had her executed by beheading for her part in it.

She was executed at Fotheringay Castle in February 1587. Sir Anthony Babington, after whom the plot was named, was also executed for his part in it.

Answer: Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda became a passionate supporter of North Vietnam. She visited there and was photographed with their anti aircraft guns. She even became involved in talking to American prisoners of war (through the North Vietnamese) about the "benevolent" treatment they were receiving from their captors.

Some tried to tell her they were being tortured but she refused to believe it. Some later claimed their treatment became even harsher because they had refused to speak to her and say what their captors wanted.

After the war many veterans tried to bring charges of treason against her, but she has never received any real punishment for her support of America's enemies. She has since said that she regrets her acts, but she has yet to receive the forgiveness of veterans.

Answer: The Soviet Union

Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean and Anthony Blunt were all recruited to Communism during their time at Cambridge University. They passed secrets to the Soviet Union during World War II and into the 1950s. The identity of the so called "fifth man" has been the source of much speculation over the years and various candidates have been put forward. John Cairncross, who was identified as a Soviet agent in the 1990s seems the most likely candidate. Philby, Burgess and Maclean all ended up defecting to the Soviet Union and all eventually died there. Anthony Blunt, a respected art historian, was not unmasked until much later and traded immunity from prosecution for information.

It was jokingly said that MI5 in effect 'locked him up in the queen's art gallery'.

He named several other agents, some of whom he had recruited. He died in England in 1983, having been publicly denounced by Margaret Thatcher and stripped of his knighthood in 1979.

Answer: The Tower of London

It is not always realised that the Tower of London was used as a prison up until the 1950s. It was generally reserved for high security and military prisoners. It was also the site used for the execution of spies during both World Wars. Josef Jakobs was a German spy who parachuted into England and was captured almost immediately.

He was tried under the Treachery Act of 1940 and was executed by firing squad in 1941. He was not however the last prisoner that the Tower saw. Rudolph Hess was held there for a while in 1941 and in 1952 the notorious Kray twins were briefly imprisoned there for failing to report for national service.

Answer: Philippe Petain

Petain was something of a national hero in France, having served with great distinction in World War I. In 1940, with the fall of France only days away, he was appointed Premier. The Government moved out of Paris to Vichy, and it was there that Petain formed the French State, a regime that actively collaborated with the German occupiers. French police assisted in sending around 76,000 Jews to the extermination camps.

After the war Petain was tried for treason and found guilty. He was sentenced to death, but in view of his age (he was then well into his eighties) Charles de Gaulle commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.

He died in 1951 in prison on the Ile d'Yeu, an island off the French Atlantic coast.

Answer: James I

Led by Robert Catesby, the intention was to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament, killing not only the King but a good majority of the Government as well. Elizabeth, the nine year old daughter of King James, would then have been enthroned as a Catholic head of state. Guy Fawkes, who had several years of military experience, was in charge of explosives.

The plot was betrayed anonymously, and a search of the House of Lords revealed him guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder - enough to reduce the entire building to rubble.

Many of his companions fled London, and Robert Catesby and several others were shot and killed in a battle against the pursuing forces. Guy Fawkes and eight others were tried for treason and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.

This was an especially unpleasant method execution reserved for traitors.

Answer: Rosenberg

Until 1943 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were clearly and openly members of the Communist Party. In that year they were recruited as spies, and appeared to withdraw from political life and activities. In fact they were busily engaged in passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Ethel's brother, David Greenglass, was also involved in the conspiracy.

He passed documents from Los Alamos to Julius. They were arrested in 1950 and tried and executed for treason in 1953.

Answer: George Blake

George Blake was born in Holland, and during World War II, even though just a teenager, joined the Dutch resistance movement. Under threat of internment he escaped to London and was recruited by the Special Operations Executive. He translated documents and helped interrogate German prisoners of war.

After the war he was recruited by MI6 and was sent to Korea. He was captured by North Korea during the Korean war, and became a Marxist during his imprisonment. On return to England he was sent to Berlin to recruit Soviets as double agents.

Instead he contacted the KGB and became a double agent himself. It is estimated that he betrayed around 400 MI6 agents over a nine year period. After being exposed by a Polish defector he was put on trial for treason and senteced to 42 years in prison. Six years into his sentence he escaped and fled to the USSR.