Shut Up, Shut-In! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Thomas More

Sir Thomas More became Henry VIII's Lord Chancellor in 1529, although he did not wish for the office. In 1534, he refused to recognize Henry as head of the English Church and was therefore imprisoned in the Tower of London on a charge of High Treason.

After a year of harsh imprisonment, he refused to recant and was beheaded. His head was displayed on a spike on London Bridge but his daughter risked her own life by going at night and removing it.

Answer: St Paul

After Paul's third missionary journey, he returned to Jerusalem, where Jewish fanaticism led to disturbances. He was arrested on trumped up charges and was imprisoned by the Procurator, Felix. After two years in prison he was tried again before Festus, Felix's successor. Paul was a Roman citizen and he exercised his right to appeal to Caesar. After some time in Rome probably under house arrest, he was released and possibly visited Spain. He was rearrested by Nero and executed c. 67.
See The Acts of the Apostles (any version)

Answer: She plotted against his life

Anne Boleyn was the second wife of Henry VIII and the mother of the future Elizabeth I. Henry courted her after an affair with her sister Mary and he pushed through his divorce from Katherine of Aragon in order to marry her, in spite of the Pope's opposition. His reason for claiming a divorce was dubious in the extreme.
Katherine was his elder brother's widow and Henry claimed that the marriage had never been consummated and was therefore invalid. When he tired of Anne it became convenient for him to discover that the marriage of Katherine and Arthur had been consummated and that his marriage to Anne was illegal. When he became impatient he accused her of adultery- of which she was almost certainly guilty and incest with her brother George, which seems most unlikely. He had his royal eye on Jane Seymour by this time and Anne was found guilty and imprisoned in the Tower of London until her beheading.
Strictly speaking, Anne Boleyn was not imprisoned for voicing her opinions but one feels that she was treated unjustly since Henry's lust and slippery conscience finally conquered any scruples he might have had. Almost certainly the incest charges were false and most of the evidence against her was obtained by the most appalling torture.

Answer: John the Baptist

John the Baptist was a New Testament prophet who foretold the coming of Jesus and called on people to repent and be baptised in the River Jordan. King Herod put him in prison because he denounced him for taking his brother's wife, Herodias, unlawfully. Herod was disposed simply to imprison John but Herodias hated him and persuaded her daughter, Salome, to ask for John's head on a platter when Herod promised her a reward for her pleasing dancing.

In the book of the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, it is prophesied that one will come to prepare the way for Jesus. It was John and he proclaimed to people that Jesus was the Light of the World.

Answer: Sir Walter Raleigh

Walter Raleigh was an Elizabethan courtier, navigator, author and voyager, who first introduced both tobacco and potatoes into England. He became a great favourite of Elizabeth and received many favours from her. In 1592, however, she discovered his intrigue with one of her maids of honour, Bessie Throckmorton, whom he later married, and he was imprisoned for a time in the Tower of London.
At the close of Elizabeth's reign there was much intrigue in which he took little part but his enemies spoke against him and he was arrested and tried at Winchester. He was sentenced to death but this was commuted to life imprisonment.
He remained in prison after Elizabeth's death in 1603. In 1616, James released him to go on various expeditions but he was rearrested and executed in 1618 in order to curry favour with Spain.

Answer: John Bunyan

John Bunyan, an English Puritan, preacher and theologian, was born in 1628. Like St. Paul before him, he had a "day job" and was, in fact a tinker. As a Dissenter, at that time, he was not licensed to preach but he preferred to face years of imprisonment rather than give up his testimony to God and his faith.
"Pilgrim's Progress" was conceived during his first term of imprisonment, finished during the second and came out in 1693.
His blind daughter, although only ten years old when he was first imprisoned, took on the care of the whole family.
"Pilgrim's Progress" is an allegory telling of Christian's journey to the Celestial City. Part Two tells of the same journey taken by his wife Christiana and their children. The story is entertaining as well as instructive, telling of Christian's encounter with Giant Despair, in the dungeons of Doubting Castle; his adventures and misfortunes at Vanity Fair, where he loses his friend Faithful, at the hands of a mob; and his friendship with Mr Valiant-for-Truth and Mr Greatheart.
Perhaps the best known and most inspiring quotation is of Mr Valiant-for-Truth :-
"My sword I give to him who shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him who can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought his battles who will be my rewarder."
As he goes over the river of Death, Bunyan says of him - "So he passed over and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side."

Answer: Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela, born in 1918. devoted his life to the ideals of democracy, equality and education. In 1963, he was put on trial for sabotage and sentenced to life imprisonment and served the later part of his sentence on Robben Island. After various bouts of illness, he was allowed to spend the last fourteen months of his sentence in a prison house. He was released in 1990 and died in 2013.
A film of his life has been made, starring Idris Elba as Mandela.

Answer: Martin Niemoeller

Martin Niemoeller, born in 1892, was a German Lutheran pastor who defied Hitler and the Gestapo and preached against the Nazi regime until he was arrested in 1937 and imprisoned until 1945, first in Sachenhausen and then in Dachau concentration camps.

After World War II he vigorously opposed German rearmament and the nuclear arms race. In 1961 he became the president of the World Council of Churches.

Answer: Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, born 1906, was yet another anti-Nazi Lutheran pastor. In 1940 he joined the resistance and was involved in the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler.
He was arrested in 1943 and executed in 1945 just seven days before Hitler committed suicide.

Answer: Peter

King Herod persecuted Christians and ordered the arrest of the apostle, Peter. The whole church was very afraid so they gathered together in a house to pray. While they were praying, an angel visited Peter's prison cell and miraculously released him. Peter found his way to the house where the church was praying. Peter went into hiding but Herod was eventually struck down by an angel when he received praise from the people as if he were God.