Such a Life, Such a Death Trivia Quiz

Answer: Isadora Duncan

Born Angela Duncan in San Francisco in 1878, Isadora was as renowned for her flamboyant lifestyle as her revolutionary dance routines. She was described by George Bernard Shaw as "A woman whose face looked as if it had been made of sugar and someone had kicked it."

Answer: Anne

Queen Anne was born in 1665 and suffered from ill health all her life. She had seventeen children, but all were either stillborn or died young - the longest survivor being William, Duke of Gloucester, who died at age 11, two years before Anne ascended the throne in 1702.

Answer: Fyodor Dostoevski

Dostoevski was born in Moscow in 1821 and was 59-years-old when he died. Although he had many admirers, he also alienated many people with his strident opinions and savage humour. D.H. Lawrence referred to him as a "rat slithering along in hate" and Turgenev thought of his as a "pimple on the face of literature."

Answer: Mark Twain

Born Samuel Longhorne Clemens in 1835, Mark Twain had a varied career before settling into writing. He was a Mississippi river pilot, a soldier in the Civil War, goldminer and publisher, during which time he published the Memoirs of President Ulysses Grant.

Answer: Cleopatra

Cleopatra VII was born in 69BC and, in accordance with the customs of the time, married her brother. She later became the mistress of Julius Caesar and bore him a son. After his murder she lived with Mark Antony and had three children with him.

Answer: Percy Shelley

Born in 1792, Shelley didn't receive great recognition while he was alive and he had to pay for 250 copies of "Queen Mab" to be published himself. After his death Byron asked for his skull, but this requested was refused by his friends, who had known Byron to use a skull to drink from.

Answer: Catherine the Great

Rumours surround the death of Catherine II, but she in fact died in St. Petersburg two days after falling off her commode following the stroke.

Answer: Emile Zola

Zola's wife, Gabrielle, did fall onto the bed and she survived.

Answer: Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was born in Ohio in 1847 and during his lifetime managed to fill 3,400 notebooks with his ideas, of which he had many. His motto was, "Genius is one per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration."

Answer: Houdini

Erich Weiss was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1874, emigrating to America some four years later. He took the name Houdini from a man he much admired - Robert Houdin, a French magician. He found fame through his amazing escapes and became known as "The Handcuff King". One of the pallbearers at his funeral was said to have whispered, "I bet you a hundred bucks he ain't in here."