The Bells are Ringing Trivia Quiz

Answer: Erasure

Vince Clarke, a keyboard expert, had already established a successful music career with the band Depeche Mode and in Yazoo, with Alison Moyet as his partner. By 1985, he needed a new singer and chose Andy Bell from those who responded to his advertisement. Under the name of Erasure, the pair had their first UK hit in 1986 with their fourth single - 'Sometimes'.

They followed this up with several other top ten entries, including 'A Little Respect' in 1988 and 'Blue Savannah' in 1990. The duo are still working together in the twenty-first century, with their most recent album at the time of writing this quiz being 'The Violet Flame' released in 2014.

Answer: Ian

Ian Bell was born near Coventry, in Warwickshire, in 1982 and joined his home country's cricket team in 1999, having previously played for the second team in 1998. His first appearance for the England Test team was against the West Indies in 2004 and he has played regularly ever since. Bell hasn't always been successful and has been dropped from the team on occasion.

Despite his fluctuations in form, Bell is considered a senior member of the England team. In August 2015 he achieved a record, shared only with Sir Ian Botham in the modern era, of having won the Ashes (against Australia) in five different series.

Answer: Art

Vanessa and Virginia Stephen were sisters who both belonged to the Bloomsbury set. Vanessa married Clive Bell while Virginia married Leonard Woolf, both of whom were also members of the same set of intellectuals. Vanessa was known as an artist and interior designer, while the rather unconventional lifestyles of the whole group continues to fascinate people into the twenty-first century.

All the listed options, and more, could be found in the Bloomsbury set. Virginia Woolf was a writer, while the economist John Maynard Keynes was also a member. Others considered to be part of the group are E.M. Forster, Lytton Strachey and Roger Fry.

Answer: John Mills

Mary Hayley Bell began her acting career in the 1920s and also wrote plays, screen adaptations and the novel 'Whistle Down the Wind'. She married John Mills in 1941 and they had three children - Juliet, Hayley and Jonathan. Bell's novel was adapted for the big screen in 1961, with Hayley appearing in the film with Alan Bates. Sir John Mills died in April 2005 at the age of 97 while his widow died soon after in December of the same year.

Answer: BBC Reporter

Bell was a well established foreign affairs correspondent for the BBC having covered wars in Vietnam, Rwanda and Angola, to name just a few. Having been injured in Sarajevo, Bell made the decision to leave the BBC and stand for Parliament as an independent candidate.

His 'platform' was anti-sleaze - at the time, the Conservative Party was in power with various revelations about corruption being made at regular intervals (nothing much changes) - and he stood against Neil Hamilton, one of the implicated MPs. Bell won the seat easily, although he made it clear that he would serve only one term.

The white suit was part of Bell's persona, both during his reporting years and as a politician.

Answer: Pulsar

Bell was born in Belfast and completed a B.Sc. degree at Glasgow University in 1965. In 1967 she was working on her Ph.D. at Cambridge University using a radio telescope to track quasars. During this time, she identified signals which were too fast to be from quasars, and these were eventually identified as pulsars emanating from neutron stars.

As a student, Bell was not recognised by the scientific world as the discoverer. Her supervisor, Antony Hewish, was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 for 'his decisive role in the discovery of pulsars'.

The other recipient was Martin Ryle for his work on radio astrophysics. Although the recognition of Hewish rather than Bell caused some controversy, Bell herself has said that Hewish, as her supervisor, was responsible for the overall project. Certainly, Jocelyn Bell has received plenty of awards in her own right for the work carried out.

Answer: Charlotte Bronte

All three Bronte sisters took male pen names to disguise their gender. Anne was Acton Bell, Emily was Ellis Bell and Charlotte was Currer Bell. The 'Bell' part of the name was taken from their father's curate, Arthur Bell Nicholls who later became Charlotte's husband. Charlotte's first published novel, 'Jane Eyre', was originally issued in 1847, under the name of Currer Bell as were the later novels 'Shirley' (1849) and 'Villette' (1853). Bronte's other novel was 'The Professor', published in 1857 after her death, although it had been the first one she wrote.

Answer: Iraq

Bell spent much of her adult life in the Middle East, and spoke Arabic and Persian fluently. During the First World War, she was a member of the Cairo based British intelligence unit known as the Arab Bureau where she worked with T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) to liaise with the Arab tribes in the region. Following the war, Bell helped in the establishment of the country of Iraq and remained living in the country, dying in Baghdad in 1926.

The books she published on the region are still studied in the twenty-first century. Bell was also a prime mover in the establishment of the National Museum of Iraq.

Answer: Taggart

Maggie Bell was born in Glasgow in 1945 and originally performed with Leslie Harvey (younger brother of Alex Harvey, himself a singer) in a band named Power and then Stone the Crows. Maggie's strong voice has made the charts only occasionally, most successfully with 'Hold Me' in 1981, which was a duet with fellow Glaswegian B.A. Robertson. Apart from 'Taggart', Maggie also provided the theme tune for 'Hazell', another detective series.

This song gave her another minor UK hit in 1978.

Answer: Motor racing

Derek drove in Formula One on nine occasions between 1968 and 1974, but his main focus was on endurance racing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans races. He won this event on five different occasions and also finished as runner up twice. In 1995 he finished third, with his son, Justin, as one of his co-drivers, along with Andy Wallace. Bell also did some of the driving in the 1971 film 'Le Mans', which starred Steve McQueen.