Those Who We Lost in 2015 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cilla Black

Born Priscilla Maria Veronica White on 27th May 1943 in Liverpool, this popular entertainer, singer and actress became a British sweetheart from the 1960s onwards. One of her most popular songs was the 1964, 'Anyone Who Had a Heart', which reached number one in the UK singles chart. She was also a television personality and fronted 'Surprise Surprise' and 'Blind Date'. Her popular catchphrases included, 'Lorra lorra laughs' and 'Here's our Graham with a quick reminder'. She was awarded an OBE in 1997. She suffered a fatal stroke at her holiday home in Spain on 1st August 2015, aged 72.

Answer: Cairo

Omar Sharif was born in Egypt and died in the same country. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease shortly before his death but he died in a Cairo hospital after suffering a heart attack. He was best known for his roles in 'Doctor Zhivago' (1965) and 'Lawrence of Arabia' (1962).

His personal life was riddled with displays of public violence, including head-butting a police officer in a French casino in 2003.

Answer: Nephrotic syndrome

Jonah Lomu was born on 12th May 1975 in Auckland. His love for rugby began from a young age and his career led him to play as wing for Marseille and the Cardiff Blues. He also played for his country in the 1995 and 1999 Rugby World Cups. He retired from professional rugby in 2007. He was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome in 1995 and underwent dialysis followed by a kidney transplant. His poor health led to a fatal heart attack on 18th November, 2015.

Answer: James Horner

James Horner composed the popular 'Titanic' theme song, 'My Heart Will Go On', which was made famous by the singer, Celine Dion. He was also nominated for the Best Original Score Oscar for 'Field of Dreams' (1989), 'A Beautiful Mind' (2001) and 'Avatar' (2009). Born in Los Angeles, 1953, he died in 2015 of an accidental crash when he was flying his Short Tucano turboprop aeroplane.

Answer: Jackie Collins

Jackie Collins was famous for writing romance fiction. Her first novel 'The World is Full of Married Men' was originally published in 1968 and was one of her works to later be turned into a film of the same name. The 'Hollywood' series included 'Hollywood Wives' (1983); the television mini-series adapted from it also proved extremely popular in the 1980s. Collins died in September 2015, at the age of 77 of breast cancer.

Answer: Lemmy

"Lemmy" Kilmister was one of the three original members of Motörhead when it was founded in 1975 and the only one to remain with the group until it disbanded as a result of his death in December 2015. Lemmy was the band's lead singer and bass guitarist. In fact, 2015 turned out to be a tragic year for the band as their drummer, Phil 'Philthy Animal' Taylor, died about a month before his bandmate.

Answer: Mathematics

John Nash was 86 when he was killed in a road accident in New Jersey along with his wife of 58 years. He was a prominent American mathematician who made significant contributions to the study of algebraic geometry, partial differential equations and game theory - for which he was a joint winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics. However, thanks to the success of 'A Beautiful Mind' (2001) in which he was portrayed by Russell Crowe, he is probably best-known for the mental illness that was first diagnosed during the 1960s.

Answer: Christopher Lee

Sir Christopher Lee was particularly associated with the British horror film producers Hammer Film Productions. His first appearance for the company was in 'The Curse of Frankenstein' in 1957, playing the creature with Peter Cushing as Frankenstein. Lee also played Dracula on more than one occasion.

In the Bond films, he portrayed Scaramanga in 'The Man with the Golden Gun' (1974). Lee played the role of the villainous Saruman in both 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy, from 2001 until 2003, and again in 'The Hobbit' films, the last of which was released in 2014.

Of the other options, Cushing died in 1994, Pleasence in 1995 and Karloff in 1969.

Answer: E L Doctorow

Edgar Lawrence Doctorow was born in 1931 in New York's Bronx. After working as a book editor, Doctorow became a full time writer in 1969, with his first work being 'The Book of Daniel', published in 1971 . This was a fictional version of the Rosenbergs, who spied for the Soviet Union.

'Ragtime', another historical fiction novel followed, in 1975, and was a great success. It was subsequently adapted both as a film, with James Cagney, in 1981, and as a stage musical in 1998.

Answer: Lawrence

Lorenzo Pietro Berra was born in St. Louis to an Italian family, and was known as Lawrence Peter Berra. His nickname of Yogi was derived from the position he sat in while waiting to bat, which a friend described as resembling a Hindu yogi.

Berra played professionally for the New York Yankees, followed by a short stint at the New York Mets. He then spent time as a manager and/or coach for these teams and Houston Astros.

For non sports fans, he is remembered for his unusual, and amusing, turns of phrase.