To the Joy and Through the Tears Quiz

Answer: Édith Piaf

Édith was abandoned at birth by her mother, who was a café singer, and brought up in the brothel ran by her paternal grandmother. She lost her sight as a result of complications of meningitis, but recovered it four years later. She accompanied her father, who was a street acrobat, and started singing in the streets of Paris to make money while he performed.

Her rise to fame began at the age of 19 when she was discovered by nightclub owner Louis Leplée. It was he who gave her the nickname 'La Môme Piaf', meaning 'The Little Sparrow', which would stay with her for the rest of her life. Her opening night at his nightclub Le Gerny's was attended by Maurice Chevalier, and the bandleader that evening was Django Reinhardt. The love of her life was the boxer Marcel Cerdan. Her life is documented in the film 'La Vie en Rose'. 'Non, je ne regrette rien', which translates to 'No, I do not regret anything' is probably her most famous song.

Answer: Marilyn Monroe

Born Norma Jeane Mortenson, Marilyn Monroe had a troubled childhood during which she was placed in multiple foster homes and an orphanage. Her mother was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and her stepfather abused her.

Her career, first as a model and later as an actress, was slow to take off, but determination eventually paid off big time. With her breathy voice and hourglass figure, she became one of Hollywood's most famous actresses and her films grossed $200 million by the time of her death in 1962. 'How to Marry a Millionaire' had a star cast featuring Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall alongside Marilyn.

Answer: Oracle

Larry Ellison was born in New York City in 1944. His mother was a 19-year-old single parent and his biological father an Italian-American pilot in the USAF. After Larry had a bout of pneumonia at the age of nine months, his mother sent him to Chicago to live with her aunt and uncle, Lillian and Louis Ellison, who adopted him. He was very close to Lilian and dropped out of Illinois University shortly after her death. He had a more difficult relationship with his adoptive father who told him he would never amount to anything.

He went to California and spent several years as a computer programmer for various companies. SDL was originally created to do contract programming for other companies, but Larry had bigger ideas inspired by a relational database model developed by Edgar F. Codd. And that's how Oracle began the journey to what it is today. Larry ended up a multi-billionaire and one of the richest people in the world.

Answer: Monster

Charlize was born in South Africa and grew up on her parents' farm near Johannesburg. At the age of 13 she began attending a boarding school that specialized in the arts. When she was 15, her alcoholic father attacked Charlize and her mother and fired shots at them. Her mother retaliated and shot him dead in self-defense. The two of them went to Milan, where Charlize embarked on a modelling career; then they went to New York City, where she enrolled in ballet school. However, a knee injury put and end to that career path.

At age 19 she moved to Los Angeles with a view to working in the film industry. She lived in relative poverty for several months, relying on cheques sent by her mother in New York. Her lucky break came when she was spotted by talent agent John Crosby during a loud altercation with a bank clerk who refused to cash her cheque. Crosby introduced her to an acting school and from there her career took off. She became one of the world's highest-paid actresses and has won multiple awards. She received an Academy Award for best actress for her performance as real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003). She immersed herself in the role to the extent of gaining almost 30 pounds (14kg) in weight and becoming virtually unrecognizable. She was the first African to win an acting Oscar.

Answer: Dolly Parton

Dolly was born into a poor farming family in Tennessee as the fourth of twelve children in 1946. Her father also took on construction jobs to supplement his meagre income from sharecropping. Dolly showed musical aptitude from an early age, and as a child she sang and played the guitar on local radio and television shows.

After high school graduation, she immediately set out for Nashville to pursue a career in music and rapidly emerged as one of country music's most popular singers. She revived her 1974 hit 'I Will Always Love You' for 'The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas', and Whitney Houston later recorded the same song for her film 'The Bodyguard' (1992). Dolly opened her theme park Dollywood in the Great Smoky Mountains in 1986. Her autobiography is entitled 'Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business'.

Answer: Halle Berry

Halle was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1966. Her white mother was a psychiatric nurse and her African-American father a psychiatric attendant in the same hospital. The latter was violent and abusive towards his wife and abandoned his family in 1970, after which Halle and her older sister, Heidi, were raised by their mother.

Halle achieved well at school and college, and later went on to work as a model and win several accolades in beauty competitions. In 1989, she moved to New York City to pursue a career in acting. Getting started was tough, and for a while she lived in a shelter for the homeless. Following a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, she relocated to Los Angeles, where things really took off for her. She established herself as one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood during the 2000s and was the first African American to win the Academy Award for best actress.

Answer: Firstborn

Sarah Jessica Parker was born in 1965 in Nelsonville, Ohio. Her parents divorced when she was three and her mother remarried and had more children, bringing the total to eight. Feeding so many mouths was s struggle, but her mother, nevertheless, made sure that her offspring were exposed to as many cultural activities as possible. Sarah Jessica had obvious potential and trained in singing, acting and ballet.

When she was 11, the family moved to New York City so that she and her siblings could pursue careers in entertainment. She is best known for her role on the television series 'Sex and the City' (1998-2004). She has made many films and won multiple awards. Her full siblings include actors Timothy Britten Parker and Pippin Parker, so all in all a very talented family. She first met Robert Downey Jr. on the set of 'Firstborn' and they had a relationship that lasted until 1991. She married Matthew Broderick in 1997.

Answer: Ruth

Oprah Winfrey was born Orpah Gail Winfrey after Orpah in the Book of Ruth who was the daughter-in-law of Naomi. People constantly called her 'Oprah' and eventually the name stuck. Her teenage mother was unmarried and worked as a housemaid. Oprah spent her childhood variously with her maternal grandmother, her mother and her father, who was a barber.

Despite this inauspicious start and her claim to have been molested by family members and a family friend, she did well at school and was hired part-time by a local radio station to present the news. She went on to gain a full scholarship at Tennessee State University to study communication. She excelled in the casual and personal talk show format, and in 1984 she moved to Chicago to host the faltering talk show 'AM Chicago', which she quickly turned into a huge success. In 1985 it was renamed 'The Oprah Winfrey Show', which became the highest-rated television talk show in the United States and was awarded several Emmy Awards. Oprah became one of the richest black women in the world and the first black female billionaire. She is known for her philanthropic activities.

Answer: Céline Dion

Céline Dion grew up in a small town near Montreal as the youngest of fourteen siblings. Her family went through hard times trying to make ends meet. She started singing with other members of her musically talented family when she was five years old. She was bullied at school and dubbed "Vampire" because of her protuberant front teeth. Local tabloids even referred to her as "Canine Dion" in the early years of her career.

When she was twelve, she was spotted by impresario René Angélil, and he launched her career with the album 'La Voix du bon Dieu' in 1981. Known for her vocal prowess and passionate showmanship, she achieved international superstardom in the 1990s. Her songs fell primarily into the pop ballad tradition, and she recorded numerous hit albums in French as well as English. She won several prestigious awards. The Dion/Bryson version of 'Beauty and the Beast' became an international pop hit.

Answer: Starbucks

Howard Schultz was born into a poor Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York in 1953. There were three children and his truck driver father scarcely earned enough to make ends meet. Fortunately, Howard had athletic talent and won a football scholarship to the University of Northern Michigan. After graduating with a degree in communications, he went to work for Xerox.

In 1982, aged 29, he was hired as director of retail operations and marketing for Starbucks. When he returned from a buying trip to Milan, he attempted to persuade the company's owners to add traditional espresso beverages to their list of offerings. They were not entirely convinced, so Schulz decided to follow his dream by starting his own business. He researched his subject by visiting over 500 espresso bars in Milan, and by 1986 he had raised enough money to open his first store, which he called 'Il Giornale' after the Milanese newspaper of that name. Two years later he had the opportunity to buy out the Starbucks retail unit. He rebranded his coffee shop with the Starbucks name and expanded across the US. The chain soon grew from a small coffee company with 60 stores to a money-making giant with over 16,000 outlets worldwide. In 2018, Schultz stepped down as executive chairman and board member and took on the title of 'chairman emeritus'.