We Were the Best... (or the Worst) Quiz

Answer: Idi Amin Dada

I was born sometime between 1923 and 1928. No one is really sure, not even me. I died in exile in 2003 in Saudi Arabia after initially escaping to Libya from my native Uganda in Africa. They SAY that somewhere between 100,000 and 500,000 people died as a result of my loving and caring behavior. Where are those naysayers? Let me meet them. I'd love to choke, er, HUG their necks!

After all, I only engaged in a little gold and ivory smuggling, had only a few deserving individuals executed, and only claimed to have conquered Great Britain. Man, the way people exaggerate!

Answer: Lucille Ball

Lucille Ball will probably always be remembered as the zany redhead on the program "I Love Lucy", in which she starred with her then-husband Desi Arnaz. As a teen, she entered drama school in New York, but her fellow student Bette Davis got rave reviews and Lucy was sent away as being "too shy". Lucy once noted later that, "All I learned in drama school was how to be frightened."

She later appeared on Broadway, using the name Diane/Dianne Belmont. Lucy became the first woman at the helm of a television studio, Desilu Productions.

Answer: Mao Zedong

"The Great Leap Forward" was Chairman Mao's contribution to enabling China to advance itself from an agricultural society to an industrial Socialist society. He banned all private farming, collectivizing farms from 1958 until 1961, and as a result inadvertently caused what came to be known as "The Great Chinese Famine".

Estimates vary widely as to how many people perished due to those policies that he adopted, as they range from 15 million to 76 million deaths. Ah well, it was all for the best. Besides, China had enough people to lose a few million, didn't they? (Sigh)

Answer: Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite was born in 1916 in Saint Joseph, Missouri. The original Dutch spelling of the family's last name was Krankheyt. His career in broadcasting began at WKY radio station in Oklahoma City, Ok. He joined the United Press in 1937 and became a war correspondent during WW2, covering bombing raids over Germany; landing with the 101st Airborne at Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands; reporting about the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, and after the war, covering the Nuremberg trials.

In 1962, Walter Cronkite became the anchorman for CBS Evening News, and over the years reported on such diverse events as the assassination of JFK, the war in Vietnam, the NASA space exploration, the resignation of President Richard Nixon and a host of other news stories of note. He passed away on July 17, 2009 at the age of 92.

Answer: J. Edgar Hoover

John Edgar Hoover served in the capacity of Director of the FBI from July 1, 1935 - May 2, 1972. After Hoover's death in 1972, the U.S. Congress imposed term limitations on the position, disallowing anyone to serve for over 10 years. This limitation was extended once to 12 years for Director Robert Mueller in the aftermath of 9/11/01 terrorist attacks, due to security concerns. In Hoover's later life and after his death, a number of controversies arose, largely due to his "strong arm" tactics, and as alleged abuses of power began to be reported.

He was born on January 1, 1895 in Washington D.C. His career in law enforcement began just prior to WW1 when he was hired by the U.S. Justice Department to work in the War Emergency Division. During the Depression era of the 1930s, Hoover made a name for himself and the FBI as he orchestrated the arrest of many criminals and gangsters. An almost rabid anti-Communist, he also targeted many people that he considered to be "subversive", including such personalities as Charlie Chaplin and Martin Luther King.

Always a controversial player in the political world, both Presidents Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy entertained the idea of dismissing him, but ultimately decided to keep him on because of the potential political fallout that might ensue. Hoover passed away on May 2, 1972.

Answer: Henry Kissinger

Heinz Alfred Kissinger's family name had originally been Löb, so named after his great-great grandfather, Meyer Löb, took the name of a town in Germany, Kissingen, altering the spelling so that it indicated someone from the town rather than the town itself. In 1938, his family fled Nazi Germany and eventually settled in Manhattan in New York.

He was drafted into the U.S. Army at the age of 20, and became a naturalized citizen at that time. After serving in various European campaigns he served as a military administrator to the city of Krefeld, (although he was only a private). Kissinger went on to graduate from Harvard in 1950; he worked as a consultant to the National Security Board in 1955; and was an advisor to Nelson Rockefeller throughout most of the 1960s, becoming Richard Nixon's National Security Advisor in 1968, later serving as both Nixon's and later president Gerald Ford's Secretary of State.

Answer: Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Bronte was the third child of a family of six. Her two older sisters passed away just 4 years after their mother's death in 1821. Charlotte, her two younger sisters, Emily and Anne, along with their brother, Branwell, all became authors. Charlotte's first manuscript, entitled "The Professor" was never published, but it provided the impetus for her next work, "Jane Eyre".

By agreement, the three sisters decided to write under the pseudonyms of "Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell". Charlotte wrote as Currer, Emily as Ellis and Anne as Acton, in order to maintain the integrity of their own initials. Female authors were alternately either frowned upon or else received vain flattery at the time, and neither of the sisters had a desire to be subjected to either too harsh or too lenient critiques.

Answer: Rembrandt van Rijn

The original spelling of his first name was Rembrant, minus the "d" that is used today in Rembrandt. He himself added the "d" in 1633, but it is unclear as to why he chose to do so.

Many of his etchings and paintings had Christian and Jewish religious themes; among them were such works as "The Return of the Prodigal Son", a pair of paintings known as "Boaz" and "Ruth", "The Blinding of Samson" and "Belshazzar's Feast" to name but a few. Rembrandt initially capitalized on the use of light and shade in his paintings and portraits for contrasting effect, but later he employed a technique that focused on more frontal lighting and larger areas of color to achieve his effect.

Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte, born as Napoleone di Buonaparte, sold the entire Louisiana Purchase to Thomas Jefferson for a mere 4 cents per acre! Jefferson had only sought to obtain the port city of New Orleans, but Napoleon needed the cash infusion in his fight against the British, so he offered much, much more to the fledgling United States. Napoleon was embroiled in many wars in Europe which later became known as the Napoleonic Wars. These had their roots in the French Revolution, but his military successes abounded, as his defeats, from time to time. Probably one of his worst errors was his invasion of Russia, an error that Adolf Hitler was to repeat later. A combination of Russian tenacity, scorch-earthed policies and inclement winter weather all took their toll on his army.

It was at the battle of Waterloo, Belgium, however, that Napoleon suffered his final defeat, at the hands of a coalition of European field marshals.
The British 1st Duke of Wellington, also known as Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley and Prussian Field Marshal, Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher were both key in decisively defeating Napoleon's forces.

Answer: Mick Jagger

Born Michael Philip Jagger, Mick Jagger was the lead singer for the rock group, the "Rollin' Stones". The group later changed its name slightly to "Rolling Stones", perhaps as a nod to respectability and formality. The Rolling Stones enjoyed great success from the 1960s on into the 21st century.

It was revealed in 2008 that members of Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club had plotted to kill Mick Jagger in 1975, due to their anger over his condemnation of the group after several people were killed at the Altamont Free Concert in California in 1969. Meredith Hunter was stabbed and beaten to death by members of Hell's Angels who were providing "security" for the concert. Three other people also died at the event.