What Was Your Real Name? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Catherine the Great

Catherine the Great, or Catherine II, was born Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg in 1729. She died in 1796 and served as Empress of Russia from 1762-1796. During her reign Russian territories, even Russian-America (1733-1867), grew, and the country was energised and was recognised as one of the great powers of Europe.

Answer: Johnny Appleseed

John Chapman (1774-1845) is better known as Johnny Appleseed. He was a missionary and gardener who travelled around many of the eastern US States introducing and planting apple trees. As a missionary he believed in the symbolic importance of apples, as it was said to be an apple that Adam and Eve plucked from the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden.

Answer: Gerald Ford

The 38th President of the United States, Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr., was born Leslie Lynch King Jr. (1913-2006). His parents divorced within six months of his birth and his mother gained full custody of Leslie. His mother remarried in 1916 to Gerald Rudolff Ford and now called her son Gerald Rudolff Ford Jr. He only legally changed his name in 1935 and used a different and more conventional spelling of his second name.

Answer: Pele

Many regard Pele as the greatest player of all time, someone who rose from very humble beginnings to be an icon of football world wide. As a youngster his family gave him the nickname "Dico" but his school friends called him "Pele" because his favourite player at that time was the Vasco de Gama player "Bile".

The word Pele means nothing in Portuguese but in Hebrew means "miracle". Some of his feats on the playing field were looked upon as miracles. He won three FIFA World Cups in 1958, 1962 and 1970.

He and Argentinian Diego Maradona were jointly chosen by FIFA as the greatest players of the 20th century.

Answer: Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa (1910-1997) was born Anjeze Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in Skopje, the capital of present day Macedonia. Her parents were Kosovar Albanian. As a young child she wanted to be a missionary so at 18 years of age she went to Ireland to learn English. She arrived in India in 1929. Due to her work with poor and distressed people she received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She was canonised (recognised as a saint by the Roman Catholic church) in September 2016.

Answer: Isabel Peron

Maria Estela Martinez Cartas (b. 1931) is better known as Isabel Peron, the third wife of the former President of Argentina, Juan Peron (1895-1974). She herself was the 42nd President of Argentina from 1974-1976 upon her husband's death. In 1976 she was ousted in a military coup and eventually exiled to Spain in 1981. She is the first female to have held the title of President, as many before her have held the title of Queen or Prime Minister.

Answer: Bill Clinton

William Jefferson Blyth III is better known to us as Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the USA (1993-2001). His father died in a car accident three months before Bill was born. His mother remarried in 1950 to Roger Clinton Sr. When Bill was 15 he adopted his stepfather's name and became William Jefferson Clinton.

Answer: Jack Palance

Volodyr Palahniuk (1918-2006) is better known to movie goers as Jack Palance, the American actor who was nominated for three acting Academy Awards. All nominations were for Best Supporting Actor in the movies "Sudden Fear" (1952), "Shane" (1953) and a successful win as Curly Washburn in "City Slickers" (1991).

Answer: Rock Hudson

Rock Hudson (1925-1985) was born in Winnetka, Illinois, USA as Roy Harold Scherer, Jr. Rock Hudson was an actor of film and television and during the 1950s and 1960s was a leading man in many movies. He received an Academy Award nominations for Best Actor for his role as Jordan "Brick" Benedict Jr. in the 1956 movie "Giant". He later moved into television with the TV series "McMillan & Wife" (1971-1977).

Answer: Ayn Rand

Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum (1905-1982) was better known as the Russian-American writer and philosopher, Ayn Rand. Born and educated in St. Petersburg, Russia, she moved to the USA in 1926, taking out citizenship in 1931. She gained fame with her 1943 novel "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" (1957).