When Did They Die? Trivia Quiz

Answer: August 31, 1997

Born Diana Spencer on July 1, 1961, Diana married Prince Charles in 1981. She became the Princess of Wales, and was known as "The People's Princess" for her ability to relate to the people and to charitable causes. Sadly, she died on August 31, 1997 in a car crash in Paris.

Answer: April 18, 1955

When you hear the word "genius", you may think of theoretical physicist Albert Einstein. Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany on March 14, 1879. In 1921 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the 'law of photoelectric effect'. Oddly, he never received an award for his important 'theory of relativity'. Einstein died on April 18, 1955 in Princeton, New Jersey.

Answer: September 9, 1976

Formerly known in the West as Mao Tse-Tung, Mao Zedong was born in Shaoshan, Xiangtan, China on December 26, 1893. In October of 1949 he founded the People's Republic of China, and became known as Chairman Mao. In 1957, he initiated the "Great Leap Forward" designed to change China from an agrarian nation to an industrial one; in 1966 he began the "Cultural Revolution".

The totalitarian ruler died on September 9, 1976 at the age of 82, after suffering a series of myocardial infarctions.

Answer: January 7, 1989

Michinomiya Hirohito was born on April 29, 1901 in Tokyo, Japan. On December 25, 1926 he was crowned the 124th Emperor of Japan. It was under Hirohito's reign that the bombing of Pearl Harbor took place on December 7, 1941, leading the United States into World War II. He was not tried for war crimes and continued to reign until his death from cancer on January 7, 1989.

Answer: March 23, 2011

When you think back to the Golden Age of Hollywood, one of the biggest stars of the era has to be Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor was born on February 27, 1932 in London, England. Acting from the age of ten, she first came to prominence in the film "National Velvet" in 1944. With her eight marriages (and seven husbands), her Academy Awards and her violet eyes, she was larger than life. Diagnosed with congestive heart failure, Elizabeth died on March 23, 2011, in Los Angeles, CA.

Answer: March 2, 1930

Novelist and poet, David Herbert Lawrence was born on September 11, 1885 in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England. Lawrence was one of the first writers to explore sexuality in print, e.g., "Lady Chatterley's Lover" was first published in a drastically abridged version in 1928.

He was scorned and persecuted, and his works were banned for obscenity. He developed tuberculosis and died in Vence, France in 1930, at the age of 44. At the time of his death he was widely regarded as a pornographer but has been rehabilitated from about 1960 onwards.

Answer: January 30, 1948

Mohandas K. Gandhi was born in Porbandar (presently Gujarat), British India, on October 2, 1869. Gandhi led the movement for Indian independence from British rule. Using the strategy of "non-violent civil disobedience", he was often imprisoned in both South Africa and India. Finally, in August, 1947 the British India Empire was granted independence. On January 30, 1948, Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist, shot and killed Gandhi, now known as Mahatma ('venerable').

Answer: December 30, 2006

Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was born on April 28, 1937 in Al-Awja, Iraq. Hussein was a member of the revolutionary Ba'ath Party which embraced Arab nationalism. An important figure in the July 17, 1968 Revolution, he became Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council from July 1979 through April, 2003. Saddam invaded Iran and Kuwait, and became known as "The Butcher of Baghdad".

He was later sentenced to death and hanged for his crimes on December 30, 2006.

Answer: February 11, 1963

American author Sylvia Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts on October 27, 1932. In 1956 she married fellow poet Ted Hughes who became Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in 1984. Sylvia and Ted had two children prior to their separation in 1962. As an adult, Plath was diagnosed as clinically depressed and, on February 11, 1963 she committed suicide. "The Bell Jar", written shortly before she died, garnered her a posthumous Pulitzer Prize.

Answer: September 14, 1927

Flamboyant American dancer Isadora Duncan was born in San Francisco, California on May 27, 1877. At 22 years old she moved to Europe where she remained until her death. Isadora dropped out of school at the age of ten and, in order to help her family, she began teaching dance to the neighbors' kids.

As an adult, her style was daring and unconventional. Her death came in 1927, in Nice, France, when her long scarf got caught in the wheels of a car and choked her to death.