Will the Real Alexander Please Stand Up? Quiz

Answer: Alexander Hamilton

"Dueling Banjos" is an instrumental piece from the 1973 Burt Reynolds' movie "Deliverance". In this case the clue refers to Alexander Hamilton's death at the hands of Aaron Burr in a duel in 1804.

Hamilton played a crucial role in the founding of the nation and in the interpretation of the US Constitution. His contributions to "The Federalist Papers" are still cited in court cases to this day. In 2015, a Broadway play named "Hamilton" became a huge success. The play was based on the 2004 best-selling biography of Hamilton by Ron Chernow.

Answer: Alex Salmond

Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond served as the First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014 and was a major proponent of Scottish independence, hence the clue. Salmond championed the Scottish independence movement until it was defeated in the referendum of 2014.

William Wallace was one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence in 1297. He is most widely known today as the inspiration for Mel Gibson's 1995 movie "Braveheart".

Answer: Alexander Graham Bell

The ringing is the sound a phone makes so the clue refers to Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone.

It can be argued that even before Bell was born, the wheels had been put in motion that would lead to the invention of the telephone. Bell's grandfather, father, and brother all worked in or were associated with elocution and speech. Bell himself followed this career path. Add to this the fact that both Bell's mother and wife were deaf, and his motivation and drive become clear.

In 1876, he received his patent for the telephone. Later in life he did further groundbreaking work in optical telecommunications, hydrofoils, and aeronautics.

Answer: Alexander Fleming

The quote is from Alexander Fleming and refers to his accidental discovery of penicillin, the world's first antibiotic. Although Fleming discovered penicillin by accident, he could not find a way to mass produce it. It took the work of Ernst Boris Chain and Howard Florey to develop penicillin into a viable drug. The three men shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1945.

Answer: Alexander Haig

During a press conference in the initial hours after the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981, Alexander Haig made this now infamous quote to the press. Haig was merely trying to reassure a shaken nation that the government was still functioning correctly but he had no authority to make such a statement. Constitutionally, if Reagan was incapacitated the presidency would be assumed by Vice-President Bush, not Secretary of State Haig.

In fact, both the Speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate are before the Secretary of State in the line of succession. Haig had a tempestuous relationship with several members of Reagan's cabinet and resigned in 1982 after a year and a half on the job.

Answer: Alexander Pope

"Damn with faint praise" is an idiom that comes from a line in Alexander Pope's "Epistle to Doctor Arbuthnot". The quote:

"Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer;
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,
Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike."

Pope was known for his satirical poetry and was considered one of the greatest poets of his age. In fact, he ranks just behind Shakespeare as the second most quoted English poet of all time. Being a Catholic in England at a time that the Church of England was preeminent may explain where much of his satire came from.

Answer: Alexander Borodin

Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin was a chemist most widely known today for his work as a composer and as a member of the Mighty Handful, five prominent 19th-century Russian composers. The others included Mily Balakirev,César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. His music is the basis for the 1953 Broadway musical "Kismet".

Although most well-known for his music, he considered himself first and foremost to be a chemist. As such, he contributed to the early understanding of organic chemistry mainly in the areas of organic synthesis with particular focus on nucleophilic substitution. He was also the co-discoverer of the aldol reaction.

Answer: Alexander Litvinenko

Alexander Litvinenko was a former KGB and FSB officer who defected from Russia to the UK in 2000 where he was granted asylum. In the FSB, he had worked on fighting organized crime. In that capacity he came to challenge the government of Vladimir Putin over the assassination of Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky. This led to charges being filed against him and his eventual defection.

In November 2006, Litvinenko became gravely ill from radioactive polonium-210. It was considered to be a state hit ordered by Putin and is the first confirmed case of someone dying from polonium-210 as an assassination method.

Answer: Alexander the Great

The quote is directly attributed to Alexander the Great. He is best known as the conqueror of the known world at the time he lived. According to legend, whoever could unravel the Gordian Knot would conquer the world. There are two versions of how Alexander overcame the knot.

The more popular is that he cut it rather than unraveling it. This has led to the idea of solving an impossible problem by thinking outside the box. The other version says he pulled the pole pin or linchpin which exposed the two ends of the cord and allowed him to unravel it.

Answer: Alexander Lukashenko

Alexander Lukashenko became the the first President of Belarus after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1994. He has ruled ever since. Lukashenko heads an authoritarian regime and has been called Europe's last dictator.

A White Russian is a cocktail made from vodka, coffee liqueur, and cream served with ice. It is basically a Black Russian with the addition of cream. Belarus comes from the term Belaya Rus', which means White Rus or an archaic literal translation White Russia.