Zooming in on Notable Deaths (April 2021) Quiz

Answer: Michael Collins

In 1952, Michael Collins graduated from the United States Military Academy and joined the US Air Force. Accepted into the U.S. Air Force Experimental Flight Test Pilot School in 1960, he also graduated from the Aerospace Research Pilot School. He was accepted into the NASA astronaut program in 1963, where his first spaceflight was on Gemini 10. His first Apollo flight was on Apollo 11 where he flew the command module Columbia around the Moon 30 times while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the first manned landing on the surface. He had no regrets about not getting to walk on the moon.

Michael Collins died peacefully aged 90.

This question contributed by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1.

Answer: Chad

Idriss Déby was born in 1952 in the village of Berdoba in the north of Chad as a member of the Bidayat clan of the Zaghawa community. Déby lived in France for military training, and in 1982 he was made commander-in-chief of the army under President Hissène Habré. Habré eventually fled Chad as a coup was imminent and Déby obtained power.

In 1990 when he first became President of Chad, the nation had a limit of two five-year terms for presidents. This was changed in 2005 while Déby was in power, as he was elected six times. Unfortunately for the people of Chad and similar to his predecessor, Déby's rule was marked by corruption and autocracy. On April 20, 2021 Idriss Déby died of gunshots wounds while fighting rebels from the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT).

This question was elected into the quiz by Phoenix Rising team member Triviaballer who wonders if he has exceeded his term limits at work.

Answer: Madoff's sons reported him

The SEC is an independent agency of the US federal government, created after 1929's Wall Street Crash and charged with protecting investors from fraud. Madoff ran his own firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. In 2008, when Bernie Madoff told his sons Mark and Andrew that the company's asset management was a massive Ponzi scheme and "one big lie", they reported it to the SEC the next day.

Bernard Lawrence Madoff (b. 1938) was a stockbroker and chairman of the NASDAQ stock market at the time of his arrest. A Ponzi scheme fraudulently pays current shareholders from newer investors to the fund, rather than relying on economic activity to generate cash flow and profits. While operating, Madoff's scheme had attracted almost $65 billion from investors, the largest in history at that time.

Ponzi schemes or Ponzi games are named after Charles Ponzi (1882-1949), an Italian-born confidence trickster who lived in Canada and the United States. Promising his clients high rates of return, Ponzi dealt in discounted International Reply Coupons which could be traded for postage stamps. He paid investors from new investments and the unsustainable scheme now identified with him, collapsed.

Early in 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to securities fraud and 11 further federal felonies. Later that year he was sentenced to 150 years in prison: the maximum possible. Bernie Madoff died on April 14, 2021, at the Federal Medical Center,in Butner, North Carolina, a federal prison for inmates with special health needs. He was aged 82.

Phoenix Rising's psnz researched this question for the quiz: no lie.

Answer: Bye Bye Baby

Leslie McKeown died on the 20th April 2021, survived by his wife, Peko/Keiko, and their son, Jubei/Richard. He first joined the Bay City Rollers in 1973, replacing Gordon 'Nobby' Clark. Their first single with Les at the front was 'Remember' ('Sha-La-La-La') in 1974, which reached number 6 in the UK charts. They didn't achieve a number one until 'Bye Bye Baby', also in 1974.

They gained popularity across the pond in the USA with 'Saturday Night', leading them to be hailed, a tad hastily, as the 'new Beatles'. This was their only number one in the USA.

Les lead a troubled life, as the band was constantly on tour, leading to a stressed existence, and was involved an incident where, in a rare visit home, he killed one of his neighbours in a drunk driving accident in 1975. He was straight back on tour after being fined £100, and banned from driving for a year. The shock and mismanagement of this led to alcoholism. He left the band in 1978, forming his own band, Egotrip, which achieved some popularity in Japan.

Phoenix Rising member smpdit forlornly waves her tartan scarf and bids a childhood crush goodbye.

Answer: Jimmy Carter

Walter Mondale was born in Minnesota, the grandson of Norwegian immigrants on his father's side (his mother was of Scottish-English descent). He served in the Army during the Korean War, after which he attended law school funded by the G.I. Bill. Following four years of practice, he entered politics in 1960 on his appointment as Minnesota Attorney General. In 1964, he was appointed to the US Senate. He won subsequent elections to both positions after appointment.

Jimmy Carter chose Mondale as his running mate upon winning the Democratic nomination in 1976. Their ticket defeated incumbent president Gerald Ford and Bob Dole, and they were succeeded by Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush in the following election. Mondale established himself as an activist vice president, transforming the role into one of partner rather than a mere figurehead. He died in his sleep at the age of 93 on April 19, 2021. At the time of his death, he was the longest living former US vice president, and Carter remained the longest living former US president.

Phoenix Rising member JCSon elected to write this question.

Answer: No

Andrew Peacock took over the seat of Kooyong in Victoria, which was a blue-ribbon seat for the Liberal Party, a seat that they'd held in some form since Australia's Federation in 1900. Andrew's first appointment into the Cabinet was under the leadership of Prime Minister John Gorton, and he would go on to hold a variety of portfolios for the party. Probably the most noteworthy of these was serving as the Minister for Foreign Affairs between 1975 and 1980 under the leadership of Malcolm Fraser.

Dissatisfied with the direction of the party, he challenged Fraser's leadership in 1981, but was unsuccessful in garnering sufficient support. He gained leadership of the party in 1983 after the Liberals were defeated in the polls in 1983 by the Bob Hawke led Labor Party. Peacock would lead the party to contest the 1984 and the 1990 elections, but lost on both occasions, once again to Bob Hawke's Labor. After leaving politics in 1994, he gained the post of Ambassador to the United States in 1997, a position he relinquished in 1999.

Phoenix Rising's pollucci19 was elected to create this question.

Answer: Denmark

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark in 1921 in Corfu, Greece. To marry Princess Elizabeth in 1947, he abandoned his Greek and Danish titles, becoming a British subject and taking the Mountbatten surname from his maternal grandparents. King George VI created him Duke of Edinburgh before the marriage.

As royal consort of Queen Elizabeth II, his accomplishments were many. Among them he was patron or president of nearly 800 organisations and carried out more than 20,000 engagements, finally retiring from royal duties in 2017 aged 96. He created and chaired a self-improvement programme for young people aged 14-24 called the "Duke of Edinburgh's Award", which spread to many countries in the British Commonwealth.

On the island of Tanna in Vanuatu there is a religious sect known as the "Prince Philip movement." The Yaohnanen people believed in the divinity of Prince Philip, considering him to be a figure referred to in some of their tribal legends. It possibly stemmed from the visit of the Queen and Prince Philip to Vanuatu in 1974. Over the years there were several exchanges of gifts between the royal family and the tribe.

Prince Philip died on April 9, 2021, two months before his 100th birthday. At that time, he was the longest-lived male member of the British royal family and the longest-serving consort of a reigning British monarch.

In a career teaching in New Zealand schools, Phoenix Rising's psnz saw first-hand the many positive effects of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme and is pleased to honour the Duke's memory with this question.

Answer: Dark Man X

DMX took to rap in his early twenties, and released his debut album at the age of 28 in 1998. The disc, "It's Dark and Hell is Hot," not only appealed to the critics, it also appealed to the punters and sold in excess of a quarter of million copies in just its first week. The following year he recorded his third album, "... And Then There Was X," which spawned the hit single "Party Up (Up in Here)." Just like his first two albums, this disc would also 'debut' (not climb to) at number one on Billboards' Hot 200 Album Charts. In fact, his first five albums would all perform the same feat, making him the first artist to do so.

DMX would also feature in movies such as "Romeo Must Die" (2000) and "Exit Wounds" (2001), star in the reality TV series "DMX: Soul of a Man", and become a published author. He suffered a heart attack on April 2, 2021, and was rushed to hospital. He passed away a week later after multiple essential organs failed.

This question was submitted by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19.

Answer: Helen McCrory

Helen McCrory beat the boards at The Globe Theatre and London's West End, where she had roles in "Macbeth" and "Pride and Prejudice" before transitioning into television and cinema. Her longest television role was that of Polly Gray in "Peaky Blinders" (2013-2019). Among her most notable cinematic appearances have been as Cherie Blair in "The Queen" (2006), Narcissa Malfoy in the final three movies of the "Harry Potter" franchise, and Clair Dowar MP in "Skyfall" (2012).

Married to English actor Damien Lewis OBE since 2007, McCrory was a patron of the charity "Scene and Heard", which mentors inner-city children. During the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020, she and Lewis raised more than a million pounds for the Feed NHS charity.

Helen McCrory died in April 2021, after a long battle with cancer, a condition she kept secret from the public and everyone bar her closest friends.

This question was produced and directed by Phoenix Rising's leith90, who recognized the importance of being Helen.

Answer: Lucretia My Reflection (Sisters of Mercy)

Known as the "Lord of Excess," the L. A. Times once labelled Jim Steinman as the "Richard Wagner of Rock". He began his career in theatre, and it was here that he met Meatloaf, who'd auditioned to be in one of his plays. "Spin Magazine" called this, "one of the Top 10 most important moments in the history of rock and roll." Steinman was the musical genius behind Meatloaf's earth moving 1977 album, "Bat out of Hell." The album became the then biggest selling debut album, and at the time of Steinman's death was the third biggest selling album of all time. Steinman also wrote music for films such as "A Small Circle Of Friends" (1980), "Streets Of Fire" (1984), and "Footloose" (1984) amongst others.

"Lucretia My Reflection" (1988) by The Sisters of Mercy was written by the band's frontman, Andrew Eldritch, though Steinman did have a link with the band, writing their 1987 hit "Corrosion." "Read 'Em and Weep" was originally written for Meatloaf, and was included on his 1981 album "Dead Ringer", but it wasn't until Manilow released his version late in 1983 that it became a hit. Air Supply took the Steinman penned song all the way to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983. It stayed there for three weeks, and was only kept out of the top spot by Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart," which gave Steinman the top two spots on the charts. "Total Eclipse..." didn't end its run there, it peaked at number one again in 1995, 2003 and 2017.

This question was written by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19, who continues to believe that rock and roll dreams come true.