Dead Centre: Simple Trivia Quiz

Answer: Snooker

Hitting the ball so it goes into the dead centre of the pocket may not be that easy, but the three men listed made it look very simple as they were all World Champions at different times. Englishman John Pulman was the dominant player of the 1960s while his fellow countryman, John Parrott, took the World title in 1991.

The Canadian Cliff Thorburn won in 1980 but has a further claim to fame as being the first player to score a maximum break of 147 in the world championships, a feat he achieved in 1983.

Answer: Bowls

The target in bowls is known as the jack, with the aim being to get as close as possible to it with the larger, biased, bowls. The players listed all became World Champions, with Bryant winning the title in 1966, 1980 and 1988 while Allcock won in 1992 and 1996 - these were successive wins as the championship is held at four year intervals. Belliss, a New Zealander, broke the run of English success when he won in 1984.

Answer: Basketball

The target in this sport is a basket, located ten feet from the ground. Naturally, being tall helps. Larry Bird played for the Boston Celtics from 1979 until 1992 before going on to coach the Indiana Pacers. Chuck Connors played basketball for Boston Celtics, although he was better known as a baseball player and then actor. LeBron James began his basketball career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, before moving to Miami Heat for four years between 2010 and 2014.

He returned to the Cavaliers. All three men were very tall, ranging from 6' 6" to 6' 9".

Answer: Darts

The simple task in darts is to hit a small target on the board. The dead centre would be the bullseye, which would score 50 points, but players concentrate mainly on hitting the treble twenty, to achieve 60 points. All three darts in this small area scores the maximum of 180, although players have to finish on a double to win the game.

The names are of three World Champions under the British Darts Organisation championship. The Scotsman, Jocky Wilson, won in 1982 and 1989 while Welshman Leighton Rees won the title in 1978, its inaugural year. The Crafty Cockney, as Bristow was known, won in 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985 and 1986.

Answer: Diving

The target may be quite a large one, but hitting it with style and the minimum of splashing is the way to score the highest points in diving competitions.

Tom Daley is an English diver, who had won gold medals at World and European Championships and at the Commonwealth Games. Louganis, from the USA, has won numerous championships, including at the Olympics in both 1984 and 1988 while the Australian Matthew Mitcham has a gold medal from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Answer: Golf

How difficult can it be to get one small ball into a hole? All the men named were famous for their ability to do just that in the fewest number of strokes. Ben Hogan won The Masters twice, in 1951 and 1953, the US Open four times, in 1948, 1950, 1951 and 1953. He added the (British) Open in 1953 and won the PGA Championship in 1946 and 1948, making him one of the few to win all the Majors.

Payne Stewart won two US Open and one PGA - he might have won more but for his untimely death. Walter Hagen was dominant in the 1920s, winning the US Open twice, the Open four times and the PGA on five occasions. His best finish in The Masters was a tie for eleventh in 1936. He'd probably have won it if the championship had been established when he was in his prime, but it didn't begin until 1934.

Answer: Curling

The target in curling is called a house, with the players sliding large granite stones across the ice with the aim of getting as close to the centre of the house as possible.

Rhona Martin is a Scottish curler who led the Great Britain team to the gold medal in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Sandra Peterson, also known as Sandra Schmirler, was extremely successful in the sport, representing Canada. Allison Pottinger represents the United States of America.

Answer: Gymnastics

All three ladies are well known gymnasts, whose targets including hitting a vaulting horse in the right place to perform the various twists and turns, jumping from one bar to another in the uneven bars and landing on the narrow width of the balance beam.

Beth Tweddle was an English gymnast who represented England and Great Britain at various events while Shannon Miller was an American gymnast. Olga Korbut represented the USSR, as it then was, although she actually came from Belarus and became a USA citizen in 2000.

Answer: Soccer

The goal area is quite a large target, which would be easier to hit if it wasn't guarded by a large goalkeeper.

Nat Lofthouse played for Bolton Wanderers between 1946 and 1960 and for England from 1950 until 1958. John Charles was Welsh and played for his national team on thirty-eight occasions between 1950 and 1965. His main team was Leeds United, although he also played for Juventus in Italy, becoming one of the earliest players to play in a foreign country. Christian Vieri played for numerous different Italian teams, and for the national Italian team between 1997 and 2006.

Answer: Ice hockey

The ice hockey goal is rather smaller than most, and is guarded by an imposing figure. On the other hand, the puck moves at a great speed, so hitting the target might be easier than it seems.

All three men were Canadian and represented their country, one of the powerhouses of the game, at international level. Richard's career lasted from 1942-1960, Lemieux played between 1984 and 2006 while Lindros played from 1992 until 2007.