Lee Harvey Oswald Trivia Quiz

Answer: New Orleans

Oswald was born on October 18, 1939 at the old French Hospital in New Orleans. His father died two months before his birth, leaving his mother Marguerite to bring him and his two elder siblings up alone. This she found she couldn't manage, her sister Lillian taking care of the boy until he was three years old and able to join his brothers who had been sent to a local Lutheran orphanage.

Answer: Marine Corps

In October 1956 Oswald finally joined the marines, after attempting to fraudulently enter the previous year when he unsuccessfully altered his age on his birth certificate. Oswald's initial marine preparation was as a radar operator, then a marksman, an activity he wasn't particularly good at. In September 1957 he was sent to Japan as part of a Marine Air Control Squadron.

Answer: Marina Prusakova

Marina Nikolayevna Prusakova was born in the Russian city of Severodvinsk in 1941. She moved to Minsk aged sixteen in order to study pharmacy. She was married to Oswald some thirteen months after their initial meeting. Their first daughter June Lee was born less than ten months later.

In June 1962, mother, father and child moved and settled in Dallas, Texas. Nadia Comaneci, Natalia Shaposhnikova and Yelena Davydova were international gymnasts of some repute.

Answer: Book Depository, Sixth-Floor

Although disputed by some conspiracy theorists, there appears little doubt that the gunshot that killed President Kennedy, not long after midday on November 22nd 1963 was fired from a south-east corner window on the sixth floor of the book depository.

In the aftermath of the shooting, the weapon was secreted beneath a rear stairwell as Oswald calmly descended the stairs and vacated the building.

Answer: J. D. Tippit

Tippit, a Texan, married with three children had been with the Dallas police force for eleven years. He was patrolling the Oak Cliff area of the city when he observed a man that he believed could have been Oswald. After a brief exchange of words with the suspect, Tippet disembarked from his vehicle, only to be taken down by three shots from a .38 Special Smith & Wesson Victory revolver. Oswald finished the job with a close range shot to the head. J. D. Tippit died in the line of duty aged just 39 years old.

Answer: Texas Theater

The Texas Theatre in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, has become a much vaunted landmark. It has opened and closed and been bought and taken over on any number of occasions over the years. With the building falling into disrepair, thanks to the recession, vandalism and extreme weather conditions, Aviation Cinemas, Inc. took over the lease of the property in 2010 with a view to re-opening as an independent cinema.

Answer: Jack Ruby

Despite fifty years of speculation, the general populace of the planet are still none the wiser as to the reasons of the actions of Jack Ruby on Sunday November 24th, when he executed Lee Oswald in front of the world's media. Much has been conjectured about the sympathies, connections and motives of Ruby, with little in the way of substantive conclusions.

In my opinion, (for what it's worth!) Ruby, who has never been described as an heroic altruist, got caught up in the frenzy of the moment and did what he believed he had to do at that juncture in time. Jack Ruby died of lung cancer in 1967, aged 55.

Answer: Parkland Memorial Hospital

Lee Harvey Oswald died at 1.17 pm on Sunday November 24th at Parkland Memorial Hospital. The same venue that ironically saw the death of one of his murder victims, President Kennedy, and his murderer, (some three years, two months later) Jack Ruby. The hospital which has a capacity of 968 beds, has had its doors open since 1894, it moved to the present location in the mid 1950's.

Answer: Fort Worth

Fort Worth's Rose Hill Memorial Burial Park is situated a little over fifty kilometres west of Dallas. There are no historical markers and officials are told not to tell inquisitive cemetery visitors where Oswald's grave is located. There is now just a marker that reads OSWALD, designating the burial spot after the original tombstone had been stolen.

Answer: Gary Oldman

BAFTA winning English actor Gary Oldman played Oswald with an unassuming indifference that seemed to be pretty much on the money as to the character of the assassin. Oldman had at least one meeting with Oswald's wife in order to ready himself for a role, that was not substantial in terms of the production, but monumental as a fulcrum to 20th century history. Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Bacon and Kevin Costner were all in the movie, Costner taking the starring role as Jim Garrison.