Political Cynics Trivia Quiz

Answer: George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was, in his own words, "a typical Irishman" in that his family came from Yorkshire. Shaw was a dramatist and literary critic, amongst other things, and was also of strong socialist leanings; so much so that when, in 1925, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, he accepted the accolade gladly but rejected the cash prize that went with it. George Carr Shaw was his father.

Henry George Wells (better known as just H.G. Wells) was a fellow writer of the same era and social circles and a good friend of G.B. Shaw. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was an architect and engineer who lived in the first half of the 19th century.

Answer: Groucho Marx

Julius "Groucho" Marx, 1890 - 1977. Famous for his idiosyncratic cigar, moustache and spectacles and his zany brand of humour, Groucho was one of six Marx brothers, the most famous being Leonard "Chico" and Adolph "Harpo". Possibly one of the sharpest, wittiest and above all funniest men to ever live.

Answer: Nikita Khrushchev

Stalin's successor, Khrushchev was Communist Party secretary-general from 1953-64 and Soviet Premier from 1958-1964. The others are his own successors, from 1964 to 1985. Compared to Stalin, Khrushchev was fairly liberal in his policies and in fact denounced the brutal methods of Stalin, released many political prisoners and relaxed some internal security measures in the Soviet Union.

However, his failed agricultural policies and falling out with the other communist superpower of the time, China, led to him being ousted from power by the communist leadership - primarily Brezhnev and Aleksey Kosygin.

Answer: E E Cummings

Edward Estlin Cummings was born in 1894 in Massachussetts. Son of a Harvard lecturer in sociology and political science, and also a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard himself. A poet, illustrator and artist idiosyncratic in his wilful abandonment of punctuation and capitalisation in his works.

Answer: James Bovard

James Bovard, amongst many other things, has been the policy advisor to The Future of Freedom Foundation, and has contributed to a variety of publications, ranging from "Playboy" to "The American Spectator" and the "Investor's Business Daily". He has also written for such illustrious publications as the "Wall Street Journal", "New York Times", "Reader's Digest", "New Republic", "Washington Post", "Washington Times", and "Newsweek" and is the author of a number of books.

Answer: P. J. O'Rourke

Patrick Jake O'Rourke - US humourist, journalist, and political commentator. Born 1947 in Toledo, Ohio; and, at the time of writing, still very much alive. Writer/editor of a number of publications over the years, including "National Lampoon", "Rolling Stone", "Esquire", "Car and Driver", and many others. Also writer of several Hollywood scripts, including "Easy Money", and the author of a growing number of books - some political, some humourous, most a bit of both. Mencken and Cummings (or should that be "cummings"?) also appear in this quiz but C. S. Lewis, alas, does not.

Answer: Pericles

Pericles was a statesman of some note and prominence in Ancient Greece. Born of distinguished parentage in the early part of the 5th century B.C. His father was a highly successful Greek general and his mother was the niece of the great Athenian reformer, Clisthenes. Pericles was an ardent supporter of democracy and an obstinate opposer to the oligarchy that existed when he first came onto the political scene. Of all the gentlemen mentioned in this quiz, Pericles was one of the few to have had a significant impact in the political world as opposed to merely commenting on it.

A real force in Ancient Greek politics, he strived, in vain, towards a unified Hellenic nation that would brush aside the Macedonian 'barbarians' to the north and might even have halted the march of the mighty Roman Empire.

He died of a lingering sickness shortly after the Peloponnesian war that resulted in the victory of Sparta over Athens; a war that could have run a very different course or even been totally avoided if some of Pericles' policies and recommendations had been taken by Athens.

Answer: Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, who wrote under the name of Mark Twain, was born in Missouri in 1835 and died in April 1910. He was a writer, journalist and humorist, most famous for the adventures of his two young characters, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

Answer: H. L. Mencken

Henry Louis Mencken, born in Maryland, USA. 1880 - 1956. Mencken was a journalist, editor, critic and philologist. H.G. Wells, as already mentioned, was a late 19th - early 20th century author; H.R. Samuel is a chain of jewelers; and H.R. Highness is a partial expansion of HRH, which stands for Her/His Royal Highness, an honorific for certain members of the English royal family.

Answer: Sir Winston Churchill

The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, 1874-1965. A long-standing member of the Conservative party of England, also a great wit and equally great drinker who had a brief but eventful military career and was a painter and writer of some accomplishment. Without a doubt most famous for being the British Prime Minister at the time of the Allied victory over the Axis forces in WW2 and for his famous and nearly ever-present cigar and bowler hat. Other memorable quotations include "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried." and "When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home."

Well, that's the end of this quiz. I hope you had as much fun, and learned as much playing it as I did creating it! All feedback is very welcome, especially if it's correcting any mistakes I've made or adding further information. :)