Special Sub-Topic: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Click Here To Play: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Leslie Stephen was a founding editor of the original Dictionary of National Biography, but will be better remembered as the father of which 20th century writer?

Virginia Woolf. Virginia Woolf was the author of 'To the Lighthouse', 'Mrs Dalloway' and 'The Waves'. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography was published in 2004 as a significantly revised and updated edition of the original Dictionary of National Biography.

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography includes all kinds of people, including businessmen. No prizes for guessing how Jean Jacob Schweppe made his money, but what was the advertising slogan that turned around the fortunes of his company in the 1940s?

Schweppervescence lasts the whole drink through. Oh yes, 'Schweppervescence' it was! Apparently, a later slogan ran 'How many Schwepping days to Christmas?'

On 4th December 1154, the only English pope in history was elected. The humble Nicholas Brakespear, probably originally from St Albans, took which name?

Adrian IV. Possibly the most significant event of Adrian's reign (at least for the British Isles) was the papal bull of 1155 which conferred overlordship of Ireland on Henry II. The consequences are still unravelling ...

Not everyone who appears in the Dictionary actually existed. Who was the only mythical figure commonly thought to have been included in the original Dictionary of National Biography?

Robin Hood. In fact, there were 11 more or less mythical characters, but Robin Hood was the only one whose biographer was brave enough to say that the evidence for his existence did not stand up to scrutiny. All the others left open the possibility that they were at least legends based on the lives of real people. The 2004 Dictionary includes entries for such imaginary figures as Britannia and John Bull.

Kings, queens and princes are the stuff the Dictionary is made of. But you don't actually have to have gained the throne to merit an entry. How many female pretenders to the English throne does the Dictionary list?

3. Lady Jane Grey is by far the most famous, actually ruling England for nine days in 1553 before the rightful Queen Mary deposed her. Matilda, daughter of Henry I, used the title 'Empress' in her war against her cousin King Stephen who had grasped the throne from her. In the end they compromised - Stephen was king, but Matilda's son Henry became his heir. The third pretender was Lavinia Janetta Horton Ryves whose mother had claimed legitimate descent from George III. Her claims were shown to be based on forged documents.

Three Winston Churchills are listed in the Dictionary. What do they all have in common, apart from their name?

They were all politicians.. The oldest of the three, Sir Winston Churchill was a seventeenth century royalist politician. If he had a middle name, we don't know it, he wrote nothing of any significance and laid low during the Civil War. Sir John Winston Spencer Churchill was a nineteenth century Conservative politician who had a number of different responsibilities, including Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill hardly needs to have his achievements listed. He was sent to Sandhurst (to train as an Army Officer) by his father, who didn't think he would be clever enough for university. Hard to imagine of a man who later won the Nobel prize for literature and yet is even more famous for his political and military achievements! He was the first Briton to be honoured by having a US warship named after him in 1999.

Discovering odd facts about well-known people is the joy of reading the Dictionary. Edward Elgar's father, for example, was a piano tuner, employed by which Queen?

Queen Adelaide. He tuned pianos for several wealthy people in the Worcester district, including Queen Adelaide, widow of William IV. He frequently took Edward with him on these outings, to show off his musical talents. But in later life, Elgar's father seemed less sure of his son's talents, apparently never believing him to be quite as a good a composer as other people said!

The Dictionary only lists entries for people who died before 2001 and who are British or have shaped British life in some way. Which of these people is listed in the Dictionary?

John Lennon. Dick Francis and Nelson Mandela were still alive and going strong in 2001. And Bob Marley wasn't British. John Ono Lennon is certainly listed, but so is a John Lennon (1768-1846), who was a merchant navy officer with an eventful career fighting off pirateers - read all about it at www.oxforddnb.com

Isaac Newton is most famous for his laws of motion and his publication 'Principia Mathematica'. He was also a great alchemist, who published a paper commonly known by what title?

The Vegetation of Metals. The title is taken from a phrase at the beginning of the paper: 'that metalls vegetate after the same Laws ...' He also wrote some fairly unorthodox theological papers and experimented with optics by sticking needles in his own eyes. All in the name of science, of course!

The Dictionary covers all of British history until the end of the twentieth century. But who is the earliest person to be awarded an entry?

Pytheas. Fergus I of Scotland, King Leir (Lear) and Loegaire Lorc all have earlier dates, but there is no evidence for their existence! Pytheas was a Greek explorer in the 4th century BC, who came to Britain and whose descriptions of the country exist only in quotations used by later Greek writers. It's hard to tell who was the earliest Briton, since dating is pretty inexact that far back and there were a number of kings flourishing in the 1st century BC. I hope you've enjoyed the quiz. Here's to many more years of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.