Dramatic Irony Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tommy Cooper

Thomas Frederick Cooper was born in Wales in 1921 and found fame as a bumbling magician whose tricks never quite worked. His interest in magic began at eight years of age when his auntie bought him a magic set. He made his debut on the BBC talent show "New to You" in 1948 and soon began appearing on his own shows on London Weekend Television.

By the mid 1970s he began to suffer from severe medical problems, exacerbated by his increasing reliance on alcohol. On April 15th 1984 he appeared on stage at Her Majesty's Theatre in London and collapsed on stage.

The audience thought it was part of the act and continued laughing until it was realised that he was actually dying of a heart attack. He was cremated at Mortlake Crematorium in London.

Answer: Nelson Eddy

Nelson Ackerman Eddy was born in Providence, Rhode Island on the 29th June 1901. He came from a musical family and developed his singing talent as a boy in church choirs. After winning a competition in 1924, which included a chance to appear with the Philadelphia Opera Society, his career took off.

He was discovered by Hollywood in 1933 and appeared in several films with the singer Jeanette Macdonald. On March 5th 1957 Eddy collapsed with a cerebral hemorrhage while performing at the Sans Souci Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida.

He died a few hours later in the early hours of March 6th.

Answer: Les Harvey

Leslie Cameron Harvey was born in Glasgow on 13th September 1944. He was a talented guitarist who played in several bands including the Blues Council and Cartoone. He was the brother of Alex Harvey of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band. He was playing with the band Stone the Crows at the Swansea Top Rank venue in 1972 when he touched a microphone that was not earthed and he was instantly electrocuted and killed.

Answer: Sid James

Solomon Joel Cohen was born in South Africa, on the 8th May 1913. He worked as a hairdresser in Orange Free State before joining the army during the Second World War. After he moved to Britain in 1946 he was noticed by the film industry and got his first film appearances in 1947.

He debuted in the fourth "Carry On" film "Carry On Constable" as Sergeant Frank Wilkins and made 19 appearances in total. He was in a production of the play "The Mating Game" by Robin Hawdon at the Sunderland Empire Theatre in April 1976 when he suffered a fatal heart attack on stage.

He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium.

Answer: Dick Shawn

Dick Shawn was born Richard Schulefand on 1st December 1923, in Buffalo, New York and raised in nearby Lackawanna, where his father owned a clothing store. He performed as a stand up comedian all over the world, for over 35 years and appeared in many films and television shows, as well as Broadway productions. During one of his shows entitled "The Second Greatest Entertainer in the World" he would spend the entire intermission lying motionless on the stage which was why, when he collapsed during a performance at the University of California at San Diego on the evening of April 17, 1987, the audience laughed, thinking it was part of his act.

After he lay still for several minutes the paramedics were called. It was announced the following day that he had died of a heart attack on stage.

He was 63.

Answer: Mick Farren

Michael Anthony Farren was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England on 3rd September 1943. He was the singer in the proto-punk band The Deviants (previously known as The Social Deviants) between 1967 and 1969, before going solo. He collaborated with a variety of musicians over the years.

He also wrote and number of novels and non-fiction books as well as poetry. He also worked as a columnist for the newspaper "Los Angeles CityBeat" between 2003 and 2008. He died of a heart attack in 2013 at the age of 69 while performing with The Deviants at the Borderline club in London.

Answer: Karl Wallenda

Karl Wallenda was born in Magdeburg in Germany, on 21st January 1905, to a circus family. He was the founder of the daredevil high wire circus troupe "The Great Wallendas", which became known as "The Flying Wallendas" after the phrase was coined in the press in the 1940s.

They toured for several years, even after many tragic accidents, including Wallenda's sister-in-law falling to her death in 1963 and his son-in-law being killed after a stunt went wrong in 1962. In 1978 at the age of 73 Karl Wallenda attempted a walk on a 121ft (37m) wire stretched between the two towers of the Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Unfortunately the wire was fitted incorrectly and there were high winds that day which caused him to lose his balance and he fell to his death.

Some of the Wallendas are performing to this day.

Answer: Ian Cognito

Ian Cognito was born as Paul John Barbieri on the 21st November 1958 in London. He started performing in the mid 1980s. He was known for his excessive performances and claimed to have been banned from more clubs than any other comedian in Britain. One of his signature bits was hammering a nail on the wall and hanging his hat on it.

He received a Time Out comedy award in 1999. In 2019 while performing in a comedy club in Bicester he collapsed and died. Just previous to his collapse he had joked to the audience about dying of a stroke, so the audience thought it was part of the act. An ambulance was called a few minutes later after a fellow comedian realised there was something very wrong.

He was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 60 years old.

Answer: Dimebag Darrell

Darrell Lance Abbott was born in 30th August 1966 in Ennis, Texas. He started playing the guitar at the age of 12 and was influenced by bands such as Kiss, Van Halen, Black Sabbath and Judas Priest. In 1981 he was asked to join the band Pantera with his older brother Vinnie. He was originally known as "Diamond Darrell" but changed it to "Dimebag Darrell" which was allegedly a reference to his refusal to accept more than a $10 bag of cannabis at a time.

In 2003, after the disbanding of Pantera they rebranded as the band Damageplan. On 8th December 2004 the band were playing at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio when a Pantera fan, Nathan Gale, climbed onto the stage and shot Darrel Dimebag five times in the head, killing him instantly. It has been surmised that Gale blamed him for the break-up of his favourite band, but this has never been proved. Dimebag Darrell was 38 at the time of his death.

Answer: Costa Titch

Costantinos Tsobanoglou (Costa Titch) was born on the 10th September 1995 in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, South Africa. He began his career as a dancer but relocated to Johannesburg to establish his career as a rapper. His debut album "Made in Africa" was released in 2020 and was a commercial success which received critical acclaim.

While performing at the "Ultra South African" musical festival in Johannesburg, on the 11th March 2023, he collapsed but quickly got up and continued his act before collapsing again and dying at the age of 27.

At the time of writing this quiz the cause of his death is not yet known but there have been reports that he may have had a heart attack or a seizure.