Entertainment of Yesteryear Trivia Quiz

Answer: Erik Weisz

Harry Houdini was born in Hungary and first found fame on vaudeville escaping from handcuffs. His stunts became ever more elaborate including chains, ropes hung from skyscrapers and under water stunts. Once he was buried alive and was near to breakdown when he emerged. Houdini was president of the American Society of magicians, and opposed fake spiritualist mediums.

He was also a keen aviator and claimed to be the first man to fly a plane in Australia.

Answer: Bob Hope

Born as Leslie Townes Hope in Eltham near London England, Bob Hope entertained troops for more than fifty years. He started in the second world war, carried on in the Korean war, Vietnam and the gulf war. He went to areas with difficult conditions such as Alaska and Beirut when it was a battle zone. He was prompted by patriotism, and he put heart into his audience wherever he went.

Answer: Isadora Duncan

Isadora Duncan was an American Dancer who was not trained in a conventional dance school but invented her own method. She started her career very young when she gave lessons to other local children in her home. Her desire for travel took her from her native San Francisco to Chicago and from there to New York. Feeling unappreciated in New York she came to London where she danced in the homes of rich patrons.

She did not like the commercial side of dance and abhorred dancing contracts. She opened many schools to teach her style to the young.

At the age of forty nine she was unfortunately strangled when her long scarf caught in the wheels of her car.

Answer: Roy Hudd

Roy Hudd is an English actor and comedian who is an authority on the history of music halls. He has appeared in many television programmes including the popular British soap 'Coronation Street', and Dennis Potter's series 'Lipstick on Your Collar'. In 1982 he won the Lawrence Oliver Award for best actor in a musical for 'Underneath the Arches', which was about the partnership of the comedy duo Bud Flannagan and Chesney Allen.

Answer: Vivien Leigh

There was a two year delay in beginning to shoot this film, partly because the director wanted Clark Gable for the part of Rhett Butler and he was tied up until then. Also 1,400 women were interviewed for the part of Scarlett. Vivien Leigh who was finally chosen was an English stage and screen actress.

She won two academy awards, one for her portrayal of Scarlett O'Hara in 'Gone With the Wind' and one for playing Blanche Dubois in 'A Streetcar Named Desire'.

Answer: The Mouse Trap

'The Mousetrap' opened in London's west end in 1952 and in November 2012 it had its 25,000th performance. It is by far the longest running show in the west end having opened on 15th November, 1952. The next longest running is 'Les Miserables' which opened thirty three years later on 8th October 1985.

The 'Mousetrap' was written by the English author Agatha Christie who also wrote sixty six detective novels, and is best known for her creations Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. In December 1926 there was a real live mystery about Agatha who disappeared for eleven days.

There was a huge search for her and she was found safe and well in a hotel in Harrogate. She never spoke about what had happened in those missing days.

Answer: Vesta Tilley

Vesta Tilley whose real name was Matilda Alice Powers, impersonated a wide range of male characters on stage and was popular with both men and women. During the first world war she brought along a recruiting officer to her shows and asked men to come up on the stage and recruit.

At one of her shows three hundred young men were recruited into the army. She had a career lasting over thirty years. Her last performance took place at the London Coliseum.

Answer: Wales

The eisteddfod takes place over eight days and consists of competitions and performances of music, dance and poetry readings. It began in 12th century but it almost died out and then in 1861 there was a revival. Typically over 6,000 people compete, and around 150,000 people attend.

Answer: Rudolph Nureyev

Because of his rebellious nature Nureyev was not considered a candidate for the tour to Paris but after the Parisians saw him dance they persuaded the Marinsky Ballet to let him come. When he was in Paris he asked for asylum and it was granted. He had a wonderful career dancing with the Royal ballet in London and had a celebrated partnership with Margot Fonteyn. Sir Frederick Ashton created his ballet 'Marguerite and Armand' for them.

Answer: Status Quo

The concert was the idea of musicians Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for relief of the famine in Ethiopia. It was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in England and the Philadelphia Kennedy Stadium in the U.S.A. Many other countries held similar events on the same day. Prince Charles and Princess Diana attended the British concert.