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Quiz about The Best Quiz in the World
Quiz about The Best Quiz in the World

The Best Quiz in the World...


...and other outrageous lies. Here are ten of history's greatest porkers.

A multiple-choice quiz by Snowman. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
Snowman
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
340,958
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
4725
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
Last 3 plays: Hayes1953 (7/10), Guest 49 (6/10), SueLane (10/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. With the words, "there will be no whitewash at the White House", Richard Nixon attempted to convince a dubious US public that he knew nothing of the Watergate break-in. The investigations of journalists Woodward and Bernstein made it increasingly obvious that this was not the case. What was the pseudonym of the insider who provided them with the information that allowed them to expose the president's lies? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Born in Italy in 1882, this man invented a form of investment scheme that would see thousands of people scammed out of sometimes very large sums of money. In 2009, the billionaire financier Bernard Madoff would receive a jail sentence of 150 years for conducting such a scheme. After which man was this scam named? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Having valiantly defended their city as it lay under siege for ten years, the Trojans were finally undone by their enemy's clever deception. Outside the gates of the city was left a tribute to the resilience of the Trojan people; a gigantic wooden horse. The Trojans took the gift at face value and wheeled it inside the city walls, failing to realise that the horse was almost exactly the right size to contain 40 soldiers from which invading army? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. It was a lie that lasted for nearly a century before being disproved. Anna Anderson was one of a number of women that claimed to be which princess of the Romanov dynasty, who allegedly survived the assassination of her entire family following revolution in Russia in 1917? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. The best lies to tell in the scientific world are ones that perfectly fit with the prevailing view of the time. So it was with the "discovery" in southern England in 1908, of human remains that supposedly provided the missing link between apes and humans. What was the name given to the fraudulent remains? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Titus Oates had a long history of spinning yarns. It even landed him a brief spell in prison on one occasion. However, in 1678, he fabricated a series of stories that had far-reaching consequences, including the execution of more than twenty men, all incorrectly charged with being part of a "Popish Plot" to assassinate which recently re-instated English monarch? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Alfred Dreyfus was convicted in 1894 of betraying France by giving military secrets to Germany. But his conviction was all based on lies. The conspiracy was uncovered after re-examination of the case was prompted by the famous letter "J'accuse", written by which famous French author? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. History is written by the winners, so the saying goes. No clearer demonstration of this can be shown than by the remarkable loss to history of several Pharaohs of the 18th dynasty in Egypt. The official list of Pharaohs showed that the line of succession went directly from Amenhotep III to Horemheb, completely erasing which Pharaoh, father of Tutankhamun, from history? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Han van Meegeren was an artist of prodigious skills. However, his original art, though impressive, was out of synch with critical tastes of the time. To challenge the critical barbs, he turned to forgery and successfully duped the critics who had derided him. They accepted paintings such as "Supper at Emmaus" as original works by which Dutch master, famous for such masterpieces as "The Girl with the Pearl Earring"? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Colin Powell told the UN he'd found them. Tony Blair told the UK parliament that he had evidence of their existence. Yet, despite this being used as the pretext for an invasion and a war that cost tens of thousands of lives, the UN inspector Hans Blix could find no evidence of these weapons of mass destruction in which Middle Eastern country? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. With the words, "there will be no whitewash at the White House", Richard Nixon attempted to convince a dubious US public that he knew nothing of the Watergate break-in. The investigations of journalists Woodward and Bernstein made it increasingly obvious that this was not the case. What was the pseudonym of the insider who provided them with the information that allowed them to expose the president's lies?

Answer: Deep Throat

Deep Throat's true identity remained a secret until 2005, some 11 years after the death of Richard Nixon. The man who had aided the investigations of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of "The Washington Post", turned out to be Mark Felt, a deputy director of the FBI.

The motives of Felt have never been clearly established but the information he provided allowed a link to be made between the 1972 break-in at the hotel in Washington, the Committee to Re-elect the President and the White House. With impeachment a distinct likelihood, Nixon resigned the presidency in August 1974.

The name Deep Throat was taken from a notorious adult film of the time starring Linda Lovelace. "Emmanuelle" was another successful adult film of the 1970s. Verax is a pseudonym used by a number of whistleblowers including Edward Snowden.
2. Born in Italy in 1882, this man invented a form of investment scheme that would see thousands of people scammed out of sometimes very large sums of money. In 2009, the billionaire financier Bernard Madoff would receive a jail sentence of 150 years for conducting such a scheme. After which man was this scam named?

Answer: Charles Ponzi

A ponzi scheme is a fraudulent financial vehicle that promises profits on investments but pays these through the capital provided by other investors rather than by any generated profit. As such, those that invest later in the scheme lose their money when the scheme inevitably collapses, whether that be through lack of investment funds, the disappearance of the scheme's promoter or other external factors.

Guillermo Mugnaio is an Italian translation of William Miller, an American who built a similar scheme, which may possibly have inspired Ponzi. The Kubus was a ponzi scheme in South Africa set up by Adriaan Nieuwoudt.
3. Having valiantly defended their city as it lay under siege for ten years, the Trojans were finally undone by their enemy's clever deception. Outside the gates of the city was left a tribute to the resilience of the Trojan people; a gigantic wooden horse. The Trojans took the gift at face value and wheeled it inside the city walls, failing to realise that the horse was almost exactly the right size to contain 40 soldiers from which invading army?

Answer: Greeks

The story of the Trojan horse is told in Virgil's "Aeneid". His version of the tale includes the famous line, "I fear Greeks, even those bearing gifts". The subterfuge was the final act of the Trojan War that had begun ten years previously after Helen of Sparta, wife of King Menelaus, left her husband for Paris of Troy.

Troy was situated in modern day Turkey. The city destroyed in the sack of Troy that followed the episode of the horse, was the seventh settlement of Troy since its foundation in 3000 BC. The last settlement lasted until around 500 AD. The site is now a UNESCO-protected archeological area.
4. It was a lie that lasted for nearly a century before being disproved. Anna Anderson was one of a number of women that claimed to be which princess of the Romanov dynasty, who allegedly survived the assassination of her entire family following revolution in Russia in 1917?

Answer: Anastasia

It wasn't until 2007 that the bodies of all of the Romanov family that were assassinated on that day in 1918 could be accounted for. Whether the last body discovered was that of Anastasia or of one of her sisters is not known for certain but it meant that it had been proven beyond doubt that she died alongside her siblings and parents.

Anna Anderson was the best known of the fraudsters who claimed to be Anastasia. She recounted a tale of how she feigned death before being smuggled away from the scene by a friendly Bolshevik guard. She maintained the claim from 1920 until her death in 1984, even though a German court had concluded her 32-year-long legal battle to be recognised as the grand duchess with a verdict that her claim was not proven. In 1994, a DNA test was performed on her remains and demonstrated that she was not related in any way to the Romanov dynasty.
5. The best lies to tell in the scientific world are ones that perfectly fit with the prevailing view of the time. So it was with the "discovery" in southern England in 1908, of human remains that supposedly provided the missing link between apes and humans. What was the name given to the fraudulent remains?

Answer: Piltdown Man

The skull, jawbone and teeth of Piltdown Man were presented to the Geological Society in London in 1912 by Charles Dawson, who claimed they had been discovered in a gravel pit in Piltdown, East Sussex.

Given that the bones were later shown to be from at least three different animals, two of which were not commonly found in southern England suggests that this was not entirely true. Though many of the bones were aged to a degree, the skull and jawbone were around 500-600 years old, not the thousands of years that Dawson claimed. The skull was human and the jawbone from a orangutan. The teeth came from a chimpanzee and had been modified to make them look like transitional bones between ape and human; some chimp canine teeth; and some human molars.

Many scientists saw through the subterfuge and published articles that accurately stated that the bones came from different species. However, the lie persisted for 40 years before a definitive debunking was published in "Time" magazine in 1953. It listed the ways in which the hoaxer had stained and filed the bones to make them appear older and more in keeping with the purpose of the hoax. It is not known for certain who the perpetrator of the hoax was but the finger has most regularly pointed at Dawson who, after his death, was unveiled as a serial paleontological fraudster, using many of the techniques proven in the Piltdown case.
6. Titus Oates had a long history of spinning yarns. It even landed him a brief spell in prison on one occasion. However, in 1678, he fabricated a series of stories that had far-reaching consequences, including the execution of more than twenty men, all incorrectly charged with being part of a "Popish Plot" to assassinate which recently re-instated English monarch?

Answer: Charles II

The Popish Plot implicated the Jesuits in a plan to kill the king. Oates' accomplices notified the king of the plot and it was passed on to one of his ministers to investigate. Outlandish as Oates' claims were, there was strong anti-Catholic sentiment in England at the time, coming just 18 years after the restoration of the monarchy following the Puritan rule of English Commonwealth. In particular, the king's marriage to a Catholic, Catherine of Braganza, caused popular concern and this allowed Oates to weave her into his narrative, by means of the collusion of her personal physician in the plot.

The investigation into Oates' claims was prompted by the king's brother, the future James II, who had converted to Roman Catholicism some ten years previously. Its consequences were significant. Catholics were banned from taking a seat in either of the chambers of the Houses of Parliament; a statute that remained in place for 150 years. At least 22 men were executed on false charges, including Lord Stafford, one of five Catholic peers that were arrested shortly after the investigation commenced.

It wasn't until 1681 that Oates fell from favour in governmental circles. The judiciary grew ever more skeptical of his claims and the king made it publicly known that he supported the acquittal of many of the accused. Ever the bold opportunist, Oates publicly denounced the king and was jailed for sedition. When James II ascended to the throne in 1685, Oates was put on trial for perjury and sentenced to life in prison.
7. Alfred Dreyfus was convicted in 1894 of betraying France by giving military secrets to Germany. But his conviction was all based on lies. The conspiracy was uncovered after re-examination of the case was prompted by the famous letter "J'accuse", written by which famous French author?

Answer: Emile Zola

Zola was a hugely influential and popular French novelist of the school of naturalism. His works include "Germinal" and "La Bete Humaine", both of which have been adapted for the silver screen (numerous times in the case of the latter). Hollywood also came calling to make "The Life of Emile Zola" in 1937, a film that won the Best Picture award at the Oscars.

Zola's intervention into the Dreyfus affair was every bit as successful as his literary career. His letter was published in the newspaper "L'Aurore" some four years after Dreyfus' conviction. The open letter criticised the French government for anti-Semitism and a "mispresentation of justice" and accused them of a deliberate cover-up. For his troubles, Zola was tried and convicted of libel and sentenced to jail. He avoided serving his sentence by fleeing to England.

However, the bigger picture was the chain of events that it started. The letter brought the affair to the wider public and increased the pressure on the government and the military. Despite a second trial again finding Dreyfus guilty, he was almost immediately pardoned afterwards to prevent a third trial. Those who were truly guilty were never brought to justice.
8. History is written by the winners, so the saying goes. No clearer demonstration of this can be shown than by the remarkable loss to history of several Pharaohs of the 18th dynasty in Egypt. The official list of Pharaohs showed that the line of succession went directly from Amenhotep III to Horemheb, completely erasing which Pharaoh, father of Tutankhamun, from history?

Answer: Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV)

Akhenaten's great crime was to attempt to change the religious practices in ancient Egypt to a monotheism, worshipping only the Aten, which was the sun in ancient Egyptian mythology. This change is religion necessitated a name change as his previous name, Amenhotep, referred to the god Amun.

The list of pharoahs was probably compiled by Horemheb and completely ignores the 31-year period in which Akhenaten and his descendants were pharaoh. The exact lineage is not clear to historians even now, although Akhenaten's son Tutankhamun and his vizier Ay were also known to be pharaoh for some time during this period.

Ramesses I was the founder of the 19th dynasty in Egypt. Atraxerxes III was a Persian Shah who was the first leader of the 31st Egyptian dynasty. Hugronaphor was a rebel leader who briefly held power in Upper Egypt during the reign of Ptolemy IV.
9. Han van Meegeren was an artist of prodigious skills. However, his original art, though impressive, was out of synch with critical tastes of the time. To challenge the critical barbs, he turned to forgery and successfully duped the critics who had derided him. They accepted paintings such as "Supper at Emmaus" as original works by which Dutch master, famous for such masterpieces as "The Girl with the Pearl Earring"?

Answer: Johannes Vermeer

van Meegeren also produced new works by Frans Hals and Gerard ter Bosch and possibly more. Some of his paintings have been put on display under the name of one of the Dutch masters and it's not inconceivable that some still do.

The most extraordinary thing about Han van Meegeren is that so well respected were his forgeries that after his death, artists, including his own son, began to make forgeries of his forgeries.
10. Colin Powell told the UN he'd found them. Tony Blair told the UK parliament that he had evidence of their existence. Yet, despite this being used as the pretext for an invasion and a war that cost tens of thousands of lives, the UN inspector Hans Blix could find no evidence of these weapons of mass destruction in which Middle Eastern country?

Answer: Iraq

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) most commonly refer to nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. In 2003, both the US and UK governments, in making a case for going to war, presented their evidence of Iraq's possession of such weapons. The US presented to the United Nations in order to get a resolution that demanded the surrender of these weapons by the Iraqi government and promised consequences if they failed to do so. The UK government used their dossier to get the approval of the UK parliament for declaring war on Iraq.

A team of weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix reported back to the UN that no weapons had been discovered. In 2005, the CIA also reported a failure to discover anything that resembled what their government had claimed they had evidence of. Both countries, and others besides saw widespread protests against the decision to invade with a reported six million plus demonstrating on the same day in 2003, a record acknowledged by "Guinness World Records".
Source: Author Snowman

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