Mature Applicants Only Trivia Quiz

Answer: Showboat

Helen Morgan starred as Julie LaVerne in the original 1927 Broadway production of "Showboat". She went on to play the role again in a 1932 stage revival, as well as a 1936 film version. Unfortunately bouts of alcoholism led to her early death at the age of 41 from cirrhosis of the liver.

Answer: Hoagy Carmichael

Born in Indiana in 1899, Hoagy Carmichael met Bix Biederbecke while he was in college. He tried playing the cornet but found it not to his liking and turned his talents to composing. "Stardust", Georgia On My Mind", "The Nearness of You" and "Heart and Soul" are amongst the four most recorded songs ever.

Answer: His daughter

Jimmy Van Heusen and Phil Silvers originally wrote the song as "Bessie With The Laughing Face" for Johnny Burke's wife. They then played it with appropriate name changes at various women's birthday parties. When they played it at Nancy Sinatra's birthday party Frank assumed they had written it especially for her and no-one was brave enough to contradict him.

Answer: Tex Ritter

Written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington, "The Ballad of High Noon" was awarded the 1952 Academy Award for Best Original Song. It has been recorded by many artists over the years. Frankie Laine recorded many other songs with western themes including the title song for "Blazing Saddles", "Mule Train" and "Rawhide".

Answer: Kiss Me Kate

Written by Cole Porter, this was the only one of his shows to run for over 1,000 performances on Broadway. In addition to Best Musical it also won the Tony Awards for Best Composer and Lyricist, Best Costume Design, Best Producer of a Musical and Best Author of a Musical. It has been frequently revived and the 1953 film starring Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson remains ever popular.

Answer: Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart started with the Jeff Beck Group before forming Faces. In 1969 he started his solo career. In 2008 "Billboard" Magazine ranked him number 17 on their list of Top 100 All Time Artists. In recent years he has recorded several volumes of "Great American Songbook" titles.

Answer: Dean Martin

"Sway" was composed by Mexican Pablo Ruiz and was translated into English by Norman Gimbel. Although Dean Martin has recorded the best known version it has been done by many artists as diverse as Rosemary Clooney, Cliff Richard, Michael Buble and the Pussycat Dolls.

Answer: April in Paris

Born in New York in 1902, Sammy Fain wrote music for more than 30 films. He received nine Oscar nominations for Best Original Song, and won twice. Once with "Secret Love" from "Calamity Jane" and once with "Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing" from the movie of the same name.

He also wrote the theme tune to the TV series "Wagon Train", and contributed to the scores for several Walt Disney animated films.

Answer: Johnny Mercer

As well as his prolific songwriting Johnny Mercer was also one of the founders of Capitol Records. He was also co-founder of the National Academy of Popular Music's Songwriters Hall of Fame. "Moon River" and "Days of Wine and Roses" both earned him an Oscar for Best Song.

Answer: Ella Fitzgerald

The eight studio "Songbook" albums that Ella Fitzgerald recorded between 1956 and 1964 are regarded as some of the greatest interpretations ever of America's favourite songs. They were so good that, out of respect, Frank Sinatra blocked Capitol Records from issuing his own single composer albums.

In 1994 Verve reissued the whole set as a boxset which won the 1995 Grammy for Best Historical Recording.