Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Actor, author, and singer George Sanders was born July 3, 1906 in St. Petersburg, Russia and took his life April 25, 1972 by overdosing on pills in Barcelona, Spain. When his body was discovered, a note he had written revealing the reason he committed suicide was also found.
What was the reason he gave for doing so?
2. Ernest Hemingway, one of America's greatest authors was born July 21, 1899 in Cicero (now known as Oak Park) IL. He served as an ambulance driver in World War I before starting his writing career with "The Sun Also Rises" (1926). Some of his other notable works are "A Farewell to Arms" (1929), "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1940) and "The Old Man and the Sea" for which he won The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953. He also won The Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. When he died, he left no note saying why. However, he was known to be a severly depressed man and a heavy drinker.
Where did he take his life?
3. Born February 5, 1908 in Port Talbot, Wales, Millicent Lilian "Peg" Entwistle was a Welsh stage and screen actress whose family emigrated to America in 1916. In 1925, she appeared in an uncredited role in the Broadway production of "Hamlet" which starred Ethel Barrymore. In 1932 she jumped to her death from what iconic location?
4. He was the ace relief pitcher for the 1986 California Angels. With his team leading Boston three games to one in the American League Championship Series and only one strike away from a win that would propel his team to their first ever World Series, he gave up a two-run home run to Dave Henderson. Boston would wind up winning that game in eleven innings when he surrendered the losing run on a sacrifice fly by, once again, Steve Henderson.
That win cut the Angels' lead to three games to two and sent the series back to Beantown where the Red Sox would win games six and seven.
The memory of that home run haunted him for the rest of his life and finally he put himself out of his misery when on July 18, 1989 he took his life.
Can you recall the name of this ill-fated, All-Star reliever?
5. Edwin Armstrong, born December 18, 1890 in New York City was an educator, electrical engineer and inventor. He was a graduate of Columbia University and years later would become a Professor of Electrical Engineering at his alma mater. He received a patent for his invention December 26, 1933. On January 31, 1954, he committed suicide by jumping to his death.
Can you correctly choose what invention this clever Columbia graduate created?
6. This next person was a renowned poet, novelist and short story writer who was born in the United States (1932) and died in London, England (1963). While in America, she graduated from Smith College (1955) and at one time was a guest editor at "Madamoiselle" magazine. She won a Fulbright Scholarship and attended univesity in Cambridge, England where she would meet the man who, in 1956, would become her husband, the poet Ted Hughes. She made at least two attempts at suicide before actually succeeding, once in 1953 when she tried to overdose on pills and again in 1961 when she crashed her car. Finally after much treatment for depression and after learning her husband was having an affair she took her own life by carbon monoxide poisoning in the kitchen of her home. She posthumously won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for "The Collected Poems".
Can you identify this talented yet deeply trouble writer?
7. Inventor, businessman and philantropist, George Eastman was born July 12, 1854 in Waterville, N.Y. and is most remembered for his 1884 invention of rolled film which was the basis for the 1888 invention of motion picture film and was the founder of Eastman Kodak, a company with whom he remained associated until his death on March 14, 1932. Among his many philanthropic acts were the establishing of the Schools of Medicine and Dentistry (1921) as well as endowing the Eastman School of Music (1918) all at the University of Rochester. He also made generous donations to a pair of historically black schools, Tuskegee and Hampton Universities and he provided funding to help low income residents in London and other cities in Europe. He gave up the day-to-day running of Kodak in 1925 but remained as treasurer.
In his final two years he suffered extreme pain as a result of a degenerative spinal disorder which had also plagued his late mother. Not wishing to suffer as he had seen her do, he decided to take his life.
By what means did this brilliant, generous man choose to end his final day?
8. I was born Charles Weedon Westover on December 30, 1934 in Grand Rapids Michigan. I joined the Army in 1954 and while I was in Germany I played some music with a band named "The Cool Flames". Later, in 1958, I changed my stage name to Charlie Johnson before finally changing it again in 1960 to the name under which I gained my fame. I was a singer-songwriter and played a little guitar as well. In 1961, my band and I had a hit tune reach number one in the "Billboard" chart - a song that is still remembered as my signature song. In 1964, I released an album as a tribute to one of my idols, Hank Williams. Alcoholism took its toll on my career in the 70's and my days as a top singer were numbered. In 1986 I wrote a song that became a top ten hit for Juice Newton called "Cheap Love". Sadly, the end would come on February 8, 1990 when I could no longer run away from my twin demons of insecurity and depression and I ended my life.
Can you tell who I was?
9. Virginia Woolf was born Adeline Virginia Stephen January 25, 1882 in London, England. She was a novelist, short story writer, publisher, essayist and critic. She was also an influential and controversial part of the literary world in Europe during the early part of the 20th century. She was a member of the famed "Bloomsbury Group" whose membership included author, E. M. Forster and political economist, John Maynard Keynes. When she was just 13 years old she suffered the loss of her mother. The death of her sister, Stella, (1897) led to what was to become just the first of her numerous mental breakdowns. In 1904 she suffered another deep loss, the death of her father which caused her to be briefly institutionalized. On March 28th, 1941 this talented but troubled literary figure ended her life.
How did she choose to write the final chapter?
10. Roy Raymond was an American businessman who was born in Connecticut on April 15, 1947. His education came via Tufts University and The Stanford Graduate School of Business. In 1977 he founded a company on $80,000 (half from a bank loan and half from his relatives). The store was an instant success, earning $500,000 in year one, prompting him to open three more. In 1982, for some reason, he decided to sell the now six store chain, which had a gross profit of $6 million annually, for $4 million dollars. (Perhaps THAT was the reason).
All in all, a pretty successful venture, wouldn't you say - starting with an $80,000 investment and then getting fifty times that amount when he sold it.
However, in 1984 he started a retail store for kids called "My Child's Destiny" which went bankrupt two years later.
Raymond took his life in a rather spectacular manner on August 26, 1993. (I'll tell you where and how in a moment).
But for now the question is: what famous retail operation did he start?
Source: Author
paulmallon
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
bloomsby before going online.
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