That's What She Said! Trivia Quiz

Answer: cake

Our dear Queen Marie-Antoinette, famously naive and pathetically ignorant! Okay, to be fair, she might have not actually said those words - in fact, she probably didn't. But history being written by the winners, and the winners in this case being the revolutionaries, it seems that history wants Marie Antoinette to be a git... Thus it came to be told that, genuinely oblivious of the misery in which the French people lived under her husband King Louis XVI, this is all that the very young queen had to say to an advisor who informed their majesties that their people were starving. "They have no more bread? Let them eat cake!".

Answer: understood

Born Marie Sklodowska, Polish scientist Marie Curie worked on radioactivity her entire life with her husband, Frenchman Pierre Curie. After Henri Becquerel's discovery of radioactivity from uranium in 1896, she decided to explore it further and worked on pitchblende, a kind of uranium ore.

She noticed that it was four times as radioactive as uranium alone, and deduced that something else in it must have been much more radioactive. This is how she discovered radium in 1898, shortly after discovering polonium.

Her work on radioactivity was important enough to have earned her two Nobel prizes (in physics and chemistry) in a field where women had to face contempt and ridicule everywhere they tried to go. In the first 100 years of the awards, only one other person won two Nobel prizes in two different fields. Certainly one of the most important scientific minds in history, she really did not fear anything.

Her lifelong exposure to radiation led to her death in 1934. Not before she had changed the world, though...

Answer: king

Yup! Not the heart of a queen! Queen Elizabeth Tudor spent her whole (long) reign making sure that no one would think her weak because of her gender. A sound success, to be sure. These words she uttered in her "Speech to the Troops at Tilbury", in preparation for an expected attack of the Spanish Armada.

The year was 1588 - 30 years into her reign. Philip II, King of Spain, had been allowed by Pope Sixtus V to launch a crusade against Protestant England. His Armada of 151 ships had set sail from Lisbon and already fought in the Battle of Gravelines a few days before the speech.

After the battle, the fleet meant to go rest on the Irish shore for a few days, but the winds carried it further east instead. Anticipating an attack, Elizabeth went to encourage her troops in Tilbury, giving her most famous speech.

The Spanish Armada, already weakened by starvation and illness, was decimated in the following weeks. They ultimately went back to Spain with less than half of their fleet and troops. With a bit of luck, England had become the greatest naval power of the world for more than three centuries.

Answer: go home

I love this one. Heroine in spite of herself, Rosa Parks had a gift for staying genuine and simple as a human being. She kept reminding people who tried to rewrite history that great deeds can be done by anyone who stands up for their principles.

Answer: the truth

Granted, Jean-Paul Sartre's partner certainly was friendly to the idea of communism, but this one was about the truth. If there is one person to identify as the pioneer of French feminism, de Beauvoir is definitely the one. A successful author and a respected philosopher, she spoke loud and clear in a nation known for its machismo.

Answer: lucky attempts

Another one to whom French women owe much. A talented writer in a world where men only were published, Aurore Dupin took the pen name of George Sand to write "lucky attempts" such as "La petite Fadette" (1849). Her relationship with Polish composer Frédéric Chopin is indeed the stuff of legend...

Answer: a clenched fist.

It's true: you cannot shake hands with Napoleon. He's dead. But Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (1966-1977, 1980-1984), had other things to say. Interviewed by the New York Times in 1971 in the context of the Indo-Pakistan War, she came up with this beautifully worded and quite clear statement. The war was over within a year.

Answer: except those who die there

Ah, Jeanne d'Arc! Without her, I wouldn't speak Farrrench, you know. I'd speak English. I know I'm writing in English right now but you know what I mean. The "Maid of Orléans" was only 17 in 1429, when she led the French to war against the English, who had taken advantage of the decline of the French monarchy to take possession of half the country. Things weren't looking good for the French at the time.

In fact, I don't think anyone would have bet a fresh meal on their survival. She led the French Army and reconquered France, had King Charles VII crowned at Reims, but was captured soon after and burned at the stake in 1431.

The French live on to tell her story. ...and maybe tweak it a little.

Answer: private property

The Iron Lady earned her nickname, she did! She was not yet Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1979-1990) when she said this, and not even Leader of the Opposition (1975-1979). She was Shadow Secretary for Environment, but she was certainly setting the tone in her own party...

Answer: no alternative

So spoke Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel (1969-1974), in an interview in 1969. This statement is explained in what she said next: "The Egyptians could run to Egypt, the Syrians into Syria. The only place we could run was into the sea, and before we did that we might as well fight."