Twins! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Kelly

Mark and Scott Kelly were born in New Jersey in 1964 and both served as captains in the U.S. Navy before becoming NASA astronauts. Scott Kelly first flew into space as the pilot of Space Shuttle Discovery in 1999. He went on to serve on further shuttle missions as well as longer-term missions to the International Space Station, which he also commanded on several occasions. His twin, Mark, first piloted the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 2001 and commanded further space shuttle missions between 2004 and 2011.

Mark Kelly married Gabrielle Giffords, a Congresswoman for Arizona, in 2007. The couple gained widespread public prominence when she was the subject of an attempted assassination in 2011 that left her with serious brain injuries.

The incorrect options are the surnames of other famous astronauts - Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins were part of the Apollo 11 mission and Jim Lovell was the commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission.

Answer: Phelps

Identical twins James and Oliver Phelps were 15 years old when they won the roles of the Weasley twins in the 2001 movie 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's (Sorcerer's) Stone', despite the fact that they didn't have the trademark red hair associated with the Weasley family or any acting experience. James Phelps was cast as Fred Weasley while Oliver took on the role of George. The twins appeared in all eight movies in the series, but these roles didn't immediately translate into a wider acting career after the release of the final movie 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2' in 2011. Neither twin won any particularly prominent acting roles in the immediate aftermath, unlike Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson - the actors who had grown up portraying the main characters, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

Robert Pattinson played Cedric Diggory in the 'Harry Potter' series (and later starred in the film adaptions of Stephenie Meyer's 'Twilight' series as well) while Matthew Lewis portrayed Neville Longbottom.

Answer: Winklevoss

The Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, founded a social networking site called 'ConnectU' while studying at Harvard University in 2002. It was originally aimed at Harvard students but soon spread out to include students of other US universities. They approached Mark Zuckerberg to work on their project but soon after he was allegedly given information about ConnectU, he released his own site which would go on to become the highly successful Facebook. The Winklevoss' lawsuit against Zuckerberg and Facebook was filed in 2004 and settled out of court in 2008. These events were explored in the 2010 film 'The Social Network' in which both Winklevoss twins were portrayed by Armie Hammer.

In addition to their success in business, the twins were also known as rowers. They represented the United States at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and also competed for Oxford University in the 2010 edition of the Boat Race (which Oxford lost to Cambridge).

Rip Van Winkle is the eponymous character of a short story by Washington Irving; Claudia Winkleman is a British TV presenter who co-hosts 'Strictly Come Dancing'; and Manfred and Joachim Winkelhock were brothers who raced in Formula One during the 1980s.

Answer: Shaffer

Anthony and Peter Shaffer were identical twin brothers who were born in Liverpool in 1926 and who both became playwrights and screenwriters. Anthony Shaffer wrote both the 1970 play 'Sleuth' and the screenplay for its 1972 film adaptation that starred Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine. He also wrote screenplays for other notable films, including Alfred Hitchcock's 'Frenzy' and horror thriller 'The Wicker Man'.

Peter Shaffer wrote his first play in the 1950s and had several works performed by the National Theatre and screened by the BBC. His 1973 play 'Equus' won him a Tony Award for Best Play and the 1979 play 'Amadeus' (about the famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) won the same award after it transferred to Broadway in 1981. The 1984 film adaptation of 'Amadeus' won eight Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay for Shaffer. Other notable works by Peter Shaffer include 'Five Finger Exercise' (1962), 'The Royal Hunt of the Sun' (1969) and 'Lettice and Lovage' (1986). He was also granted a knighthood in the 2001 New Year's Honours List.

The incorrect options are all surnames belonging to well-known playwrights (Eugene O'Neill, Samuel Beckett and Tom Stoppard).

Answer: Soyer

Identical twins Moses Soyer and Raphael Soyer were born in the town of Borisoglebsk in western Russia in 1899 and moved to the United States at the age of 12, following Russian oppression of its Jewish population. Social realism was an art movement of the 1920s and 1930s that sought to highlight the conditions faced by ordinary people, particularly those affected by financial hardship caused by the Great Depression. Many of Moses Soyer's paintings depict dancers, but he was also noted for his portraits of ordinary members of society. His brother Raphael was associated with New York's "Fourteenth Street School" - a group known for their depictions of the everyday lives of the working classes. In addition Raphael also painted several portraits of his fellow artists, including Arshile Gorky and Edward Hopper. Moses and Raphael's younger brother Isaac was also an artist associated with social realism.

The incorrect answers were the surnames of three other 20th century American artists associated with the social realism movement - Paul Meltsner, Ben Shahn and Grant Wood (creator of the famous work 'American Gothic').

Answer: Eagle

Angela Eagle was first elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1992 for the constituency of Wallasey in Merseyside. She took up her first full ministerial position in 2009 when she was appointed as Minister for Pensions and Ageing by then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. After Brown's defeat in the 2010 General Election, Angela Eagle held several positions in the Shadow Cabinet appointed by the new party leader, Ed Miliband (who had himself served in parliament alongside a sibling) as well as in the Shadow Cabinet of his replacement, Jeremy Corbyn.

Maria Eagle also stood for election to parliament in 1992, but failed to win her seat. She eventually joined her twin in the House of Commons in 1997, following Labour's landslide election victory under Tony Blair. Her first junior ministerial role came in 2001 as Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People and she was promoted to the position of Minister for Children in 2005. After that she held several ministerial roles before the Labour Party lost power in 2010. Like her sister, she also later held several Shadow Cabinet positions.

Answer: Gibb

Family pop group the Bee Gees shot to fame in the 1960s and had continued success in the music industry over the following decades as both performers and songwriters. Many of their hits, all of which were written by the three brothers, went to number one on the UK Singles Chart or the US Billboard Hot 100. Their first UK number one was 1967's 'Massachusetts', while their first appearance at number one in the US came courtesy of their 1971 song 'How Can You Mend a Broken Heart'. However, some of their most famous songs are their later works 'Stayin' Alive' (1977), 'Night Fever' (1978) and 'Tragedy' (1979).

Maurice and Robin were born in 1949 on the Isle of Man and were non-identical (or fraternal) twins. As part of the Bee Gees, Maurice was more focused on composing the music used in their songs, while his twin Robin and older brother Barry tended to write more of the lyrics and were the band's lead singers. Outside of the Bee Gees, Maurice was briefly married to fellow pop star Lulu from 1969 to 1973 and released some solo work, but without much success. Robin had more luck as a solo artist, releasing a number of albums but never reaching the same level of success that he had as part of the band. Maurice died in 2003 at the age of 53 and Robin in 2012 at the age of 62.

The incorrect options are all surnames of artists who have reached number one on the UK singles chart at some point since 1969.

Answer: Monaco

Princess Gabriella of Monaco, Countess of Carladès and Jacques, Hereditary Prince of Monaco, Marquis of Baux are the twin children of Albert II, Prince of Monaco and his wife Princess Charlene. If they were to use a surname in their official titles then it would be Grimaldi, a name that has been associated with the rulers of the principality since the 14th century.

The twins were the first-born children of Prince Albert - the only son of Prince Rainier III and the American actress Grace Kelly - and Princess Charlene - a former Olympic swimmer for her native South Africa. Gabriella was born first, but Jacques is the heir to the throne as Monaco still uses a system of male-preference primogeniture in order to determine the line of succession.

Answer: Bryan

Bob and Mike Bryan are generally collectively known as the "Bryan Brothers". They dominated men's doubles tennis for many years after they took their first joint Grand Slam title at the French Open in 2003. They won their first US Open in 2005 and maiden Australian and Wimbledon titles in 2006. In 2018, Mike Bryan won his first Grand Slam men's doubles title without his twin when he took the Wimbledon title in partnership with fellow American Jack Sock while Bob was out injured. The brothers also won an Olympic gold medal in the doubles competition at the 2012 Olympics, having taken the bronze medal at the previous Games in Beijing.

In addition to their joint success in men's doubles competitions, both brothers have also won multiple Grand Slam titles in mixed doubles events. Mike won his first mixed doubles title with Lisa Raymond at the US Open in 2002 and his brother took his maiden title with Katarina Srebotnik the following year at the same event.

The incorrect options all belong to other American tennis-playing siblings who won at least one Grand Slam title - Venus and Serena Williams, John and Patrick McEnroe, and John and Tracy Austin. None of them are twins.

Answer: Kray

The Kray Twins terrorised London's East End in the 1950s and 1960s. They were born in Hoxton (part of the London Borough of Hackney) in 1933 and descended into a life of crime from an early age. They were associated with a particularly violent gang and were known to have committed a string of serious crimes from desertion (they didn't exactly conform to army rules when they were called up for National Service in 1952) to armed robbery, arson, running protection rackets and, finally, murder. While the fear in which they had been held - and their celebrity status as high profile London nightclub owners - had prevented them from being arrested for many of their crimes, they were eventually convicted of the murders of George Cornell and Jack McVitie in 1969 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Ronnie Kray suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and spent much of his sentence in the high security Broadmoor Hospital until his death in 1995. Reggie Kray was eventually released from prison in 2000 on compassionate grounds as he was terminally ill with cancer - he died two months later. Their lives were the subject of a 2000 biopic called 'The Krays', which starred Gary and Martin Kemp (of Spandau Ballet fame) as the twins.

The incorrect options are all surnames belonging to famous American gangsters - "Bugs" Moran, "Baby Face" Nelson and James Burke.