Any Old Iron Trivia Quiz

Answer: Katinka Hosszu

Born in 1989, Katinka has been christened the "Iron Lady" of Hungarian swimming. It seems appropriate then that her Budapest based swim school is known as the Iron Swim Budapest.

Katinka's first Summer Olympic Games competition was in 2004 at Athens and she followed that up by competing at the subsequent four Games, 2008 in Beijing, 2012 in Manchester, 2016 in Rio and the delayed 2020 Games in Tokyo. Specializing in the Individual Medley events she secured three Olympic gold medals and one silver, all of them collected at the Rio Games.

At the time of writing (February, 2023), she was the world record holder in the 100-metre individual medley, the 200-metre event over both the long course and the short course and the 400-metre IM over the long course. She became the first swimmer, male or female, to hold all five world medley records at the same time. She has been named FINA's Swimmer of the Year on four separate occasions.

Answer: Anne Steele

Born into a family of Puritans with a minister for a father, Anne developed a pious devotion from an early age. She also discovered a love for literature and her own ability to write essays and poetry. Reluctant to have her works read in public, she eventually ceded to requests but did so under the pen name Theodosia.

In 1760 her works were published in two volumes under the title "Poems on Subjects chiefly Devotional". An additional volume would be published after her death in 1778. Included within these pages were 144 hymns, 34 Psalms, and 30 short poems. So prolific was she that for the first 100 years after her passing, her hymns took up the majority of the pages in the hymnals in the UK and the USA.

Answer: Lady Barbara Steel

Scottish born and often referred to as "Lady Steel", Barbara was a strong campaigner for the women's suffragette movement, both in the United Kingdom and in South Africa. As a testament to her work and those of her fellow activists, in 2009 Scottish women performed a re-enactment of Lady Steel's 1909 Women's Suffrage Procession.

Previously, in 1907, Barbara's name was flashed across newspapers across the globe when she refused to pay taxes without being allowed to vote. This only led to her furniture being seized and sold off to clear the debt. That same year she stood for election for a seat in the Edinburgh Town Council, the first woman to do so. Unfortunately, her militant stance on taxation cost her any chance of success in this endeavor.

At the beginning of World War I she moved to South Africa where she would found an organization that provided aid to South African soldiers and her efforts in this field saw her honoured with an Order of the British Empire (OBE).

Answer: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

When Ellen was elected as the 24th President of Liberia in 2006, she became the first elected female head of state in Africa. Monrovian born and educated in the United States, she became the Deputy Minister for Finance in 1971 under William Tolbert's government in Liberia. Sensing danger when Samuel Doe completed his coup de tat in 1980 she fled back to States, returning to contest the elections in 1985. She was not successful and her open criticism of the military influenced government saw her arrested and sentenced to ten years in prison, a term that was later commuted.

Earning the nickname of "Iron Lady", she would return to politics, contesting and losing the Presidential race to Charles Taylor in 1997. However, the tables were turned and she would succeed at the 2005 elections, taking office in January the following year and then winning her re-election in 2011. A tireless campaigner for women's rights and equality, she would earn the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her efforts in bringing women into the peacemaking process.

Answer: Michelle Ferris

Ferris was an Australian cycling star who, unfortunately, developed a reputation for finishing second. Not usually a great advertisement for glory but when you're consistently being edged out by the amazing French cyclist Felicia Ballanger, it becomes partly understandable. Michelle would claim silver behind Ballanger in the 500 metre event at two Olympic Games, 1996 at Atlanta and again in 2000 in Sydney. A similar scenario occurred at the World Championships in the 500 in 1995, 1996 and 1997, as well as the sprints in 1997, 1998 and 1999.

Ferris would retire from cycling to become a coach at the Western Sydney Academy of Sport, became a promoter of the Gay Games, and would be inducted into the Cycling Australia Hall of Fame in 2018.

(Footnote) In case you're wondering, the name Ferris means ironworker.

Answer: Dawn Steel

Dawn moved from sportswriter to secretary to being the merchandising director for Penthouse magazine before setting up her own merchandising organization in 1975. Three years later she would sell her company to become Director of Merchandising at Paramount Pictures, with her first assignment being "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (1979). By 1983 she'd become senior Vice President of production and her support for such films as "Flashdance" (1983), "Top Gun" (1986), and "Fatal Attraction" (1987) saw the studio prosper.

These successes saw her appointed President of Columbia Pictures and whilst she had some success by backing "Casualties of War" and "When Harry Met Sally" (both 1989), her tenure was beset with issues which led to her resignation in 1990. Dawn would set up her own production companies and also turned film producer. Her most notable success came in a production deal with The Walt Disney Company, which saw the creation of "Cool Runnings" (1993) and "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit" (1993).

Answer: Irom Chanu Sharmila

Amnesty International declared Irom Sharmila a "prisoner of conscience" but the people of her birthplace, Manipur, call her the "Iron Lady".

In November of 2000 Irom commenced a hunger strike that would last 500 weeks in an attempt to have the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 abolished. This Act provides the army with the ability to search properties without warrants and the power to use deadly force on the basis that they suspect there is "reasonable suspicion" that a perpetrator is acting against the state. Her actions saw her arrested and, despite two parties seeking her standing in elections (which she declined), she was denied the power to vote due to her confinement in jail.

She was acquitted and released from jail in August of 2014, only to be re-arrested for the same charges three days later and held for 15 days. A winner of numerous human rights awards, Irom would launch her own political party, the Peoples' Resurgence and Justice Alliance, in 2016.

(Footnote) Despite her continued refusal to accept food and water during her hunger strike, she was force fed through a nasal tube while she was under arrest.

Answer: Danielle Steel

An incredibly prolific author, Danielle has been able to produce several books per year. The majority of her work centres around rich families in the midst of some crisis that involves some criminal element such as blackmail or fraud. Though she has received little in the way of critical acclaim, this has not prevented her from becoming one of the world's best sellers. By 2021 she'd written over 190 books, of which 140 were novels and had sold in excess of 800 million copies.

This placed her, at that time, as the fourth biggest selling author of all time.

Answer: Evelyn Irons

Scottish born Evelyn was the first female war correspondent to earn the French Croix de Guerre. Despite gaining fame as a journalist on the battlefields of World War II, it is surprising to discover that Evelyn's career as a writer began with the Daily Mail editing that paper's beauty page. She was fired for being "too unfashionable".

When war broke out she received resistance from Britain's General Montgomery who was set against female journalists in a war zone, however, she managed to win her break when she was strongly supported by the French and scored a coup by being one of the first foreign journalists to enter liberated France. Legend has it that she was also the first female journalist to make it to Hitler's "Eagle Nest", where she, reportedly, helped herself to some of the dictator's fine Rhine wine.

Answer: Barbara Steele

Born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, in 1937, Barbara made her mark in a series of Italian gothic horror films in the 1960s. Most notable among these were "Black Sunday" (1960), "The Horrible Dr. Hichcock" (1962), "The Ghost" (1963), "The Long Hair of Death" (1964), and "Castle of Blood" (1964).

She had originally won the part of Roslyn in Elvis Presley's "Flaming Star" (1960), but lost the role to Barbara Eden after a strong disagreement with director Don Siegel. She would also earn praise for her work in Federico Fellini's "8½" (1963). A further string of horror films came her way during the 1970s, including David Cronenberg's "Shivers" (1975), "Piranha" (1978), and "The Silent Scream (1979). She turned to production, mainly in television, winning a Primetime Emmy as the producer of the miniseries "War and Remembrance" (1988).