It Was the Best of Tims... Trivia Quiz

Answer: Timothy McVeigh

McVeigh's crime caused a greater loss of life than any other act of terrorism in the United States in the 20th century. 168 people lost their lives as a consequence of McVeigh's actions on the morning of 19th April, 1995. The bomb, containing more than 2,000kg of explosive, was driven up to the front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in a rented truck and two fuses were lit. The resulting explosion damaged more than 300 buildings and left nearly 700 injured.

McVeigh was stopped later that morning for driving without a license plate and was arrested when it became apparent that he was carrying a concealed weapon, also without a license. Whilst in custody, the investigation into the bombing matched McVeigh with the rental of the truck and the purchase of explosives and he was charged on 11 counts, including first degree murder. In 1997, he was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to death. He showed no remorse for his actions prior to his execution in 2001.

Answer: Tim Berners-Lee

Berners-Lee first formulated the idea of the World Wide Web in 1989 when working at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research). His brainwave was to take the existing technologies of hypertext, TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and unique domain names and bring them together into a new protocol, which he called HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol). This, he believed, would establish a system of information retrieval that could be shared across the world.

The first successful use of HTTP via the world's first web browser, called the World Wide Web, was achieved on Christmas Day 1990. The world's first website was launched on CERN's web server (also the world's first) eight months later.

Answer: Timothy Dalton

Dalton was first offered the role of James Bond when Sean Connery stepped down prior to the filming of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" in 1968. Dalton was just 22 years old at the time and regarded himself as too youthful to play the part. He was twice approached during Roger Moore's period as Bond in the late 70s and early 80s but rejected the approaches. Only when Moore stepped down in 1985 did Dalton decide that the time was right to be Bond. "The Living Daylights" (1987) was the first of three scheduled films that Dalton was contracted to appear in but after "License to Kill" (1989), the producers and distributors got into a legal dispute which continued for several years. Just as the dispute was close to resolution, Dalton announced that he was tired of waiting and passed the Bond baton on to Pierce Brosnan.

Answer: Saint Paul

There is much academic debate about whether Saint Paul was the author of 1 & 2 Timothy. Those who dispute the authorship point to a difference in writing style and use of vocabulary from those epistles that are undoubtedly Pauline in origin.

The letters, if they are from Paul, are an exhortation to his pupil, whom he has appointed as Bishop of Ephesus, to carry on Paul's work in promoting the faith and be steadfast against those who would oppose this work.

Answer: The Speaking Clock

The speaking clock has survived into the internet age despite the widespread availability of other sources of telling the time. It was first introduced into the UK in 1936 on the number 846 (T-I-M on old-fashioned dials). The original device, though state of the art for its time, required an entire room to house. By 1984, the device had become digital and was reduced to the size of a small suitcase.

Ethel Jane Cain, a telephonist and occasional actress, was chosen in a competition to find the perfect voice and was retained until 1963 when the original "clock" device was replaced. TIM's first male voice was that of Brian Cobby, who became the third permanent voice in 1985. Amongst Cobby's previous credits was as the voice that announced "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Thunderbirds are go!" for the Gerry Anderson TV series.

Answer: James Herriot

The interludes with a cow's posterior probably didn't appear in every Herriot novel but the image of Christopher Timothy assuming the position was such a classic, and so heavily associated with the series, that it just seemed that way. Timothy is similarly associated with the show to the exclusion of all others, despite appearances in many of the UK's most popular TV shows of the 1980s and 90s.

James Herriot was the pen name of Alf Wight, a veterinarian who practised in the Yorkshire town of Thirsk. He started writing his comic novels in his fifties and saw the first of them, "If Only They Could Talk", published in 1970. Though the success of his first two novels was modest, they attracted the attention of an American publisher, who combined them into one volume, titled "All Creatures Great and Small", which achieved almost instant success in both the US and the UK.

Answer: Sir Tim Rice

Tim Rice's career in music came with a short spell as an assistant producer, working for Cliff Richard, amongst other artists. This career was left behind when Rice, as lyricist, along with Andrew Lloyd-Webber, as composer, wrote and produced the smash hit stage musicals, "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and "Jesus Christ Superstar".

His talents as a lyricist brought him calls from Hollywood, particularly from Disney. He won three Oscars in quick succession for Best Original Song, for "Aladdin" in 1993, "The Lion King" in 1995 and "Evita" in 1997.

Answer: Tim Burton

Tim Burton was working as an artist for Disney when he was approached by Paul Reubens, also known as Pee-wee Herman, to direct his first feature film, "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" (1985). The movie was a surprise hit and when his next film, "Beetlejuice" (1988), also made strong profits on a low budget, he became a director in demand. He was hired to direct the first film in the "Batman" franchise and with it's success, the second, "Batman Returns".

Despite having numerous hits, and his films providing nominations for many of his actors, Burton only received his first Oscar nomination after the Academy introduced a special category for Best Animated Feature. 2005's "Corpse Bride" lost out to Nick Park's "Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" when the awards were handed out.

Answer: Timothy Leary

"My advice to people today is as follows: If you take the game of life seriously, if you take your nervous system seriously, if you take your sense organs seriously, if you take the energy process seriously, you must turn on, tune in, and drop out." (from 'Neurological Politics' by Timothy Leary).

Leary's views on the positive benefits of hallucinogenic drugs came from several years of study whilst a professor at Harvard. His advocacy of them led to his dismissal from his post and his labelling by President Nixon as "the most dangerous man in America".

It was not the first time that Leary had got himself into trouble over illicit substances. He was asked to leave West Point Military Academy in his early 20s after supposedly being caught drinking whisky. Despite this departure, Leary served in the Army Medical Corps during World War II whilst completing his degree in Psychology.

Following his PhD, Leary worked in academia for 10 years before his views on his subject were transformed by taking magic mushrooms for the first time. This event, he claimed, taught him more about the human brain then any of his studies had ever achieved.

Answer: Enid Blyton

Enid Blyton produced a prodigious number of children's books in her lifetime and some of her creations have outlived her to have their series extended by other writers. She produced many series including "Malory Towers" and the "Secret Seven" books but it is for "Noddy" and "The Famous Five" that she is best remembered.

"The Famous Five", siblings Anne, Dick and Julian, their cousin George (real name Georgina, but don't you dare call her that) and her dog first appeared in "Five on a Treasure Island" in 1942. Their last appearance in a Blyton-penned adventure came in the 1963 book, "Five Are Together Again". Though Blyton was often criticised as being a formulaic writer, the books attracted a huge following amongst young children. Blyton reputedly dismissed any criticism by stating that the opinions of anyone over 12 did not matter to her.