When Did They Live? Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1732-1799

America's first President was born in Virginia Colony in British America in 1732. After winning the Revolutionary War, he served as President from 1789-1797. He died aged 67 in 1799.

Answer: 1874-1965

Born in Oxfordshire in 1874, he first became British Prime Minister in the early years of WWII, in May 1940, and he led the Allies to victory before losing the election in July 1945. He became PM for a second time from 1951-1955. He died at the age of 90 in 1965.

Answer: 1769-1821

Born on the French island of Corsica in 1769, he became Emperor of France in 1804 and added the title of King of Italy a year later. He was overthrown in both countries in 1814, with the Bourbon King Louis XVIII being restored to the French throne. Napoleon was exiled first to the Mediterranean island of Elba and then to the remote territory of Saint Helena in the south Atlantic, where he died aged 51 in 1821.

Answer: 1893-1976

Born in Hunan province in southeastern China in 1893, Mao became Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China following WWII in 1945. Known simply as Chairman Mao, he held this position until his death aged 82 in 1976.

Answer: 1889-1945

He was born in the Austrian town of Braunau am Inn, near to the German border in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He became Führer of the National Socialist German Workers' Party in 1921, Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and Führer of the German Realm and People in 1934. Having already annexed Czechoslovakia and Austria, his invasion of Poland in 1939 marked the true start of WWII. Hitler committed suicide aged 56 in April 1945.

Answer: 1878-1953

He was born in the city of Gori in southern Georgia. In 1922 he became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and in 1941 he became Chairman of the Council of Ministers, a position he held throughout the rest of WWII and its aftermath, until his death aged 74 in 1953.

Answer: 1869-1948

Born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in Princely state of Porbandar in what was then British India, his birthday (October 2) is commemorated in parts of India as a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Nonviolence. Unlike many of the people in this quiz, noted for their wars, Gandhi achieved revolution using the opposite methods.

He was assassinated in New Delhi at the age of 76 in 1948.

Answer: 1918-2013

Born in the village of Mvezo in the Cape Province region of South Africa, after 27 years in prison as a revolutionary he became the first President of South Africa in 1994. He was succeeded in 1999 by Thabo Mbeki and he died aged 95 in 2013.

Answer: 1638-1715

Known as "King Louis the Great" and "The Sun King", he was born in the suburbs of Paris in 1638 and became king upon the death of his father before his fifth birthday. His reign of 72 years 110 days is one of the longest of any monarch in European history. He died aged 76 in 1715.

Answer: 1533-1603

She was born in Greenwich in London in 1533, the daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn (who was executed when Elizabeth was just two and a half) and the younger sister of Mary. Elizabeth became queen upon the death (probably from cancer) of her sister, Queen Mary, in 1558. Known as "The Virgin Queen", "Gloriana" or "Good Queen Bess", she died childless at the age of 69 in 1603, marking the end of the Tudor dynasty and the start of the House of Stuart.