Ladies First! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sirimavo Bandaranaike

Are you surprised? Sirimavo Bandaranaike is certainly not a household name, but she should be! Bandaranaike was elected Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in 1960, after the assassination of her husband in 1959. She led the Sri Lanka Freedom Party to victory and served as Prime Minister three times: 1960-65, 1970-1977, 1994-2000. Sadly, although she preceded the famous women above, most people don't know her name (it may be long, bit it's worth remembering). I certainly don't want to diminish the achievements of the other three: Indira Gandhi - 4th Prime Minister of India, Golda Meir - 4th Prime Minister of Israel and Benizir Bhutto - 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Answer: Valentina Tereshkova

On June 16, 1963, Valentina Tereshkova of the Soviet Union became the first woman in space on Vostok 6, following her countryman Yuri Gagarin, the cosmonaut who completed an orbit of the Earth in April, 1961. Tereshkova was followed by Svetiana Savitskaya, the first woman to fly on a space station (Salyut 7) in 1982 and perform a space walk in 1984. Sally Ride was the first American woman in space in June 1983 and Mae Jemison became the first Black woman astronaut in space in September 1992. In case you were wondering, in 1984 Anna Lee Fisher became the first mother in space; her daughters must be so proud!

Answer: Nadia Comaneci

A tiny, 14 year old Romanian girl, Nadia Comaneci, was the first female to get a perfect score; this was at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada. Bela Karolyi, the Romanian coach, spotted her outside her school and Nadia's parents agreed to let him train their daughter who was only 6 years old at the time.

At the Olympics, the first event, the uneven parallel bars, was her favorite and, after finishing her performance, the scoreboard would have lit up with a 10.0 but since no one had ever scored a perfect 10 before, the scoreboard didn't have enough room to reflect her correct score of 10! She went on to score 7 more perfect 10s and won three gold medals, as well as a silver and a bronze that year.

Answer: Sheila Johnson

Did you get it wrong? If you chose correctly, you are either very knowledgeable or an excellent guesser! Sheila Johnson made her fortune when she co-founded the BET cable network with Bob Johnson, her husband at the time. She also went on to be the first African-American female owner of a WNBA team when she bought into the Washington Mystics basketball team in 2005.

Sheila is CEO of Salamander Hotels and Resorts, the vice-chair of Monumental Sports and Entertainment and, in addition to the Washington Mystics, she also has an ownership stake in two other professional sports teams, i.e. NBA's Washington Wizards and NHL's Washington Capitals.

Answer: first British woman to receive honorary degrees from Princeton and Yale

Joanne Rowling, writing as J.K. Rowling, was the first novelist, man or woman, whose net worth was over one billion dollars. Her first 3 Harry Potter books garnered three consecutive Smarties Prizes, and the Harry Potter series of books became the fastest selling books of all time, each one setting a record greater than its predecessor. Rowling has received honorary degrees from the universities of St. Andrews, Edinburgh, Exeter, Aberdeen and from Harvard University.

Interestingly, she has said that the last chapter of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" was one of the earliest things she wrote in the series.

Her real life 'rags to riches' story is inspiring!

Answer: a torpedo guidance system

Strange as it may seem, in 1942 Hedy Lamarr was co-awarded a patent for a 'secret communication system' for radio-guided torpedoes. The technology involved in her invention eventually helped revolutionize mobile telecommunications by becoming a constituent part of what is now GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi... Who would have guessed? The incorrect choices were also inventions patented by famous people: the flotation system described above was invented by the only US president to receive a patent, i.e., Abraham Lincoln; the adjustable strap was created by Samuel L. Clemens (aka Mark Twain) and writer Barbara Cartland invented the towing method for gliders.

Answer: Betty White

Did you know that, in 1952, Betty White (the energizer bunny of actresses) produced a sitcom called "Life with Elizabeth", starring (you guessed it) Betty White? In 2015 her sitcom "Hot in Cleveland" was renewed for another season (although she was not the producer), and in between, when she turned 90, she hosted NBC's show "Betty White's Off Their Rockers" with old people 'pranking' young ones.

But don't dismiss the incorrect choices: Joan Rivers was the first female late-night talk show host in 1986; Whoopi Goldberg was the first female solo host of the Oscars in 1994 and Tina Fey was the first female head writer of "SNL Live" in 1999.

Answer: Lina Wertmüller

Did I trick you? All of the above were nominated for Best Director and, while Kathryn Bigelow was the only woman who won the award in 2009 for "The Hurt Locker, she was the last of the above to be nominated. In 1976 Lina Wertmüller won the distinction of being the first female ever nominated for Best Director for her 1975 Italian film "Seven Beauties" for which she also wrote the screenplay.

It is about an Italian soldier who deserts in World War II, is captured by the Germans and sent to a concentration camp where he is willing to do anything to survive. Campion did "The Piano" (1993) and Coppola directed "Lost in Translation" in 2003.

Answer: Tina Turner

Just because of her incredible staying power, I hope you picked the wonderful Tina Turner. She first appeared on the cover of "Rolling Stone" in 1967 and again for the 30th anniversary issue in November 1997 (along with Madonna and Courtney Love). She was born with the name Annie May Bullock and, at 73, she became the oldest ever to grace the cover of "Vogue" in April 2013 with the caption "Simply the Best!". Streisand was the first woman to write, produce, direct and act in a single movie ("Yentl"); Beyonce was the first woman honored with an AMA International Artist Award of Excellence in 2007; J. Lo was the first female spokesperson for Boys & Girls Club of America in 2010.

Answer: Jackie Joyner-Kersee

In 1987 Jackie Joyner-Kersee became the first woman to appear on the cover of "Sports Illustrated". While all the choices are phenomenal 'track and field' athletes (nothwithstanding the 2000 Sydney Olympics for Marion Jones), it was Jackie who was ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the women's heptathlon and women's long jump.

She participated in these two events in 4 different Olympic Games: in Los Angeles (1984), Seoul (1988), Barcelona (1992) and Atlanta (1996), winning three gold, one silver and two bronze medals. "Sports Illustrated for Women" magazine voted her the greatest female athlete of the 20th century.