A Pride of Lionels Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lionel Logue

Lionel Logue (1880-1953) was an Australian actor who was far more successful as a speech therapist than he was as an actor. He successfully treated World War I soldiers who had developed speech trauma through either gas attacks or shell shock (which is called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder nowadays).

His most famous patient was King George VI, who had a pronounced stammer. Logue began working with the then-Duke of York in 1926. Logue diagnosed a lack of co-ordination between the Duke's larynx and diaphragm, and prescribed a daily hour of vocal exercises. Logue's treatment gave the Duke the confidence to relax which helped him to avoid muscle spasms brought on by tension. Within a year the future king was speaking confidently and suffered only the occasional hesitancy in speech.

Logue worked with the Duke and later the King through the 1930s and 40s. He used tongue-twisters to help his patient rehearse for major speeches, his coronation, and his radio broadcasts to the British Empire throughout the Second World War. The two men remained friends until the King's death.

The story of Logue and his celebrated patient is told in the the film 'The King's Speech' which starred Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush as King George VI and Logue respectively, and Helena Bonham Carter as George's Queen, Elizabeth. The movie won four Oscars:- Best Film of 2010, Best Actor (Firth), Best Director (Tom Hooper) and Best Original Screenplay (David Seidler).

Answer: Barrymore

Lionel Barrymore (1878-1954) was a member of the illustrious American theatrical Barrymore family (Drew Barrymore is his great-niece).

He was equally successful on stage and screen, and in radio. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 'A Free Soul' (1931), and is perhaps best known for his roles as Martin Vanderhof, head of a decidedly eccentric family in 'You Can't Take it With You' (1938) and the miserly banker Henry Potter in 'It's a Wonderful Life' (1946), and he was the original Dr. Gillespie of the Dr. Kildare films and radio series.

He was the brother of actors John Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore. The only film in which all three of the siblings worked together was 'Rasputin and the Empress' (1932). Lionel Barrymore's film career spanned 42 years, beginning in 1911 and ending in 1953. For the last decade or so of his career, severe arthritis confined him to a wheelchair which had no effect on his ability to create memorable characters.

By the way, the other three choices are also the names of American theatrical families.

Answer: Messi

Born 24 June 1987 in Rosario, Argentina, Lionel Messi plays for FC Barcelona and captains the Argentina national team. His brilliance has drawn comparisons to the great Diego Maradona, who refers to Messi as his "successor".

By the age of 21, Messi received Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations, won both the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year in 2009, and won the inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2010 and 2011. He also won the 2010-11 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. In 2008, in Beijing, he won his first international honour, an Olympic gold medal, with the Argentina Olympic football team. At the international level Messi has scored 22 goals in 67 games.

In March 2010, France Football ranked him at the top of its list of the world's richest footballerswith 29.6 million pounds (33 million euros or US$47.2 million) in combined income from salaries, bonuses and off-field earnings, which puts him ahead of David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo.

John Terry, captain of the British football team Chelsea, admits that Messi has become almost as much of an idol to his five-year-old twins as their own father is!

Answer: Lionel Jeffries

Lionel Jeffries (1926-2010) was an English actor, screenwriter and film director. Following World War II service as an officer in the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (during which time he was awarded the Burma Star), Jeffries entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. After graduation he did two years of repertory theatre and also appeared in television dramas.

He later built a successful career in British films. His premature baldness led to him playing characters older than his actual age. In the film 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' (1968), Jeffries played Grandpa Potts, father of Caractacus Potts portrayed by Dick Van Dyke (who was actually six months older than Jeffries!) Who could forget that marvellous scene in which Grandpa Potts sails through the air in the privy which has been hooked up by Baron Bombast's air ship, while singing 'Port Out, Starboard Home'?

Jeffries also wrote and directed children's films, like the critically acclaimed version of 'The Railway Children' (1970) and 'The Amazing Mr Blunden' (1972).

After his experiences in television in the late 1940s, Jeffries developed a dislike of TV and its production values. However, in 1980 he was persuaded to play a lead role in Dennis Potter's drama 'Cream in My Coffee' (London Weekend Television) and realised that television production values had improved to the point that they matched the quality of film. Subsequently, he appeared in several more television productions.

Lionel Stander was the gravelly-voiced American character actor best known for his role as Max in the TV series 'Hart to Hart'. Lionel Blair is the Canadian-born British TV presentere and actor. Lionel Cooke was a member of the Queen's Men, the 16th century theatre company.

Answer: Lionel Hampton

Lionel Hampton (1908-2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy Rich to Charlie Parker and Quincy Jones.

In November 1936, record producer John Hammond brought Benny Goodman to see Hampton perform. Goodman was so impressed with Hampton that he invited him to join the celebrated Benny Goodman Trio (comprised of Goodman, Teddy Wilson and Gene Krupa). With the addition of Hampton, it became the Benny Goodman Quartet and it was one of the first racially integrated jazz groups to record and play before wide audiences.

Outside his music career, Hampton was involved in a variety of humanitarian causes. One of the most enduring of his passions was the construction of public housing projects. He founded the Lionel Hampton Development Corporation and the first housing project was the Lionel Hampton Houses in Harlem, New York in the 1960s, which was developed with the help of then Republican governor Nelson Rockefeller. Hampton's wife Gladys shared Lionel's passion for making lowcost housing available and together they built the Gladys Hampton Houses. Following Gladys' death in 1971, Lionel continued funding lowcost housing projects.

Among a lengthy list of honours and awards Lionel Hampton received are the 1996 Medal of Arts presented by President Bill Clinton, "Contributions To The Cultural Life of the Nation" award from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1992, a Papal Medal from Pope Paul VI and the George Friedrich Handel Medal in 1966, and the Israeli Statehood Award in 1954. In 1957 Hampton was named American Goodwill Ambassador by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Lionel Duperron is a Canadian jazz drummer, Lionel Bart is a British composer (his best known work is probably 'Oliver!'), and Lionel Richie is an American singer/songwriter/producer.

Answer: Conacher

Lionel Pretoria Conacher, MP (1902-1954), was born on Victoria Day (May 24) in Toronto and grew up in the neighourhood of Davenport, which his brother Charlie described as "one of Toronto's higher class slums". Conacher's unusual middle name was given to him because the British were fighting the Boers in Pretoria, South Africa on the day Lionel was born.

Nicknamed "The Big Train" (a name he picked up as a football player - evidently, Conacher was unstoppable on the field and just rolled over opposing team members who stood between him and the end zone!) Conacher was named Canada's top athlete of the first half of the 20th century because he excelled in football (he was on the Toronto Argonauts team that won the Grey Cup in 1921), baseball (he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team that won the International League championship in 1926), and hockey (he played for the Toronto Canoe Club team that won the Memorial Cup in 1920, for the Chicago Black Hawks when the team won the Stanley Cup in 1934, and for the the Montreal Maroons when they won the Stanley Cup in 1935). He also won several wrestling, boxing and lacrosse amateur championships.

Conacher left the sports world in 1937 to run under the Liberal Party banner and won a seat in the Ontario Provincial Parliament. In 1949 won a seat on the Liberal Government side of the House of Commons. As an elected provincial and federal politician, Conacher championed causes that benefitted sports. While an MPP in the Ontario Provincial Parliament, he was instrumental in cleaning up boxing, which was rife with corrupt practices. He also served as the chairman of the Ontario Athletic Commission, and served a term as director of recreation and entertainment for the Royal Canadian Air Force. Conacher died on the playing field when he succumbed a heart attack during a softball game in 1954.

In addition to being named Canada's athlete of the half-century, he was named the country's top football player over the same period. He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1955, the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1964, the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1965 and the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1994. The Canadian Press Association gives the Lionel Conacher Award to its male athlete of the year.

Answer: J. D. Salinger

Lionel is the son of Boo-Boo Glass Tennenbaum and her husband Mr. Tennebaum (Mr. Tennenbaum has no first name in the story), and he is the main character in 'Down at the Dinghy', a short story by J. D. Salinger. It was first published in the April 1949 edition of Harper's Magazine, and it is included in a compilation of Salinger's short stories, 'Nine Stories', which is probably the finest collection of short stories in American literature (at least, in my opinion, but then I'm a Salinger fan).

Lionel is a four-year-old boy and this is the only Salinger work about the Glass family (qv 'Franny and Zooey' and 'Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenter') in which Lionel appears. It is much more laid-back than the other two parts of the Glass family saga, and it is a delightful read.

Answer: Gender

Lionel Shriver is an American journalist and author who was named Margaret Ann when she was born in Gastonia, N.C, in 1957. She re-named herself Lionel when she was 15 because she felt the name was best-suited to a tomboy like her. She was educated at Barnard College, Columbia University (BA, MFA), and she is married to jazz drummer Jeff Williams. She now lives in London.

Shriver was an established writer with six published novels to her credit before she wrote her best-known work, 'We Need to Talk About Kevin', which won the 2005 Orange Prize. 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' examines the role that his relationship with his mother might have played in the title character's decision to murder nine people at his high school. The book created a great deal of controversy.

As a journalist Shriver has written for the "Wall Street Journal", the "Financial Times", the "New York Times", "The Economist", and many other publications. She also contributed to the Radio Ulster program 'Talkback' when she lived in Belfast. A social activist, Shriver began writing a column for The Guardian in 2005. In the column, she has shared her opinions on maternal influence in Western society, the pettiness of British bureaucrats, and the importance of libraries (she plans to will whatever assets remain at her death to the Belfast Library Board). In 2009, she donated the short story 'Long Time, No See' to Oxfam's 'Ox-Tales' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the 'Fire' collection.

Her novel 'So Much for That' is a scathing castigation of the US health care system, Shriver has said that she is "exasperated with the way that medical matters are run in my country, because if I take a wrong turn on my bike and get run over by a taxi, I could lose everything I have." 'So Much for That', released March 2, 2010, was subsequently named as a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction (it lost to Jaimy Gordon's 'Lord of Misrule').

Answer: Lancelot

Sir Lionel was the younger son of King Bors and brother of Bors the Younger in the Arthurian legend. He was a double cousin of Lancelot and cousin of Lancelot's younger half-brother Ector de Maris (no, that wasn't Sir Ector of the Round Table, who raised Arthur after the death of his parents) When King Bors died in battle against King Claudas, Lionel and Bors the Younger were rescued by the Lady of the Lake and raised in her underwater kingdom alongside her foster-son Lancelot. Like all his family, Lionel became a Knight of the Round Table.

Answer: Tennis

Lionel Richie was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1949, and spent his early years in his grandfather's house on the campus of Tuskegee Institute. Lionel's family moved to Joliet, Illinois, when he was in his teens and he attended Joliet Township High School, East Campus where he was a star tennis player. He accepted a tennis scholarship to attend Tuskegee Institute, and graduated with a major in economics. Richie's original intent was to attend law school but after a brief stint in graduate school at Auburn University, he dropped out to devote his time to the band he had formed with friends in his undergraduate days.

The band was The Commodores! They signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records in 1968 for one record before moving on to Motown Records as a support act to The Jackson 5. The Commodores then became established as a popular soul group. Their first several albums featured such tracks as 'Machine Gun' and 'Brick House'. Over time, Richie wrote and sang more romantic, easy-listening ballads such as 'Easy', and 'Three Times a Lady'.

By the late 1970s Richie was writing songs for other artists. He composed 'Lady' for Kenny Rogers, which hit #1 in 1980, and produced Rogers's album 'Share Your Love' the following year. In 1981 Richie teamed with Diana Ross to sing the theme song for the film 'Endless Love'. Issued as a single, the song topped the UK and US pop music charts, and became one of Motown's biggest hits.

Its success encouraged Richie to branch out into a full-fledged solo career in 1982. Recently, he has said that he would like to get The Commodores back together soon, "or in the next 10 years no one will care."

Additional trivia:

Argentine-born soccer superstar, Lionel Messi (see above), was named for Lionel Richie.

Richie appeared in NBC's 'Who Do You Think You Are?' in 2011, and found out his great-grandfather was the national leader of an early African-American fraternal organization.