A Warm Welcome to... Trivia Quiz

Answer: Benicio del Toro

This highly decorated actor, who was born in 1967, was deservedly praised for his performance as the jaded Mexican police officer in Steven Soderbergh's acclaimed film "Traffic". His varied body of work has seen him produce scene stealing performances as the virtually unintelligible Fred Fenster in "The Usual Suspects" (1995), the highly eccentric Collector in a series of Marvel films and the codebreaking disc jockey in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" (2017). Making a less than salubrious debut in "Big Top Pee-Wee" (1988) he would come to attention as the (then) youngest James Bond henchman, Dario, in 1989's "Licensed to Kill".

Answer: Brazil

Sócrates, born in 1954, is considered to have been one of the greatest midfielders to have played the game. He represented his country in sixty games during a period spanning seven years between 1979 and 1986 and, during this time, he scored twenty two international goals. Named South America's "Footballer of the Year" in 1983 he was a star for Brazil in two World Cup campaigns, captaining his nation during their 1982 attempt at the title. Thanks to a medical degree he was nicknamed "Doctor Sócrates".

He passed away in 2011 at the age of 57.

Answer: Black Sabbath

Born in 1948 and widely considered to be one of the greatest guitarist of all time, Iommi has been the mainstay of Black Sabbath. He remained a part of the band for almost fifty years and was their primary songwriter during this period. He was part of an early incarnation of Sabbath called Earth.

He switched to Jethro Tull for a brief period before returning to Earth, changing their name and being influential in their debut self-titled release in 1969. He went solo at the turn of the century and, after two albums, formed the band Heaven and Hell with Ronnie James Dio.

The band broke up after the death of Dio in 2010.

Answer: Nicolaus Copernicus

Copernicus (born 1473) first put forth his thoughts about heliocentrism to his friends in 1514 when he provided them with a manuscript entitled "Little Commentary". Despite the urgings of his friends he refused to publish his theories for fear of being derided and scorned. Even by 1532 when he'd almost completed his definitive work, "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres", he was resistant. Johann Albrecht Widmannstetter delivered a set of lectures in Rome the following year and this made the Catholic church sit up and take notice. Copernicus still resisted and the book did not get published until the year of his death, 1543.

It was hailed as a major event for science and sparked what is now known as the "Copernicus Revolution".

Answer: Amy Tan

The Rock Bottom Remainders is an American rock and roll band that is made up of published writers, most of whom are also amateur musicians. Members of the group have included the likes of Scott Turow, James McBride, Matt Groening and Stephen King.

Amy Tan's "Joy Luck Club" (1989) is a series of sixteen interlinked stories about the experiences of four Chinese American mother-daughter pairs. Tan was born in California, the daughter of Chinese immigrants John and Daisy Tan and finished her high schooling in Switzerland after her father had passed away from a brain tumour when she was fifteen years old. Her books, which have tended toward familial relationships and generally involve characters of Chinese descent, include "The Kitchen God's Wife" (1991), "The Hundred Secret Senses" (1995) and "The Bonesetter's Daughter" (2005).

Answer: Making plutonium pellets

Karen Silkwood (born 1946) worked as a chemical technician at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site plant in Oklahoma in the United States. She was also a labour union activist and was vocal in raising concerns about the corporate practices of her employer and the reportedly low level of safety standards that were in place. She had apparently gathered substantial evidence against her company and was heading out to rendezvous with a journalist when her car went off the road and she was found dead at the wheel. No documents were ever found.

Her story became the subject of an Academy Award winning film, "Silkwood" (1983) in which Meryl Streep played the chemical plant worker.

Answer: True

Smokey Robinson is an American singer who was the founding member and main songwriter for the band The Miracles. He was a member of the band from their early days in 1955, when they were known as the Five Chimes, until 1972. At this point he was appointed vice president of Motown Records and his desire was to focus his energies into that role. He would return to recording and performing, a little over a year later, as a solo artist. Alongside such hits as "You Really Got a Hold on Me" and "Second That Emotion", Smokey would be responsible for twenty six Top Forty hits with the Miracles.

As a child he had a love for cowboy films and his favourite uncle, Claude, would indulge him by taking him to the cinemas on a regular basis. At age three, Uncle Claude, gave him the cowboy name "Smokey Joe" and this became Robinson's standard response when people would ask him his name. As he approached his teens the cowboy name was no longer sounding cool, so the "Joe" got dropped and he simply became "Smokey".

Answer: Mexico

Prior to becoming president, Obregon was a general during his country's Civil War, also known as the Mexican Revolution. Obregon was a supporter of Venustiano Carranza during the Revolution. Carranza reciprocated by, initially, appointing Obregon as the commander of their forces in the north-western sector of Mexico and then his Minister of War in 1915. Things turned in 1920 when Obregon revolted against Carranza, leading to the latter being assassinated and Obregon winning the election that year overwhelmingly. Obregon's greatest contributions to Mexico were his substantial education reforms and the signing of the 1923 Bucareli Treaty, which gave his government diplomatic legitimacy in the eyes of the US government.

Obregon stood down in 1924 but returned in 1928 and won the election that year. Unfortunately he was assassinated before he could commence his new term as president.

Answer: Lee Marvin

Marvin made a name for himself playing a series of hard-boiled characters on the big screen. He came to notice with significant performances in "Raintree County" (1957) as "Flash" Perkins and then in two roles alongside John Wayne; "The Comancheros" (1961) as Tully Crow and the titular character in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962).

However, it was his performances as Charlie Strom in "The Killers" (1964) and the dual roles of Kid Shelleen and Tim Strawn in "Cat Ballou" (1965), the latter earning him an Academy Award for Best Actor, that catapulted him to stardom. By 1970 he was being paid a million dollars per film, not much less than Paul Newman.

It was during this time that he'd pulled out of filming "The Wild Bunch", after falling out with its director Sam Peckinpah, and found his way to the set of "Paint Your Wagon".

His rendition of "Wand'rin' Star", from that movie's soundtrack, would be a hit in Australia, Ireland and England, staying at number one on the singles charts in the latter for three weeks.

Answer: Bridget Jones

Humorous and sharp-witted, Fielding was born in 1958 in West Yorkshire, and published her first book, "Cause Celebs" in 1994. When the "Independent" newspaper in London asked her to write a column about herself and the trials and tribulations of being a single young woman in the city she refused.

However, she suggested that she create a fictional persona through which to pose her views and, hence, Bridget Jones was born. As her character became popular her publisher approached her to create a novel around Bridget.

It became a sensation that has spawned a series of books and, at least, two major motion pictures.