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Quiz about Famous Last Wills and Testaments

Famous Last Wills and Testaments Quiz

The following are some of the more interesting bequests from the wills made by famous people. Can you guess who the deceased was?

A multiple-choice quiz by MotherGoose. Estimated time: 6 mins.

Author
MotherGoose

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
80,403

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Difficult

Avg Score
5 / 10

Plays
1154

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Which British playwright left his wife 'his second best bed with the furniture'? Hint

Christopher Marlowe

William Shakespeare

Ben Jonson

Thomas Carlyle

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Question 2 of 10

2. Which French author's will read 'I have nothing. I owe much. The rest I leave to the poor'? Hint

Francois Rabelais

Victor Hugo

Pierre de Ronsard

Blaise Pascal

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Question 3 of 10

3. Which British poet left 500 pounds to maintain his mother and a poem entitled 'The Will'? Hint

John Masefield

Thomas Hardy

John Donne

Rupert Brooke

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Question 4 of 10

4. Which Russian czar left a will advising his ministers to keep Russia continually at war for the good of the nation? Hint

Nicholas II

Ivan the Terrible

Alexander I

Peter the Great

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Question 5 of 10

5. Which British author bequeathed to God 'a Soul polluted by many sins'? Hint

Samuel Pepys

Oliver Goldsmith

Daniel Defoe

Samuel Johnson

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Question 6 of 10

6. Which British Admiral bequeathed his mistress to the King and the Admiralty? Hint

Sir Francis Drake

Robert Blake

Sir Richard Grenville

Horatio Nelson

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Question 7 of 10

7. Which British philosopher left his entire estate to the London Hospital, provided that his preserved remains were permitted to preside over its board meetings? Hint

Jeremy Bentham

Thomas Hobbes

Francis Bacon

Bertrand Russell

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Question 8 of 10

8. Which German poet left his entire estate to his wife provided she marry again 'because then there will be at least one man to regret my death'? Hint

Johann W von Goethe

Hugo von Hofmannsthal

Stefan George

Heinrich Heine

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Question 9 of 10

9. Which Irish playwright left the bulk of his fortune for the development of a British alphabet having 40 letters? Hint

Oscar Wilde

T S Eliot

Harold Pinter

George Bernard Shaw

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Question 10 of 10

10. Which dictator left his collection of paintings to establish a picture gallery in the Austrian town of Linz? Hint

Joseph Stalin

Adolf Hitler

Benito Mussolini

Otto von Bismarck

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which British playwright left his wife 'his second best bed with the furniture'?

Answer: William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (died 1616). The fact that his will omitted any mention of his literary works is believed by some to be evidence that he did not write the plays attributed to him.

2. Which French author's will read 'I have nothing. I owe much. The rest I leave to the poor'?

Answer: Francois Rabelais

Francois Rabelais (died 1553). These three sentences constituted the entire will.

3. Which British poet left 500 pounds to maintain his mother and a poem entitled 'The Will'?

Answer: John Donne

John Donne (died 1631). John Donne is the poet who wrote 'And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee'.

4. Which Russian czar left a will advising his ministers to keep Russia continually at war for the good of the nation?

Answer: Peter the Great

Peter the Great (died 1725). His will was a complete plan of strategy for a Russian conquest of Europe.

5. Which British author bequeathed to God 'a Soul polluted by many sins'?

Answer: Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson (died 1784). He left the bulk of his estate in the form of an annuity for 'Francis Barber, my Man Servant, a Negro'.

6. Which British Admiral bequeathed his mistress to the King and the Admiralty?

Answer: Horatio Nelson

Horatio Nelson (died 1805). He bequeathed her as 'a legacy to my King and country, that they will give her an ample provision to maintain her rank in life'. Both the King and the Admiralty ignored the gift.

7. Which British philosopher left his entire estate to the London Hospital, provided that his preserved remains were permitted to preside over its board meetings?

Answer: Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham (died 1832). The terms of his will were followed and Bentham's body was completely dissected. The bones were reassembled into a skeleton topped by a wax mask and dressed in his clothes. His likeness was then placed in a glass and mahogany case, sitting upright in an armchair. For 92 years he was present at board meetings although duly noted as 'not voting'.

8. Which German poet left his entire estate to his wife provided she marry again 'because then there will be at least one man to regret my death'?

Answer: Heinrich Heine

Heinrich Heine (died 1856). Heine is one of the most popular writers in German literature. He became paralysed in 1848 and was confined to a 'mattress-grave', as he called his bed, for the remainder of his life.

9. Which Irish playwright left the bulk of his fortune for the development of a British alphabet having 40 letters?

Answer: George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw (died 1950). His bequest was later contested in court by the British Museum.

10. Which dictator left his collection of paintings to establish a picture gallery in the Austrian town of Linz?

Answer: Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler (died 1945). He was not German, having been born in Braunau on the Inn, Austria, in 1889. He was interested in art from a young age. In 1907 he went to Vienna to be an art student at the Academy of Fine Arts but failed the entrance exam twice. He did, however, earn a little money by painting pictures.

Source: Author MotherGoose

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