Famous People With Objects in their Name Quiz

Answer: George Bush

43rd President of the USA, George Walker Bush led the country from 2001 to 2009. His father, George Herbert Bush, was American President from 1989 to 1993.

A bush is a small woody plant with a more shallow root system than a tree and smaller than a tree in size. It usually bears flowers and sometimes fruit, but sometimes it's just a plain old bush, but still beautiful of course.

Answer: Edward Abbey

Edward Abbey lived from 1927 to 1989. His works include "The Monkey Wrench Gang" and "Desert Solitaire" and "The Fool's Progress".

An abbey is usually headed by an abbot or an abbess who is considered the spiritual leader of the community that lives within. Though many of the old buildings can be seen dotted around the western world still, they seldom perform the purpose for which they were originally intended and many instead are in ruins.

Answer: Bobby Hull

Bobby Hull was born in 1939. He is considered to be one of the greatest ice hockey players of all time, known for his incredible speed and shots.

The hull is the watertight body of a water going vessel. Once all were built from wood, but today this structure depends on the purpose for which the completed vessel is to be used.

Answer: Nick Cave

Cave is probably best known as frontman for the band "Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds". He's been inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame for his musicianship, has also performed as an actor in various productions, and is the author of books such as "And the Ass Saw the Angel".

A cave is a natural space in various geological formations and includes categories such as sea caves, rock caves, grottos, all of which can be enormously large or barely big enough to fit into.

Answer: Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift lived from 1667 to 1745. His was the pen that gave us the great work, "Gulliver's Travels", which, apart from being a ripping good yarn, is also a brilliant satire on the society of his time. He actually got himself into a lot of trouble over it, particularly in the section where he has Gulliver urinating all over a group of people, including the leading lady of the land, who, all too clearly, represented England's stately Queen Anne.

A swift is a beautiful bird somewhat like a swallow and is part of a larger class of bird which consists of the fastest birds in the world. In a single year, these remarkable birds can cover distances exceeding 200,000 kilometres.

Answer: Sean Bean

Born in South Yorkshire in 1959, Bean is best known for his role in LOTR, "National Treasure" and "Patriot Games" just to name a few.

Beans belong to the family of legumes, come in many varities, shapes and sizes, and can be eaten either raw or cooked. They are very good for one's health - but try telling that to a seven-year-old with any degree of success.

Answer: Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller (1915 to 2005) gave the world the brilliant plays "All My Sons", "Death of a Salesman" and "The Crucible", among others. He is considered one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, and at one stage in his life was married to the beautiful, fragile actress, Marilyn Monroe.

Millers operate large mills which are used to grind cereal crop down to flour products. Theirs is one of the oldest professions known to mankind, originally grinding their products by hand in between two large stones, by turning one large stone on top of a fixed one. From there they graduated to watermills and windmills, with many of these ancient, historical and very beautiful buildings still seen around today for the admiring eye of the tourist. Finally, they moved to the mechanical factories of today, lacking all charm whatsoever, but still performing the work of the original humble miller of so long ago.

Answer: Alexander Graham Bell

Scientist, inventor and engineer, Alexander Graham Bell was born in Scotland in 1847 and died in Canada in 1922, a country to which he had emigrated with his parents on health grounds. As well as the mighty phone, he gave the world many other inventions and the concepts for others as well. Out of his mind, even way back then, came the idea of possibly developing solar panels for houses. Amazing.

A bell belongs to the percussion family, is a cup-shaped instrument, comes in many sizes from dainty to simply enormous, and resonates when struck by various means, either internally or from without.

Answer: Christopher Wren

Christopher Wren was born in 1632 and died in 1723. He helped redesign and rebuild over 50 of London's churches after the great fire that ravaged the capital in 1666. His breathtaking masterpiece of course is the mighty building, St Paul's cathedral.

There are about eighty different varieties of the little wren and these are found all over the world. The biggest thing about them is their song. They strut along, plump, short little creatures very conscious of who they are, usually with their tails held aloft to give them extra height, calling out loudly on top note to draw attention to themselves. For all the world, I can't help but be amused by their resemblance to Australian public servants.

Answer: Geoffrey Rush

Geoffrey Rush was born in Toowoomba, Queensland (not far from me actually) in 1951. His brilliant acting, in which he totally absorbs the character that he is playing on screen or stage, has seen him gain worldwide recognition for his art. He is one of a very small handful of actors who've won what is known as the "Triple Crown of Acting" - an Academy Award for "Shine", an Emmy for "Life and Death of Peter Sellers" and a Tony Award for "Exit the King". That's in addition to his BAFTA, Golden Globe, Screen Actors' Guild and Australian Film Institute awards, a host of other awards and a staggering number of nominations all up.

Rushes are found on all continents throughout the world. This humble plant, much overlooked, has been used to make baskets, mats, wall hangings and various other goods. It should receive an award as well - therefore The Wizard of Oz and I accordingly award it the 2011 All Purpose Plant of the Year.