Who Was The Last Person To ...? Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Apollo 17 was the eleventh manned space mission in the NASA Apollo program. The final two astronauts left the Moon surface on December 14, 1972. Which crew member was the last to have walked on the moon from this mission?

Answer: Eugene Cernan

Cernan and Schmitt spent 3 days, 2 hours, 59 minutes and 40 seconds on the lunar surface while Evans was in the Command Module. They left a plaque at the site which read "HERE MAN COMPLETED HIS FIRST EXPLORATIONS OF THE MOON DECEMBER 1972 A.D. MAY THE SPIRIT OF PEACE WHICH WE CAME BE REFLECTED IN THE LIVES OF ALL MANKIND." It was signed by all the crew and the President of the US at the time, Richard Nixon.

2. A nationwide three-minute silence was observed at the exact time (8.00AM) that this person was hanged on Friday 3 February 1967. A small-time criminal, with no history of violence, he was convicted of murder and executed at Pentridge Jail Melbourne. It was to be the last judicial execution in Australia prior to the abolition of capital punishment in the country in 1985. Who was the condemned man?

Answer: Ronald Ryan

Ryan was convicted of killing prison guard George Hodson, as he escaped with fellow prisoner Peter Walker from Pentridge Prison in Melbourne. He was hanged in the same prison at 8.00am Friday 3rd February 1967. Ryan's last words to the hangman were "God bless you, please make it quick". Clayton, Andrews and Lee (the last female executed in Australia) had been executed in 1951 for the tortured murder of an old man.

3. They were regarded by many at the time as the greatest group of American male entertainers to grace the Las Vegas stage. Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Joey Bishop & Peter Lawford were known as The Rat Pack. They ruled Las Vegas and Hollywood during the 1950s and 1960s. Who was the last surviving member of the Rat Pack, aged 89, to die on October 17 2007?

Answer: Joey Bishop

The group became renowned for their love for fun, which stretched from the stage in Las Vegas to their movies and recording sessions. The movie they are best remembered for was "Ocean's Eleven" in 1960 and they helped lift the profile of Las Vegas through their stage shows to make it a popular entertainment destination.

In the early 1960s, Las Vegas hotels and casinos had a strict segregation policy. Sinatra with the support of the others, especially Sammy Davis Jr. would refuse to patronize any establishment that would not give full service to African Americans. With the amount of media attention that this stance brought, the majority of hotels and casinos abandoned the segregation-based policies.

Peter Lawford died Dec 24 1984. Sammy Davis Jr died May 16 1990. Dean Martin died Dec 25 1995 and Frank Sinatra died on May 14 1998.

4. This great grandson of Queen Victoria was murdered by an IRA bomb while sailing near his holiday home in County Sligo, Ireland, on 27th August, 1979. He is also remembered as the last British Viceroy of India. Can you name this person who oversaw the creation of the independent states of India and Pakistan?

Answer: Louis Mountbatten

Freeman-Thomas, Hope and Wavell were Viceroys or Governors General prior to Mountbatten's appointment. Mountbatten was not in fact the last Viceroy of India. That title belongs to Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari, who was also the only Indian Governor General of India.

He was appointed to the role in June 1948, leaving the office on January 25 1950, the day before the Republic of India was officially proclaimed.

5. The Imperial Victoria Cross was awarded to 96 Australians. The Victoria Cross of Australia was introduced as part of the Australian honours system in 1991 and replaced the Imperial Victoria Cross. What is the name of the last Australian recipient of the Imperial Victoria Cross for his actions in Vietnam in 1969?

Answer: Warrant Office Keith Payne

Wheatley received his VC for his actions in Vietnam on 13 November 1965, Simpson for his actions on 6 and 11 May 1969 and Badcoe for his actions between 23 February and 7 April 1967.

On the afternoon of the 24 May 1969 Payne was commanding the 212th Company of the 1st Mobile Strike Force Battalion in the Kontum province, South Vietnam. His battalion was attacked by a numerically superior North Vietnamese force and he was wounded in the hands, upper arm and hip by four pieces of rocket shrapnel and one piece of mortar shrapnel. The Company was dispersed over a large area and, in the ensuing nine hours, Payne managed to establish a small defensive perimeter, about 350 metres north of the hilltop, which had by now been captured by the enemy. He located over 40 men that had become disoriented and led them, along with another group of wounded encountered en route, back to the battalion base where they arrived at about 3am.

6. Throughout the second millennium AD, it was important for an English king to be seen leading from the front on the battlefield. Which regent was the last British monarch to take part in a battle, before the end of the millennium, when he commanded the British Army at the Battle of Dettingen in 1742?

Answer: George II

George II, from the House of Hanover, was also the last British monarch to be born outside of Great Britain. He had little control over government policy matters during his reign, as Robert Walpole, who is considered to be the first Prime Minister of Great Britain, wielded greater power, via parliament, than had been experienced by previous monarchs. This was the direct result of George's father, George I, allowing Walpole and his Cabinet to dictate government policy. Walpole was also considered the architect of the UK's constitutional monarchy.

George's great passions were the army, music and his wife, Wilhelmina Caroline of Anspach, whom he married in 1705 and who bore him eight children. During his reign George patronized Frederick Handel, saw a substantial extension of the British Empire in India and North America, the commencement of the Seven Year War and he issued the charter for King's College in New York City, which would later become Columbia University after the American Revolution. He also oversaw the change from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar with January 1st becoming the official beginning of the year.

On 25th October 1760, he suffered an aortic dissection whilst using the toilet at Kensington Palace, died and is buried in Westminster Abbey.

William IV was regent from 1830 to 1837. He married Adelaide, the daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg. They had two daughters, but both died in infancy. William died June 20 1837.

Henry VI ruled from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471. He married Margaret of Anjou in 1445. After the Battle of Tewkesbury 4 May 1471, he was imprisoned by Edward IV in the Tower of London were he died on 22 May 1471.

Richard II was ten years old when he succeeded to the English throne in 1377 and was deposed in 1399 by Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV) while he was in Ireland, quelling warring chieftains. He was held captive in the Tower of London until moved to Pontefract Castle where he died in February 1400.

7. The television series Seinfeld commenced on American TV on the 5th July 1989, with the last episode airing on 14th May 1998. In the final scene in the prison which actor was the last to speak with the words "See you in the cafeteria"?

Answer: Jerry Seinfeld

You will notice that on external shots of Jerry's building there are insect screens on the windows. However, these are never evident whenever any of the cast occasionally leans out the window whilst the scene is being shot from inside Jerry's apartment.

8. This lawyer-jurist stands out from the other signatories on the American Declaration of Independence in a variety of ways. He was the last to pen his signature to the Declaration, sometime after January 18, 1777. He was also the only signatory to be the chief executive of, and concurrent officeholder in, two States. Furthermore, he numbered among those who also subscribed to the Articles of Confederation, and he served a long tour in Congress. Who was this representative from Delaware?

Answer: Thomas McKean

Whipple was a representative for New Hampshire, while Hancock and Adams were representatives for Massachusetts. McKean was one of three representatives from Delaware. Fifty-six individuals from each of the original 13 colonies participated in the Second Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence. John Hancock was the first to sign it on July 4 1776.

9. He was affectionately known as "The Fourth Stooge" and was only one of two actors to have worked with all the other six Stooges. This actor, under contract to replace Larry in the Stooges act, would join Moe and Curly-Joe in a feature film planned for 1974 or 1975. But with Moe's death in 1975, the film was never made. Who was last of the "Three Stooges" ("Harry") to die, at age 83, on January 16 1998?

Answer: Emil Jozef Sitka

Larry Fine (born Louis Fienberg) had suffered a stroke during the filming of Kook's Tour (1970). Moe Howard (Moses Horwitz) asked Sitka if he could create a character to become the new "middle stooge" to replace the ailing Larry. Sitka accepted the invitation and became an official member of the Three Stooges; publicity photos of Sitka in this capacity with Howard and Curly Joe DeRita (Joseph Wardell) were circulated.

Sitka named his character "Harry" (rhymes with "Larry"). At the time Moe was considering two feature film offers to include Sitka, but nothing eventuated and they never made a film together. The Three Stooges officially ended with the death Of Moe Howard in 1975.

10. The last living recipient (and nominee) of an individual award at the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929, died aged 77 on September 14 1984. Who was this actor or actress?

Answer: Janet Gaynor

The first Academy Awards ceremony was held on May 16, 1929. With the winners having been announced on Monday February 18 1929, three months before the ceremony, the anticipation and speculation that accompanies the awards today was non-existent. The ceremony itself was a very quiet affair in comparison to the glamour that surrounds the awards now.

The very first person to receive an Academy Award didn't attend the first Academy Awards ceremony. Emil Jannings, the winner for best actor, had decided to go back to his home in Germany before the ceremony. He was handed the very first Academy Award prior to his departure.

Source: Author pjjc

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Snowman before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Many of us remember the first person to have achieved some memorable feat, but few of us are able to recall the last person to have accomplished just as important or memorable feats.

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