Q 01/05

Benjamin Franklin made his name in Philadelphia, but in which city was he born?

A) Baltimore

B) Newport

C) Charleston

D) Boston

Answer · why

D) Boston

Boston: he was born on Milk Street and baptised the same day at the Old South Church, in a town he would leave for good as a teenage runaway.

Q 02/05

What trade did Franklin's father Josiah practise?

A) Blacksmith and farrier

B) Shipwright

C) Cooper and brewer

D) Candle and soap maker

Answer · why

D) Candle and soap maker

Candle and soap maker: at ten, Ben was put to work cutting wicks and filling moulds in the shop, hated it, and longed to go to sea.

Q 03/05

The teenage Franklin gave up eating what, and spent the money left over on books?

A) Pastries

B) Meat

C) Bread

D) Potatoes

Answer · why

B) Meat

Meat: a book praising a vegetable diet won him over at 16, but he gave in on a sea voyage when the crew fried fresh cod, deciding that since fish eat ...

Q 04/05

Under what pen name did the teenage Franklin get letters published in his brother's newspaper?

A) Polly Baker

B) Alice Addertongue

C) Busy-Body

D) Silence Dogood

Answer · why

D) Silence Dogood

Silence Dogood: at 16 he posed as a middle-aged widow and slid the letters under the shop door at night, and James published fourteen before learning ...

Q 05/05

Franklin ran away at 17 and first looked for work in which city before reaching Philadelphia?

A) New York

B) Baltimore

C) Newport

D) Hartford

Answer · why

A) New York

New York: the one man he hoped would hire him, William Bradford, had no work but said his son in Philadelphia had just lost his chief assistant, so th...