Q 01/05

Which chart feat eluded Billy Fury, despite his 332 weeks on the UK chart?

A) A top five single

B) A number one hit

C) A top twenty album

D) A silver disc

Answer · why

B) A number one hit

A number one hit always escaped him, yet he stayed popular long after his chart run ended and was still recording days before his death.

Q 02/05

Which Beatle was a neighbour of Billy Fury, who has a blue plaque on London's Cavendish Avenue?

A) John Lennon

B) Ringo Starr

C) Paul McCartney

D) George Harrison

Answer · why

C) Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney lived on the same street; like the Beatles, Fury had left Liverpool for London, and his home was number 1 Cavendish Avenue.

Q 03/05

Which Manchester band put a photograph of Billy Fury on the sleeve of their final single in 1987?

A) New Order

B) The Stone Roses

C) The Fall

D) The Smiths

Answer · why

D) The Smiths

The Smiths used his picture for Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me, billed as their last single because the band had already split.

Q 04/05

Before fame, the teenage Billy Fury worked as a deckhand on which kind of Liverpool vessel?

A) A tugboat

B) A ferry

C) A trawler

D) A cargo ship

Answer · why

A) A tugboat

A tugboat was his workplace on the Liverpool docks, and he wrote the words to one early hit on a cigarette packet in a cinema between tides.

Q 05/05

Which childhood illness damaged Billy Fury's heart and contributed to his death at the age of 42?

A) Scarlet fever

B) Glandular fever

C) Rheumatic fever

D) Whooping cough

Answer · why

C) Rheumatic fever

Rheumatic fever left him with a weak heart that needed surgery in 1972 and 1976, forcing him to give up touring before a fatal heart attack.