Q 01/05

Which word did Helen Keller first grasp when it was spelled into one palm while the real thing ran over the other?

A) Milk

B) Honey

C) Water

D) Sand

Answer · why

C) Water

Water was the breakthrough, about a month into her lessons. Earlier that day Keller had kept confusing the words for mug and water, and smashed a new ...

Q 02/05

Helen Mirren won her Best Actress Oscar for playing which British monarch?

A) Elizabeth II

B) Elizabeth I

C) Queen Victoria

D) Queen Mary

Answer · why

A) Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II had made Mirren a dame in 2003, three years before the film The Queen. Mirren played her again on stage in The Audience and won an Olivie...

Q 03/05

In the best-known myth, Zeus fathered Helen of Troy after coming to her mother Leda in the form of which bird?

A) An eagle

B) A swan

C) A dove

D) A peacock

Answer · why

B) A swan

A swan was the disguise Zeus chose, and the story goes that Leda then produced an egg from which Helen emerged. Leda's husband Tyndareus was the king ...

Q 04/05

Helen was the little-used first name of which children's author, who bred Herdwick sheep in the Lake District?

A) Enid Blyton

B) Louisa May Alcott

C) Kate Greenaway

D) Beatrix Potter

Answer · why

D) Beatrix Potter

Beatrix Potter was born Helen Beatrix Potter in London in 1866 and shared the name with her mother, Helen Leech. Money from her books bought Hill Top ...

Q 05/05

Singer Helen Kane went to court in the 1930s claiming her baby-talk style had been copied for which cartoon character?

A) Olive Oyl

B) Betty Boop

C) Minnie Mouse

D) Daisy Duck

Answer · why

B) Betty Boop

Betty Boop survived the case: the judge found Kane's proof insufficient and dismissed her $250,000 claim. Kane's voice and look were still thought to ...