Q 01/05

Which French queen, guillotined in October 1793, apologised to her executioner for stepping on his foot at the scaffold?

A) Marie Antoinette

B) Catherine de' Medici

C) Madame du Barry

D) Marie de' Medici

Answer · why

A) Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette: 'Pardonnez-moi, monsieur. Je ne l'ai pas fait exprès', 'I did not do it on purpose', nine months after her husband Louis XVI went to...

Q 02/05

Which wartime British Prime Minister is said to have declared 'I'm bored with it all' shortly before his death?

A) Harold Macmillan

B) Neville Chamberlain

C) Margaret Thatcher

D) Winston Churchill

Answer · why

D) Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill, a towering figure of the 20th century, reportedly uttered these words in January 1965, expressing his weariness in his final moment...

Q 03/05

Which Irish wit reportedly said near death, 'My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death'?

A) Oscar Wilde

B) George Bernard Shaw

C) Samuel Beckett

D) William Butler Yeats

Answer · why

A) Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde, weeks before he died at the Hôtel d'Alsace in Paris on 30 November 1900; the popular short version is 'Either this wallpaper goes, or I d...

Q 04/05

Which Communist Manifesto author said 'Last words are for fools who haven't said enough'?

A) Friedrich Engels

B) Karl Marx

C) Adam Smith

D) John Locke

Answer · why

B) Karl Marx

Karl Marx, to his housekeeper on the day he died, 14 March 1883, prefaced with 'Go on, get out!'

Q 05/05

Which Spanish surrealist reportedly asked 'Where is my clock?' just before his death?

A) Pablo Picasso

B) Joan Miró

C) Francisco Goya

D) Salvador Dalí

Answer · why

D) Salvador Dalí

While the precise authenticity of Salvador Dalí's last words is debated, 'Where is my clock?' is a widely attributed and fitting anecdote for the arti...