Q 01/05

George Michael was born in East Finchley in 1963 under what name?

A) Georgios Michael Andreou

B) Yiorgos Kyriakou Papadopoulos

C) Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou

D) George Kyriacos Constantinou

Answer · why

C) Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou

Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou. The son of a Greek Cypriot restaurateur and an English dancer, he swapped it for the simpler George Michael as he and An...

Q 02/05

At Bushey Meads School, where he met Andrew Ridgeley, George Michael went by which nickname?

A) Georgie

B) Panny

C) Kyri

D) Yog

Answer · why

D) Yog

Yog. The nickname lasted a lifetime: when Michael died in 2016, Ridgeley wrote that he was heartbroken at the loss of "my beloved friend Yog".

Q 03/05

Before Wham!, Michael and Ridgeley played in a short-lived band called the Executive in which genre?

A) Punk

B) Disco

C) Ska

D) Folk

Answer · why

C) Ska

Ska. The teenagers formed the Executive on the heels of the 2 Tone revival led by the Specials and Madness, and their demo tape featured an original c...

Q 04/05

Which famous instrument did George Michael buy at auction for £1.45 million in 2000?

A) Elvis Presley's first guitar

B) John Lennon's 'Imagine' piano

C) Jimi Hendrix's Woodstock guitar

D) Freddie Mercury's grand piano

Answer · why

B) John Lennon's 'Imagine' piano

John Lennon's 'Imagine' piano. He called it a piece of history that should stay in Britain, and in 2007 he sent it on a peace tour of American sites s...

Q 05/05

Wham! signed their first record deal with which label after Ridgeley pestered its boss in a Bushey Heath pub?

A) Innervision

B) Stiff Records

C) Virgin

D) Rough Trade

Answer · why

A) Innervision

Innervision. Mark Dean signed them in 1982 after Ridgeley kept handing him demo tapes at the Three Crowns, but the duo soon fought a legal battle to g...