Q 01/05

How was Oprah's first name spelled on her birth certificate?

A) Orpah

B) Ophra

C) Opera

D) Oprha

Answer · why

A) Orpah

It came from the biblical Orpah in the Book of Ruth; constant mispronunciation made 'Oprah' stick.

Q 02/05

In which Mississippi town was Winfrey born in 1954?

A) Tupelo

B) Meridian

C) Kosciusko

D) Natchez

Answer · why

C) Kosciusko

Her mother Vernita Lee was a teenage housemaid; her father Vernon was a coal miner who later served on the city council.

Q 03/05

As a small child Winfrey was mocked for wearing dresses made of what?

A) Flour bags

B) Potato sacks

C) Curtains

D) Old bedsheets

Answer · why

B) Potato sacks

Her grandmother Hattie Mae was that poor, yet taught her to read before she was three.

Q 04/05

What nickname did the young Winfrey earn at her grandmother's church?

A) The Songbird

B) Little Sister

C) The Professor

D) The Preacher

Answer · why

D) The Preacher

She could recite Bible verses on demand; she also practised interviewing her corncob doll and the crows on the fence.

Q 05/05

At six, Winfrey moved to an inner-city neighbourhood in which city?

A) Chicago

B) Detroit

C) Nashville

D) Milwaukee

Answer · why

D) Milwaukee

Her mother worked long hours as a maid; by 1962 she was struggling and sent Oprah to her father in Nashville for a time.