The Names's the Game

It’s a while since I did a history quiz, so here’s one for LGBT History Month USA.

Below are 50 names. In the column on the left are well-known names of 25 people in the lgbt community, past and present. In the column on the right are alternative lesser-known names of the same people, some of which are their real or original names, but not in the same order.

Your task is to match the names on the left with the correct names on the right. You may find some easy, but I’ll give hints in the alternative name column to help you eliminate the wrong names. I won’t give hints for all of them – that would be too easy!

There are no prizes for getting them right. It’s just a bit of fun, and perhaps something you can entertain your friends with if you celebrate a socially distanced LGBT History Month get-together – I’ve noticed that online quizzes have become popular. 

WELL-KNOWN NAME	ALTERNATIVE NAME
1) Boy George	A) Yuri Otrepyev (1581-1606), royal imposter
2) Dana International	B) Virginia Stephen (1882-1941), writer
3) Dick Sargent	C) Varius Avitus Bassianus (c.204-222), Emperor of Rome
4) Divine	D) Touko Vallo Laakionen (1920-1991), erotic artist
5) Duke of Buckingham	E) Thomas Flubacher (1937-1987), pre-adoption birth-name of an Olympic athlete
6) Dusty Springfield	F) Stefani Germanotta (b.1986), singer
7) Elegabalus	G) Stansisława Walasiewicz (1911-1980), Olympic sprinter, Anglicised her name when she became a US citizen
8) Freddie Mercury	H) Sir George Villiers (1592-1628), royal “favourite” of King James I of Great Britain
9) George Michael	I) Sharon Cohen (b.1972), Eurovision winner
10) Hadrian	J) Roy Scherer (1925-1985), Hollywood heart-throb
11) Horace Walpole	K) Rodrigo di Borgia (1431-1503), Roman Catholic pontiff
12) Jake Shears	L) Rodolfo di Valentia d’Antonzuella (1895-1926), Hollywood heart-throb
13) Lady Gaga	M) Richard Stanford Cox (1930-1994), actor, the second “Darren” in the tv series “Bewitched”
14) Little Richard	N) Richard Penniman (1932-2020), rock’n’roll singer
15) P. L. Travers	O) Reginald Dwight (b.1947), Oscar-winning singer-songwriter
16) Pope Alexander VI	P) Publius Aelius Hadrianus Augustus (74-136), Emperor of Rome
17) Rock Hudson	Q) Mary O’Brien (1939-1999), singer, famous for her beehive hairstyle
18) Rudolf Valentino	R) Jason Sellards (b.1948), lead singer of Scissor Sisters
19) Sir Elton John	S) Helen Lyndon Goff (1899-1996), creator of Mary Poppins
20) Stella Walsh	T) Harris Glen Milstead (1945-1988), drag entertainer and actor
21) Tab Hunter	U) Giorgios Panayiotou (1963-2016), singer who wrote a hit song as a result of being arrested for cruising in a public toilet
22) Tom of Finland	V) George O’Dowd (b.1961), singer
23) Tom Waddell	W) Farroukh Bulsarra (1946-1991), singer with musical links to Barcelona and Bohemia
24) Tsar Dmitri I of Russia	X) Arthur Andrew Gelien (1931-2018), American pop teen idol
25) Virginia Woolf	Y) 4th Earl of Orford (1717-1797), gothic novelist

Tomorrow I’ll give the correct answers.