The Name's the Games: Answers

I hope you enjoyed the quiz I set yesterday. Here are the answers. 

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

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.

a-MAZE-ing

One of the new display panels I was producing for this month’s LGBT History Month in Nottingham was a fun puzzle. I wasn’t able to finish in time but it’s still something I’m working on for Nottinghamshire Pride in July. Until then, I thought you might like to see it (the people illustrated will be different in the finished panel but I think you get the general idea).

I’ve chosen 9 lgbt personalities and one fact about each of them which might not be generally known. The names and portraits of the personalities are placed alternately with the facts around a maze in a random order, making sure that they match through the maze. What the viewer has to do is to guess which personality matches the personality before following the track through the maze and see if they guessed correctly. I don’t expect anyone to know all the personalities or facts. It’s just a bit of fun.

Below is the maze. The letters represent the lgbt personalities and the numbers represent the facts. On the display I’ll have photos of the personalities and have everything printed in the squares, but for now I’ve put them below.

So, if you want to play along just start with the number or letter on the maze, and then try to guess to which letter or number the track through the maze finally takes you. See if you can guess all 9 correctly without cheating.

PERSONALITIES
A) Caitlin Kiernan (b.1964), palaeontologist, leading authority on mosasaur dinosaurs.

B) Carl Austin (b.1972), Mr Gay Manchester 2001, Mr Gay UK 2001.

C) Nikolas Lemos (b.1971), lgbt campaigner who dresses up as the Statue of Liberty in Pride parades.

D) Cyrus Cassells III (b.1957), poet, Professor of English at Texas State University.

E) Linda Hunt (b.1945), actor.

F) Chris Dickerson (b.1939), multi-champion and record-breaking bodybuilder.

G) Sally Ride (1951-2012), the first American woman in space.

H) Spencer Bergstedt (b.1963), American lawyer activist.

I) George Takei (b.1937), actor, star of the original Star Trek television series.

 

FACTS

1) The youngest of identical triplets.

2) Nationally ranked junior tennis player coached by an ex-Wimbledon champion.

3) Won the International Ms Leather (not Mr Leather) title in 1994.

4) Has won 4 International Horror Guild Awards for best horror novel.

5) Creator of trace DNA techniques in forensic crime detection.

6) Lord Mayor of Manchester 2016-17.

7) A direct descendant of President Thomas Jefferson and a black slave.

8) The first actor of win an Oscar for playing a character of the opposite sex.

9) Won a gold medal at the 1996 Gay Games in athletics.

Olympic Alphabet : Q is for ...

QUIZ

If, like me, you won’t be able to get anywhere near any Pride House Olympic party you can host your own. Get a few friends around, grab a few drinks and nibbles, and turn the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics and Paralympics into the biggest house party you’ve had since the Eurovision Song Contest.

Here’s a quiz for you and your guests. It might be an idea to get some appropriate images off the internet and make up some questions of your own. You can decide if some answers deserve more than one point.

Q1)      Without sneaking a peek, what is the colour of the middle ring on the top row on the Olympic flag?

A)        Black.

 

Q2)      In which year was the Olympic torch relay first fun?
                        a) Amsterdam 1926
                        b) Berlin 1936
                        c) London 1948

A)        b) Berlin 1936

 

Q3)      The Paralympic Games originate in games held for injured armed forces personnel at Stoke Mandeville hospital shortly after World War II. In which year?

A)        1948.

 

Q4)      Which Olympic games, so far, has had the most identified lgbt athletes?
                        a) Sydney 2000.
                        b) Athens 2004.
                        c) London 2012.

A)        a) Sydney 2000.

 

Q5)      To within 5 either way, how many lgbt athletes have been identified at the Sydney 2000 Olympics?

A)        54.

 

Q6)      After the Olympic flame is lit at Olympia it goes on a relay around Greece before the ceremonial handover to the host nation at the Panathenaiko stadium. In which city is the Panathenaiko stadium?

A)        Athens.

 

Q7)      Which international sporting event, held every 4 years since 1982, was created specifically for lgbt athletes and their allies by Tom Waddell, an athlete at the 1968 Mexico Olympics?
                        a) The Gay Games.
                        b) The Out Games.
                        c) The Pride Games.

A)        a) The Gay Games.

 

Q8)      Which Olympic sport has had the most known lgbt athletes?
                        a) figure skating.
                        b) football.
                        c) swimming.

A)        b) football (28, only 2 of them are men).

 

Q9)      In 1960 the Paralympic Games were held in the same host city as the Olympics for the first time? Which city?

A)        Rome.

 

Q10)    Renée Sintenis is the first identified lgbt Olympic medallist, but it wasn’t in sport, it was in the art competition. In which art form did she win her medal?
                        a) music.
                        b) painting.
                        c) sculpture.

A)        c) sculpture.

 

Q11)    Martina Navratilova is the oldest female lgbt Olympian. How old was she when she competed in tennis at the Athens 2004 Olympics?

A)        47.

 

Q12)    Ian Thorpe, the lgbt Olympian to win more medals than any other (5 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze), carried his national flag at the closing ceremony of the games held in his home nation. Which city and nation?

A)        Sydney, Australia.

 

Q13)    In 2012 London became the first city to host 3 summer Olympic Games. Earlier in 2012 which Austrian city became the first to host 3 winter Olympic Games?

A)        Innsbruck - 1964, 1972, 2012 (Youth Winter Olympics).

 

Q14)    Six Olympians have died of AIDS. All except one competed in the same sport of which John Curry is the most famous victim. Which sport?

A)        Figure skating.

 

Q15)    Who is the odd one out in this list of lgbt Olympians, and why?
                        Tom Daley
                        Greg Louganis
                        Ian Thorpe

A)        Ian Thorpe, he’s a swimmer, the other two are divers.

 

Q16)    And which is the odd one out in this list of lgbt Olympic tennis players, and why?
                        Gigi Fernandez
                        Martina Navratilova
                        Amélie Mauresmo

A)        Martina Navratilova – she never won an Olympic medal, the other two did.

 

Q17)    Singer k d lang has performed in two Olympic Winter games ceremonies, both of them in her home nation. Which nation?

A)        Canada – Calgary 1988 closing ceremony, Vancouver 2010 opening ceremony.

 

Q18)    The American diver Greg Louganis made history at the 1988 Seoul Olympics by defending both gold medals he won in 1984. But what other incident is Greg most remembered for at the Seoul Olympics?

A)        Hitting his head on the diving board.

 

Q19)    Of the 230 known lgbt Olympians, how many (within 5 either way) have won gold medals?

A)        54.

 

Q20)    The London Gay Men’s Chorus sang at the opening ceremony of which Paralympic Games?

A)        London 2012.

Guess the Year - Answers

Here are the answers to the quiz I gave you four days ago.

1981 - Justin Fashanu becomes the first black footballer to be a million pound transfer in UK soccer.

2009 - The first season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” airs on US television.

2014 - Uganda celebrates the 50^th anniversary of the canonisation of 22 boys and men murdered by the paedophile King of Buganda because they refused to have sex with him.

1982 - Paul Winfield, on of those actors whose face you recognised but can never remember the name, co-stars in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”.

2013 - Legendary singer-songwriter Frank Ocean comes out as bisexual.

1970 - Chris Dickerson is the first black American bodybuilder to win the Mr America title.

1978 - Sylvester tops the dance charts with “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”.

1877 - Edmonia Lewis is commissioned by former US President Ulysses S. Grant to sculpt his bust.

2006 - The UK holds its first Black Pride festival.

2008 - US Army Major Alan Rogers becomes the first known lgbt victim of the conflict in Iraq.

1792 - Benjamin Banneker – farmer, astronomer and surveyor – produces the first astronomical almanac to be published by a black American.

1988 - Sir Ian McKellen comes out on a BBC radio discussion programme.

1312 - King Edward II’s lover, Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall, is murdered.

117 - Hadrian becomes Emperor of Rome.

1997 - Ellen DeGeneres comes out on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”.

1998 - Dana International becomes the first transgender winner of the Eurovision Song Contest.

2011 - The US military policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is repealed.

1951 - Gilbert Baker, designer of the first Rainbow Pride flag in 1978, is born.

1973 - Sir Elton John writes the song “Candle in the Wind” which he later performs at the funeral of Princess Diana in 1997.

1984 - US equestrian Robert Dover competes in the first of his record-breaking 6 appearances by an lgbt athlete at the Olympic Games.

Guess the Year

October is Black History Month in the UK and LGBT History Month in the US, so here’s another quiz for you.

Below is a list of years. Below that is a list of events in lgbt history. Can you match up the event to the correct year? Only one event in given for each year. In celebration of Black History Month the first ten questions are on black lgbt history.

117
1312
1792
1877
1951
1970
1973
1978
1981
1982
1984
1988
1997
1998
2006
2008
2009
2011
2013
2014

1)     Justin Fashanu becomes the first black footballer to be a million pound transfer in UK soccer.

2)     The first season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” airs on US television.

3)     Uganda celebrates the 50^th anniversary of the canonisation of 22 boys and men murdered by the paedophile King of Buganda because they refused to have sex with him.

4)     Paul Winfield, one of those actors whose face you recognise but can never remember the name, co-stars in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”.

5)     Legendary singer-songwriter Frank Ocean comes out as bisexual.

6)     Chris Dickerson is the first black American bodybuilder to win the Mr America title.

7)     Sylvester tops the disco dance charts with “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”.

8)     Edmonia Lewis is commissioned by former US President Ulysses S. Grant to sculpt his bust.

9)     The UK holds its first Black Pride festival.

10)  Major Alan Rogers becomes the first known US lgbt victim of the conflict in Iraq.

11)  Benjamin Banneker – farmer, astronomer and surveyor – produces the first astronomical almanac to be published by a black American.

12)  Sir Ian McKellen comes out on a BBC radio discussion programme.

13)  King Edward II’s lover, Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall, is murdered.

14)  Hadrian becomes Emperor of Rome.

15)  Ellen DeGeneres comes out on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”.

16)  Dana International becomes the first transgender winner of the Eurovision Song Contest.

17)  The US military policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is repealed.

18)  Gilbert Baker, designer of the first Rainbow Pride flag in 1978, is born.

19)  Sir Elton John writes the song “Candle in the Wind” which he later performs at the funeral of Princess Diana in 1997.

20)  US equestrian Robert Dover competes in the first of his record-breaking 6 appearances by an lgbt athlete at the Olympic Games.

I’ll give the answers next week.