In the past, people used to believe that a person's last words were important. Maybe they said something about the person's life. Perhaps they would be prophetic.

For that reason, we suspect, famous people tried to save up something pithy to say when the time came. It wouldn't do to have chroniclers going around quoting you as saying, 'Are you sure you turned the stove off?' Last words were often recorded by someone at the bedside. Sometimes, they were engraved on the party's tombstone.

While you're thinking of something witty for when it's your turn, test your ability to guess which famous person in history said what just before they met their Maker.

This quiz is multiple choice. Who uttered each of these sayings (or had them engraved on his/her tombstone)?

A. Where is my clock?

1. Queen Elizabeth I
2. Albert Einstein
3. Jacques Cartier
4. Salvador Dali

B. French Canadian bean soup... I want to pay, let them leave me alone...

1. Al Capone
2. William MacKenzie King
3. Dutch Schultz
4. Julia Child

C. This is absurd! This is absurd!

1. Sigmund Freud
2. Salvador Dali
3. Kaiser Wilhelm II
4. Spike Milligan

D. Strike the tent.

1. David Livingstone
2. Theodore Roosevelt
3. Robert E Lee
4. George Armstrong Custer

E. Don't disturb my circles!

1. Vincent van Gogh
2. Mary McCarthy
3. Archimedes
4. Euclid

F. I told you I was ill.

1. Spike Milligan
2. Oscar Wilde
3. Franklin D Roosevelt
4. Elvis Presley

G. Tomorrow, I shall no longer be here.

1. Amelia Earhart
2. Winston Churchill
3. Pope John Paul II
4. Nostradamus

H. Kaputt.

1. Adolf Hitler
2. Ludwig van Beethoven
3. Manfred von Richthofen
4. Joseph Beuys

I. Pardon me, sir. I did not do it on purpose.

1. Gertrude Stein
2. Jane Austen
3. Alice B Toklas
4. Marie Antoinette

J. You be good. See you tomorrow. I love you.

1. Alex, the grey parrot
2. Polycrates of Samos
3. IBM's Watson
4. Walt Disney

As usual, click on the picture below for the answers.

Dmitri Gheorgheni

02.04.12 Front Page

Back Issue Page