h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's quiz time again. Can you identify these people born on this day in years gone by?

* * *

1. Russian novelist, author of 'Crime and Punishment' and 'The Idiot' (born 1821).

2. US Army WW2 general, commander of the 7th Army which captured Sicily, and the 3rd Army following the Normandy invasion (born 1885).

3. Welsh Labour politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1967-70, who along with David Owen, Shirley Williams and Bill Rodgers formed the SDP in 1981 (born 1920).

4. US sci-fi novelist, author of works inclusing 'Slaughterhouse Five' and 'Cat's Cradle' (born 1922).

5. English actress who appeared in many sitcom roles, including Edina Monsoon's mother in 'Absolutely Fabulous' (born 1925).

6. Nicaraguan politician - former Sandinista guerilla who became president in 2007 after the revolution.

7. US actress, whose early movie successes included 'A Few Good Men' (1992), 'Indecent Proposal' (1993), and 'Disclosure' (1994) (born 1962).

8. US actor, who played Jack Dawson in the 1997 movie 'Titanic' (born 1974).

and a couple of deaths:

9. Irish/Australian bushranger and outlaw folk-hero, hanged for the murder of three policemen in 1880.

10. Palestinian politician, leader of the Fatah party, who fought for self-rule for the Palestinian state. Died in 2004 from what is now suspected to be polonium poisoning.

* * *

Good luck! I'll post answers tomorrow.

Icy

Here are my guesses/lack thereof:

1. Dostoevsky
2.George S Patton, Jr
3. No idea about Welsh labour history,
4. Kurt Vonnegut
5. No idea about British sitcoms.
6. Daniel Ortega?
7. Dabra Winger?
8. Leonardo di Caprio
9. Ned Kelly
10. Yasir Arafat

Add another birthday: My sister.

OK, before I look at anyone else's answers, here are my guesses:

1. Dostoyevsky
4. Kurt Vonnegut
5. June Whitfield
7. Demi Moore
9. Ned Kelly
10. Yasser Arafat

Wasn't 3 Woy Jenkins? I remember him talking about a "giant breakthrough", which was commonly (deliberately) misheard as "giant grapefruit".

5) is June Whitfield

It ought to be Woy Jenkins who also spoke about 'high wa*king politicians' and we can all agree on that one whatever our politics.

Sounds like a wonderfully entertaining politician.

Replying before looking at anyone else's, my guesses are:

1. Dostoevsky
2. -
3. -
4. I can't spell it. Soljenitsyn or something. OK just goggled it for spelling and I'm completely wrong . I've read it too.
5. June Whitfield.
6. -
7. Demi Moore
8. Leonardo DiCaprio
9. -
10. -

Deb

Same guesses as Dmitri except #3 I'll guess is Kier Davies. Which is probably closer to the mark than, say, Harry Secombe, boyo...

Not awake enough to guess, and I already read everyone's answers anyway.

Oh, here are the answers to yesterday's birthday quiz - you found them all pretty quickly between you:

1. Fyodor Dostoyevsky
2. George S. Patton
3. Roy Jenkins
4. Kurt Vonnegut
5. June Whitfield
6. Daniel Ortega
7. Demi Moore
8. Leonardo DiCaprio
9. Ned Kelly
10. Yasser Arafat (or Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa for full marks)

Today's winner is:

Dmitri

Curses I spelled Mohammed with one M. (well 2 M's to be exact).

Oh, oh, knew 4 despite an almost non-existant memory for names!