Famous Personalities Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The incorrect pair is M.S. Subbulakshmi – dance.

She was a Carnatic vocalist, the first musician to receive the Bharat Ratna, and sang at the United Nations General Assembly in 1966. The other three pairings are right: Ravi Shankar with the sitar, Hari Prasad Chaurasia with the flute and Zakir Hussain with the tabla.

Answer: D

Ali Akbar Khan played the sarod.

Son and disciple of Allauddin Khan of the Maihar gharana, he was among the first Indian musicians to perform in the West, playing in New York in 1955, and Yehudi Menuhin called him the greatest musician in the world.

Answer: D

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was known as the Iron Man of India.

As Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister he integrated 562 princely states into the Indian Union between 1947 and 1949, using persuasion where possible and force at Junagadh and Hyderabad. His birthday, 31 October, is observed as National Unity Day.

Answer: C

General Erwin Rommel was the Desert Fox.

He commanded the German Afrika Korps in North Africa from 1941, and the name came from his opponents, who admired the speed and deception of his armoured manoeuvres. He was forced to take his own life in 1944 after being implicated in the plot against Hitler.

Answer: A

Raja Ravi Varma was famous in painting.

He fused European academic technique with Indian subjects, painting scenes from the Puranas and portraits of south Indian nobility. His oleograph press made cheap prints of Hindu deities available across India, shaping how those deities are pictured to this day.

Answer: D

Pierre Cardin is associated with fashion designing.

The French couturier introduced the Space Age look of the 1960s and was among the first to license his name across a wide range of products, a practice that transformed the business of fashion.

Answer: A

Sham Lal did commendable work in journalism.

He was editor of The Times of India from 1967 to 1978, and was known for a weekly column of literary and philosophical criticism.

Answer: D

Mahatma Gandhi spoke of wiping every tear from every eye.

The phrase was taken up by Jawaharlal Nehru in his 'Tryst with Destiny' speech on 14 August 1947, where he said the task ahead did not end until every tear had been wiped from every eye - but the ambition was Gandhi's.

Answer: C

Ashok Pandit is known for shooting.

He won a gold medal in trap shooting at the 1986 Asian Games at Seoul, one of India's early successes in the sport.

Answer: B

M. Fathima Beevi was the first woman judge of the Supreme Court of India.

She was appointed in 1989, thirty-nine years after the Court was founded, and later served as Governor of Tamil Nadu. Anna Chandy had been the first woman High Court judge, in 1959.