On this day in 1946, William Joyce, better known as Lord Haw-Haw, who taunted the British on German radio throughout the second World War, was finally hanged by the British government. Reason enough for a quiz on traitors and famous betrayals.

1 Basketball star LeBron James’ move to the Miami Heat from the Cleveland Cavaliers was looked upon as a huge act of betrayal by Cavalier fans. Cavalier owner Dan Gilbert immediately cut the price of all LeBron memorabilia to $17.41. Why did he choose that specific figure?

2 His parents had three sons and a daughter before him, with only the daughter surviving. So when he was born, he was raised and dressed as a girl for the first few years of his life, and even had his nose pierced. Identify this man, who all Indians remember by the nickname from his childhood? It would help to bear in mind the subject of the quiz.

3 He served his country as ‘Minister-President’ from 1942 to 1945, with the cabinet dominated by members of the ‘Nasjonal Samling’ party founded by him in 1933. His name is now in the dictionary?

4 The story of Samson’s betrayal by Delilah is told in the Hebrew Book of Judges. To whom did Delilah tell the secret of Samson’s strength? It is also a word in the English dictionary.

5 John Cairncross is considered the most likely candidate, though some of the other suspects were Michael Whitney Straight, Victor Rothschild and Guy Liddell. Who were all these men accused of being?

6 In children’s fantasy fiction, who betrayed his siblings and friends for a helping of Turkish Delight candy?

7 In English law, what, specifically, is the difference between high treason and petty treason?

8 What name is given in the West for a trained goat that herds other goats and sheep to slaughter, while its own life is spared?

9 His side of the story is related by his court poet, Bhatta Kedae, and the poet Madhukar’s ‘Jaya Mayank Jas Chandrika’. However, we tend to remember his misdeeds from the epic poetry of Chand Bardai. Who is this much-reviled king in Indian history, killed in the battle of Chandawar in 1194AD?

10 Which famous British street is named after a 17th-century soldier and diplomat who betrayed his former royalist partners John Barkstead, Miles Corbet and John Okey, and who was described by diarist Samuel Pepys as ‘a most perfidious rogue’?

Answers

1. 1741 was the year America’s most detested traitor, Benedict Arnold, was born.

2. Ramachandra ‘Nathuram’ Godse — Nathuram literally means ‘Ram with a nose ring’.

3. Vidkun Quisling of Norway — ‘quisling’ is now a synonym for a traitor or turncoat

4. The Philistines

5. The 5th man in the Cambridge Five spy ring. The other four were Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt. They are still not sure of his identity.

6. Edmund in CS Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in The Chronicles of Narnia.

7. High treason is treason against the king or queen. All other betrayals are referred to as petty treason.

8. A Judas goat, named after the disciple believed to have betrayed Jesus.

9. Jai Chand of Kannauj, who betrayed his son-in-law Prithviraj Chauhan to Mohammad Ghori

10. Ironically, London’s Downing Street, named after George Downing.

Joy Bhattacharjyais a quizmaster and Project Director, FIFA U-17 World Cup

Follow Joy on Twitter @joybhattacharj

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