On March 28, AD 193, Roman Emperor Pertinax was assassinated by his Praetorian Guards and his throne was auctioned to the highest bidder. This quiz is all about bodyguards.

1. While there have been quite a few cases of conspicuous bravery, Timothy J McCarthy is the only US Secret Service Agent to actually take a bullet and probably save his president. Who was he guarding?

2. Walter Henry Thompson was a British police officer who guarded the same person between 1921 and 1935 and then from 1939 to 1945. He is believed to have saved his ward from shrapnel during the Blitz, IRA activists, Indian nationalists and a host of other threats. Who was he guarding?

3. Bob Christo acted in over a hundred Hindi films, usually playing the token bad white guy. He originally came to India as the bodyguard of a film personality, who soon launched him in a home production. Name the employer.

4. On August 31, 1997, bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was the only person to survive a horrific crash that caught the attention of the world. Which celebrity couple was he guarding? Who died in the accident?

5. Which former bodyguard, born Lawrence Tureaud, has acted in a Rocky film and was the tag-team partner of Hulk Hogan in the WWF?

6. Which classic Japanese film, directed by Akira Kurosawa, tells the story of a ronin who arrives in a small town where two rival crime lords wish to recruit him as their bodyguard?

7. According to the Greek writer Megasthenes, which Indian king was guarded only by women, who were also his food tasters?

8. Juan Reinaldo Sanchez was the bodyguard and personal aide of a world leader for 17 years. But after fleeing his home country, he blew the whistle on all the illegal activities of that leader by authoring a book titled The Double Life of ____ _____. Fill in the blanks with the name of the leader.

9. The President’s Bodyguard is India’s elite unit, responsible for the security and ceremonial functions of the Indian president. The unit traditionally consists of members of three so-called martial race regiments. One of them are the Jats. Who are the other two?

10. What was the name of the elite infantry units started in the 14th century that formed the Ottoman Sultan’s household troops and bodyguards for over six centuries?

Answers

1. Ronald Reagan. He took a bullet in the chest but made a full recovery.

2. Winston Churchill

3. Sanjay Khan, who launched him in Abdullah

4. Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed; Rees-Jones released a memoir in 2000

5. Mr. T; he played the character Clubber Lang in Rocky III

6. Yojimbo ; Toshiro Mifune played the ronin

7. Chandragupta Maurya

8. Fidel Castro. Sanchez perished within two weeks of the book’s release

9. Sikhs and Rajputs

10. The Janissaries

BLINKJOY
 

Joy Bhattacharjya is a quizmaster; Twitter: @joybhattacharj

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