Not famous for accomplishments related to the arts
Born before 1950
Not known as an athlete
Not a scientist
Died after 1950
Born before 1900
Citizen of another European country before becoming a citizen of the UK.
Not a businessman or tycoon
Well-regarded, but not necessarily well-known, during his lifetime. His primary claim to fame is posthumous.*
Does not hold hereditary title
Died before 2000
There was nothing discovered after his death that made him more famous*
Died of natural causes
Not French
*Addendum to DQs 17/20:
He was well known within his field during his lifetime. After he died, his influence expanded greatly not with a discovery, but with the publicization of his work.
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It looks like I might have gotten a little too ambitious on the choice. If there are no objections, I’ll call this round on Saturday at noon Eastern time. I’m happy to answer DQs/guesses until then.
I’ll go ahead and say that he’s an academic in a field that’s neither science nor within our standard definition of the arts.
I can honestly say that I never would have thought of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Not a bad choice though–you certainly stumped everybody!
So we’re on to M?
IQ1: Are you the classmate and nemesis of the boy who lived?
IQ2: Originally from England, do you live in America with your employer and his father?
IQ3: In the midst of the roaring silence, were you blinded by the light?
IQ1: Are you a European prince who became an American emperor?
IQ2: Did John Wayne and David Janssen star in a movie based on your book?
IQ3: Are you an elderly spinster who is an amateur detective?
I’ve heard of Wittgenstein but knew nothing about his life. Good one, Enginerd!
M it is.
IQs:
Were you James Bond’s original literary boss (first or last name, not initial)?
Did Kate Winslet recently play you?
You were a skilled engineer; did your daughter have the same first initial as you?
Admiral Sir Miles Messervy (codenamed “M”).
Mildred Pierce, in an HBO movie remake.
Miles O’Brien on ST:TNG and DS9, and his daughter Molly.
DQs:
Real?
Male?
Last name start with M?
IQs:
Did you write about an albino with a sword called Stormbringer?
Are you perhaps best known for your unusual headgear?
Did the same actor play you, a U.S. Army officer and a British war criminal?
Not Carmen Miranda or Lucius Malfoy (a guess - he was played by the same guy who played the war criminal colonel in the Patriot, right? Has he played an American officer too?). Take a DQ or two.
IQ1: Are you one half of Garfunkel and Oates?
IQ2: Were you one of Otter’s love interests in Animal House?
IQ3: Were you another of Otter’s love interests in Animal House?
Well done, Enginerd! (Where do philosophers fit, anyway? Science or art? Hmmm.)
IQ1: Are you a jazz musician whose piano ‘didn’t have any wrong notes’?
IQ2: Are you a jazz musician who was at least as famous for his temper as for his bass lines?
IQ3: Come to that, are you a different jazz musician who frequently lost his cool, even though he invented ‘cool’?
I’ve at least heard of Wittgenstein - unlike a couple of our recent subjects - but I think we would have gotten to the “DQ: Is the seventh letter of your surname ‘N’?” stage before I would have thought of him…
Emperor Maximilian of Mexico (he was a Hapsburg prince).
Robin Moore, who wrote The Green Berets.
Correct on Miss Marple.
DQ1: Living?
DQ2: American?
IQ1: Have you tried to blow up the earth several times, to improve the view?
IQ2: Was your code name “Eric”?
IQ3: Was your code name “Agent 86”?
Not Kate Micucci or Mandy Peppridge. Also not the girl whose… ahem… vocalizations Boone recognized (“you’re gonna pork [augh! can’t remember!]”) - you get a double-secret DQ.
Not Thelonious Monk or Miles Davis. Take a deep, angry DQ for #2.
I’m not Marvin the Martian or Maxwell Smart. Eric gets a DQ.
Somewhere in between, huh? Clearly not the arts, based on our typical criteria. I wavered on science because of his emphasis on logic, but it’s not the kind of “-ology” that would normally fall into that category. Universities most often put it in liberal arts or “arts and sciences,” so that’s no help. Those in-between categories are tough to both guess and answer.