We used to play this at a school I worked at in Switzerland.
Here is how it is played:
Write the alphabet, then pick a sentence at random (read the headlines of a newspaper, or the lyrics of a song) and then write those letters against the alphabet. Find the names of famous people that go with the letters. If you can find more than one name, do so – the winner is the person with the most original famous names. (Duplicate names used by other players on their ballots cancelled each other out – so you try not to go for the obvious or at least list two or three names.) We used the rule that 50% of the general public knew the famous person. (No fictional names from books, movies, etc.). Spelling errors are allowed as long as the first and last initial are correct. You only get 10 minutes to finish!
EXAMPLE: I will use the sentence: Hi Opal
A H Andrew Hamilton
B I
C O Carrol O’Conner
D P Dick Powell
E A Ed Asner, Edward Albee
F L Frank Langella
So on the above example, I couldn’t think of anyone with the initials, B I in ten minutes, but I was able to think of two people with the initials E A (thus, if someone had one of the names, I had a chance to score with the other name).
It is also a nice game to play alone if you are stuck on a plane or waiting in line somewhere.
If you want to try to play, check out the following next reply.
I am using The Straight Dope Message Board as the random sentence. Cut and paste onto a new reply. Don’t look at other player’s answers until you have spent the 10 minutes trying to find famous names for your list.
A T
B H
C E
D S
E T
F R
G A
H I
I G
J H
K T
L D
M O
N P
O E
P M
Q E
R S
S S
T A
U G
V E
W B
X O
Y A
Z R
A T Alan Thicke
B H Bob Hope
C E
D S Donald Sutherland
E T
F R
G A
H I Henry Ibsen
I G
J H Jack Halley
K T Kathleen Turner
L D Larry David
M O Micheal Ovitz
N P
O E
P M Penny Marshall
Q E Queen Elizabeth
R S Richard Simmons
S S
T A Tom Arnold
U G
V E Vince Edwards
W B William Buckley
X O
Y A
Z R
And my time is up…geez, I suck at my own game tonight!
A T Anne Tyler (author)
B H Bob Hoskins
C E
D S Donald Sutherland
E T Edward Teller
F R Fred Rogers
G A Greg Allman
H I
I G
J H John Hancock
K T Ken Tucker (EW writer/critic)
L D Linda Darnell (!!!)
M O
N P
O E
P M Paul Mazursky
Q E Queen Elizabeth. (That counts, right?)
R S Roy Scheider
S S Sally Struthers
T A Tim Allen
U G
V E
W B Walter Brennan
X O
Y A
Z R
Damn, too bad my friends Arthur Tobias, Pat Macpherson, Molly O’Brien, and Nancy Parsons aren’t famous…
A T – Alvin Toffler
B H – Benny Hill
C E – Chris Evert
D S – Darryl Strawberry
E T – Edward Teller
F R – Floyd Reese
G A – George Abbott
H I – Harold Ickes
I G –
J H – Jim Henson
K T – Kenneth Tynan
L D – Leo Durocher
M O – Mike Oldfield
N P – Ned Pepper
O E –
P M – Pete Maravich
Q E –
R S – Roger Staubach
S S – Sammy Sosa
T A – Tom Arnold
U G – Ulysses Grant
V E – Vera Ellen
W B – Ward Bond
X O –
Y A –
Z R –
Well, I managed to fill in 14 of the 26 slots my first time through this kind of puzzle… I like it.
Without looking at earlier responses yet:
AT - Alex Trebek (longtime host of TV game show “Jeopardy!”)
BH - Buddy Holly (early rock star)
FR - Franklin (D.) Roosevelt (32nd US President)
GA - Greg “Cadillac” Anderson (NBA player)
HI - Henrik Ibsen (playwright)
JH - John Henry (the legendary folk hero with a hammer)
MO - Mike O’Brien (common name, also US Olympian and Australian politician… PM even?)
NP - Natalie Portman (actress)
PM - Philip Marlowe (the detective from Raymond Chandler’s “The Big Sleep”)
QE - Queen Elizabeth (of England)
RS - Ryne Sandberg (Hall of Fame 2nd Baseman, Chi Cubs)
SS - Stephen Sondheim (Songwriter)
TA - Tori Amos (singer)
WB - Warren Beatty (actor)
I’ll note that all my replies are in Wikipedia (some did turn out to be fictional characters though), which is a reasonable definition of “famous” these days.
While I instantly recognized many other people’s submissions, in some cases as clearly better than what I put out there in terms of recognizability, I also didn’t get quite a few of them and had to resort to Wikipedia to find out who they were (in all cases, older or somewhat obscure Hollywood folks).
In the effort to compile a complete list, I’d still like to find names with better Q ratings for the following entries:
VE - I think Vera Ellen is “famous” enough based on her biography, it’s just me who didn’t place the name.
MO - my entry for Mike O’Brien is pretty weak, but I don’t think Michael Ovitz is all that famous; I recall his name (with help from Wikipedia) only for getting axed as the head of Disney after only about a year but with a huge golden parachute. He’s in Wikipedia though and has been front-page material for the Wall St. Journal, so that’s not bad, but I’d like to see if I can do better.
And as for “FR - Floyd Reese”, who’s that? He’s not in Wikipedia. Of course F(D)R is known to all so the slot is filled, I’m just curious about who this guy is.
I also got another one (after the ten minutes were long up):
YA - Yasser Arafat (longtime head of the PLO, co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize with Yitzhak Rabin)
And as an improvement on any other GA submission, Gillian Anderson (Scully from The X-Files).
This leaves open (on my list):
IG - ?
MO - so far, Michael Ovitz…
OE - ?
VE - so far, Vera Ellen…
XO - ?
ZR - ?
A T -
B H - Billie Holliday
C E -
D S - Diane Sawyer
E T - Elizabeth Taylor, Elizabeth Tudor
F R -
G A - Giorgio Armani
H I - Henrik Ibsen
I G -
J H - Jennifer Holliday, Jennifer Hudson
K T - K.T. Tunstall
L D - Laura Dern
M O -
N P -
O E -
P M - Paul Martin
Q E -
R S - Rod Stewart
S S - Sharon Stone
T A - Tori Amos
U G -
V E -
W B - Warren Beatty
X O -
Y A - Yuri Andropov
Z R -
A T – Art Tripp (rock drummer)
B H – Benjamin Harrison (president)
C E – Chuck Estrada (baseball player)
D S – David Suskind (intellectual)
E T – Ellen Terry (old-time stage actress)
F R – Fred Rogers
G A – George Altman (baseball player)
H I – Harold Ickes (FDR advisor)
I G –
J H – John Hammond (musician)
K T – Kate Taylor (sister to James and Livingston)
L D – Larry David (TV producer/actor)
M O – Merlin Olson (football player/actor)
N P – Neifi Perez (baseball player)
O E –
P M – Paul Masson (winemaker)
Q E – Queen Elizabeth
R S – Ron Shelton (film director)
S S – Susan Sarandon
T A – Tom Arnold
U G –
V E – Vincent Edwards (Actor best known for Ben Casey_
W B – Warren Buffett (investor)
X O –
Y A –
Z R – Zelda Rubenstein (actress, best known for recurring part in Picket Fences)
Until recently, Floyd was General Manager of the Tennessee Titans. That’s pro football in Nashville, and while probably only Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and maybe a few other states with enough Titans fans to fog a mirror would know about him, around here he was pretty well known.
Take away the ten minute time limit and I could probably have thought of another FR, but I didn’t so I put his name down as a place holder, with intentions to go back and get a better known person for the slot. Time ran out.
I have no issue with removing his name, however. As for finding him online, now that you know a little about him, good luck.
AT- Anne Tyler
BH- Bob Hope
CE-
DS- David Soul
ET-
FR-
GA- Grant Aleksander
HI-
IG-
JH- Jack hannah
KT- Karl Tuborg
LD- Linda Darnell
MO- mary O’hara
NP- Nancy Pelosi
OE-
PM- Paul Moyers
QE- Queen Elizabeth
RS- Robin Strasser
SS- Susan Strasberg
TA- Terrell Anthony
UG-
VE-
WB- Werner Baxter
XO
YA
ZR
Italicized names are ones I thought would fall below the “50% of people would know them” threshold among the general public, but would likely be recognized by most members of this board:
A T – Anne Tyler
B H – Betty Hutton
C E – Chris Elliott
D S – Dick Smothers
E T – Elizabeth Taylor
F R – Frank Rizzo
G A – George Allen (football coach), George Allen (senator and son of the other)
H I
I G
J H – John Houseman
K T
L D – Len Deighton
M O – Mel Ott
N P – Nancy Pelosi
O E
P M – Paul McCartney
Q E
R S – Richard Simmons
S S – Shel Silverstein, Suzanne Somers, Susan Sontag, Steven Stills, Stephen Sondheim
T A – Tim Allen
U G
V E – Virgil Earp
W B – Wallace Beery
X O
Y A
Z R
A T - Alex Trebek
B H - Brett Harte
C E -
D S - Dan Savage
E T - Edward Teach
F R -
G A -
H I -
I G -
J H - John Houston
K T -
L D -
M O -
N P
O E - Omar Epps
P M - Peter Molyneux
Q E - Queen Elizabeth
R S - Richard Simmons
S S - Steven Soderberg
T A - Tom Arnold
U G
V E
W B - Wallace Beery
X O
Y A
Z R
I’d like to point out that, while I don’t have as many answers as other posters, I do have both a pirate, and an actor most famous for portraying a pirate on my list. By the laws of the internet, I win this thread.
