wiki-illiam q6!

[dubdobdee]

i. whose papal audience proved fatal?
ii. who is remembered for his petrol bomb?
iii. who introduced us to an uncle and three sisters?
iv. who, during 14 years of generous subsidies, never met his benefactor?
v. which monarch outscored his English counterpart in his marital arrangements?
vi. whose complicity in the murder of his lover’s spouse insured the imperatricial succession?
vii. which spitefully insulted cuckold was fatally wounded by his brother-in-law?
viii. whose predictions were acknowledged in the naming of number 101?
ix. who shared the Prix Galabert with Glenn?
x. who investigated canine salivation?

the rules as they have evolved:
a: give nice full answers and anecdotes where possible!
b: say if googled or not, and leave a bit of a while for people to answer non-googlingly
c: you're obviously allowed to look ahead at future questions as (first) this was published in a national newspaper and i can't stop you and (second) i can't stop ME either, and have done exactly this

ii is molotov for his cocktail, iii is chekhov for his play three sisters, viii is mendeleyev maybe for his periodic table, x is pavlov obv so theme = end in v

Comments

[anatol-merklich.livejournal.com]

iii is chekhov for his play three sisters,

and Uncle Vanya I spose

viii is mendeleyev maybe for his periodic table

No need for the maybe, element 101 is mendelevium.

vii) is probably one of those two writers who died in duels in somewhat quick succession -- Pushkin and Lermontov if I am not mistaken? I'm inclined towards Pushkin (although this kills the -v theory)

ix) If anyone know what the Prix Galabert is for, maybe deducing which Glenn it is can help us find the Russian... John Glenn? Glenn Gould? Some writer called Glenn I'm not remembering?

Also, I'm wondering whether/how Kipling might fit into this.

[agincourtgirl.livejournal.com]

ix is about space exploration, so that means it's John Glenn. Other than that, I don't know.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

hmmm vague little memory-nag ssez the prix galabert is a piano prize, in which case more likely glenn gould than john glenn

(the russian john glenn is presumably yuri gagarin, tho it might be commander leonov) (whose hand i have shaken!) (and whose capsule = vostok 3? crash-landed in the frozen forest of PERM and he couldn't get out b4 the pick-up team arrived because the capsule was surrounded by WOLVES!) (oh those russians)

[koganbot]

Grr. Gagarin is the Russian Alan Shepherd, who somehow always gets overlooked. (Not that that's relevent to this quiz.)

wikiconfirm of vii:

[anatol-merklich.livejournal.com]

Georges-Charles de Heeckeren D'Anthès ["possibly the most cursed character in Russian literature"] met also Pushkin and his wife, Natalya ("Natasha"), a beautiful flirtatious young woman, who had many admirers. D'Anthès courted her in such a way that Pushkin threatened him verbally. D'Anthès then married Natalya's own sister, Ekaterina Goncharova, on January 10 1837. It is questionable whether d'Anthès's engagement and marriage to Natalya's sister was devised to contradict society gossip that he was in pursuit of Natalya. In any event, this was not enough to soothe the conflict between the two new brothers-in-law, especially since an anonymous letter went round, nominating Pushkin Deputy Grand Master and Historiograph of the Order of Cuckolds. His furious jealousy made him write an insulting letter to d'Anthès' adoptive father. Pushkin having refused to withdraw these abuses, a duel became inevitable.

On the evening of 8 February 1837, d'Anthès shot first, mortally wounding Pushkin in the stomach. Pushkin, who had fought several duels, managed to rise and shoot at d'Anthès, however, only lightly wounding him in the right arm.