Challenge

In an idle moment last week I set myself a challenge. Could I think of ten famous people dead or alive who hailed from certain different countries? Great Britain was of course no problem at all, nor was the USA.. Canada was slightly harder and so was Australia but I came up with ten for each in the end. The Republic of Ireland was fairly easy - perhaps easier than France:-

• Charles de Gaulle
• Edith Piaf
• George Pompidou
• Thierry Henry
• Zinedine Zidane
• Emile Zola
• Brigitte Bardot
• Pierre-Auguste Renoir 
• Paul Gauguin
• Joan of Arc

And then I got on to the hard ones. I managed only seven for Norway and the same for Sweden. I could not come up with the full ten for Italy, Spain or Germany but I was nearly there. And what about the two most populous nations on Earth? India and China? 

I am ashamed to say that off the top of my head I was unable to give ten names for either of these countries. It was the same with Russia - nearly there but not quite.

So I am passing this challenge on to you dear reader. Without googling or smart phoning or even flicking through encyclopedias, can you think of ten famous people dead or alive from either the continent of South America or the continent of Africa? And if you manage that, try to come up with the names of ten famous Russians or ten famous Chinese people.

If you wish you can put your lists in the comments section. Good luck and happy braintime!