The Big Book of American Trivia
Page 13
Facebook, American Idol, Dubya, Etc.: The 2000s
1. What controversial former doctor died in June 2011? [Answer]
2. Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell both served in what Cabinet position under George W. Bush? [Answer]
3. What movie based on a Marvel Comics character was one of the top-grossing movies of 2002? [Answer]
4. In 2004 Krakow, Poland, named its city square after what U.S. president? [Answer]
5. Dave Thomas, who died in 2002, founded what fast-food chain? [Answer]
6. What evangelist (and son of a noted evangelist) gave the invocation at George W. Bush’s inauguration? [Answer]
7. What make of cars, launched by GM in 1990, was discontinued in 2010? [Answer]
8. What politician gave a speech on global warming on the coldest day of 2004? [Answer]
9. What encyclopedic Internet Web site was launched in 2001? [Answer]
10. What beloved comic, famous for golfing with presidents, died in 2003? [Answer]
11. What British statesman’s bust did Barack Obama remove from the White House? [Answer]
12. What “domestic diva” of TV went to prison in 2003? [Answer]
13. Dick Cheney, vice president under George W. Bush, served in what Cabinet post under Bush’s father? [Answer]
14. What tall actor, star of TV’s longest-running Western, died in June 2011? [Answer]
15. What mayor was Time magazine’s Person of the Year in 2001? [Answer]
16. What pop music legend was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 and died in 2009? [Answer]
The American Name
The words America and American appear in the names of thousands of organizations and businesses. But this set of questions concerns things and places for which America is a key part of the name, not just a convenient add-on.
1. In a hotel with an “American plan,” what do you get besides a room? [Answer]
2. What cheese is the base for American cheese? [Answer]
3. By what patriotic name is the common Virginia creeper vine known? [Answer]
4. What midwestern state is nicknamed “Crossroads of America”? [Answer]
5. American University is in what appropriate city? [Answer]
6. The American Beauty is what type of flower? [Answer]
7. The American saddle horse was developed in what southern state? [Answer]
8. What thirty-two-story structure can be seen on Memphis, Tennessee’s Mud Island? [Answer]
9. What park, part of the Six Flags chain, is near Chicago, in Gurnee, Illinois? [Answer]
10. What veterans’ organization was founded in 1919 “to perpetuate a 100 percent Americanism”? [Answer]
11. What Italian explorer is America named for? [Answer]
12. What large (and rare) reptile can be found in Florida’s Everglades? [Answer]
13. If you are looking at the famous American Gothic, the painting of a midwestern farm couple, what major art museum are you in? [Answer]
14. American Notes was a critical book by what extremely popular English novelist? [Answer]
15. What is the purpose of the All-American Canal in California? [Answer]
16. “The American Riviera” refers to what famous southern California beach? [Answer]
17. In what northwestern state would you find American Falls? [Answer]
18. Little America, abandoned in 1958, was in what far-off locale? [Answer]
19. “America’s most historic square mile” is the Independence National Historical Park in what city? [Answer]
20. What enormous shopping center is large enough to hold seven Yankee Stadiums? [Answer]
21. America’s Cup is what type of race? [Answer]
22. “America’s Sweetheart” was what angel-faced actress of the silent movie era? [Answer]
23. The color-changing lizard Anolis carolinensis is better known as what? [Answer]
24. Bombarding plutonium with neutrons produces what element? [Answer]
You’re a Grand Old Anthem
The year 2014 is a literal “banner year,” for it marks the two-hundredth anniversary of the penning of America’s national anthem, a poem originally titled “The Defense of Fort McHenry” but quickly renamed “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Americans hear and sing the song regularly, but just how familiar are we with the events (and the flag itself) that brought the song into being? Let’s find out. . . .
1. What war was waging when the anthem was written? [Answer]
2. In what East Coast city was the anthem written? [Answer]
3. Francis Scott Key, the author of the anthem, was at the time a prisoner of what nation? [Answer]
4. What was Key’s profession? [Answer]
5. The “bombs” mentioned in the first verse were in fact what? [Answer]
6. An actor named Ferdinand Durang holds what distinction? [Answer]
7. Key wrote the words to be sung to the old tune “To Anacreon in Heaven.” Who was Anacreon? [Answer]
8. Englishman John Stafford Smith, who lived from 1750 to 1836, holds what probable distinction? [Answer]
9. The familiar tune of the anthem had already been used as a campaign song for which presidential candidate? [Answer]
10. How many stars and stripes were on the flag when the anthem was written? [Answer]
11. What distinction does Mary Pickersgill of Baltimore hold? [Answer]
12. How did the original rectangular flag eventually become a square? [Answer]
13. Eben Appleton donated the famous flag to what Washington museum? [Answer]
14. What great American composer made an “official” arrangement of “The Star-Spangled Banner” for the U.S. army and navy bands? [Answer]
15. Under what twentieth-century president was the song officially made the U.S. national anthem? [Answer]
16. What phrase associated with U.S. coins is found in the anthem’s fourth stanza? [Answer]
17. Who is the only singer to have had a Top 40 hit with her rendition of the anthem? [Answer]
18. The flag that Key saw flying over Fort McHenry is on display in what D.C. building? [Answer]
19. Over what body of water did Key see the bombs exploding? [Answer]
20. What comedienne offended many people with her singing of the anthem at a 1990 baseball game? [Answer]
21. What group of people is not expected to put their right hands over their hearts when the anthem is sung? [Answer]
22. At what London locale was the anthem performed on September 12, 2001? [Answer]
23. What religious sect does not sing the anthem nor stand while it is sung? [Answer]
24. In what year’s World Series was the anthem played at a sports event for the first time? [Answer]
25. What silver-haired comic delivered a mangled version of the anthem in the movie The Naked Gun? [Answer]
Grand Old Flags
Flags are more than just pieces of fabric. They’re symbols, often highly charged with emotion. Small wonder that their design and care have been important parts of American life.
1. June 14 is what holiday? [Answer]
2. What is John Philip Sousa’s flag-waving march, written in 1897? [Answer]
3. What familiar D.C. sight is 555 feet tall and has fifty American flags around it? [Answer]
4. What southern state’s flag shows a woman trampling a man? [Answer]
5. What southwestern state’s flag features the sun symbol of the Zia tribe on a yellow background? [Answer]
6. What was added to the original U.S. flag in 1795? [Answer]
7. What state’s flag was designed in 1927 by a thirteen-year-old schoolboy? (Hint: the forty-ninth state) [Answer]
8. What four-word warning appeared on many colonial flags in the Revolutionary War? [Answer]
9. St. Patrick’s flag, a red X on a white field, is the flag of what Deep South state? [Answer]
10. A brand new U.S. flag is flown each day over what residence? [Answer]
11. Geor
gia’s state flag has what nation’s flag as part of it? [Answer]
12. What is the only D.C. building where the U.S. flag is flown around the clock? [Answer]
13. What is the only state that has never had a foreign flag flying over it? [Answer]
14. What patriotic song’s original title was “You’re a Grand Old Rag”? [Answer]
15. What southern state capital has been under the flags of France, England, Spain, West Florida, the Confederacy, the U.S., and the Sovereign State of Louisiana? [Answer]
16. Which small eastern state has been under the flags of the Netherlands, Sweden, Britain, and the U.S.? [Answer]
17. What flag—still flown, and still controversial—has thirteen white stars on a blue X? [Answer]
18. What is the claim to fame of Baltimore seamstress Mary Pickersgill? [Answer]
19. The flag of what nation flew briefly over Arizona in the 1860s? [Answer]
20. By presidential proclamation, the U.S. flag flies twenty-four hours a day at what historic Maryland site? [Answer]
21. What nation’s flag flew over California beginning in 1821? [Answer]
22. Colonial America’s most famous seamstress’s house can be seen in Philadelphia. Who was she? [Answer]
23. What nation’s flag was raised over California for the first time in 1846? [Answer]
24. When draped over a casket, where should the U.S. flag’s stars be? [Answer]
25. On what spring holiday is the American flag supposed to fly at half-mast until noon? [Answer]
26. What European nation, in 1777, was the first to officially salute the new U.S. flag? [Answer]
27. The flags of Missouri and Kentucky both feature a two-part phrase. The first part is United We Stand. What is the second part? [Answer]
28. What still-popular American flag was designed by Gen. Pierre G. T. Beauregard of Louisiana? [Answer]
Famous Firsts
1. What distinction does Rebecca Sealfon, 1997 winner of the national spelling bee, hold? [Answer]
2. In 1969, Dan Evins opened the first restaurant in what “folksy” chain? [Answer]
3. Who was the first American author to earn a million dollars? (Hint: outdoorsy) [Answer]
4. August 16, 1999, marked the first broadcast of what popular game show? [Answer]
5. What 1995 Walt Disney movie was the first entirely computer-generated film? [Answer]
6. Lovastatin, which went on sale in 1987, was the first of what type of drug? [Answer]
7. In 1540 the Spanish explorer Lopez de Cardemas was the first European to see what stunning sight in the future state of Arizona? [Answer]
8. What popular food product was Thomas Adams the first to sell, in Jersey City in 1869? (Hint: don’t swallow) [Answer]
9. In May 1963, Jim Whittaker became the first American to reach what lofty spot? [Answer]
10. Rev. John Mitchell of Pawhuska, Oklahoma, organized the first troop of what noted boys’ organization? [Answer]
11. The world’s first national park was founded in Wyoming in 1872. What is it? [Answer]
12. The Altair 8800, which went on sale in 1975, was the first what? [Answer]
13. Lake Placid, New York, was the first U.S. site for what international event? [Answer]
14. In 1909 Robert Peary was the first man to reach what far-off site? [Answer]
15. Super Bowl XL in 2006 was the first to be played on what kind of turf? [Answer]
16. What historic northeastern city had the nation’s first daily newspaper? [Answer]
17. What Hanna-Barbera character was the first animated cartoon to win an Emmy? [Answer]
18. What offense was a New York cabdriver the first to be issued a ticket for in 1899? [Answer]
19. What astronaut (and later U.S. senator) became the first American to orbit the earth in February 1962? [Answer]
20. What southern state became, in 1836, the first state to declare Christmas as a holiday? [Answer]
21. What great patriot was the U.S.’s first postmaster general? [Answer]
22. What type of federal taxes were collected for the first time in 1914? [Answer]
23. In 1524 Giovanni de Verrazano was the first European to view the site of what future metropolis? [Answer]
24. “The Yellow Kid,” which appeared on February 16, 1896, was the first of what type of newspaper feature? [Answer]
25. What electric device was first put into use at a Cleveland intersection in 1914? [Answer]
26. What watchmaker sponsored the first TV commercial in 1941? [Answer]
27. Oswald the Rabbit was the first animated character of what cartoon legend? [Answer]
28. Alamogordo, New Mexico, was the site of the first firing of what world-changing weapon? [Answer]
29. What famous four-word phrase was first used at York, Pennsylvania, in 1777? [Answer]
30. What major time shift first occurred on April 24, 1932? [Answer]
31. What familiar Christmas character was first drawn by cartoonist Thomas Nast? [Answer]
32. What novel type of eating establishment did H. S. Thompson introduce in Chicago in 1891? [Answer]
33. What gangster was the FBI’s first Public Enemy Number One? [Answer]
34. What new type of book, now found in most homes, was first introduced in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1878? (Hint: ring) [Answer]
35. Introduced in 1950, what was America’s first nationwide credit card? (Hint: eating out) [Answer]
36. The first planned state capital city was in a Great Lake’s state and named for an Italian explorer. What city and state? [Answer]
37. The world’s first underwater automobile tunnel, the Holland, opened in 1927 in what state? [Answer]
“You Can Quote Me on That”
The quotes here range from the sublime (John Paul Jones, Henry David Thoreau) to the ridiculous (Mae West, Porky Pig). If you’re wondering why our beloved presidents don’t appear here, it’s because they’re in the separate section “The Quotable Presidents” in part nine.
1. What heavyweight radio talk show host called himself the “most dangerous man in America” with “talent on loan from God”? [Answer]
2. What famous document begins with these words: “When in the course of human events . . .”? [Answer]
3. What fitness guru who died in 2011 said, “If it tastes good, spit it out”? [Answer]
4. What inventor claimed his success was based on “hard work, based on hard thinking”? [Answer]
5. What first lady did columnist William Safire call “a congenital liar” in January 1996? [Answer]
6. What general, surrendering Bataan to the Japanese in World War II, vowed, “I shall return”? [Answer]
7. What author of the mid-1800s said he had “experienced nature as other men are said to experience religion”? [Answer]
8. “We have met the enemy and they are ours” was spoken by what notable naval commander? [Answer]
9. What colonial patriot gave his famous “Give me liberty or give me death” speech in Richmond’s St. John’s Church? [Answer]
10. What popular blonde comedienne always asked audiences, “Can we talk?” [Answer]
11. The biblical phrase “Let not your heart be troubled” is the tagline of what TV political commentator? [Answer]
12. What heavyweight boxing legend claimed he could “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”? [Answer]
13. What statesman, known as the Great Compromiser, often said, “I would rather be right than president”? [Answer]
14. What famous document begins, “We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union . . .”? [Answer]
15. What words were always announced over the PA system at the end of an Elvis Presley concert? [Answer]
16. After John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln, he yelled out the Latin phrase Sic semper tyrannis—“Thus ever to tyrants.” What southern state’s motto is this? [Answer]
17. What stuttering character ended many Warner Brother
s cartoons with “Th-th-th-that’s all, folks”? [Answer]
18. What Catholic bishop and TV personality said, “The really unforgivable sin is the denial of sin”? [Answer]
19. What founder of one of the original colonies said, “Wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it”? [Answer]
20. What goofy comic ended his TV shows by saying, “Good night, and may God bless”? [Answer]
21. What jumbo-nosed comic always ended his performances with “Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are”? [Answer]
22. What man connected with the Bill Clinton impeachment said, “There is no excuse for perjury—never, never, never”? [Answer]
23. What frontiersman, killed at the Alamo, was famous for saying, “Be sure you are right, then go ahead”? [Answer]
24. What cartoon character’s favorite line (as he munched a carrot) was “What’s up, doc?” [Answer]
25. What politically active actor said, “Political correctness is tyranny with manners”? [Answer]
26. What Revolutionary War naval commander said, “I have not yet begun to fight”? [Answer]
27. What famous college football coach supposedly said, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”? [Answer]
28. What wisecracking blonde movie queen of the 1930s said, “Marriage is a great institution, but I’m not ready for an institution”? [Answer]
29. What founder of a famous boys’ home was famous for saying, “There is no such thing as a bad boy”? [Answer]
30. What revered CBS anchorman ended his broadcasts with “And that’s the way it is”? [Answer]
31. In 1964 what conservative presidential candidate told the Republican Convention, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice”? [Answer]
32. What frontier religious leader told his people, “If there’s a place on this earth that nobody else wants, that’s the place I am hunting for”? [Answer]
33. What speech was Edward Everett referring to when he said, “President Lincoln has said more in a few minutes than I said in two hours. It will never be forgotten”? [Answer]