Trivia Quiz
04 October 2004
ANSWER SHEET
1. What actress, best known for her shower scene in “Psycho”, died yesterday at the age of 77?
Answer: Janet Leigh
2. What actor — star of “Ben Hur”, “Planet of the Apes” and “Soylent Green”— was born on this day in 1923?
Answer: Charlton Heston
3. What Russian leader crushed a hardline Communist rebellion on this date in 1993, which cumulated in a 10-hour tank assault on the Parliament building in Moscow?
Answer: Boris Yeltsin
4. On this date in 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first manmade satellite. What was the name of this satellite?
Answer: Sputnik
5. On this date in 1986, what television newsman was mugged in New York City by two assailants who allegedly demanded “Kenneth, what is the frequency?” during the beating?
Answer: Dan Rather
6. On this date in 1970, what rock singer died at the age of 27 from a heroin overdose? She had just finished recording her second solo album, “Pearl”.
Answer: Janis Joplin
7. On this date in 1957, what long-running US television series debuted, starring Hugh Beaumont, Barbara Billingsley, Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers?
Answer: Leave It To Beaver
8. On this date in 1535, the first complete English translation of what book was published in Zurich, Switzerland?
Answer: The Bible
9. Mount St. Helens is at it again, after 18 years of dormancy. In what state is this volcano located?.
Answer: Washington
10. What 55-year-old singer said goodbye to bachelorhood and married his 23-year-old fiancée Kate Lee, in a sunset ceremony Saturday at his Long Island waterfront mansion?
Answer: Billy Joel
11. Who was the first US President to be awarded a patent (#6469, for a floating drydock)?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln
12. What presidential candidate joked with the press by saying “Do you realize the responsibility I carry? I’m the only person between Nixon and the White House.”
Answer: John F. Kennedy
13. On September 26, the San Francisco 49ers record streak of 420 games without being shut-out was ended by the Seattle Seahawks. In what year did this streak begin?
Answer: 1977
14. According to the Dead People Server, which one of the following DID NOT die in September or August, 2004:
a)Russ Meyer (director / large breast enthusiast)
b)Fay Wray (actress )
c)Elmer Bernstein (composer)
d)Mickey Rooney (actor)
15. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany was forced to abdicate after the end of World War I and go into exile. In what country did he die, in 1941?
Answer: Holland
16. What political leader is back at work, following an operation Friday to correct an irregular heartbeat?
Answer: Tony Blair
17.Which actress was on the first cover of People magazine in 1974?
a)Elizabeth Taylor
b)Katherine Hepburn
c)Mia Farrow
d)Gwyneth Paltrow
18. C6H5NO2 is the formula for what highly addictive chemical compound?
Answer: Nicotene
19. Frenchman Frederic Auguste Bartholdi died 100 years ago today. What American treasure did he create?
Answer: The Statue of Liberty
20. This year’s Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded to two Americans for their work on which one of the five senses?
Answer: Smell
21. “at” is the Internet Code for what country?
Answer: Austria
22. At $530 / lb what is the most expensive spice in the world?
Answer: Saffron
23. What rock star was born David Robert Hayward-Jones?
Answer: David Bowie
24. Who is generally credited with the following quote: “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.”
Answer: H.L. Mencken
25. Pitcairn Island, populated by the descendents of the HMS Bounty mutiny, is the most isolated dependency of what nation?
Answer: Great Britain