Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Ken Jennings Tuesday Trivia - May 6
THIS WEEK'S QUIZ
1. What was the only Billboard #1 single for the Beatles not written by Lennon-McCartney? Something by George Harrison
2. A bear, a dragon, a rabbit, and a tiger have appeared in the titles of the last three novels by what best-selling author? John Irving likes bears. John Updike likes rabbits or at least a character named Rabbit.
3. 96-year-old Milvina Dean, of (appropriately) Southampton, England, is the last living person to have done what? survived the sinking of the Titanic (which sailed from Southampton)
4. What sports legend defeated his own uncle in a November 1938 showdown billed as "the Match of the Century"? Match of the Century in 1938 sounds like Joe Louis. Could have been tennis - Bill Tilden. Don't think it was golf.
5. Movie fans shouldn't be surprised to find that the "C." in George C. Scott's name stands for what? probably the name of a general. Custer, Cornwall.
6. What English phrase meaning "to do everything possible" is a metaphor from the world of pipe organ playing?
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these countries, and no others? Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, East Timor, Egypt, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, the U.S., and the USSR? East Timor is a hint. I suspect that all winners of the Nobel Peace prize are from these countries
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What Cincinnati rabbi opened his first matzo bakery in 1888, though his company didn't own a vineyard until the 1940s? Rabbi Dov Behr Manischewitz would probably be surprised today to find his name so closely associated with sweet, sweet kosher wine. I guess I think of Baron Herzog first when I think of wine, not Manischewitz.
2. If you find yourself in "gen pop," where are you? In jail--"general population." Thanks, Oz! a question about lingo from a show on a premium cable channel is not a good question
3. The specialized neurons in what part of your body come in two distinct types: cylindrical and flask-shaped? I was maybe being a little too cagey here--these neurons are the "rods" and "cones" of your eye.
4. What longtime PBS hit is currently hosted by The X-Files's Gillian Anderson? Gillian Anderson is hosting Masterpiece (formerly Masterpiece Theater) now. Did you all know this? Nobody told me. Aargh. I guessed the wrong show. For some reason, Russell Baker stopped hosting Masterpiece Theater in 2004.
5. In 1959, a British engineer led Jumbo from Montmelian, France, to her home at the Turin zoo, in an attempt to recreate the historical route taken by whom? Hannibal, and his amazing Alp-crossing elephants. correct
6. What body of water does the Jordan River end by flowing into? The Jordan River feeds the Dead Sea. I guessed the wrong sea
7. Based on the unusual distinction they share, who's the only U.S. president who could be added to this list--and why? Winston Churchill, Charles Dickens, Mel Gibson, James Joyce, Lisa Kudrow, Justin Morneau, Samuel Morse, and James Whistler? All these people have or had two middle names, so George Herbert Walker Bush is the right answer. It's true that Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was *born* with one middle name and a hyphenated last name, but as a young man, he decided to ditch the hyphen (the old "reverse Daniel Day-Lewis") and treat Spencer as a second middle name. correct
1. What was the only Billboard #1 single for the Beatles not written by Lennon-McCartney? Something by George Harrison
2. A bear, a dragon, a rabbit, and a tiger have appeared in the titles of the last three novels by what best-selling author? John Irving likes bears. John Updike likes rabbits or at least a character named Rabbit.
3. 96-year-old Milvina Dean, of (appropriately) Southampton, England, is the last living person to have done what? survived the sinking of the Titanic (which sailed from Southampton)
4. What sports legend defeated his own uncle in a November 1938 showdown billed as "the Match of the Century"? Match of the Century in 1938 sounds like Joe Louis. Could have been tennis - Bill Tilden. Don't think it was golf.
5. Movie fans shouldn't be surprised to find that the "C." in George C. Scott's name stands for what? probably the name of a general. Custer, Cornwall.
6. What English phrase meaning "to do everything possible" is a metaphor from the world of pipe organ playing?
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these countries, and no others? Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, East Timor, Egypt, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, the U.S., and the USSR? East Timor is a hint. I suspect that all winners of the Nobel Peace prize are from these countries
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What Cincinnati rabbi opened his first matzo bakery in 1888, though his company didn't own a vineyard until the 1940s? Rabbi Dov Behr Manischewitz would probably be surprised today to find his name so closely associated with sweet, sweet kosher wine. I guess I think of Baron Herzog first when I think of wine, not Manischewitz.
2. If you find yourself in "gen pop," where are you? In jail--"general population." Thanks, Oz! a question about lingo from a show on a premium cable channel is not a good question
3. The specialized neurons in what part of your body come in two distinct types: cylindrical and flask-shaped? I was maybe being a little too cagey here--these neurons are the "rods" and "cones" of your eye.
4. What longtime PBS hit is currently hosted by The X-Files's Gillian Anderson? Gillian Anderson is hosting Masterpiece (formerly Masterpiece Theater) now. Did you all know this? Nobody told me. Aargh. I guessed the wrong show. For some reason, Russell Baker stopped hosting Masterpiece Theater in 2004.
5. In 1959, a British engineer led Jumbo from Montmelian, France, to her home at the Turin zoo, in an attempt to recreate the historical route taken by whom? Hannibal, and his amazing Alp-crossing elephants. correct
6. What body of water does the Jordan River end by flowing into? The Jordan River feeds the Dead Sea. I guessed the wrong sea
7. Based on the unusual distinction they share, who's the only U.S. president who could be added to this list--and why? Winston Churchill, Charles Dickens, Mel Gibson, James Joyce, Lisa Kudrow, Justin Morneau, Samuel Morse, and James Whistler? All these people have or had two middle names, so George Herbert Walker Bush is the right answer. It's true that Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was *born* with one middle name and a hyphenated last name, but as a young man, he decided to ditch the hyphen (the old "reverse Daniel Day-Lewis") and treat Spencer as a second middle name. correct
