history – Page 29 – Quizology Online

Speed bonnie boat like a bird on the wing

This battle, the last fought on British soil, took place on 16 April 1746; it was the Battle of…
- Bannockburn
- Culloden
- Stirling Bridge
As question one was about a Scottish event I decided to give a Scottish flavour to the rest of this post.
The Scot who won the Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship for the second time in 1965 was…
- Jackie Stewart
- Jim Clark
- Johnny Dumfries
The only clergyman to sign the US Declaration of Independence was a Scottish minister; he was…
- William Whipple
- James Wilson
- John Witherspoon.
The New Zealand city of Dunedin’s Scottish connection, is that it is named after…
- Dunfermline
- Edinburgh
- Stirling
This Scottish-born actor received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Jimmy Malone in a 1987 film; he was…
- Ewan McGregor
- Sean Connery
- Ken Stott

Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

McDonald’s Medicines and medals | Answers

On 15 April 1955, Ray Kroc launched McDonald’s Systems, Inc., later known as McDonald’s Corporation, in…
- Des Plaines, Illinois—McDonald’s, founded in 1940, is an American multinational fast food chain. It serves over 69 million customers daily in more than 100 countries.
  
  “Teapot Rock-Famous Teapot Dome”
  “[Salt Creek] Oil District-In Wyoming,”
  Historical postcard, c. 1922. Wikipedia
On this day in 1922, US Senator John B. Kendrick (Wyoming) introduced a resolution calling for an investigation into a secret land deal. This led to the discovery of the…
- Teapot Dome scandal—The Teapot Dome scandal involved the secret leasing of federal oil reserves by Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall to Harry F. Sinclair and Edward L. Doheny. Fall received bribes from Sinclair and Doheny, leading to his conviction for bribery and imprisonment.
George Cross granted to the Island of Malta in 1942.
National War Museum, Malta. Wikipedia
On this day in 1942, King George VI awarded the George Cross to the island fortress of…
- Malta—see quote from handwritten message of King George VI.
  
  “To honour her brave people I award the George Cross to the Island Fortress of Malta to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history.“
Today in 1923, ___ became generally available for use by people with diabetes. The missing word is…
- Insulin—a pancreatic hormone, regulates blood sugar levels by facilitating glucose uptake into cells. Insulin deficiency leads to diabetes mellitus, requiring insulin injections
On 15 April 2019, the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris in France was seriously damaged by a large fire. This Paris cathedral is located on the…
- Île de la Cité—a 22.5-hectare (55.5 acres) island in the Seine, is the historical heart of Paris. It features iconic landmarks like Notre-Dame Cathedral, Sainte-Chapelle and the Pont Neuf, and underwent significant transformations in the 19th century under Haussmann’s urban renewal project.

McDonald’s, Medicines and medals

On 15 April 1955, Ray Kroc launched McDonald’s Systems, Inc., later known as McDonald’s Corporation, in…
- Des Lacs, North Dakota
- Des Moines, Iowa
- Des Plaines, Illinois
On this day in 1922, US Senator John B. Kendrick (Wyoming) introduced a resolution calling for an investigation into a secret land deal. This led to the discovery of the…
- Milk Jug scandal
- Sugar Bowl scandal
- Teapot Dome scandal
On this day in 1942, King George VI awarded the George Cross to the island fortress of…
- Jersey
- Malta
- St Helena.
Today in 1923, ___ became generally available for use by people with diabetes. The missing word is…
- Formalin
- Insulin
- Mandolin.
On 15 April 2019, the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris in France was seriously damaged by a large fire. This Paris cathedral is located on the…
- Île de la Cité
- Île-Saint-Denis
- Île Saint-Louis.

Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

Number Crunching

See #2 below. RMS *Titanic* departing Southampton on 10 April 1912. Wikipedia

Today’s post is all about today’s date, 14 April, and all the answers are numbers.

What two words are missing from this text regarding an April 14, 1881 gunfight: The ___ Dead in ___ Seconds Gunfight?
- Four and five
- Five and ten
- Six and fifteen.
In 1912, the British passenger liner RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic, causing it to begin sinking. Where was it when it struck the iceberg?
- 220 miles (350 km) south of Iceland
- 370 miles (600 km) southeast of Newfoundland
- 590 miles (950 km) northwest of the Azores.
  
  William Grover-Williams at the 1929 Monaco Grand Prix. Wikipedia
In motor racing, the inaugural Monaco Grand Prix took place on this date when a number of invited participants started the race. In what year did this inaugural race take place and how many drivers participated?
- 1923 and 10 drivers
- 1929 and 16 drivers
- 1934 and 12 drivers.
On 14 April 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States, was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC. What number President was Lincoln and how many days later was his assassin killed?
- 14th President and 17 days
- 15th President and 9 days
- 16th President and 12 days.
Today in 1986, the heaviest hailstones ever recorded fell on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, resulting in fatalities. How heavy were the individual hailstones and how many people died?
- 0.5 kg (1.1 lb) and 47 persons
- 0.75 kg (1.65 lb) and 64 persons
- 1 kg (2.2 lb) and 92 persons.
On this day, Mark Antony was defeated at the Battle of Forum Gallorum. This was some 13 years before his death, so when was the battle?
- 43 BCE
- 3CE
- 43 CE

Good luck! As usual, I will post answers later today.

An A to Z Cornucopia of Trivia. Part V

Some trivia related to the letters V to Z.

V) In which state is Naulakha, the home built for Rudyard Kipling in 1892-93?
- Veracruz, Mexico
- Vermont, US
- Virginia, US
(W) What are Caol Ila, Laphroaig and Rosebank?
- Water (spring water )—
- Wine
- Whisky
(X) Which of these words is omitted from this poem’s opening lines?
- Xagacía
- Xai-xai
- Xanadu
  
  In ___ did Kubla Khan
  A stately pleasure-dome decree:
  Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
  Through caverns measureless to man
  Down to a sunless sea.
(Y) Which former Soviet republic capital is located on the Hrazdan River?
- Yaounde
- Yaren
- Yerevan
(Z) What activity consisting of rolling downhill inside an orb, typically made of transparent plastic, pictured, is taking place here?
- Zooming
- Zorbing
- Zowing

An A to Z Cornucopia of Trivia. Part IV | Answers

Here are the answers to my earlier post.

Portrait of Samuel Pepys by John Hayls. Wikipedia
See #3.

Q) Question mark—The question mark, used to indicate questions in many languages, has a history dating back to the 5th century. Its modern form, a curved mark, emerged in the 13th century and was standardised in the 15th century. The term “question mark” was first used in the 1850s.

Rebecca book cover. Wikipedia
(R) Rebecca—Rebecca is a 1938 Gothic novel by Daphne du Maurier about a young woman who marries a wealthy widower haunted by his late first wife. The novel, a bestseller, has been adapted for stage, screen and as a musical.
(S) Samuel Peyps—Eleanor Gwyn, also known as Nell Gwyn, was an English actress and mistress of King Charles II, celebrated for her comic performances and as a folk heroine of Restoration England. She had two sons with the King, Charles and James Beauclerk. Known for her frank recklessness, generosity and good temper, Nell rose from humble beginnings as an orange-girl to become a leading comedienne in the King’s Company, performing in plays by John Dryden and James Howard. After becoming Charles II’s mistress in 1669, she retired from the stage, lived extravagantly, entertained the king and his friends and secured titles for her sons.

Inland Taipan aka Fierce snake. Wikipedia
(T) Taipan—Taipans are large, fast-moving, highly venomous snakes endemic to Australia and New Guinea. There are three recognised species, with the coastal taipan having two subspecies. Taipan refers to foreign-born senior business executives or entrepreneurs operating in China or Hong Kong. The term also refers to influential business families in the Philippines. Tai-Pan, a 1966 novel by James Clavell, is the second book in his Asian Saga and introduces the Struan family.
(U) Uranus—Gustav Holst’s The Planets is a seven-movement orchestral suite depicting the planets as astrological symbols. The suite premiered in 1918 and quickly became popular.

Uranus on 1986-01-23 formula NASA’s Voyager 2 probe. Wikipedia

An A to Z Cornucopia of Trivia. Part IV

Some trivia related to the letters Q to U

(Q) An eroteme is a …
- Quartz crystal
- Question mark—
- Quetiapine medication
(R) “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again”, is the opening line of what novel?
- Rebecca
- Rowena
- Roxanne
(S) Which contemporary of Charles II’s mistress, Nell Gwyn, described her as “pretty, witty Nell”?
- Samuel Johnson
- Samuel Pepys
- Samuel Richardson
(T) One word links snakes of the genus Oxyuranus; a foreign-born senior business executive in China or Hong Kong and a novel by James Clavell. What word?
- Taipan
- Titanoboa
- Trinket
(U) In Gustav Holst’s suite what is “the Magician”?
- Uluru
- United States
- Uranus

Good luck. I will post the answers later today.

An A to Z Cornucopia of Trivia. Part II | Answers

(F) Freesia—Freesia is a genus of herbaceous perennial flowering plants native to eastern southern Africa. Cultivated hybrids of Freesia species are commonly known as “freesias” and grown as ornamental plants.
(G) Golden Cap—Golden Cap, a hill and cliff in Dorset, England, is the highest point near the south coast of Great Britain. It is owned by the National Trust and part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site.

H.G. Wells by George Charles Beresford, 1920. Wikipedia
(H) H.G. Wells—Half a Sixpence is a 1963 musical comedy based on H.G. Wells’s novel Kipps. The show, tailored for Tommy Steele, follows Arthur Kipps, an orphan who inherits a fortune and learns that money can’t buy happiness.
(I) Ireland—In May 1915, the RMS Lusitania, a British ocean liner, was sunk by the German submarine U-20, 11 miles (18 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland. This tragic event resulted in the loss of 1,197 lives, including passengers, crew, and stowaways. The sinking significantly boosted American support for entering World War I.
(J) J. Alfred Prufrock—The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is T. S. Eliot’s first published poem, reflecting the title character’s thoughts in stream-of-consciousness style. Initially considered outlandish, it is now seen as a landmark in the shift from Romanticism to Modernism in poetry.
Regarding the wrong alternative answers: J. Bruce Ismay was the chairman of the White Star Line, the owners of the Titanic. He faced criticism and was branded a coward after surviving the sinking. J. Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the FBI. He served in that role in the predecessor organisation, the BOI, and the FBI for a total of 48 years.

RMS *Lusitania*. See #4 above. Wikipedia

An A to Z Cornucopia of Trivia. Part II

Some trivia related to the letters F to J.

(F) Named after a German botanist, what is a flowering plant of the iris family?
- Foxglove
- Freesia
- Fuchsia
(G) Which hill, on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, is the highest point on England’s south coast?
- Golden Cap
- Golden Law
- Golden Tor
(H) Half a Sixpence, the musical, was adapted from the 1905 novel Kipps. Who wrote this novel?(I)
- H.E. Bates
- H. Rider Haggard
- H.G. Wells
(I) In 1915, the RMS Lusitania was torpedoed 11 miles (18 km) off the coast of which country?
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Ivory Coast
(J) What T.S. Eliot character says, “I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;”?
- J. Alfred Prufrock
- J. Bruce Ismay
- J. Edgar Hoover

Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

An A to Z Cornucopia of Trivia. Part I | Answers

Some trivia related to the letters A to E.

Melvyn Bragg (Official photo of Lord Bragg), 2018. Winner of the Bad Sex in Fiction Award 1993 for *A Time to Dance*. See question 2. Wikipedia

(A) Aardvark—The Raccoons is a Canadian animated series about Bert, Ralph and Melissa Raccoon, who thwart the schemes of Cyril Sneer, an industrialist aardvark, to destroy their forest home. The series ran from 1985 to 1992 and was created by Kevin Gillis.
(B) Bad Sex in Fiction award—The Literary Review has presented the Bad Sex in Fiction Award annually since 1993 to the author of the worst sex scene description in a novel. The award, established by Rhoda Koenig and Auberon Waugh, aims to discourage crude and tasteless sexual descriptions in modern novels.

Colossus of Rhodes. Wikipedia
(C) Colossus—One of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Colossus of Rhodes, a statue of the Greek sun god Helios, was erected in 280 BCE to celebrate Rhodes’ successful defence against Demetrius I of Macedon. Standing at 33 metres tall, it was the tallest statue in the ancient world until it collapsed in an earthquake in 226 BCE.

Dylan Thomas, 1952. Wikipedia
(D) Dylan Thomas—Do not go gentle into that good night is a villanelle* by Dylan Thomas, written in 1947 and published in 1951. The poem, about resisting death, entered the public domain in 2024.
*Villanelle is a pastoral or lyrical poem of nineteen lines, with only two rhymes throughout, and some lines repeated (Oxford English Dictionary).
(E) Europa—The Galilean moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, are Jupiter’s four largest moons. Discovered by Galileo in 1610, they were the first objects found to orbit a planet other than Earth, challenging the geocentric Ptolemaic world system. Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system, surpassing Mercury in size. Europa is the smallest of the four Galilean moons.