Tag: history

  • To the Lighthouse

    Tower of Hercules, an ancient Roman lighthouse in A Coruña, Spain
    Image Wikipedia

    Here are a few questions which are related to today’s date, 5 May.

    1. On 5 May 1927, the novel To the Lighthouse was published. Who was the English author?
      • Hazel Adair
      • Margaret Jepson
      • Virginia Woolf
    2. On this day in 1945, six people picnicking in Oregon were killed in an attack by the Japanese. These were the only deaths by enemy action in the continental United States during World War II. How was the attack launched?
      • Carrier_launched Aichi D3A dive-bomber
      • Gunfire from a surfaced I-15 submarine‘s deck gun
      • Japan launched Fu-Go high-explosive balloon bomb
    3. Born today in 1988, this singer-songwriter has won 16 Grammy Awards, 12 Brit Awards, an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Who is she?
      • Adele
      • Shura
      • Rhianna (Kenny)
    4. Napoleon Bonaparte died on 5 May 1821, while in exile on the island of Saint Helena. Which is where?
      • Mediterranean Sea
      • North Atlantic Ocean
      • South Atlantic Ocean
    5. On 5th May, rebel barons in England renounced their allegiance to King John, a pivotal event leading to the Magna Carta. In which year did this occur?
      • 1015
      • 1215
      • 1415

    Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

  • Continuing the theme, some more true or false | Answers

    The answers to my earlier post are shown in bold below. I have included the question simply for your information.

    Laurel and Hardy.
    Image Wikipedia
    1. True or false MCMXCIX is the Roman numeral for 1999.
      • True—MCMXCIX is 1999. M=1,000; C=100; X=10; I=1.
        M + (M – C) + (C – X) + (X – I) = MCMXCIX. There are various online resources explaining this, but here is well-explained one.
    2. True or false, Morecambe and Wise reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart in 1975 with The Trail of the Lonesome Pine.
      • False—Laurel and Hardy reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart in 1975 with The Trail of the Lonesome Pine. The song was from Laurel and Hardy’s 1937 film Way Out West and was performed by Laurel and Hardy with The Avalon Boys.
        The first page of the edition of the Domenica del Corriere, an Italian paper, with a drawing by Achille Beltrame depicting Gavrilo Princip killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo.
        Image Wikipedia
    3. True or false, Gavrilo Princip assassinated US President William McKinley.
      • False—It was Leon Czolgosz who assassinated President McKinley in 1901. On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife Sophie, Duchess von Hohenberg, in Sarajevo. Their deaths led to the outbreak of World War I.
        Margay in Costa Rica.
        Image Wikipedia
    4. True or false, a margay is a small monkey native to Madagascar.
      • False—a margay is a small wild cat native to the Americas, ranging from Mexico to Uruguay and northern Argentina.
        Procol Harum, 1967.
        Image Wikipedia
    5. True or false, “Turned cartwheels ‘cross the floor” is a line from Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.
      • False—it is the second line of the first verse, from Procol Harum’s 1967 number 1 A Whiter Shade of Pale. See quote below.

    A Whiter Shade of Pale

    Procol Harum

    (1967)

    We skipped the light fandango
    Turned cartwheels ‘cross the floor
    I was feeling kind of seasick
    But the crowd called out for more
    The room was humming harder
    As the ceiling flew away
    When we called out for another drink
    The waiter brought a tray

    And so it was that later
    As the miller told his tale
    That her face, at first just ghostly
    Turned a whiter shade of pale

    She said, “There is no reason
    And the truth is plain to see”
    But I wandered through my playing cards
    And would not let her be
    One of sixteen vestal virgins
    Who were leaving for the coast
    And although my eyes were open
    They might just as well have been closed

    And so it was that later
    As the miller told his tale
    That her face, at first just ghostly
    Turned a whiter shade of pale

    And so it was that later
    As the miller told his tale…

    Lyrics from AZLyrics.

  • Continuing the theme, some more true or false

    Morecambe and Wise.
    Image BBC

    Here are a few questions which are related to today’s date,

    1. True or false, MCMXCIX is the Roman numeral for 1999.
    2. True or false, Morecambe and Wise reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart in 1975 with The Trail of the Lonesome Pine.
    3. True or false, Gavrilo Princip assassinated US President William McKinley.
    4. True or false, a margay is a small monkey native to Madagascar.
    5. True or false, “Turned cartwheels ‘cross the floor” is a line from Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

    Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

  • True or false | Answers

    Below are the questions from earlier today with the correct answers shown in bold.

    Anne Boleyn.
    Image Wikipedia
    1. Anne Boleyn was arrested and imprisoned on 2 May 1536. True or false, one of the charges she faced was witchcraft.
      • TRUE—Anne Boleyn was arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft.
    2. Manfred, Baron von Richthofen, born on 2 May 1892, became Germany’s top fighter ace in World War I until he was killed in action. True or false, he was eventually succeeded as commander of his fighter group by future Nazi leader Hermann Göring.
      • TRUE—Manfred von Richthofen, aka Baron von Richthofen or the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot during World War I. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war and officially credited with 80 air combat victories. Hermann Göring, himself a veteran World War I fighter pilot ace, served as the last commander of Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG I), the fighter wing—Flying Circus—once led by Manfred von Richthofen. In the above photo Göring is holding a walking stick (the Geschwader-Stock) passed down from von Richthofen.
        A BOAC de Havilland Comet jet airliner, en route to Johannesburg from London, breaks its journey at Entebbe Airport, Uganda. 1952
        Image Wikipedia https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/BOAC_Comet_1952_Entebbe.jpg
    3. On this day in 1952, the first jetliner flight with fare-paying passengers took place. True or false, this flight was from Seattle, Washington to Washington DC.
      • FALSE—The de Havilland DH.106 Comet, the world’s first commercial jet airliner, entered service in 1952 with a flight from London, England to Johannesburg, South Africa. However, within a year, three Comets were lost in catastrophic mid-flight accidents.
        Catherine the Great.
        Image Wikipedia
    4. Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, was born today in 1729. True or false, she was born in the Kingdom of Prussia, which was part of the Holy Roman Empire.
      • TRUE—Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796, was born in Prussia in the Holy Roman Empire. She oversaw a cultural and scientific renaissance, expanding the empire through conquest and diplomacy. Her reign, marked by Enlightenment ideals, saw the founding of new cities, universities, and theatres, as well as the colonisation of Alaska and the annexation of the Crimean Khanate. Despite her modernising efforts, serfdom persisted, leading to rebellions.
        James VI and I.
        (James VI of Scotland and I of England)
        Image Wikipedia
    5. The King James Version of the Bible was first published on 2 May; True or false, the year of this first publication was1661.
      • FALSE—The King James Version, commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible. It is considered one of the most important books in English culture and a driving force in shaping the English-speaking world.
  • True of false

    Jadstaffel 11: The Red Barons Squadron
    Image Wikipedia

    Here are a few questions which are related to today’s date, 2 May.

    1. Anne Boleyn was arrested and imprisoned on 2 May 1536. True or false, one of the charges she faced was witchcraft.
    2. Manfred, Baron von Richthofen, born on 2 May 1892, became Germany’s top fighter ace in World War I until he was killed in action. True or false, he was eventually succeeded as commander of his fighter group by future Nazi leader Hermann Göring.
    3. On this day in 1952, the first jetliner flight with fare-paying passengers took place. True or false, this flight was from Seattle, Washington to Washington DC.
    4. Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, was born today in 1729. True or false, she was born in the Kingdom of Prussia, which was part of the Holy Roman Empire.
    5. The King James Version of the Bible was first published on 2 May; True or false, the year of this first publication was 1661.

    Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

  • Mysteries and Meanings: A Trivial Journey Through Mike—Quebec | Answers

    Below are the questions from earlier today with the answers in bold.

    1. M is for Mike. This nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion went on to race cars in the Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship?
      • Mike Hailwood—Stanley Michael Bailey Hailwood, nicknamed “the Bike”, was a British racing driver and motorcycle road racer. He won nine Grand Prix motorcycle World Championships and 14 Isle of Man TT victories before transitioning to Formula One and other car racing classes.
        Natalie Wood.
        Image Wikipedia
    1. N is for Natalie. She married actor Robert Wagner in 1957 and again in 1972?
      • Wood—Natalie Wood, an American actress, began acting at four and starred in films like Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story. She drowned in 1981 at age 43 during a break from filming Brainstorm, with her husband Robert Wagner and co-star Christopher Walken. An ongoing investigation into her death named Wagner as a person of interest in 2018.
        Operation Overlord.
        Image Wikipedia
    2. O is for Operation. That was launched on 6 June 1944?
      • Overlord—Operation Overlord, the codename for the Battle of Normandy, was the Allied operation that liberated German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation, launched on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings, involved nearly 160,000 troops crossing the English Channel. German forces retreated east across the Seine on 30 August 1944, marking the close of Operation Overlord.
        MY Fair Lady, Playbill magazine cover, Broadway, 1952.
        Image Wikipedia
    3. P is for Pygmalion. This musical and a 1960s film were based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion?
      • My Fair Lady—George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion is a comedy about a phonetician who bets he can transform a Cockney flower seller into a duchess. The play, later adapted into My Fair Lady, starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn, explores love and the English class system.
        Dana Scully and Queequeg
        Image Pinterest
    4. Q if for Queequeg. Queequeg is a character in the 1851 novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, but who had a dog named Queequeg?
      • Dana Scully—In Moby-Dick, Queequeg is a skilled harpooneer from the cannibal tribe of Rokovoko. Scully, in The X-Files, named Queequeg (the dog) because of his cannabalistic behaviour in eating the dead body of his former owner.

    Natalie Wood.
    Image Wikipedia
  • Mysteries and Meanings: A Trivial Journey Through Mike—Quebec

    Queequeg and his harpoon.
    Image: Illustration from 1902 edition of Moby Dick/Wikipedia
    1. M is for Mike. This nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion went on to race cars in the Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship?
      • Haggar
      • Hailwood
      • Hawthorn
    1. N is for Natalie. She married actor Robert Wagner in 1957 and again in 1972?
      • Walnut
      • Willow
      • Wood
    2. O is for Operation. That was launched on 6 June 1944?
      • Overarch
      • Overlord
      • Overtake
    3. P is for Pygmalion. This musical and a 1960s film were based on George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion?
      • Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
      • Half a Sixpence
      • My Fair Lady
    4. Q if for Queequeg. Queequeg is a character in the 1851 novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, but who had a dog named Queequeg?
      • Dana Scully
      • Dr Doug Ross
      • Ross Geller

    Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

  • Game of thrones

    The answers to my earlier post are shown in bold below. I have included the question simply for your information.

    1. On 30 April 2013, Willem-Alexander became king of the Netherlands after his mother’s abdication. Who was his mother?
      • Beatrix—see #2 below.
    2. Willem—Alexander’s mother (see question 1) had became queen on 30 April 1980, on the abdication of her mother. Who was the Dutch queen who abdicated in 1980?
      • Juliana—Queen of the Netherlands from 1948 to 1980, managed the decolonisation of the Dutch East Indies and Suriname before abdicating in favour of her daughter Beatrix in 1980. Juliana passed away in 2004 at the age of 94. Beatrix, born in 1938, reigned from 1980 to 2013, during which time the Netherlands experienced significant changes in its Caribbean territories, including Aruba’s secession and the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles. She abdicated in favour of her son, Willem-Alexander, in 2013.
        King Carl XVI Gustaf.
        Image Wikipedia
    3. Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus, who was born on 30 April 1946, has been king of where since 1973?
      • Sweden—Carl XVI Gustaf, born in 1946, is the longest-reigning King of Sweden, having ascended to the throne in 1973. He married Silvia Sommerlath in 1976 and has three children: Victoria, Carl Philip and Madeleine
        King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile.
        Image Wikipedia
    4. Today in 1492, Christopher Columbus was given his commission of exploration. Which monarchs issued this commission?
      • King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile—After Ferdinand and Isabella conquered Granada they initially believed Columbus’s proposal to sail westwards to the Indies implausible but Ferdinand convinced Isabella to support Columbus’s voyage, promising him titles, revenues and commercial interests in the new lands he might discover.
        Wives of Henry VIII.
        Image Wikipedia
    5. Nothing to do with the date. England’s Henry VIII and how many of his wives were related by a single common ancestor?
      • Henry VIII plus six of his wives—were descended from Edward I of England. Henry VIII, born on 28 June 1491, reigned as King of England from 1509 to 1547. Known for his six marriages, he sought to annul his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon, leading to the English Reformation. Declaring himself Supreme Head of the Church of England, he dissolved convents and monasteries, resulting in excommunication. Legal attempts failed, with Cardinal Campeggio thwarting a trial in 1529, leading to Wolsey’s downfall. Thomas More, opposing the divorce, succeeded Wolsey but couldn’t resolve the issue. Thomas Cromwell emerged in 1532, orchestrating the church’s separation from Rome, allowing Henry to marry Anne Boleyn and have his first marriage annulled.
  • Game of thrones

    Here are a few questions (most of) which are related to today’s date, 30 April.

    Willem-Alexander
    Image Wikipedia
    1. On 30 April 2013, Willem-Alexander became king of the Netherlands after his mother’s abdication. Who was his mother? Annie—Beatrix—Catharina
    2. Willem-Alexander’s mother (see question 1) had became queen on 30 April 1980, on the abdication of her mother. Who was the Dutch queen who abdicated in 1980? Jasmijn—Jolanda—Juliana
    3. Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus, who was born on 30 April 1946, has been king of where since 1973? Denmark—Belgium—Sweden
    4. Today in 1492, Christopher Columbus was given his commission of exploration. Which monarchs issued this commission? King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile—Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Empress Eleanor of Portugal—King Manuel I the fortunate and Queen Isabella of Aragon
      Henry VIII.
      Image Wikipedia
    5. Nothing to do with the date. England’s Henry VIII and how many of his wives were related by a single common ancestor? Henry VIII plus two of his wives—Henry VIII plus four of his wives—Henry VIII plus six of his wives

    Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

  • From Springfield to the Führerbunker | Answers

    The answers to my earlier post are shown in bold below. I have included the question simply for your information.

    Marshal Matt Dillon, Gunsmoke.
    Image Wikipedia
    1. The Simpsons aired its 636th episode on 29 April 2018, becoming the longest-running scripted prime-time show in the US. What show had held the record until then?
      • GunsmokeThe Simpsons, created by Matt Groening, became the longest-running American scripted primetime television series in 2009–2010 and surpassed Gunsmoke as the show with the most episodes in 2018. It is also the highest-ranking animated series on TV Time’s top 50 most followed shows. The show, which centres on the dysfunctional Simpson family in the fictional town of Springfield, has significantly influenced popular culture by introducing catchphrases and expanding into comic books, video games and a feature film.
        Jeanne d’Arc at the Siege of Orléans by Jules Eugène Lenepveu, painted 1886–
        1890.
        Image Wikipedia
    2. On today’s date in 1429, Joan of Arc and her troops relieved what besieged city?
      • Orléans—The siege of Orléans, a crucial event in the Hundred Years’ War, began with English forces under Thomas de Montacute, earl of Salisbury, attempting to capture the French city. Following Salisbury’s death, William de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, took over the siege. However, the arrival of Joan of Arc in April 1429 forced the English to abandon the siege, marking a turning point that allowed the French to regain momentum and recapture lost territories.
        Obersalzberg- Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun with dogs (German Shepherd Dog “Blondi”?) at the Berghof, 1942
        Image Wikipedia
    3. Who did Adolf Hitler marry on 29 April 1945?
      • Eva Braun—In April 1945, Eva Braun defied Hitler’s orders to join him in Berlin, determined to remain with him until the end. In recognition of her loyalty, Hitler married her in a civil ceremony in the Chancellery bunker on April 29. The following day, as the situation in Berlin worsened, both Hitler and Braun committed suicide. Hitler either poisoned or shot himself, and Braun took poison. Their bodies were subsequently burned.
        Captain James Cook
        Portrait by William Hodges.
        Image Wikipedia
    4. On this date in 1770, which explorer arrived in and named Botany Bay in Australia?
      • James CookEndeavour continued northwards along the coastline, keeping the land in sight. As Cook charted and named landmarks, the crew made their first landfall on the continent on 29 April at a beach now known as Silver Beach on Botany Bay (Kamay Botany Bay National Park).
        Jerry Seinfeld, Late Show 2019.
        Image Wikipedia
    5. Jerry Seinfeld, the star of the TV show Seinfeld, was born on April 29, 1954. Where was he born?
      • Brooklyn, New York, NY—Jerry Seinfeld, an American comedian, actor, writer and producer from Brooklyn, New York, is renowned for his observational humour. He rose to fame with the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, which he co-created with Larry David and starred in from 1989 to 1998. The show became a landmark in American popular culture and a cultural phenomenon, showcasing Seinfeld’s unique comedic style. Since then, he has created and produced several other series and films.