Tag: US president

1. Who, born 26 April 1886, in Columbus, Georgia, US; performed as Ma Rainey and was known as the “Mother of the blues”?
   • Gertrude Pridgett—Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, the “Mother of the Blues”, was a pioneering blues singer who began her career in vaudeville. Her powerful voice and flamboyant performances helped popularise the blues, influencing generations of singers.

     ---

     

2. What best describes Petrarch who climbed Mount Ventoux today in 1336 and, at some point, wrote about it?
   • Poet—Francis Petrarch, a prominent scholar and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, climbed Mont Ventoux in 1336. Inspired by the climb and a reading of Saint Augustine’s “Confessions,” Petrarch reflected on the true nature of wonder, shifting his focus from the external world to the inner soul.

     ---

     

3. When did the Virginia Company colonists make landfall at Cape Henry?
   • 1607—The Virginia Company, chartered by [Britain’s] King James I in 1606, aimed to colonise America’s eastern coast and established the Jamestown Colony in Virginia. Despite initial challenges, John Rolfe’s introduction of sweeter tobacco strains from the Caribbean improved the company’s prospects. The company also founded America’s first legislature, the General Assembly, in 1619. However, it was dissolved in 1624 after the Great Massacre, leading to Virginia becoming a royal colony.

     ---

     

4. Where, during World War II, was senior Nazi Rudolf Hess—born today in 1894—captured?
   • Scotland—Rudolf Hess, a German National Socialist and Adolf Hitler’s deputy, flew to Scotland in 1941 to negotiate a peace between Britain and Germany. His proposals were rejected by both the British government and Hitler, who accused him of “pacifist delusions”. After the war, Hess was tried at the Nuremberg trials, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment. He served his sentence at Spandau prison in Berlin, where he was the sole inmate from 1966 onwards.

     ---

     

5. Why were thousands of people in Canada left without a home on this date in 1900?
   • Fire—In 1900, a fire caused by a defective chimney in Hull, Quebec, spread to Ottawa, Ontario, destroying two-thirds of Hull and one-fifth of Ottawa. The fire, fuelled by wind and lumber, caused significant property damage and loss of life, with seven people being killed in the conflagration which displaced 15,000 people.
6. How did John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, die?
   • Gunshot—Following Lincoln’s assassination, John Wilkes Booth fled to southern Maryland, seeking refuge with Confederate sympathisers. After a failed attempt to cross the Potomac, Booth was shot and killed in a tobacco barn by Sergeant Boston Corbett.

A “Who, What, When, Where, Why and How” which all relate to today, 26 April.

1. Who, born 26 April 1886, in Columbus, Georgia, US; performed as Ma Rainey and was known as the “Mother of the blues”?
   • Beatrice Rutledge
   • Gertrude Pridgett
   • Hortense Gwinnett
2. What best describes Petrarch, who climbed Mount Ventoux today in 1336 and, at some point, wrote about it?
   • Poet
   • Politician
   • Pundit
3. When did the Virginia Company colonists make landfall at Cape Henry?
   • 1557
   • 1607
   • 1657
4. Where, during World War II, was senior Nazi Rudolf Hess—born today in 1894—captured?
   • Scotland
   • Sweden
   • Switzerland
5. Why were twelve thousand people in Canada left without a home on this date in 1900?
   • Avalanche
   • Fire
   • Flood
6. How did John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, die?
   • Hanging
   • Gunshot
   • Drowning

Good luck! I will post the answers later today.