Trivia People

Ayrton Senna with model of his first championship-winning car. (Photo courtesy of Instituto Ayrton Senna)

Today marks the 21st anniversary of the death of three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna.

Here are a few things you may not have knowns about Senna and the deadly weekend.

First: Senna won the world drivers’ championship in 1988, 1990 and 1991 driving for McLaren. The Brazilian’s 41 career victories rank third all time behind Michael Schumacher and Alain Prost. During his career he raced for Toleman, Lotus, McLaren and Williams. He is regarded by some as the greatest Formula One driver of all time.

Second: Senna was the second driver killed during the San Marino Grand Prix weekend at Imola and third to be involved in a major accident. During Friday practice, Rubens Barrichello, a fellow Brazilian was knocked unconscious during a 140-mile-per-hour crash. On Saturday, Austria’s Roland Ratzenberger was killed when the front wing of his car detached and he lost the ability to steer at 195 miles per hour. He died of a basilar skull fracture, the same injury that killed NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt in the 2001 Daytona 500.

Third: After qualifying on the pole, the race started ominously as well. One car stalled on the start and was crashed into causing the next few laps to be run under caution behind a pace car. Two laps after the race restarted, Senna hit the wall at Tamburello Corner at 131 miles per hour. Senna would die of the massive injuries. The race was restarted after 37 minutes.

Our question: Where did Ayrton Senna earn his last victory?

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Casey Jones

Today marks the 115th anniversary of the death of legendary train engineer Casey Jones.

Here are some things you may not know about Casey Jones:

One: On board engine number 382, Jones and fireman Sim Webb departed Memphis, Tennessee for Canton, Mississippi. By the time they took over, the train was 95 minutes late leaving Memphis.

Two: By the time the train reached Goodman, Mississippi, which was 163 miles away, the train was only five minutes late and likely to arrive on schedule at Canton.

Three: Because of train congestion and a disabled train, the main line was blocked at Vaughan, Mississippi, by the last four cars of a freight train.

Webb yelled to Jones when he noticed the obstruction and jumped from the train when Jones told him to.

Jones reversed the throttle and slammed on the airbrakes, but it wasn’t in time as Jones’ train collided with the caboose and the three other cars before derailing.

Jones had managed to slow the train from 75 miles per hour to about 35 miles per hour.

Because of his bravery, Jones likely saved the lives of many of the passengers on board. Jones was the only person killed in the collision.

Our question: Jones was engineering on the Illinois Central Railroad’s Cannonball passenger line. Which two cities were at the end of the Cannonball line?

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Captain James Cook, painted by Nathaniel Dance (British Maritime Museum via Wikipedia)

Today marks the 245th anniversary of Captain James Cook landing at Botany Bay near present-day Sydney, Australia.

Here are some things you might not know about Cook, Botany Bay and the British settlement of Australia.

First: Cook led three voyages which included many notable firsts. His crew were the first Europeans to sail around New Zealand, the first to reach the Hawaiian Islands and the first to set foot in Eastern Australia.

Second: Botany Bay was originally named Stingray Harbour for the large number of the fish Cook’s crew found in the bay.

Third: Botany Bay was originally planned to be the site of a British penal colony, which was instead moved north to what is now Sydney Harbour. Botany Bay is the site of Sydney’s international airport and the city’s largest container ship port

A quick fourth fact about Australia: It’s the second biggest audience for this podcast after the United States. Thank you to all of our listeners in Australia and around the world.

Our question: Which “Star Trek” villain is found aboard the SS Botany Bay?

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Fletcher Christian and the mutineers turn Lieutenant William Bligh and 18 others adrift from the HMS Bounty. 1790 painting by Robert Dodd. (Via Wikipedia)

April 28 marks the 226th anniversary of the mutiny aboard the HMS Bounty in the South Pacific.

Here are some things you may not have known about the mutiny:

One: The Bounty, under the command of lieutenant William Bligh, was sailing to Tahiti to gather breadfruit to transplant to the West Indies as a food source for slaves.

Two: The 46-man crew was forced to wait five months in Tahiti because the breadfruit plants would not survive the journey until they had matured. The Bounty set sail on April 5, 1788.

Three: Only 19 of the 46 crew took part in the mutiny on April 28, led by master’s mate Fletcher Christian.

Bligh and 18 of the loyal crew members were set adrift in a 23-foot launch, which Bligh navigated more than 3,600 nautical miles over 47 days to the island of Timor, where he reported the mutiny to Dutch officials.

Our question: What was the name of the island that most of the mutineers settled on?

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Nelson Mandela votes int he 1994 South African election (Photo by Paul Weinberg via Wikipedia)

Today marks the 21st anniversary of the first democratic election in South Africa in which black people were allowed to vote. It is now a national holiday called “Freedom Day.”

Here are some things you might not have known about that election.

First: It was the end of the four-year process that ended Apartheid, which included the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990.

Second: The African National Congress won a landslide victory, taking 62 percent of the vote, and winning majorities in seven of nine provinces.

Third: The first act of the National assembly was to select Mandela as president, South Africa’s first black head of state. He served in that capacity until 1999.

Our question: What was the name of the prison in which Nelson Mandela was held between 1964 and 1982?

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“John James Audubon 1826” by John Syme (Art via Wikipedia)

Today marks the 230th anniversary of the birth of naturalist John James Audubon.

Here are a few things you may not have known about Audubon:

First: The author of “Birds of America” and inspiration for the Audubon Society was born to French parents in what is now Haiti in 1785.

Second: At age 18, Audubon emigrated to the United States, where he lived in poverty until traveling to England to begin publishing “Birds of America” between 1827 and 1838.

Third: In 2010 a complete first edition of “Birds of America” sold at auction in London for 7.3 million pounds (approximately $11.5 million U.S.)

Fourth: Audubon died of what would later be called Alzheimer’s disease in 1848.

Our question: While Audubon was touring England and Scotland raising money to publish “Birds of America,” one of his demonstrations was attended by what future noted naturalist?

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Operation Sandblast track – from All Hands magazine, July 1960. (Photo via Wikipedia)

On April 25, 1960, the USS Triton completed the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.

Here are a few facts about the Triton and her mission:

One, the 60-day mission under Captain Edward Beach Junior, used Saint Peter and Saint Paul Rocks in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean as the starting and finishing points for circumnavigation.

Two: The route was roughly the same as that of Ferdinand Magellan when his crew sailed around the world in the early 1500s.

Three: The submarine went undetected for the entire trip, except when the raised periscope was spotted by a young man in a dugout canoe off the coast of the Philippines. In the November 1960 issue of National Geographic magazine, 19-year-old Rufino Baring said he believed he had encountered a sea monster, saying “I was very frightened. I tried to get away as fast as I could.”

Our question: True of false, the Triton still holds the record for fastest maritime circumnavigation of the globe.

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Poster promoting Annie Oakley in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.

130 years ago, Annie Oakley was hired to join Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show.

Here are a few things you may not have known about Annie Oakley.

One: Her real name was probably Phoebe Ann Moses. Or Mosey, Or Mauzy. She and her siblings never agreed on what their last name was.

There is also some controversy over where the name Oakley came from. The most likely theory is that she took it from the Oakley neighborhood in Cincinnati.

Two: In 1901, Oakley was injured in a train accident which resulted in temporary paralysis and five spinal surgeries.

Three: Oakley died of pernicious anemia, a lack of vitamin B12 in the blood, in 1926.

Our question: In 1898 Annie Oakley volunteered the services of 50 female sharpshooters to take part in what war?

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Thirty years ago, the Coca-Cola Company introduced New Coke, replacing the formula of its flagship soft drink.

Here are some things you may not have known about the New Coke fiasco.

One: In 1983, Pepsi-Cola had begun to outsell Coca-Cola in grocery stores. Coke believed that this was due to younger drinkers preferring the sweeter taste of Pepsi. They also believed, rightly, that diet drinks would become more popular due to baby boomers becoming more health conscious.

Two: The New Coke recipe was a slightly rebalanced version of the Diet Coke formula with high-fructose corn syrup instead of artificial sweeteners.

Three: After realizing the error of their ways, Coca-Cola executives reintroduced the original recipe as “Coca-Cola Classic” three months after introducing New Coke. Sales of Coca-Cola Classic soon passed New Coke and Pepsi. New Coke was renamed Coke II, and discontinued in 2002. In 2009, the company removed the word “Classic” from its North American products.

Our question: What spokesman did Coca-Cola use to promote New Coke after reintroducing Coca-Cola Classic?

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1889 Oklahoma Land Rush. (McClenny Family Picture Album via Wikipedia , Copyright expired)

Today marks the 126th anniversary of the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889.

Here are some things you might not have known about the Land Rush.

One: The Land Rush happened at noon on April 22 when the U.S. government opened two million acres of Oklahoma to settlement. Fifty thousand settlers waited to stake their claim for 160 acres each.

Two: To be eligible, the settlers had to live on the land and make improvements to earn the title to the land.

Three: The cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie, went from being unpopulated to having a population of more than ten thousand by the end of the day.

Our question: Why is Oklahoma called the Sooner State?

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