Trivia People

April 21 marks the 53rd anniversary of the Century 21 Exposition, a World’s Fair held in Seattle, Washington.

Here are a few facts you may not know about World’s Fairs:

First: The first world’s fair recognized by the Bureau of International Expositions was the Great Exposition in London in 1851, a personal project of Prince Albert the husband of Queen Victoria.

Second: The 1964 New York World’s Fair was not officially sanctioned by the BIE, with the international group actively asking nations not to participate. Because of this, many of the attractions were sponsored by corporations instead of countries.

Third: The most recent world’s fair was held in Yeosu, South Korea in 2012; the next is set to open May First in Milan, Italy.

Our question: In the United States, which two states have held three World’s Fairs?

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Manfred von Richthofen, The Red Baron.
(C. J. von Dühren, public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Today marks the 98th anniversary of the final two kills by German World War I flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known as the Red Baron.

Here are some things you might not know about the Red Baron:

First: Richthofen didn’t start the war as a pilot.

He was originally a cavalryman, which was not a very useful position given the advent of trench warfare. Eventually he transferred to the Air Service, beginning pilot training in October 1915.

Second: Only 16 of his 80 kills were made while flying the red triplane which is most commonly associated.

He didn’t begin flying the Fokker DR-1 until November of 1917. He won his final 19 victories in the DR-1 before being killed on April 21, 1918.

Third: Richthofen was killed by a single shot, likely from the ground while fighting with Canadian pilot Wilfrid May. He managed to land the plane, which was soon torn apart by souvenir hunters.

Our question: The Fokker DR-1 is the most well-known German plane of World War I, what was the best-known Allied warplane of the war?

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The Simpsons as they appeared on “The Tracey Ullman Show” in 1989. (Photo courtesy of FOX)

April 19th marks the 28th anniversary of the first appearance of The Simpsons on the “Tracey Ullman Show.”

Here are some things you may not have known about The Simpsons.

First: The characters were created by Matt Groening to star in short cartoons featured before and after commercial breaks on “The Tracey Ullman Show.” Groening decided to create the family at the last minute instead of signing over the rights to his popular “Life In Hell” comic.

Second: Ullman sued Fox saying her contract entitled her to profits from “The Simpsons” after the show was spun-off. Her claim was rejected.

Third: In 1997, “The Simpsons” became the longest-running primetime animated series, passing “The Flintstones.” In 2004, the show passed “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” as the longest-running sitcom in American TV history.

Which brings us to our question: “The Simpsons” passed what show in 2009 to become the longest-running scripted primetime show in terms of seasons on the air?

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Ruins in vicinity of Post and Grant Avenue looking northeast after the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. (Photo from U.S. Archives via Wikipedia)

April 18th marks the anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.

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

First: More than 3,000 people are estimated to have died in the earthquake that struck at 5:12 a.m. The quake predated the Richter Scale, but has been estimated to have been between 7.7 and 8.2 and centered in the Pacific Ocean about two miles southwest of the city.

Second: It’s been estimated that up to 90 percent of the damage was due to fires that followed the earthquake. Firefighters using dynamite to build firebreaks may have caused more problems than they helped.

Third: There are believed to be two survivors of the earthquake still living as of this recording.

Ruth Newman, who is 113 years old is the oldest survivor, said her most vivid memory was of the city burning. William Del Monte, who is 109 years old, was born months before the temblor.

Our question: What is the name of the fault line that caused the 1906 San Francisco earthquake?

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Looking across Tresco, one of the 5 inhabited islands of the Isles of Scilly. (Photo by Tom Corser)

Today marks the 29th anniversary of the end of the 335 Years War; a bloodless war of questionable origin between The Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly off southwestern England.

Here are a few facts about this obscure war:

One: The conflict had its origins in the Second English Civil War in 1651. Cromwell’s Parliamentarians had driven the Royal Fleet off of the mainland of Cornwall to the Isles of Scilly. The Netherlands, which had sided with Cromwell’s Parliamentarians against the Royalists, declared war on the Islands. The Royalists surrendered without a shot fired.

Two: Because of the odd circumstances surrounding the declaration of war, The Netherlands never thought to formally end the war. Experts also disagree as to whether a country can declare war on a specific part of another country.

Three: In 1985 The Netherlands determined that, technically speaking, the country remained at war with the Isles of Scilly and signed a peace treaty to end the quote-unquote conflict in 1986.

Our question: The 335 Years War is regarded by some as the one of the longest declared wars in history. What was the shortest war?

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Charlie Chaplin as “The Tramp.” Photo from Wikipedia

April 16 marks the 126th anniversary of the birth of Charlie Chaplin in 1889.

Here are some things you may not have known about Chaplin.

First: Chaplin was born in London and his childhood was marked by poverty. His father abandoned the family and Chaplin spent two spells in a workhouse before he turned nine.

Second: At age 14, Chaplin began performing in music halls as an actor and comedian. At 19, he moved to the United States and began making films and creating his signature character “The Tramp.”

Third: In the 1940s, Chaplin became unpopular in the United States for his political views and was forced to leave the country for Switzerland, where he lived until his death on Christmas Day 1977.

Our question: In 1919, Chaplin, along with Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and D.W. Griffith, formed a movie studio. What was the name of the studio?

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Jackie Robinson

April 15 marks the 68th anniversary of Jackie Robinson making his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Here are some things you might not know about Jackie Robinson.

First: Robinson’s older brother Mack earned a silver medal in the 200 meters at the 1936 Olympics in berlin.

Second: Jackie Robinson made his professional baseball debut with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League in 1945. He was paid $400 a month.

Third: Robinson’s career ended when he retired instead of being traded to the New York Giants in 1956.

Our question: Robinson was the first athlete to letter in four varsity sports while in college at UCLA.

Besides baseball, football and basketball, what other sport did Robinson letter in?

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About the photo above via Wikipedia: This is a photo taken by Bob Sandberg when working as a staff photographer of LOOK Magazine, and is part of the LOOK Magazine Photograph Collection at the Library of Congress. Their former owner, Cowles Communications, Inc, dedicated to the public all rights it owned to these images as an instrument of gift.

Lithograph of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. From left to right: Henry Rathbone, Clara Harris, Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln, and John Wilkes Booth. Rathbone is depicted as spotting Booth before he shot Lincoln and trying to stop him as Booth fired his weapon. Rathbone actually was unaware of Booth’s approach, and reacted after the shot was fired. While Lincoln is depicted clutching the flag after being shot, it is also possible that he just simply pushed the flag aside to watch the performance.

April 14th marks the 150th anniversary of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States.

Here are some things you might not know about it:

First: Lincoln wasn’t the only target that night.

John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators planned to kill Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward.

The person assigned to kill Johnson chose to get drunk instead, while Seward was stabbed several times and badly injured.

Second: Booth originally planned to kidnap Lincoln.

He decided to kill the president after hearing a speech in which Lincoln supported the full citizenship of freed slaves.

Third: Samuel Seymour, who was five years old when Lincoln was shot, was the last surviving witness to the assassination.

He died in 1956 at age 95.

Our question: What was the name of the play Lincoln was watching at Ford’s Theater the night he was shot?

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On this date in 1976, the United States Treasury reintroduced the two-dollar bill featuring Thomas Jefferson.

Here are some things you might not know about the two-dollar bill:

First, the two-dollar bill and the one-dollar bill are the only U.S. currency that do not have enhanced security features, like watermarks and security thread.

Second, the original two-dollar bill, which was issued in 1862, featured a profile portrait of Alexander Hamilton. Jefferson made his first appearance on the note in 1869.

Third, there are more than one-point-five billion dollars worth of two-dollar bills in circulation.

Our question: What is pictured on the reverse of the current two-dollar bill?

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On April 12, 1955, the polio vaccine was declared safe and effective.

Here are three things you may not have known about the polio vaccine:

One: Dr. Jonas Salk became involved in the development of the vaccine because of the promise of increased research space, staffing and funding.

Two: The declaration that the vaccine was safe and effective was made exactly 10 years after the death of President Franklin Roosevelt, who contracted polio at age 39.

Three: In 1988 there were 350,000 cases of polio reported worldwide. By 2013 that number had dropped to just 413 total cases. Currently the disease is circulating only in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria.

Our question: Polio is on course to be eradicated by 2018. What was the first infectious disease to be completely wiped out?

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