Albany Herald

Photo by Vicki Harris

Each week Albany Herald researcher Mary Braswell looks for interesting events, places and people from the past. You can contact her at (229) 888-9371 or mary.braswell@albanyherald.com.

As the holiday season picks up speed, take time out to enjoy this cornucopia of trivia questions with family and friends.

1. Which chemical element has the shortest name (three letters)?

2. What was Mickey Mouse’s original name?

3. In what land did Puff the Magic Dragon live?

4. What is the correct four-letter name for a rabbit’s tail?

5. What is the largest fresh water lake in the world?

6. JRR Tolkien (1892-1973) wrote the “Hobbit” in 1937 for his children and “Lord of the RIngs” in 1954/55. What do the initials ‘JRR’ stand for?

7. How many teeth does an elephant have?

8. What is the common name of Varicella?

9. Gordon Sumner is better known by what name?

10. What country was the first to legalize abortion?

11. What drug is named for the Greek god of dreams?

12. What did Sherlock Holmes keep in the toe of a Persian slipper?

13. In which 1950s film were some of the actors mistakenly wearing wristwatches?

14. Which pop singer’s real name is Eileen Regina Edwards?

15. Where is the only place that the American flag flies 24 hours a day — never raised, never lowered and never saluted?

16. What election year saw bumper stickers reading “Wallace, Wallace, Uber Alles”?

17. Which five books of the Old Testament make up the Pentateuch?

18. What kitchen invention took the top prize at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair?

19. Who sang the title song for the Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me”?

20. What is the only U.S. state to border Maine?

21. Who was the Supreme Allied Commander during the D-Day landings of 1944?

22. In Scrabble, which two letters are worth 8 points?

23. Credits on all Bond films finish with which same four words?

24. James Arness became famous for his role as Marshall Matt Dillon in “Gunsmoke”. Who was his actor brother?

25. Which of the seven dwarves is last, alphabetically?

26. What was the title of Doctor and the Medics only number one hit single?

27. What letter would appropriately finish this sequence: z, x, c, v, b, n, _?

28. The Italian word for “scratched drawings” is used commonly in English. What is it?

29. Who holds a trumpet on the album cover of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” by The Beatles?

30. What made Louise Brown famous in 1978?

31. What is the only sign of the zodiac not named after a living creature, and what is it named after?

32. When women first got the vote in Britain in 1918, how old did they have to be?

33. How many steps are there to the top of the Eiffel Tower?

34. How many rows of stars are there on an American flag?

35. What was the Frisbee called when it was originally sold in 1955?

36. What do Cole Porter, Somerset Maughman, Ian Fleming, Herbert Hoover have in common?

37. What breed was Sir Winston Churchill’s favorite dog, Rufus?

38. What was the code name of the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima?

39. William Henry Hoover started making vacuum cleaners because his original trade was dying out; what was it?

40. What marked the first time since the American Revolution that the U.S. accepted direct financial aid to fight a war?

41. What word appears exactly 773,692 times in the King James Bible?

42. What kind of legume provides the colored inks used in most U.S. daily newspapers?

43. Who said “An alcoholic is someone you don’t like who drinks as much as you do?”

44. What drug is sometimes referred to as “Slo Mo”?

45. Whose best-selling books include “The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank”?

46. Which comedienne starred in the first American TV show filmed before an audience?

47. What do the W and C stand for in W C Fields’ name?

48. Which book did Mark Chapman read while waiting to be arrested after the murder of John Lennon?

49. In 1900, how much was George Eastman selling his pocket camera for?

50. Which U.S. president installed solar panels on the White House roof?

Answers:

1. Tin

2. Mortimer Mouse

3. Honalee

4. scut

5. Lake Superior

6. John Ronald Reuel

7. four

8. chickenpox

9. Sting

10. Iceland

11. morphine (from Morpheus)

12. His tobacco

13. “Ben Hur”

14. Shania Twain

15. the moon

16. 1968

17. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

18. dishwasher

19, Carly Simon

1. New Hampshire

2. General Dwight D. Eisenhower

3. X and J

4. James Bond will return

5. Peter Graves - “Mission Impossible”

6. Sneezy

7. ‘”Spirit in the Sky”

8. m (the letters on the bottom row of a keyboard, left to right)

9. Graffiti

10. Ringo Starr

11. She was the first test-tube baby

12. Libra (scales)

13. 30 years old (1918)

14. 1,792 steps

15. nine (9)

16. Pluto Platter

17. They all died in 1964.

18. poodle

19. Little Boy

20. Hoover was a harness maker (horses and mules)

21. The Persian Gulf War

22. amen

23. soybean

24. Dylan Thomas

25. Valium

26. ErmasBombeck

27. Lucille Ball

28. William Claude

29. “The Catcher in the Rye”

30. $1

31. Jimmy Carter

Special Note:

Nov. 15 is National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day. Don’t forget to observe this special day in just the way it was intended. It is indeed time to get ready for all the incoming Thanksgiving food!