Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac (152 page)

SEPTEMBER 10

1955
G
UNSMOKE
MAKES ITS
TV debut and will go on to run a record twenty seasons in prime time, not counting the years that CBS will air reruns under the name
Marshal Dillon.

OLD SITCOMS NEVER DIE

What TV series used these new titles for reruns or syndication?

Easy

1.
Ponderosa

2.
Jeff’s Collie

3.
Andy of Mayberry

4.
Sergeant Bilko

5.
Robert Young, Family Doctor

Harder

1.
Love That Bob

2.
The Ted Knight Show

3.
Badge 714

4.
Major Adams, Trailmaster

5.
The Raymond Burr Show

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
Federal Men

2.
Brave Stallion

3.
Call Mr. D

4.
San Francisco Beat

5.
Jet Jackson, Flying Commando

1977
T
UNISIAN IMMIGRANT HAMIDA DJANDOUBI
becomes the last victim of the guillotine, which has been the only legal method of execution in France since 1792.

DEAD HEADS

1.
What Spanish explorer, beheaded in 1519 for treason, was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the Americas?

2.
In a 1967 movie, who is sent to prison for cutting the heads off parking meters?

3.
What
Alice in Wonderland
character is constantly shouting “Off with their heads!”?

4.
Which letter in the word
Seven

is replaced, in that film’s on-screen title, by the number 7?

5.
How many of his wives did Henry VIII behead?

6.
What was unusual about the decapitations of Oliver Cromwell and Goliath?

7.
What modern-day insult originally referred to a performer who bit the heads off chickens?

8.
What character is called Jokanaan in the Richard Strauss opera
Salomé
?

9.
According to the
New York Post
’s famed April 15, 1983, headline, where was a “headless body” found?

10.
What 1819 short story protagonist was based on Tarrytown, New York, schoolteacher Jesse Merwin?

2004
K
AREN
F
INLEY’S PLAY
George and Martha
—imagining a perverse, abusive love affair between George W. Bush and Martha Stewart—opens off-off-Broadway.

GEORGE AND MARTHA

1.
How many children did George “Father of His Country” Washington have with his wife, Martha?

2.
Who lives next door to George and Martha Wilson?

3.
What kind of animal are George and Martha, the best friends in James Marshall’s beloved series of children’s books?

4.
What 1966 film had the tagline “You are cordially invited to George and Martha’s for an evening of fun and games” on its poster?

5.
What comic character is the daughter of George and Martha Moppet?

SEPTEMBER 11

1974
T
HE
W
ORLD
G
OLF
H
ALL OF
F
AME
opens in North Carolina, with thirteen charter members including Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones, and Arnold Palmer.

ONE BRIEF ENSHRINING MOMENT

What Hall of Fame counts these people among their founding class?

Easy

1.
Fats Domino, Sam Cooke

2.
Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson

3.
Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams

4.
Johnny Weissmuller, Gertrude Ederle

5.
Robert Goddard, Neil Armstrong

Harder

1.
Emmett Kelly, Otto Griebling

2.
José Capablanca, Emanuel Lasker

3.
George Mikan, Chuck Hyatt

4.
David Sarnoff, Paddy Chayefsky

5.
Dick Weber, Don Carter

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
Jack Williams, Yakima Canutt

2.
Dorothea Dix, Margaret Sanger

3.
James Dwight, Robert Wrenn

4.
George Wagner, Bruno Sammartino

5.
Mel Hein, Dutch Kelly

1978
B
ULGARIAN JOURNALIST
G
EORGI
M
ARKOV,
a critic of his country’s Communist government, dies in London in bizarre Cold War fashion: while he was crossing Waterloo Bridge, the KGB used a tricked-up umbrella to inject a ricin pellet into his thigh.

SPY VS. SPY

What nations have or had police/intelligence agencies called…

1.
Stasi

2.
Mossad

3.
SAVAK

4.
MI6

5.
Cheka

1993
T
HE WORLD’S FIRST CORNFIELD
maze opens in Annville, Pennsylvania, a fund-raiser for midwestern flood relief. The attraction’s name, “The Amazing Maize Maze,” is a suggestion from composer Stephen Sondheim.

MAYBE I’M A MAZE

1.
What’s the first fruit to appear in the Pac-Man maze?

2.
Where in your body is the vestibular labyrinth, which can cause labyrinth disease?

3.
Pan’s Labyrinth
is set in the aftermath of what war?

4.
What movie’s protagonist freezes to death in the hedge maze of the Overlook Hotel?

5.
What famous inventor from Greek myth invented the Minotaur’s Labyrinth?