Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac (213 page)

DECEMBER 24

1777
C
APTAIN
J
AMES
C
OOK DISCOVERS
the Pacific island today called Kiritimati—the local spelling for “Christmas.” Its proximity to the International Date Line makes it the first inhabited place in the word to experience the new year each January 1.

ISLAND-HOPPING

In what body of water would you find these islands?

Easy

1.
Aruba

2.
Tonga

3.
Cyprus

4.
Guernsey

5.
Bahrain

Harder

1.
Isle Royale

2.
Mauritius

3.
Lesbos

4.
Tristan de Cunha

5.
The Isle of Man

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
Ukerewe

2.
Gotland

3.
Wizard Island

4.
Krakatoa

5.
Three Mile Island

1818
T
HE ORGAN AT
O
BERNDORF,
Austria’s, Church of Saint Nicholas isn’t working, so Father Joseph Mohr brings his organist, Franz Gruber, some lyrics he’s been working on and asks Gruber to compose a guitar arrangement. Gruber spends the day working on the tune, finishing just in time for midnight Mass, when “Silent Night” makes its debut.

SHHHH!

An unusually quiet quiz for a silent night.

1.
John Cage’s famous piece
₄
’33”
, 273 seconds of utter silence, was first “performed” on what instrument?

2.
During what war is
All Quiet on the Western Front
set?

3.
Upon pain of death, Mafia members must maintain what Sicilian code of silence?

4.
At the 1998 Oscars, who asked for a moment of silence for “1,500 men, women, and children” who had died in 1912, then grinned and yelled, “Now let’s party till dawn!”?

5.
What group’s worship services include, between the “vocal ministry,” long periods of “expectant waiting,” in which the congregation sits in complete silence?

6.
What’s the last word spoken in both Jean-Luc Godard’s film
Contempt
and David Lynch’s
Mulholland Drive
?

7.
Harpo Marx was a member of what literary circle, which also included Dorothy Parker and Robert Bench-ley?

8.
On TV’s
The Electric Company,
what superhero was “stronger than silent
E
”?

9.
Plutarch claimed that it was Julius Caesar setting his own boats afire that led to what institution’s destruction?

10.
Three aliens in
Return of the Jedi
are named Klaatu, Barada, and Nikto, in a nod to what classic sci-fi film?

1966
WPIX-TV
IN
N
EW
Y
ORK
begins an annual tradition by airing “The Yule Log,” a three-hour film loop of a roaring Christmas fireplace. The film was shot at Gracie Mansion, where sparks from the fire destroyed a $4,000 antique rug.

MY HEARTH WILL GO ON

1.
What is emerging from a dining room fireplace in René Magritte’s surrealist painting
Time Transfixed
?

2.
After whom was the “circulating stove,” invented in 1742, named?

3.
Nineteen thirty-three’s “On the Bank Crisis” was the first of what programs?

4.
Until 1975, what daytime soap began with a roaring fireplace, suggesting its working title,
Between Heaven and Hell
?

5.
What actor was arrested in 2007 for firing a pistol at his son Griffin, who was swinging a fireplace poker at him?

DECEMBER 25

1734
T
HE FIRST PART OF
Bach’s
Christmas Oratorio
was first performed in Leipzig. Bach originally divided the piece into six cantatas, to be performed on six of the twelve days of Christmas.

ROCKIN’ AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE

Who originally recorded these latter-day holiday favorites?

Easy

1.
“Feliz Navidad”

2.
“The Christmas Song”

3.
“The Hanukkah Song”

4.
“Do They Know It’s Christmas?”

5.
“All I Want for Christmas Is You”

Harder

1.
“Santa Baby”

2.
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”

3.
“Frosty the Snowman”

4.
“Mary’s Boy Child”

5.
“Silver Bells”

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
“A Holly Jolly Christmas”

2.
“Merry Christmas Darling”

3.
“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”

4.
“Jingle Bell Rock”

5.
“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”

1821
C
LARA
B
ARTON, FOUNDER OF
the American Red Cross, is born on Christmas Day in Massachusetts. In 1973, she’ll be named a charter member of the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

GIRL, YULE BE A WOMAN SOON

1.
How old is the Grinch’s nemesis, little Cindy-Lou Who?

2.
What’s the first human gift given in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”?

3.
What woman from the Bible is the cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus?

4.
What was the first name of eight-year-old Miss O’Hanlon, who wrote a famous letter to
The New York Sun
in 1897?

5.
Whose secret decoder pin does Ralphie send away for in
A Christmas Story
?

1914
A
N UNOFFICIAL TRUCE
begins between the German and British troops on the western front of World War I, with carols and gifts exchanged across no-man’s-land.

PEACE ON EARTH

Where would you find these True Meanings of Christmas”?

1.
“Remember, no man is a failure who has friends.”

2.
“Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more.”

3.
“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.”

4.
“Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth, peace, goodwill towards men. That’s what Christmas is all about.”

5.
“Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest.”