Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac (29 page)

FEBRUARY 19

1913
C
RACKER
J
ACK BEGINS
including a prize in each box.

THE PRIZE IS RIGHT

Who won a Nobel Prize for discovering the following?

Easy

1.
DNA

2.
Radium and polonium

3.
The neutron

4.
Penicillin

Harder

1.
Insulin

2.
Inert gases

3.
Energy quanta

4.
The cause of tuberculosis

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
Prions

2.
The exclusion principle

3.
The citric acid cycle

4.
Nuclear fission

1957
J
OHANN
H
OLZEL, AKA
F
ALCO
of “Rock Me Amadeus” fame, is born in Vienna, the only surviving child of triplets.

BIRDS OF PREY

1.
In its 240 mph hunting dive, what species of raptor is the fastest animal on Earth?

2.
On what two near-contemporary ABC series were the crime fighters assisted by a taciturn sidekick named Hawk?

3.
What could be built by the largest Lego set ever sold, a 5,195-piece monstrosity?

4.
What’s the only bird in the famous witches’-cauldron ingredient list from Macbeth?

5.
What bird is Britain’s VTOL “jump jet” named for?

1992
D
ISNEY’S
B
EAUTY AND THE
B
EAST
earns a Best Picture Oscar nomination, making it the only animated feature ever to be so honored.

BEAUTIES AND BEASTS

What models have been married to these, uh, beautiful-on-the-inside musicians?

1.
Ric Ocasek

2.
Dave Navarro

3.
Tico Torres

4.
Nikki Sixx

5.
Seal

6.
Billy Joel

7.
Mick Jagger

8.
Travis Barker

9.
Marilyn Manson

10.
Tommy Lee

FEBRUARY 20

1816
R
OSSINI’S OPERA
The Barber of Seville,
now a classic, has a disastrous Rome premiere, complete with tripping actors, an audience that jeers throughout, and a cat wandering onstage during the big first-act finale. The following night, however, the second performance is a huge success.

LA TRIVIATA

1.
What famous chorus from Verdi’s
Il Trovatore
is sung by hammer-wielding Spanish gypsies at dawn?

2.
According to Opera America, what Nagasaki-set work is the most performed opera in North America?

3.
What opera ends with the line “The commedia is finished!” as Canio stabs Silvio?

4.
When it reopened after World War II, what NBC orchestra conductor led the first performance at Milan’s rebuilt La Scala opera house?

5.
Who are “the night visitors” in Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera
Amahl and the Night Visitors
?

1913
K
ING
O’M
ALLEY,
the American-born Australian minister for home affairs, drives the ceremonial first survey peg for the nation’s new capital city, to be called Canberra.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

What city did these nations build from the ground up to be their capitals?

Easy

1.
India

2.
Russia (from 1712 to 1918)

3.
Japan (from 794 to 1868)

Harder

1.
Pakistan

2.
Malta

3.
Belize

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
Burma

2.
Palau

3.
Nigeria

1962
J
OHN
G
LENN ORBITS THE
E
ARTH
in
Friendship 7.
As he crosses the South Pacific, he sees a mysterious flock of glowing specks he calls “fireflies”—possibly vented ice crystals, but to this day, no one knows for sure.

FRIENDSHIP 7

1.
Ramón Ferrer was the captain of what famous ship from American history, whose name meant “Friendship” in his native language?

2.
What 2001 Green Day hymn to friendship borrows its title from a popular urban legend about Life cereal’s “Mikey”?

3.
In what city did eight European nations sign the “Treaty of Friendship, Co-Operation, and Mutual Assistance” in 1955?

4.
Who met longtime best friend Gayle King in 1976?

5.
Shelley, Browning, or Tennyson—what poet wrote the elegy
In Memoriam
for his late friend Arthur Hallam?

6.
What state’s motto is “Friendship,” since that’s supposed to have been the meaning of the state’s Caddo Indian name?

7.
At a 1979 wine tasting, who first began to survey his friends on their favorite New York restaurants?