Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac (5 page)

JANUARY 7

1797
T
HE SHORT-LIVED
Cispadane Republic makes the red, white, and green
Tricolore
its official flag. Today, it’s the national flag of Italy. If not for the brave Cispadanes, who knows what Olive Garden restaurants would look like today?

THE ITALIAN JOB

1.
What style of pants is named for an island in the Gulf of Naples?

2.
What craftsman used willow, spruce, and maple woods to make the “Christian Hammer,” which sold at auction for a record $3.5 million in 2006?

3.
What Sergio Leone “spaghetti western” is a remake of Kurosawa’s
Yojimbo
?

4.
Who was the first Italian American to serve on the Supreme Court?

5.
For what famous son is Genoa’s airport named?

1927
T
HE
H
ARLEM
G
LOBETROTTERS
play their very first game, taking on the Hinckley (Illinois) Merchants. As some Hinckley fans remember it, the Globetrotters (then the Giles Post American Legion) actually lost that first game, 43–34.

UNDERDOG DAYS

1.
What 42-to-1 underdog KO’d Mike Tyson in Tokyo in 1990?

2.
Who started the Colts’ Super Bowl III loss to the Jets, while Johnny Unitas sat on the sidelines?

3.
Whom did unknown golfer Jack Fleck beat in an 18-hole playoff to win the 1955 U.S. Open?

4.
What nation did the U.S. hockey team beat in the finals of its improbable gold medal run at Lake Placid?

5.
What was the first expansion team to win a World Series?

6.
What was the appropriate name of the only horse ever to beat Man o’ War?

7.
In 1982, what tiny Hawaii Division II school somehow beat Ralph Sampson’s number one Virginia Cavaliers?

8.
What nation defeated mighty Brazil in the “Maracanazo” to win the 1950 World Cup?

9.
What coach famously ran up and down the sidelines in disbelief after his team edged Houston in the 1983 NCAA Finals?

10.
Who lost a toe to frostbite in 2002, two years after stealing a gold medal from undefeated Russian wrestler Alexander Karelin?

1955
S
PENCER
T
RACY’S CLASSIC FILM
Bad Day at Black Rock
premieres. It’s the first MGM movie to be made in CinemaScope.

GOOD DAY FOR BLACK ROCK

1.
In what city would you find the famous black stone called the al-Hajar-ul-Asward?

2.
What black stone is the most common volcanic rock on Earth?

3.
What two words begin the title of every episode of Chris Rock’s CW sitcom?

4.
In what state could you visit the Black Rock Desert?

5.
Anthracite and bituminous are two types of what mineral?

JANUARY 8

1958
J
UST FOURTEEN YEARS OLD,
Bobby Fischer becomes the youngest U.S. chess champion in history.

BABY GENIUSES

1.
What thirteen-year-old’s 1963 hit “Fingertips” was the first live recording ever to top the pop charts?

2.
What Cthulhu creator was a child prodigy who recited poetry at age two and composed a verse retelling of the
Odyssey
at seven?

3.
What city’s famous Mozart-platz memorial was donated by Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria, a big fan of the composer?

4.
Star Trek
’s Wesley Crusher was given the name “Wesley” because it was whose real-life middle name?

5.
What discoverer of quarks entered Yale at the age of fifteen?

6.
What founder of Utilitarianism could read Latin and Greek at age five and went to Oxford at twelve?

7.
What artist’s first word as a baby was
lápiz,
meaning “pencil”?

8.
Who won an Oscar for portraying musical prodigy David Helfgott?

9.
What was Doogie Howser, M.D.’s real first name?

10.
What thirteen-year-old became the youngest player ever to qualify for an LPGA event in 2002?

1982
M
A
B
ELL BREAKS UP,
as the final settlement of a Justice Department antitrust lawsuit ends AT&T’s telephone monopoly.

THE NUMBER YOU HAVE DIALED

1.
What was, famously, the phone number of New York City’s Hotel Pennsylvania?

2.
011, 112, or 999—what’s the European Union equivalent of our 911 emergency number?

3.
What city requested area code 865, spelling “VOL,” when it was split off from area code 423?

4.
Why have owners of the phone number 776-2323 received hundreds of phone calls from people wanting to talk to God?

5.
In Tommy Tutone’s song, who lives at “867-5309”?

1999
D
ISNEY ANNOUNCES A RECALL
of the videotape of its kiddie cartoon
The Rescuers,
having belatedly discovered that some nameless prankster had inserted a picture of a topless woman in the background of two frames during the movie’s 1977 production.

SEX CELS

In which Disney cartoon is the title character’s love interest named…

Easy

1.
Jasmine

2.
John Smith

3.
Esmeralda

Harder

1.
Prince Erik

2.
Captain Li

3.
Nala

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
Megara

2.
Faline

3.
Prince Philip