Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac (56 page)

APRIL 2

1513
J
UAN
P
ONCE DE
L
EÓN
lands on a coast he calls “Florida,” for its flowery vegetation. In 1535, a Spanish historian will claim that Ponce de León was looking for a legendary land called “Bimini,” whose waters could cure his sexual impotence.

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH

1.
What founder of PCs Limited went on to become the youngest Fortune 500 CEO in history?

2.
Mel Harris and Timothy Busfield were still in their twenties when they were cast in what TV series in 1987?

3.
What are infant marsupials called?

4.
What TV host is the youngest of eleven children, many of whom pronounce their last name differently from his?

5.
Who played his first game for D.C. United in 2003 at the tender age of 14?

6.
The six youngest Nobel laureates ever all won in what field?

7.
What did Benjamin Britten write the “Young Person’s Guide to” in 1945?

8.
Who opened her first school, Rome’s Casa dei Bambini, in 1907?

9.
What Internet portal was sued for copyright infringement in 2000 by the star of
Young Einstein
?

10.
What skateboarding actor-to-be plays the main character in Sonic Youth’s video for “100%”?

1962
J
ACK
K
EROUAC BEGINS
a Benzedrine-fueled twenty-one-day writing marathon, taping together his paper into a 119-foot, 8-inch scroll so he can type continuously. The result on April 22: the finished manuscript of
On the Road.

“BEAT” GENERATION

1.
In what state were “My Governor Can Beat Up Your Governor” bumper stickers popular beginning in 1998?

2.
What hitmaker produced the 2003 PlayStation music mixer game
Beaterator
?

3.
In what sport are the Beaters in charge of batting away the Bludgers?

4.
In 2007, what school beat the Ohio State Buckeyes for the national championships in both football and basketball?

5.
What dessert consists of beaten egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar?

6.
What bassist’s romance with Astrid Kirchherr is the subject of the film
Backbeat
?

7.
Bartender, cabdriver, or convenience store clerk—what was Rodney King’s occupation at the time of his infamous 1991 arrest and beating?

8.
In 2007, the inventors of the computer program Chinook proved that their program cannot be beaten at what game?

9.
What kind of beat can be divided into S
₁
, caused by the AV valves, and S
₂
, caused by the semilunar valves?

10.
Who performs the guest guitar solo on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”?

APRIL 3

1862
I
N A MASSIVE INTERNATIONAL LAUNCH,
the first part of Victor Hugo’s
Les Misérables
is published, and crowds line up in front of bookshops. According to one popular legend, Hugo sends the world’s shortest telegram to his publisher, asking, “?” The reply: “!”

COMMA SUTRA

Answer these impeccably punctuated questions about punctuation.

1.
What late American’s son, Rich, said in 2005, “My father’s name is synonymous with the word ‘asterisk’”?

2.
What world capital was the birthplace of Victor Borge, the comic pianist of “Phonetic Punctuation” fame?

3.
What’s the only Best Picture Oscar winner whose title ends with an exclamation point?

4.
What did Kurt Vonnegut describe by saying, “They are transvestite hermaphrodites, standing for absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college”?

5.
In 2004, for the Internet age, what new character was added to the Morse code alphabet, the first official addition since World War I?

6.
What’s the name for the little squiggle above the Spanish
ñ,
without which a sentence like “Tengo veinte años” (“I’m twenty years old”) would instead read “Tengo veinte anos” (“I have twenty anuses”)?

7.
What band’s lone hit was originally called “69 Tears” before receiving a more radio-friendly title?

8.
What punctuation mark do mathematicians use to express a number’s factorial?

9.
What kind of animal is referenced in the title of Lynne Truss’s punctuation guide
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
?

10.
What began as a ligature of the letters “e” and “t”?

1941
E
L
R
ANCHO
V
EGAS OPENS,
the first Las Vegas hotel on what will become known as “the Strip.”

STRIP SEARCH

1.
What 1883 novel’s most memorable character was based on William Henley, the one-legged poet of “Invictus”?

2.
What company bought naming rights to the Florida Suncoast Dome in 1996?

3.
According to Thomas Malory, Sir Bedivere’s last knightly act is to return what to a lake?

4.
What desert is home to the Ahaggar and Tibesti mountains?

5.
What Kander-Ebb song did Philadelphia cream cheese, confusingly, use in 1980s TV commercials?

6.
A causeway lined with hundreds of sphinxes once connected Karnak to what other great Egyptian temple?

7.
What original animal mascot for Trix cereal was replaced by a rabbit in 1967?

8.
In what 2006 film did Sebastian Foucan, the inventor of “free running,” show off his sport?

9.
What’s the more common word for a fata morgana?

10.
In what layer of the Earth’s atmosphere is Antarctica’s famed “ozone hole”?