Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac (79 page)

MAY 13

1917
T
HREE
P
ORTUGUESE CHILDREN
report seeing the Blessed Virgin outside Fátima, Portugal, leading to mass pilgrimages.

THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY

Name these people whose mothers were named Mary.

1.
Who made his West End debut playing alongside his mother in
South Pacific
?

2.
Who plays drums on the Beatles track “Back in the U.S.S.R”?

3.
Who commissioned a new translation of the Bible at the Hampton Court Conference he called in 1604?

4.
Who was the only person to be nearby at three different presidential assassinations?

5.
What famed paleontologist was also the first head of the Kenyan Wildlife Service?

1940
W
INSTON
C
HURCHILL GIVES
his famous first speech as prime minister, about “blood, toil, tears, and sweat.”

I’VE GOTTA SECRETE

How much do you know about your own bodily fluids?

1.
What is the liquid component of blood called?

2.
What video game was originally called
Snots and Boogers
and then
@!#?@!
?

3.
What substance makes feces brown and jaundice sufferers yellow?

4.
In the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35), who is Jesus weeping for?

5.
What thin yellow fluid do the mammary glands secrete before lactation begins?

6.
In what film is General Jack Ripper obsessed with America’s “precious bodily fluids”?

7.
Of the world’s snakes with the most potent venom, nine of the ten are natives of what country?

8.
Two of the “four humors” the ancients believed controlled temperament consist of what bodily fluid?

9.
What
Harry Potter
snacks come in flavors including earwax, booger, and vomit?

10.
What element did alchemist Hennig Brand discover in 1669 when, boiling his own urine in the hopes of making gold, he observed glowing fumes?

1950
A
VERY
LITTLE
S
TEVIE
W
ONDER
is born prematurely in Saginaw, Michigan. Too much oxygen during his hospital incubator stay probably causes his lifelong blindness.

SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE

Name the artists behind these life-affirming hits.

Easy

1.
“You Light Up My Life” (1977)

2.
“(I’ve Had) the Time of My Life” (1987)

3.
“Got to Get You into My Life” (1967)

Harder

1.
“All My Life” (1998)

2.
“Love of My Life” (1975)

3.
“Last Night a DJ Saved My Life” (1982)

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
“Story of My Life” (1990)

2.
“It’s My Life” (1965)

3.
“Welcome to My Life” (2004)

MAY 14

1933
A
FIVE-YEAR-OLD
P
ERUVIAN GIRL
named Lina Medina gives birth to a son, making her the youngest mother on record.

MOM’S THE WORD

1.
According to Fountains of Wayne, whose mom “has got it goin’ on”?

2.
Which of TV’s
Golden Girls
plays the title character in
Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot
?

3.
Whose first book was the 2006 memoir
Peace Mom
?

4.
On what TV show is Momcorp the world’s largest megacorporation?

5.
Who played Janine, aka “Stifler’s mom,” in the
American Pie
movies?

1949
A
T A FUND-RAISING TOUR
of homes in New Canaan, Connecticut, neighbors get their first look at Philip Johnson’s “Glass House,” a transparent 56-by-32-foot rectangle that the architect has built as his residence. The sensational house catapults Johnson to fame—at the time of his 2005 death (still in the Glass House), he will be called America’s greatest living architect.

A SORT OF HOMECOMING

Who or what lives in…

1.
Gracie Mansion

2.
An aerie

3.
A log cabin with chicken legs

4.
A Florida estate called Xanadu

5.
A pineapple under the sea

6.
An apiary

7.
The tippy-top floor of the Plaza Hotel

8.
A holt

9.
A hogan

10.
A deluxe apartment in the sky

1983
T
ATTOO YELLS
“De plane! De plane!” on
Fantasy Island
for the final time. After demanding the same salary as Ricardo Montalban, Hervé Villechaize is dropped from the show in favor of Lawrence, a proto
-Belvedere
butler played by Christopher Hewett.

SWITCHING CHANNELS

Name the TV characters that have been played by these multiple actors.

Easy

1.
Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt, Lee Meriwether

2.
Dick York, Dick Sargent

3.
Eve Plumb, Geri Reischl

4.
Phyllis Coates, Noel Neill

5.
Richard Thomas, Robert Wightman

Harder

1.
Barbara Bel Geddes, Donna Reed

2.
Lecy Goranson, Sarah Chalke

3.
Mike Evans, Damon Evans

4.
Tom Baker, David Tennant, et al.

5.
Philip Bruns, Barney Martin

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
Janet Hubert-Whitten, Daphne Maxwell Reid

2.
Pamela Sue Martin, Emma Samms

3.
Dixie Carter, Mary Ann Mobley

4.
Beverley Owen, Pat Priest

5.
Lisa Robin Kelly, Christina Moore