Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac (122 page)

JULY 27

1972
THE F-15 “EAGLE”
fighter jet makes its maiden flight at Edwards Air Force Base. Kenny Loggins singing “Danger Zone” is, sadly, still fourteen years away.

EAGLE-EYED

1.
Who was the only U.S. president ever to be an Eagle Scout?

2.
What’s the more common name for a “double-eagle,” or three under par, on a golf hole?

3.
Who received a chalet called “the Eagle’s Nest” for his fiftieth birthday in 1939?

4.
What phrase appears on the ribbon in the bald eagle’s beak on a one-dollar bill?

5.
What future coaching and broadcasting great was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1958 but never played a single NFL game, due to a training camp knee injury?

6.
What nation, the world’s newest, has a gold doubleheaded eagle on its flag?

7.
What mysterious word from the Eagles’ hit “Hotel California” translates in English to “little marijuana buds”?

8.
What was the chosen sport of Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards, whose hapless performance at the 1988 Olympics made him a star?

9.
Other than the bald eagle, what’s the only species of eagle found in the U.S.?

10.
The eagles are one of the five armies in the “Battle of the Five Armies” that ends what 1937 novel?

1984
PETE ROSE HITS
career single number 3,053 against the Phillies, surpassing Ty Cobb’s fifty-five-year-old record.

SINGLED OUT

1.
What faddish word comes from the Japanese for “single number”?

2.
Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” is the biggest-selling single of all time, but what 1990s hit is currently in second place?

3.
What 1970s bachelor prime minister was the last single P.M. of Britain?

4.
z.com, one of only three active single-letter.com domains, belongs to what car company?

5.
Of the four men’s tennis players with the most singles tournament wins in the open era, who’s the only one not born in the U.S.?

2003
FOLLOWING A MERGER,
Philadelphia’s First Union Center officially changes its name to the Wachovia Center. Thousands of Sixers and Flyers fans, who can no longer refer to the building as the “F.U. Center,” mourn.

FIELD TESTING

Name these sports spots from their nicknames

Easy

1.
The House That Ruth Built

2.
The Frozen Tundra

3.
The Brickyard

4.
Chavez Ravine

5.
The Horseshoe

Harder

1.
The Igloo

2.
The Dawg Pound

3.
The Thunderdome

4.
The Juice Box

5.
The Big House

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
The Pit

2.
The Tank

3.
The Grand Old Lady

4.
The Track Too Tough to Tame

5.
The Woodshed

JULY 28

1933
A
FAN SENDS
singer Rudy Vallee the very first singing telegram.

THE WAY WE WIRE

1.
The Zimmermann Telegram resulted in U.S. entry into what war?

2.
What French novel begins with the narrator receiving this telegram: “Your mother died today. Funeral tomorrow. Deep sympathy”?

3.
What did Cary Grant famously reply to a magazine editor’s telegram asking, “How old Cary Grant”?

4.
Who sent the 1884 cable that said, “I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected”?

5.
Who was Oscar-nominated for playing a telegraph boy in
The Human Comedy
?

1973
L
EE
M
AJORS
M
ARRIES
Farrah Fawcett. A decade later, when divorce ends the marriage, she’ll lose the hyphen and alimony payments will make him
The Three Million Dollar Man.

DASH BOARD

Give these famous-and-hyphenated names.

1.
John Larroquette and what other sitcom actor are the only two people ever to win four Supporting Actor Emmys?

2.
What Greek director of
Missing
and
Z
is the first cousin of
Wayne’s World
director Penelope Spheeris?

3.
In 1998, a fisherman fishing off Marseille reeled in a bracelet belonging to what French author, whose plane vanished in 1944?

4.
What photojournalist’s work made the first cover of
Life
magazine?

5.
Who were the winners of the James E. Sullivan Award for amateur athletics in 1986 and 1988, respectively?

6.
Whose paintings include
At the Moulin de la Galette
and
At the Moulin Rouge
?

7.
What French anthropologist dropped the prehyphen part of his name when he taught at Barnard College, so as not to be confused with a maker of blue jeans?

8.
Who was the only U.N. secretary-general not elected to a second term?

9.
What actress’s production company is Milkwood Films, named in honor of fellow Wales native Dylan Thomas?

10.
Whose real-life half sister, Lauren Bowles, played her sister on
Watching Ellie
?

1976
T
HE
D
EADLIEST EARTHQUAKE
of the twentieth century hits Tangshan, China, killing more than a quarter-million people. Though the quake strikes unusually suddenly, local animals weren’t fooled—locals report dogs barking wildly, geese eating one another, and goldfish jumping out of bowls.

NOT STIRRED

Five questions to shake things up.

1.
What NBA star was known for his signature spin move, the Dream Shake?

2.
What animated trio is made up of Master Shake, Frylock, and Meatwad?

3.
What two leaders shook hands—for the first time ever, in public—on the White House lawn on September 13, 1994?

4.
Frank Zappa’s 1979 album
Sheik Yerbouti
was a salute to what band’s 1976 hit?

5.
What event is the subject of John Reed’s book
Ten Days That Shook the World
?