Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac (176 page)

OCTOBER 22

1844
P
REACHER
W
ILLIAM
M
ILLER
has announced to his followers that, based on his interpretation of Daniel 8:14, the world will end today. When Christ is a no-show, Miller is shattered, and his followers come to refer to the day as “the Great Disappointment.”

GET USED TO DISAPPOINTMENT

1.
What injury-plagued University of Kentucky center is best known for being drafted ahead of Michael Jordan in 1984?

2.
What longest river in Canada was formerly called the Disappointment River?

3.
Of what alien race is Jar Jar Binks, the controversial comic-relief character of the disappointing
Star Wars
prequels?

4.
Who snapped on May 14, 1881, when Secretary of State James Blaine refused to appoint him ambassador to France?

5.
What company released 1983’s Lisa, which turned out to be so sluggish and expensive that thousands of unsold units ended up buried in a Utah landfill?

1926
A M
ONTREAL STUDENT
sucker-punches an unprepared Harry Houdini in the gut, which will contribute to his death by peritonitis nine days later, on Halloween.

SUCKER!

1.
What TV detective took up suckers as a vice after quitting smoking?

2.
What comedian’s last starring role was as himself in
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
?

3.
What mythical American animal takes its name from the Spanish for “goat-sucker”?

4.
I’m Gonna Git You Sucka
is the only film to star all five acting members of what family?

5.
What’s the more common name of the “suckerfish,” often found attached to sharks and whales?

1976
T
HE
U
NITED
S
TATES BANS
FD&C red dye No. 2, which has been linked to cancer in lab rats.

RED SCARE

Give the last name of the “Red” who did the following.

Easy

1.
Created Clem Kadiddlehopper

2.
Won an Oscar for
Sayonara

3.
Won nine titles coaching the Celtics

Harder

1.
Formed the American Football League in 1926

2.
Led the Oglala Sioux against U.S. forts on the Bozeman Trail

3.
Married Kitty Sigurdson

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
Sang the country hit “Teddy Bear”

2.
Made duct-tape jokes on Canadian TV

3.
Took prank calls at his New Jersey bar

OCTOBER 23

4004
B.C
.
G
OD CREATES
A
DAM AND EVE,
according to the calculations of seventeenth-century churchman John Lightfoot. According to Lightfoot, man was created at 9
A.M.
This
was
sort of a late start to the day, but let’s cut God some slack: he’d been up all night doing the firmament, waters, beasts of the earth, etc.

NOT AT ALL ABOUT EVE

These are questions about
other
first ladies.

1.
Which president was married to a first lady whose first name was Eleanor?

2.
What
Stalag 17
actor served as best man when Nancy Davis married Ronald Reagan?

3.
Who received U.S. Secret Service protection longer than anyone else in history?

4.
Where is the large reservoir that was renamed for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1994?

5.
What name was shared by the second wives of two presidents, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson?

6.
What was the name of Hillary Clinton’s 2003 memoir, for which she received a record $8 million advance?

7.
What president, while a career diplomat, married the only first lady born outside the U.S., London-born Louisa Johnson?

8.
What opened its doors on October 4, 1982, in Rancho Mirage, California?

9.
What future first lady also served occasionally as White House hostess for widower Thomas Jefferson?

10.
Who lived longer than any other president or first lady, dying in 1982 at age 97?

1739
R
OBERT
W
ALPOLE RELUCTANTLY
declares war against Spain. The war fever has been stoked by a seaman named Richard Jenkins, who showed off his pickled ear to the House of Commons, claiming that the Spanish coast guard had severed it. Today, it’s called the War of Jenkins’ Ear.

WHOLE LOTTA LOBE

Do you know these ear facts, or did they go in one ear and out the other?

1.
About what actor did Howard Hughes say “That man’s ears make him look like a taxicab with both doors open”?

2.
What’s the more common name for the stapes bone in the ear, the smallest bone in the human body?

3.
What European country is home to the band Golden Earring, of “Radar Love” fame?

4.
What ear condition comes from the Latin word for “ringing”?

5.
To what three groups does Mark Antony say “Lend me your ears” in
Julius Caesar
?

2001
A
PPLE INTRODUCES A DIGITAL
music player it calls the iPod. MP 3 players have been considered clunky and unsuccessful up to now, so analysts are not thrilled by the announcement.

BRANDED!

What company do we have to thank for these consumer items?

Easy

1.
Xbox

2.
Barbie

3.
Walkman

4.
Spam

5.
Lexus

Harder

1.
BlackBerry

2.
Fritos

3.
Victrola

4.
Rogaine

5.
Frisbee

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
Toughskins

2.
Kleenex

3.
ChapStick

4.
Lunchables

5.
ThumbDrive