Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) What is the longest river in Africa?

2) Which animal image is on the Canadian nickel?

3) In 1778, this European was the first to go to Hawaii?

4) Ottawa is the capital of Canada. Who was responsible for determining this and when?

Answers:

1) The Nile

2) The beaver

3) Captain James Cook

4) Queen Victoria pronounced Ottawa as the capital in 1867. Prior to that time, Kingston was the capital.

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) Who was Duke Ellington's first and long-time drummer?

2) What popular tourist attraction and natural wonder, formed as a result of receding glaciers, is located on Canada's border with the United States?

3) In whose swing band did Dizzy Gillespie play?

Answers:

1) Sonny Greer

2) Niagara Falls

3) Cab Calloway

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) It's now an annual White House tradition; what year was the first to see a presidential pardon of a turkey?

2) On this date in 1969, Apollo 12 astronauts landed on the moon, making the mission the second to have men on the moon. Who were the astronauts?

Answers:

1) 1947

2) Charles Conrad and Alan Bean

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) Marlon Brando patented two items to modify a musical instrument. What instrument was it?

2) He wanted to designate the turkey as the national bird instead of the bald eagle. Who was he?

Answers:

1) The drum

2) Benjamin Franklin

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) Which president established the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day?

2) Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade first took place as a commercial event in 1924 to spur shoppers to start buying gifts for Christmas (a consumer tradition that is still in full swing). Which cartoon character was the first to become a balloon in the parade?

3) Julian Adderley is better known by his nickname. What is it?

4) Which domestic animal is more closely related to the hyena, cats or dogs?

Answers:

1) Franklin D. Roosevelt

2) Felix the Cat

3) Cannonball Adderley

4) Neither, hyenas have their own family, called Hyaenidae. Although they appear to be similar to dogs, they are closer to being related to cats.

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) Which president helped to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday?

2) Who held the original patent for promotional stand up cards for tables at restaurants?

3) Which Hollywood actress patented a missile guidance system?

Answers:

1) Abraham Lincoln

2) Lawrence Welk

3) Hedy Lamarr

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) Cats are one of only three animals that walk by moving their front and hind legs, first on one side and then the other.

2) The average dog makes about 10 different vocal sounds. How many can a cat make?

3) This hit musical, composed in the early 80s by Andrew Lloyd Webber, features feline festivities. What is the musical's name and what was the source for its book?

4) The world's first streetcar began operation in 1832, in what city?

Answers:

1) Camels and giraffes share the same gait as cats.

2) A cat makes about 100 different vocal sounds.

3) Cats was based on T.S. EWliot's book, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.

4) New York City.

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) Who was the first NFL head coach to win 100 regular season games in 10 seasons?

2) A baby dog is called a puppy and a baby cat is called a kitten. What is a baby eel called?

3) Which famous sax player was arrested for robbing a drug store?

4) Controversial figure skater Tonya Harding was born on November 12, 1970. She appeared in a Fox TV Celebrity Boxing event in 2002. Who did she fight?

Answers:

1) On November 12, 1972, Don Shula, coach of the Miami Dolphins, won this distinction.

2) An elver

3) Stan Getz

4) Paula Jones

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) One of the most unique devices in the 1964 presidential campaign was an image used to project a candidate's name using a chemical element to project the name. What was it?

2) What is the city that is known as the "birthplace of the American Baseball League?"

3) What U.S. president is credited with the establishment of a national park system?

Answers:

1) Au and H2O were often seen on bumper stickers. Au is the scientific designation for gold, followed by H2O, the designation for water. Thus, AuH2O referred to presidential candidate Goldwater.

2) The Republican House, a hotel in Milwaukee, became the birthplace of the American League on March 5, 1900.

3) Though Ulysses S. Grant established Yellowstone National Park, Theodore Roosevelt is credited with this accomplishment.

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) This branch of the military was formed on this day on 1175.

2) Don McLean's song "American Pie" made reference to "the day that music died." What event is he referring to?

3) This vegetable's name means "large pearl." What is it?

Answers:

1) The U.S. Marine Corps

2) The day was February 3, 1959 when a small plane crash in Iowa took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper.

3) The onion

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) How many songs did Elvis Presley write?

2) Founded by Dr. Ethel Percy-Andrus in 1958, this organization has grown to be one of the most powerful lobbying organizations in the world.

3) Engraved at the front of the Veterans Affairs Headquarters in Washington, D.C. are these words: "to care for him [any veteran] who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan.." What is the origin of this quote?

Answers:

1) None. Elvis recorded covers of other people's songs, which became a sort of Achille's heel for him as the era of the singer-songwriter overtook the music industry.

2) AARP

3) This is a partial quote from Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address, given just weeks prior to the end of the Civil War. The quote begins by saying, "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.."

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) Of the two WWII axis powers, which country, Germany or Japan, were the first to surrender to the Allied Forces?

2) In 1937, the Count Basie Band featured one male and one female singer. The male was Jimmy Rushing. Who was the female?

3) Who was often introduced on the radio as "his mama's harmful little armful"?

4) This medal, signifying gallantry, is a highly coveted British decoration.

Answers:

1) Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945. Japan followed September 2.

2) Billie Holiday

3) Thomas "Fats" Waller. Waller also played the pipe organ.

4) The Victoria Cross

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) King of the Cowboys, Roy Rogers, was born on this date in 1911. His famous horse was called Trigger. What was his dog's name?

2) Who was the guitarist backing Ella Fitzgerald on her 1956 album, The Cole Porter Songbook?

Answers:

1) Bullet

2) Barney Kessel

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) What item did Thelonious Monk forfeit in 1951 that made his life very difficult for a number of years?

2) What year did women gain the right to vote?

3) This big Texan trombone player was nicknamed "Big T." Who was he?

4) On this day in 1922, a big discovery was made in Egypt. What was it?

Answers:

1) He lost his cabaret card as a result of having been arrested for drug possession.

2) 1920

3) Jack Teagarden

4) King Tutankhamen's tomb was found.

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) The world's longest suspension bridge was completed in 1998. Where is it?

2) What's the semantic difference between a "nook" and a "cranny"?

3) Which letter is the oldest in the Phoenician alphabet?

4) This tenor sax player was key to moving the bop sound forward. He's perhaps best known for his "A Night at the Village Vanguard" recordings.


Answers:

1) Traversing the city of Honshu on Awaji Island and Kobe, the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge in Japan has a total length of 3,911 meters.

2) A "nook" is a corner and a "cranny" is a crack.

3) The letter "O" is the oldest letter. It has not changed in shape since its adoption in the Phoenician alphabet, c. 1300 B.C.

4) Sonny Rollins

Alan Rock's Trivia

Questions:

1) Set to the tune of a popular British drinking song, this song was originally derived from a poem written in 1814. For bragging rights, name the poem too.

2) This alto sax man played for Billy Joel, soloing on "Just the Way You Are." Who is he?

3) Who are the three best-selling musical performers?

Answers:

1) The drinking song became our national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner." The poem was "Defence of Fort McHenry."

2) Phil Woods

3) The Beatles, Elvis and Michael Jackson, in that order. Following them, are Abba, Madonna, Led Zeppelin and Queen.