Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) On this date in 1988, the TV series, The Heat of the Night. It starred Carroll O'Connor as Chief Gillespie and Howard Rollins as Mr. Tibbs. Who played these roles in the 1967 film?

2) On this date in 1982, Willie Nelson's song, "Always On My Mind" entered the charts at #88. It was recorded ten years earlier by another singer. Who?

3) What was Ed McMahon's first regular network TV show?

Answers:

1) Rod Steiger was Chief Gillespie and Sidney Poitier was Tibbs.

2) Elvis Presley

3) The show, on CBS in 1950, was Big Top. Unsurprisingly, the show featured circus acts.

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) On this date in 1960, Elvis Presley was discharged honorably from the U.S. Army. What was his rank?

2) Who was the first American president to host a radio talk show?

3) On March 5, 1946 he said this in reference to the threat of Soviet Communism: "An Iron curtain has descended across Europe." Who was it?

4) John Schrank was born on this date in 1876. What was he known for?

Answers:

1) Sergeant

2) Jimmy Carter became the first president to host a radio talk show when he took questions from 42 listeners in 26 states on Ask President Carter. Walter Cronkite co-hosted the program.

3) Winston Churchill

4) He shot President Roosevelt, claiming McKinley's ghost told him to as a warning to anyone thinking of running for a third term.

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) Which jazz vocalist started her career thanks to having been discovered by bandleader Chick Webb?

2) He was the only person to have been elected governor of two states.

3) On this date in 1939, these states were the last to ratify the U.S. Bill of Rights.

Answers:

1) Ella Fitzgerald

2) Sam Houston (Tennessee and Texas)

3) Massachusetts, Connecticut and Georgia actually ratified the Bill of Rights in 1939 in an anniversary ceremony, and in doing so made the adoption of the bill (finally) official.

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) On this date in 1780, this state was the first to abolish slavery.

2) The radio program, The Lone Ranger, was also a hit on television. The part of the Lone Ranger was played by Clayton Moore on TV, but who was the most memorable of the radio portrayals of the character?

3) What city hosted the United Nations' first assembly?

4) Currently there are no countries that begin with this letter.

Answers:

1) Pennsylvania

2) Brace Beemer - he was the radio voice Of the Lone Ranger from 1941-1954.

3) London hosted; the meeting took place in January 1946.

4) No countries begin with the letter, "X."

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) Leap Year Day is the day added to the month of February every four years to bring the earth in line with the actual time it takes to orbit the sun. How does the time break down in terms of actual days?

2) What animal was the first to be a football team's live mascot?

3) Who was the first African-American to receive an Oscar?

4) People born on February 29th are called what?

Answers:

1) 365.2422 days

2) A billygoat named Bill was the U.S. Naval Academy's mascot in 1890.

3) Hattie McDaniel

4) "Leaplings"

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) On this date in 1977 comedian Eddie Anderson passed away at the age of 71. His radio career lasted 20 years before he transitioned to TV.

2) What are the most common and uncommon symbols used on a national flag?

3) Established in 1804, this was the world's first black republic.

Answers:

1) He played the character Rochester, Jack Benny's personal valet.

2) The star is the most commonly used with fifty countries using it on their flags; the Dominican Republic is the only country to have a Bible represented on its flag.

3) Haiti was the first black republic.

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) The historic sanctuary of Machu Picchu is in which country?

2) Chromatics is the science of what?

3) In the acronym NASA, what does "S" stand for?

4) On this date in 1963, Mickey Mantle signed on with the Yankees for another year. How much did they agree to pay him?

Answers:

1) Peru

2) Colors

3) Space

4) $100,000, making him the highest-paid player. At the beginning of his career in 1949, he was earning $1,100.

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) Alto sax man, Paul Desmond, had an agreement with his quartet leader, Dave Brubeck, that prevented him from what?

2) What was Ben Webster's nickname?

3) What is the best-selling jazz record of all time?

Answers:

1) Brubeck had Desmond agree to not have a piano player on any of Desmond's solo recordings.

2) Famous for having a quick temper and an even quicker punch, Webster was known as "The Brute."

3) Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, which still sells 5,000 copies a week.

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) On this date in 1997, the first adult mammal was successfully cloned. What kind of animal was it and what name was it given?

2) Which former planet got demoted from its planet status, making the official number of planets in our solar system eight instead of nine?

3) Which animal has the largest brain in terms of its weight when compared to the animal's total weight?

Answers:

1) She was a lamb named Dolly.

2) Pluto was reclassified as a "dwarf" planet.

3) The squirrel monkey's brain accounts for roughly 5% of its body weight. The human brain makes up about 2.3% of total body weight.

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) On this date in 1965, filming began for the Beatles second movie. What was the film's title?

2) Before Clint Eastwood got the lead role in Dirty Harry, the role was originally for another. Who turned down the part?

3) What is a whelk?

4) Who was Johnny Cash's second wife?

Answers:

1) It was a nice location too - the Bahamas. The film was Help.

2) It was intended for Frank Sinatra. Sinatra passed and the role was offered to John Wayne who also passed, then to Paul Newman who declined. Eastwood accepted.

3) A whelk is a mollusk.

4) June Carter

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) This president was our tallest president. This president was our shortest president.

2) Who was the only grandchild of a president to become president?

3) Who are the only presidents buried at Arlington National Cemetery?

4) Which president began the tradition of throwing the first pitch to kick off baseball season?

Answers:

1) Lincoln was tallest at 6'4". James Madison was the shortest president at only 5'4".

2) Benjamin Harrison

3) John Kennedy and William Taft

4) William Taft was the first to throw out the first pitch on April 4, 1910.

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) When Rod Serling wrapped up The Twilight Zone, he wrote the screenplay for a movie. Which movie was it?

2) Born this date in 1874, Thomas J. Watson took over the bankrupt Computing Tabulating Recording Company in 1914. He changed the company name and today it is known as ________.

3) Gene Roddenberry originally hoped one or the other of these two actors would assume the role of Captain James T. Kirk.

Answers:

1) Planet of the Apes

2) IBM

3) Jeff Hunter or Jack Lord

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) What was Count Basie's theme song?

2) Archie Bleyer was musical director for what television show?

3) What instrument did Eubie Blake play?

4) Frank Bettancourt was a notable player of this instrument.

Answers:

1) "One O'Clock Jump

2) Arthur Godfrey

3) Eubie Blake played the piano, even celebrating his 100th birthday performing live on television. He was also on a stamp in the USPS Jazz Legends series.

4) Bettancourt played the trombone.

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) Merv Griffin, Ted Knight, Soupy Sales, Adam West and Ernest Borgnine all started their careers in what job?

2) On this date in 1948, NBC became the first network to broadcast what would become a daily program. What was it?

3) Who was the first female to star in a television crime dram series?

Answers:

1) They all started out as children's television show hosts.

2) NBC began broadcasting a daily news program.

3) Anne Francis was the star of Honey West. It lasted a year, debuting in 1965.

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) Louis Armstrong came to New Orleans in 1922 to play with what band?

2) This president gave his State of the Union Address in the usual fashion of delivering a live speech. His last two were in written form.

3) This president was the first to be photographed while in office.

4) This Creole musician proclaimed himself to have invented jazz.

Answers:

1) King Oliver

2) Woodrow Wilson. The last two were written due to his having suffered a debilitating stroke.

3) James Polk was the first to have had his photograph taken - on this date in 1849 - while in office.

4) Jelly Roll Morton. Though he was one of the first musicians to play jazz and was very influential, it is doubtful that he was its "inventor."

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) On this date in 1795 this university became the first state university in the country.

2) Whose portrait appears on the two-dollar bill?

3) This was the first novel to have been written entirely on a typewriter.

Answers:

1) The University of North Carolina.

2) Thomas Jefferson

3) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) On this date in 1897, this publication began including the slogan "All the News That's Fit to Print."

2) On this date in 1942, the record industry awarded the first gold record for this song.

Answers:

1) The New York Times

2) The Glenn Miller Orchestra received the first gold record for the song "Chattanooga Choo-Choo."

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) This president was born on this date in 1773 and served the shortest term of any president before or since.

2) This baseball player was the first African-American to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. The year was 1962.

3) On this date in 1960, the Hollywood Walk of Fame was instituted. Who was the first to receive a star?

4) Alexander H. Stephens served as a vice-president - for what?

Answers:

1) William Henry Harrison

2) Jackie Robinson

3) Joanne Woodward

4) He was VP to Jefferson Davis in the Confederacy

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) On this date in 1968 Planet of the Apes opened. Who were its three main stars?

2) Gary Coleman starred in this big screen flop from 1977.

3) Which president was the first to install a radio in the White House?

4) According to the Rochester Institute of Technology, your risk of being in an accident increases by 34% if you have this item in your car.

Answers:

1) Charlton Heston, Roddy MacDowell and Kim Hunter

2) Lear's remake of The Little Rascals tanked badly at the box office.

3) Warren G. Harding

4) a mobile phone

Alan Rock's Trivia!

Questions:

1) The 1998 Winter Olympics opened on February 7th that year. What city hosted?

2) The last bare-knuckle boxing championship was held this date in 1882. Who was the winner?

3) Which actor did Gene Rodenberry want for the part of Spock?

4) Which state has no caves?

Answers:

1) Nagano, JApan

2) John Sullivan

3) Martin Landau

4) Delaware