Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac (162 page)

SEPTEMBER 30

1955
T
HE IMPROBABLY NAMED COLLEGE
student Donald Turnupseed makes the fateful left turn onto California State Route 41 that kills actor James Dean.

CRASH COURSE

Name these people who died in traffic accidents.

1.
In 1895, who married Maria Sk
odowska, a fellow instructor at the Sorbonne?

2.
Who has appeared on more
People
magazine covers than any other person?

3.
What future military great was General Pershing’s aide during his 1916 campaign against Pancho Villa?

4.
What western star was a pallbearer at Wyatt Earp’s funeral?

5.
In 1986, the Supreme Court ordered the Kerr-McGee energy company to pay $10 million to the estate of whom?

6.
Whose famous flowing scarves led Gertrude Stein to observe, “Affectations can be dangerous”?

7.
Who died in 1996 in a Jeep Cherokee that had been designed by his own namesake supercomputer?

8.
What right fielder was called “Master Melvin”?

9.
In April 1956, who became the first movie actress to appear on a stamp?

10.
Who had to rewrite his classic
The Seven Pillars of Wisdom
from scratch after leaving the manuscript in Reading train station?

1983
B
Y THE POWER OF
G
REYSKULL,
but also by the power of Mattel’s marketing department,
He-Man
makes his TV cartoon debut.

MALE CALL

1.
What Rudyard Kipling poem ends, “You’ll be a Man, my son”?

2.
In the AFI list of the fifty greatest movie villains, what movie was named number twenty for its villain “Man”?

3.
Cats from the Isle of Man are often missing what anatomical feature?

4.
What American divorcée was
Time
’s first female “Man of the Year” in 1936?

5.
Who played “the Man” on
Chico and the Man
?

1990
T
HE
B
RITISH SITCOM
Heil Honey I’m Home!,
in which Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun annoy their Jewish next-door neighbors, airs its first episode. After a storm of complaints, the first episode turns out to be the last episode as well.

TEST PILOT

Can you name these TV shows from the title of their first episodes?

Harder

1.
“Two on a Raft”

2.
“Welcome to the Hellmouth”

3.
“MIA/NYC—Nonstop”

4.
“Love Is All Around”

5.
“The Case of the Restless Redhead”

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
“Hi Diddle Riddle”

2.
“The Pants Tent”

3.
“Spur Line to Shady Rest”

4.
“The Reluctant Stowaway”

5.
“Matt Gets It”

Easy

1.
“The Clampetts Strike Oil”

2.
“I, Darrin, Take This Witch, Samantha”

3.
“Meet the Bunkers”

4.
“12:00 a.m.–1:00 a.m.”

5.
“Rosie the Robot”

September Answers

SEPTEMBER 1

HELP WANTED

1.
Pony Express riders

2.
School of Rock

3.
John Tyler

4.
Casting
The Monkees

5.
Douglas MacArthur

BETTER PLATE THAN NEVER

Easy

1.
Minnesota

2.
Wisconsin

3.
Idaho

4.
Delaware

5.
Montana

Harder

1.
Pennsylvania

2.
Virginia

3.
Indiana

4.
Louisiana

5.
New Hampshire

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
West Virginia

2.
South Carolina

3.
Maine

4.
Mississippi

5.
North Dakota

NET GAIN

1.
Roger Federer

2.
“Philadelphia Freedom”

3.
Martina Hingis (for Martina Navratilova)

4.
Arthur Ashe

5.
Maria Sharapova

6.
Rod Laver

7.
Evonne Goolagong

8.
A let

9.
Bill Tilden

10.
Melbourne

SEPTEMBER 2

DAYS OF OUR LIVES

1.
Aries (April)

2.
A menorah

3.
Baseball’s All-Star break

4.
Baskin-Robbins

5.
Chile

6.
Purim

7.
Playboy
’s Playmate of the Month

8.
The Seven Virtues of Kwanzaa

9.
June (the pearl)