Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac (47 page)

MARCH 20

1602
T
HE
D
UTCH
E
AST
I
NDIA
C
OMPANY
is established and becomes the first company ever to issue stock. On CNBC, Jim Cramer is quick to pick DEIC as his
Mad Money
Pick of the Week, because, quote, “Well, there aren’t any other stocks yet.”

STOCK ANSWERS

1.
What’s the only stock from the original Dow Jones Industrial Average that’s still used in computing the index?

2.
What term for stable, well-established stocks comes from a $10 bet in poker?

3.
What do these stocks have in common: Bluestar Airlines, Fairchild Foods, Rorker Electronics, Anacott Steel, and Teldar Paper?

4.
The über-successful stock picker Warren Buffett has been called the “Oracle of” what city, his birthplace?

5.
What did the letter
Q
originally stand for in NASDAQ?

1980
F
ORMER MESSENGER
Henry Rojas signs on to be the Phoenix Suns’ new mascot, the Gorilla. He’d shown up at a game in a gorilla suit earlier in the season to deliver a singing telegram, and event staff talked him into entertaining the crowd before he left.

HAIRY REASONERS

Here’s some primate trivia for you to monkey with.

1.
What apes are humans’ closest living relatives, with 94 percent identical DNA?

2.
What American company had a thirty-foot inflatable gorilla atop its Rhode Island offices for decades?

3.
What’s the name of King Kong’s home island?

4.
What ape’s name is Malay for “old man of the forest”?

5.
Each of the Gorillaz’ first two albums has a song named in honor of what actor?

6.
Whose mysterious murder ends the film
Gorillas in the Mist
?

7.
What’s the name of Mario’s girlfriend, kidnapped by the giant ape in
Donkey Kong
?

8.
What term for an adult male gorilla comes from a distinctive patch of hair?

9.
What famed TV personality wrote the screenplay for 1968’s
Planet of the Apes
?

10.
As a baby in 1939, who received a stuffed chimp from her father, which she named Jubilee and made into a lifelong companion?

1990
F
ORMER
P
HILIPPINE FIRST LADY
Imelda Marcos goes on trial in New York for corruption and racketeering.

SHOES YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

1.
What South African antelope lent its name to a brand of athletic shoe?

2.
Who worked as a salesman at Gary’s Shoes and Accessories?

3.
The shoe-obsessed Spats Colombo is the villain of what 1959 comedy?

4.
What Canary Islands–born designer, famous for his stiletto-heeled designs, opened his first store in Chelsea in 1973?

5.
What song did the Drifters follow with the 1964 sequel “I’ve Got Sand in My Shoes”?

MARCH 21

1800
P
OPE
P
IUS
VII
IS CROWNED
at Venice. In an unusual ceremony, a
papier-mâché
tiara is used, the real one having been seized by Napoleon when he took Pius’s predecessor prisoner.

AU FRANÇAIS

These are questions about English phrases borrowed from the French, like
papier-mâché.

1.
What can be taken “
en passant
”?

2.
In 1998, who launched her signature fragrance, called
Moi
?

3.
What ballet features the famous
pas de deux
between the Sugar-Plum Fairy and a cavalier?

4.
George Orwell’s
Animal Farm
is a
roman à clef
for what historical event?

5.
What U.S. city’s flag features a blue
fleur-de-lis,
representing both its French namesake and the three rivers that converge there?

6.
What domestic song from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s album
Déjà Vu
describes Graham Nash’s brief affair with Joni Mitchell?

7.
Under what
nom de plume,
a shortened form of “Moses,” did Charles Dickens write his first books?

8.
It’s sometimes considered a fashion
faux pas
to wear white after what holiday?

9.
What classic movie, in which Charlton Heston is miscast as a Mexican cop, is sometimes called the last
film noir
?

10.
In British English, what’s the two-initial term for a
résumé
?

1970
A
T A
G
ERMAN SKI JUMP
championship, Slovenian jumper Vinko Bogataj wipes out spectacularly. The crash leaves him with a mild concussion…and lasting fame when ABC makes him the “agony of defeat” guy in the
Wide World of Sports
opening.

GOING DOWNHILL

1.
After his death in a 1998 skiing accident, what famous song title was placed on Sonny Bono’s headstone?

2.
What skiing legend headed the Tour de France organizing committee from 1992 to 2001?

3.
Complete this analogy. Downhill: Alpine:: Cross-country:___.

4.
What U.S. state advertised “The Greatest Snow on Earth” on its license plates?

5.
What German army physician began designing his own footwear when combat boots proved too painful to wear after he injured his ankle skiing in 1945?

1980
A
N UNKNOWN ASSAILANT
shoots J. R. Ewing on
Dallas.
Due to a SAG/AFTRA strike that summer, viewers won’t find out “Who shot J.R.?” until November.

ABC-TV

Who played these television characters?

Easy

1.
A. C. Slater

2.
T. J. Hooker

3.
J. J. Evans

4.
C. J. Cregg

5.
B. J. Hunnicut

Harder

1.
B. J. McKay

2.
A. J. Soprano

3.
D. J. Tanner

4.
C. J. Parker

5.
B. L. Stryker

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
B. J. Poteet

2.
D. J. Conner

3.
C. J. Barnes

4.
J. J. Starbuck

5.
E. L. Turner