Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac (75 page)

MAY 5

1862
T
HE
M
EXICAN ARMY
faces the invading troops of Napoleon III in the Battle of Puebla. Though Puebla
was
finally taken by the French, the moral victory is still celebrated in Mexico and by Mexican Americans as “Cinco de Mayo.”

HISPANIC ROOM

1.
Of the U.S. states that border Mexico, which shares the shortest border?

2.
In 1988, César Chávez conducted a thirty-six-day fast to encourage Americans to boycott what fruit?

3.
What last name is shared by Clinton cabinet member Henry and
The House on Mango Street
author Sandra?

4.
Because of their 200-pound difference in weight, what leading couple of the art world were sometimes called “the Elephant and the Dove”?

5.
ABC’s hit
Ugly Betty
is based on the telenovela
Yo soy Betty la fea,
from what Latin American country?

6.
Because his father was from Minorca, in Spain, what Civil War hero was the U.S. Navy’s first Hispanic admiral?

7.
What four-word catchphrase of the 1990s was popularized by “Gidget,” a three-year-old actor who went on to appear in
Legally Blonde 2
?

8.
Who hit his 3,000th and final hit in the last regular-season at-bat of his prematurely curtailed major-league career?

9.
The first Latino members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were three members of what band, inducted in 1998?

10.
What Mexican general who governed California for four months in 1835 would probably be surprised by how he’s remembered in San Francisco today?

1966
W
ILLIE
M
AYS HITS
home run number 512, passing Mel Ott to become the National League’s all-time leader.

SAY HEY

1.
What’s the real name of the Gary Glitter track often called “The Hey Song”?

2.
What TV show’s announcer was Hank “Hey Now!” Kingsley?

3.
What’s the last name of
A Streetcar Named Desire
’s Stella, of “Hey, Stella!” fame?

4.
Whose 2000 death from cancer led to the E! headline “‘Hey, Vern!’ Guy Dies”?

5.
Besides “Hey Jude,” what other Beatles song title begins with the word “Hey”?

1984
A
T A TINY COMIC BOOK CONVENTION
in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird try to hawk the first issue of their self-published comic, which they call
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD

Name these comic book superteams from their founding lineups.

1.
Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter

2.
Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, Marvel Girl

3.
Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, Ant-Man, the Wasp

4.
Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Wonder Girl

5.
Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Lightning Boy

MAY 6

1913
F. N
EPHI
G
RIGG
is born in Nampa, Idaho. In 1953, looking for a way to use the leftover potato shavings from Ore-Ida’s new frozen French fries, Grigg will change history forever when he invents…the Tater Tot.

LEFTOVERS

1.
Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson shared a Nobel Prize for accidentally discovering “CMB,” leftover radiation from what?

2.
Which two castaways were the “and the rest” in the first version of the
Gilligan’s Island
theme?

3.
What Australian snack is made from the yeast extract left over from making beer?

4.
The last two surviving jurors from the film
12 Angry Men
were actors who shared what first name?

5.
What popular destination was built on the land left over when Metropolitan Stadium, where the Twins and Vikings played, was torn down?

1954
R
OGER
B
ANNISTER BREAKS
the “four-minute-mile” barrier in a race at Oxford.
Sports Illustrated
names him its first Sportsman of the Year, even though his record lasts only forty-six days before his Australian rival John Landy breaks it by a second and a half.

ATHLETIC SUPPORTERS

What former Sportsmen of the Year does
Sports Illustrated
describe with these citations?

1.
“The NBA’s first black head coach”

2.
“The prime mover and also the heart of the Cincinnati Reds’ ‘Big Red Machine’”

3.
“The 1975 Wimbledon champion…fought diligently for human rights”

4.
“The 27-year-old ‘Hammer’ sent Patterson to the canvas with a vicious right”

5.
“In 1972…she became the first female player to win more than $100,000 in a year”

6.
“Suspending and fining star players Paul Hornung and Alex Karras”

7.
“Went on to win the Tour by seven minutes and 17 seconds, the second-biggest winning margin of his career”

8.
“Won 27 Grand Prix races during his career and popularized Formula One racing”

9.
“Most decorated female Olympian in U.S. history”

10.
“Radically redefined the role of the NHL defenseman”

1974
T
HE
P
ULITZER
P
RIZE FOR
F
ICTION
is left out of the annual awards. The angry fiction jury reveals that it had recommended Thomas Pynchon’s World War II epic
Gravity’s Rainbow,
only to have the Pulitzer board dismiss it as “unreadable,” “turgid,” and “obscene.”

THEM’S FIGHTIN’ WORDS

During what war were these literary works set?

Easy

1.
The
Iliad

2.
Cold Mountain

3.
Catch-22

4.
M*A*S*H

Harder

1.
The African Queen

2.
For Whom the Bell Tolls

3.
War and Peace

4.
The Last of the Mohicans

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
Simplicissimus

2.
The Short-Timers

3.
Richard III

4.
The Hornet’s Nest