Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac (95 page)

JUNE 8

1970
T
HE
W
HAM
-O M
ANUFACTURING
C
OMPANY
files for a patent on its new “Foamable Resinous Composition.” Today we call it Silly String.

STRING THEORY

1.
What was piloted by Vietnam veteran Stringfellow Hawke?

2.
What did the Electro String Instrument Corporation change its name to, to capitalize on a distant relationship between its founders and a World War I hero?

3.
What kind of cheese is most commonly sold in the U.S. as processed “string cheese”?

4.
What two future Hall of Famers were backed up by third-string quarterback Steve Bono for five full seasons?

5.
What TV series about International Rescue pilots was filmed in “supermarionation”?

1978
T
HOUGH
B
RUCE
L
EE
has been dead for five years, that doesn’t stop old martial arts footage from being repackaged into a new release,
Game of Death.
And the ghoulish Bruceploitation will continue with 1981’s
Game of Death II.

THE LAST PICTURE SHOW

What screen legends made their final appearance in these movies?

Easy

1.
Giant

2.
The Shootist

3.
The Misfits
(two answers)

4.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

5.
On Golden Pond

Harder

1.
The Harder They Fall

2.
High Society

3.
Always

4.
Walk, Don’t Run

5.
The Score

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
Ship of Fools

2.
Witness for the Prosecution

3.
Autumn Sonata

4.
Silent Tongue

5.
To Be or Not to Be

1982
A
T A
R
OLLING
S
TONES CONCERT
in Berlin, Carlo Karges is struck by the weird beauty of a mass balloon release. He’s inspired to write the protest song that becomes a worldwide hit for Nena: “99 Red Balloons.”

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP

A quiz whose answers can be found overhead.

1.
What household device uses the rare synthetic element americium?

2.
What slogan is painted on the nose of Robert Duvall’s Wagner-blasting helicopter in
Apocalypse Now
?

3.
What zone of radiation was first detected by
Explorer,
the first U.S. satellite?

4.
What brightly colored species is the state bird of a record seven different states?

5.
What college football team’s fight song is “Down the Field,”
not
the more popular “Rocky Top”?

6.
What did “Glamorous Glennis” do on October 19, 1947?

7.
Freedom, Truth,
or
Justice
—what’s the name of the bronze figure that stands atop the U.S. Capitol dome?

8.
What violinist performed the title character’s solos in the film
Fiddler on the Roof
?

9.
What does a howdah sit atop?

10.
What name is given to the full moon closest to the autumn equinox?

JUNE 9

1967
A
UTHOR
D
OROTHY
P
ARKER
is cremated in New York. Unfortunately, she left no instructions for the ashes’ disposal, so they will sit in her lawyer’s filing cabinet for fifteen years. She donated her literary estate to civil rights causes, so the NAACP finally has her buried at its Baltimore headquarters in 1988, under the epitaph Parker chose for herself: “Excuse my dust.”

ASHES TO ASHES

1.
What Filipino volcano’s 1991 eruption produced ten times more ash than Mount Saint Helens had?

2.
Ash Wednesday marks the first day of what?

3.
What sport’s most famous series is played for the Ashes urn?

4.
What rock star caused a stir in 2007 when he said that he’d snorted his late father’s cremains?

5.
In what Irish city did Frank McCourt set his memoir
Angela’s Ashes
?

1973
S
ECRETARIAT WINS
the Belmont Stakes by an amazing thirty-one lengths. His time of 2:24 is still the fastest mile and a half ever on a dirt track.

DUST TO DUST

1.
What’s the last name of Clint Eastwood’s character “Dirty” Harry?

2.
What made-up expletive is
Battlestar Galactica
’s dirty word of choice?

3.
What nation saw thousands of forced disappearances during its “Dirty War” of 1976 to 1983?

4.
Who wrote and sang “She’s Like the Wind,” which became a hit off the
Dirty Dancing
sound track?

5.
What ingredient gives Cajun “dirty rice” its dark color?

2004
T
HE VILLAGE
I’
LL DELICATELY SPELL
“F***ing,” near Salzburg, Austria, votes not to change its unusual name. The town came by the name perfectly respectably, saluting a sixth-century nobleman called Focko, but, frankly, the townsfolk are getting a little tired of their street signs being stolen.

FOUR-LETTER NAMES

What less eyebrow-raising four-letter words name these famous people?

Easy

1.
4’33
” composer John and
Adaptation
star Nicolas

2.
Gary Hart pal Donna and wide receiver Jerry

3.
Singer Lesley and Parents Music Resource Center founder Tipper

4.
Gucci designer Tom and pitcher Whitey

5.
Poker player Annie and Klansman David

Harder

1.
Secretary of State Elihu and
NewsRadio
’s Stephen

2.
Nobel laureate Pearl and big-game hunter Frank

3.
Grateful Dead drummer Mickey and lyricist Lorenz

4.
Bush chief of staff Andrew and
Ender’s Game
author Orson Scott

5.
NBA great Bernard and Canadian prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie

Yeah, Good Luck

1.
Alt-country singer Neko and AOL cofounder Steve

2.
Polaroid inventor Edwin and saxophonist Harold

3.
Football coach Walter and
Police Academy
actress Colleen

4.
Cinematographer Conrad and physicist Edwin

5.
Murderer Harry K. and
Inspector Morse
star John