Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac Read Online Free
Author: Ken Jennings
was the origin of the famous quote “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes”?
8. What part of the eye changes shape in LASIK surgery?
9. What author’s Jamaican estate was called Goldeneye?
10. How many “fab” makeover artists hosted Bravo’s
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
? actress, who didn’t enjoy her stay in Rishikesh, India?
----
1956 T HE FIRST “D EAR A BBY” column appears in the
San Francisco Chronicle.
----
THE “DEAR” HUNTER
----
1. What movie is narrated by Jack Nicholson’s “Dear Ndugu” letters to a Tanzanian boy he’s sponsoring?
2. What nation refers to its current dictator as “Dear Leader”?
3. What well-known children’s author finally won a Newbery Medal in 1984 for
Dear Mr. Henshaw
?
4. The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” is named for the sister of what
5. What ominous signature first appeared at the bottom of the “Dear Boss” letter of September 25, 1888?
----
JANUARY 10
----
1947
F INIAN’S R AINBOW
opens on Broadway. Its signature tune, “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?,” refers to a nonexistent village in Ireland. In fact, “Glocca Morra” isn’t even real Gaelic.
----
A LITTLE TOWN IN THE MOUTH
Fill in the missing cities from these Broadway tunes.
----
1. From
42nd Street:
“Shuffle Off to_____”
2. From
Hairspray:
“Good Morning_____”
3. From
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes:
“A Little Girl from_____”
4. From
Kiss Me, Kate:
“We Open in_____”
5. From
Jesus Christ Superstar:
“Poor_____”
----
1949 L INDA S USAN B OREMAN is born in the Bronx. In 1972, under the name “Linda Lovelace,” she will star in the hugely successful
Deep Throat;
in 1980, she’ll become a leading antiporn advocate.
----
LOVE LACE?
----
1. What’s the word for the small plastic tag at the end of a shoelace?
2. What president does the nutty middle brother in
Arsenic and Old Lace
believe himself to be?
3. What suburb of Paris produced the silk lace later made famous by the Big Bopper?
4. In America, the lacy plant that Europeans call wild carrot is given the name of what monarch?
5. What owner-bartender of Chicago’s Lone Star Saloon was famous for his drug-laced drinks?
----
2000 AOL ANNOUNCES a $162 billion deal to buy Time Warner, the biggest corporate merger in history. Does the A in AOL stand for “albatross”?
----
ORIGINAL SYNERGY
Can you match up these now-merged companies from the post-1990 acquisition mania?
----
1. Boeing
2. BP
3. Chevron
4. Citicorp
5. Hewlett-Packard
6. J.P. Morgan Chase
7. NBC
8. SBC
9. Verizon
10. Viacom
A. Amoco
B. AT&T
C. Bank One
D. Compaq
E. McDonnell Douglas
F. MCI
G. Paramount
H. Texaco
I. Travelers Group
J. Vivendi
----
JANUARY 11
----
1862 T HE CITY OF W ALLA W ALLA, Washington, is incorporated. The local low-sulfur soil is what gives the city’s namesake onions their famous sweet flavor.
----
TRIVIA TRIVIA
Give the doubled-up answers answers to these questions questions.
----
1. On what R.E.M. debut album would you find their song “Radio Free Europe”?
2. What semolina product is used to make the Moroccan dessert
seffa
?
3. What transmits African trypanosomiasis to humans and cattle?
4. What Shirley MacLaine movie did Khrushchev call “depraved” and “pornographic” when he visited the set in 1960?
5. What narrator of a 1955 novel marries Charlotte Haze for ulterior motives?
6. What 1963 song led to a thirty-one-month FBI investigation into supposed obscenities hidden in its unintelligible lyrics?
7. What 1950s Kikuyu uprising helped end British rule in Kenya?
8. What fictional foreign film often referenced on
Seinfeld
describes “a young girl’s strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk”?
9. What name is given to the dolphin fish to make it sound more appetizing on menus?
10. Which
Flintstones
character apparently possessed superhuman strength as a toddler but never as an adult?
11. What territorial capital is located beneath Mount Alava on the
8. What part of the eye changes shape in LASIK surgery?
9. What author’s Jamaican estate was called Goldeneye?
10. How many “fab” makeover artists hosted Bravo’s
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
? actress, who didn’t enjoy her stay in Rishikesh, India?
----
1956 T HE FIRST “D EAR A BBY” column appears in the
San Francisco Chronicle.
----
THE “DEAR” HUNTER
----
1. What movie is narrated by Jack Nicholson’s “Dear Ndugu” letters to a Tanzanian boy he’s sponsoring?
2. What nation refers to its current dictator as “Dear Leader”?
3. What well-known children’s author finally won a Newbery Medal in 1984 for
Dear Mr. Henshaw
?
4. The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” is named for the sister of what
5. What ominous signature first appeared at the bottom of the “Dear Boss” letter of September 25, 1888?
----
JANUARY 10
----
1947
F INIAN’S R AINBOW
opens on Broadway. Its signature tune, “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?,” refers to a nonexistent village in Ireland. In fact, “Glocca Morra” isn’t even real Gaelic.
----
A LITTLE TOWN IN THE MOUTH
Fill in the missing cities from these Broadway tunes.
----
1. From
42nd Street:
“Shuffle Off to_____”
2. From
Hairspray:
“Good Morning_____”
3. From
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes:
“A Little Girl from_____”
4. From
Kiss Me, Kate:
“We Open in_____”
5. From
Jesus Christ Superstar:
“Poor_____”
----
1949 L INDA S USAN B OREMAN is born in the Bronx. In 1972, under the name “Linda Lovelace,” she will star in the hugely successful
Deep Throat;
in 1980, she’ll become a leading antiporn advocate.
----
LOVE LACE?
----
1. What’s the word for the small plastic tag at the end of a shoelace?
2. What president does the nutty middle brother in
Arsenic and Old Lace
believe himself to be?
3. What suburb of Paris produced the silk lace later made famous by the Big Bopper?
4. In America, the lacy plant that Europeans call wild carrot is given the name of what monarch?
5. What owner-bartender of Chicago’s Lone Star Saloon was famous for his drug-laced drinks?
----
2000 AOL ANNOUNCES a $162 billion deal to buy Time Warner, the biggest corporate merger in history. Does the A in AOL stand for “albatross”?
----
ORIGINAL SYNERGY
Can you match up these now-merged companies from the post-1990 acquisition mania?
----
1. Boeing
2. BP
3. Chevron
4. Citicorp
5. Hewlett-Packard
6. J.P. Morgan Chase
7. NBC
8. SBC
9. Verizon
10. Viacom
A. Amoco
B. AT&T
C. Bank One
D. Compaq
E. McDonnell Douglas
F. MCI
G. Paramount
H. Texaco
I. Travelers Group
J. Vivendi
----
JANUARY 11
----
1862 T HE CITY OF W ALLA W ALLA, Washington, is incorporated. The local low-sulfur soil is what gives the city’s namesake onions their famous sweet flavor.
----
TRIVIA TRIVIA
Give the doubled-up answers answers to these questions questions.
----
1. On what R.E.M. debut album would you find their song “Radio Free Europe”?
2. What semolina product is used to make the Moroccan dessert
seffa
?
3. What transmits African trypanosomiasis to humans and cattle?
4. What Shirley MacLaine movie did Khrushchev call “depraved” and “pornographic” when he visited the set in 1960?
5. What narrator of a 1955 novel marries Charlotte Haze for ulterior motives?
6. What 1963 song led to a thirty-one-month FBI investigation into supposed obscenities hidden in its unintelligible lyrics?
7. What 1950s Kikuyu uprising helped end British rule in Kenya?
8. What fictional foreign film often referenced on
Seinfeld
describes “a young girl’s strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk”?
9. What name is given to the dolphin fish to make it sound more appetizing on menus?
10. Which
Flintstones
character apparently possessed superhuman strength as a toddler but never as an adult?
11. What territorial capital is located beneath Mount Alava on the
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