May I be the First? Trivia Quiz

Answer: England & Scotland

The Acts of Union which went into effect on May 1st, 1707 were actually the terms agreed upon in the 1706 Treaty of Union. While Scotland and England had been under the rule of one monarch since 1603, the Acts effectively combined the crowns of the two kingdoms into one.

It also combined the kingdoms' separate parliaments, creating the Parliament of Great Britain. Ireland was largely unaffected by the Acts of Union, and remained a separate kingdom. A union between Great Britain and Ireland was achieved in January of 1801.

Answer: True

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852) began his military career in the British Army in 1787 as an ensign. In between various political posts, including becoming a Member of Parliament and serving as Chief Secretary for Ireland, he moved up through the ranks to the rank of Field Marshal. Considered one of the finest military men of his time, he had a reputation for protecting his forces through careful planning, and achieving numerous battlefield victories through his strategic skills. He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from January of 1828 until November of 1830, and served as temporary Prime Minister for three weeks in 1834.

Despite his lifetime of important appointments, battles and achievements, Wellesley may be best remembered for defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.

Answer: The Marriage of Figaro

"The Marriage of Figaro" premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna, and was successful enough to elicit requests for encores of certain numbers. The Holy Roman Emperor, Joseph II, under whose aegis the Burgtheater operated, requested that the opera be performed the following month at his palace in Laxenburg.
Mozart composed "The Marriage of Figaro" based on the play written by Pierre Beaumarchais in 1778. The opera's libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte, who also wrote the librettos for two other Mozart operas - "Don Giovanni" (Don Juan) and "Women Are Like That" (Cosi fan tutte).
"The Marriage of Figaro" is the 'sequel' to "The Barber of Seville", also written by Pierre Beaumarchais. The plot is set a few years later, at Count Almaviva's estate in Spain, and the scheming, nagging, arguing and comic misunderstandings all take place during a single day.
Among Mozart's numerous works, he also composed the operas "The Shepherd King" in 1775, "Don Giovanni" (Don Juan) in 1787, and "The Magic Flute" in 1791.

Answer: Victoria

In January of 1840, as part of Sir Rowland Hill's plan for postal reform, the Uniform Penny Post took effect in the UK. The new system provided delivery between any two places within the UK and Ireland for a penny, no matter the distance that was involved, although weight could still make a difference in the postage cost. The Penny Black, featuring the silhouette of Queen Victoria, was introduced on May 1st, 1840, also as part of the reform, as an organized way to encourage sending more correspondence pre-paid. Sir Rowland Hill also proposed and instituted other changes which improved the speed, accuracy and affordability of the service.
British stamps bear either the monarch's silhouette or picture, although 2000's commemorative stamp of the Queen Mother's 100th birthday has both, but they do not have the country of issue printed on the stamp.
In 1841, the Penny Red was issued as a replacement for the Penny Black and the standard color of the cancellation marks was changed from red to black. In 1854 the stamps were perforated, negating the need to cut the stamps apart with scissors.

Answer: The Crystal Palace

The Great Exhibition, officially named The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, was held in Hyde Park, from May 1st, 1851 through October 11th, 1851. The fair was held as a way to promote and exhibit advancements in the fields of manufacturing, industry, science, art, technology, trade and other areas.

The Great Exhibition was championed by Prince Albert, who was also instrumental in the planning and organizing of the event. The Crystal Palace was an immense structure, constructed with West Midlands glass held in cast iron-frames. Large enough to contain not only the exhibits, but also park trees, visitors and decor, the building was designed by architect and gardener Joseph Paxton, with advice from Charles Fox, a noted civil engineer. Following the exhibition's end, the building was moved to an site in South London.

The reconstructed palace burned in 1936, and the area became known as Crystal Palace Park.

Answer: Utah

At the time of the Scofield mine explosion, the disaster was the worst in loss of human life in the history of American mining disasters. The exact number of deaths is uncertain, but some estimates went as high as 246 lives lost, although 200 was declared the official number.

The explosion was determined to have been caused by coal dust ignited by powder. In the section of the mine where the explosion occurred, the ventilation fan was destroyed, but in a different section, the fan there continued to run, pulling in deadly carbon monoxide gas.

While several miners were killed in the explosion, the majority died by poisoning.

Answer: RMS Lusitania

When RMS Lusitania left New York City on May 1st, 1915, she was on her 202nd crossing of the North Atlantic. Due to the war, Germany had increased its submarine presence in the Atlantic, and had declared the waters surrounding the British Isles to be a war zone. Germany had also issued a declaration that Allied ships in that area could be attacked without warning, which was somewhat at odds with the Cruiser Rules - which restricted attacks on merchant ships and passenger ships.
On May 7th, nearing the end of her voyage, while traveling along the southern coast of Ireland, the ship was hit by a torpedo fired by a German U-Boat. The hit was followed by an explosion, and an immediate listing to starboard. Out of the 1,959 passengers and crew, only 764 survived.
The RMS Laconia was sunk by a German submarine, in 1917, with the loss of six crew and six passengers. The second RMS Laconia, launched in 1921, was also sunk by a German submarine, in 1942.

Answer: Joseph Goebbels

A key member of Hitler's regime, Joseph Goebbels held the position of Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, and following Hitler's suicide, Goebbels became Chancellor of Germany - for one day. Knowing his cause was lost, he refused to carry on as Hitler had directed, and did not join in with the others in the breakout of the bunker. Instead, he gave his six children morphine injections, after which his wife, Magda, and Hitler' doctor, Ludwig Stumpfegger, dosed the children with cyanide. Goebbels and his wife also died, although the details are murky. According to different reports, Goebbels shot his wife, then himself, or she took poison, or their suicides were assisted by an SS officer or trooper. Whichever way it occurred, the couple and their children were eventually cremated, and their ashes thrown into a tributary of the Elbe river.

Answer: Yes

Despite being reluctant to actually retire, Rickey Henderson played his last game with the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 19, 2003 - being hit by the pitch during his one at-bat. Henderson holds a number of records, including 1,406 stolen bases during his career.
Nolan Ryan's seventh no-hitter broke his own record, and at the time, he was the oldest pitcher to throw a no-hitter. Ryan broke Sandy Koufax's record of four no-hitters in June of 1975. Despite his record, Ryan did not pitch a perfect game.
In 1977, with 938 stolen bases, Lou Brock broke Ty Cobb's major league stolen base record of 892. On August 22, 1989, Rickey Henderson was Nolan Ryan's 5,000th strikeout victim.

Answer: San Marino Grand Prix

After participating in karting, then open-wheel racing, Ayrton Senna's debut in Formula One racing occurred in 1984 at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Rio de Janeiro. His first win was in 1985 at the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril. He went on to win an additional forty Grand Prix races, and three Formula One World Championships.
On May 1st, 1994, however, his winning career came to an end during lap 7 of the San Marino Grand Prix. On a high-speed turn during that lap, his car left the track and crashed into a wall at 135 mph. Senna was extricated from the wreck and airlifted to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Prior to Senna's death, that weekend's race had already seen its share of tragedy. On Friday, another driver, Rubens Barrichello, had crashed, suffering serious, although not fatal, injuries. On Saturday, another driver, Roland Ratzenberger, was killed during qualifying when his car smashed into a wall. And, on Sunday, before Senna's crash, an accident at the starting line sent a wheel crashing into the stands, resulting in injuries to nine people.