1904 Trivia Quiz

Answer: 4

After the Great Blizzard of 1888 brought the city to a literal standstill, the idea of an underground railway began to gain (ahem) traction; however it took until 1900 for the first ground to be broken on the subway with construction beginning at State Street.

By the official opening on March 24 the service covered the length of Manhattan, from Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn to 242nd St (East Branch) and Bronx Park on the Western one.

Answer: Pavlov

He cut the dog's food pipe and found that even though the food did not reach the dog's stomach, it still produced digestive juices. And when key nerves were cut, even though the food reached the stomach, it did not produce juices. He also found that if he rang a bell every time he fed the dog, eventually, the dog salivated every time the bell was rung.

Answer: Helen Keller

Helen Keller had lost her sight and hearing at the age of 19 months, possibly from meningitis. Anne Sullivan was a talented teacher of deaf children who was brought in to help and taught Helen to read and write braille. She also later 'signed' into Helen's hands the lectures at Radcliffe. She later went on to become an author, leading socialist activist, and disabled rights campaigner.

Answer: Germany

The war was caused by the colonial expansion of the German Empire into what is now called Namibia. It lasted four years and saw as many as 65-70,000 casualties, many of them civilian amongst the Herero, Nama and other Khoi peoples, a loss of three quarters of the Herero and half of the Namaqua, which has lead to this war being referred to as the world's first intentional genocide.

Answer: Peter Pan

The play was a success, amongst other things giving us the girls' name Wendy. The scenes set in Bloomsbury make a sharp commentary on the repressiveness of Victorian family life, which Barrie found stifling, and are contrasted by the freedom and anarchy of Neverland. Barrie himself had become the guardian of five sons of a friend.

It was reported that 'Peter Pan' originated in the stories he made up for the boys.

Answer: Madame Butterfly

Telling the story of the growing love between a Japanese bride in a marriage of convenience to an American naval officer, the opera was something of a flop on its opening night; it later reopened in Brescia to a far more positive reaction, and has since become perhaps Puccini's most famous work.

Answer: General Slocum

The General Slocum had been an unlucky vessel since its 1891 launching, having suffered collisions, groundings, small fires and other accidents; however it was the 15th June fire that wrote its name into history.

The grossly overcrowded vessel was carrying 1400 mainly German New York residents on their yearly trip to a picnic site on Long Island, and consequently a large number of passengers were women and children. At around 10:00 am a fire broke out in the forward lamp room, and fed by the nearby paint store quickly spread throughout the ship, helped by the inadequate firefighting facilities on board and the untrained crew. Nearly a thousand people died as a result of the fire before the ship beached on North Brother Island. The huge loss of life essentially destroyed the German community of Little Germany, where most of the passengers came from.

This remains the second worst maritime disaster on US waterways and the worst disaster in New York until the 11th September attacks in 2001.

Answer: Hull fishing trawlers

To say that the Baltic Fleet had flirted with incompetence since leaving its home port bound for Vladivostok and the war with Japan does not really do the situation justice. A belief had sprung up amongst its crews that the Japanese destroyers were sent halfway around the world to intercept the Russian Fleet, a rumour with no basis in fact but which nevertheless made the Baltic Fleet's crewmen extremely tense. After threatening a Danish merchant vessel a few days, when they encountered the Kingston-upon-Hull trawler fleet in fog on the Dogger Bank in the North Sea, the Russian cruiser Aurora opened fire, soon joined by the rest of the Baltic fleet. The trawlers had their nets deployed and were unable to flee. One trawler was sunk, six damaged and two British crewmen killed, later joined by a third before the Russians realised their mistake and ceased fire.

The British public were outraged by the attack on peaceful vessels and the Royal Navy were ordered to sea. Thankfully for all, a full scale war was avoided but British diplomatic strings were pulled, denying the Russians coaling facilities on their round the world voyage.

Answer: Himalia

Himalia is the largest Jovian irregular moon, being about 170km in diameter, and has not yet been properly imaged. Perrine managed to detect it thorough Lick's 36" Crossley reflecting telescope and named it himself after the nymph Himalia from Greek myth.

Answer: Tibet

The Younghusband Expedition, named after its commander, Colonel Francis Younghusband, was not one of the British Empire's prouder moments. Essentially conducted to keep the Russian Empire from expanding into the Tibetan Kingdom, it was a vastly unequal enterprise as can be seen from the casualty figures, 600 British and Imperials versus about 3000 dead and perhaps five times more wounded than that on the Tibetan side. The Tibetans were a medieval host with no weapon more advanced than a matchlock musket; the Imperial force had bolt-action rifles and modern artillery.

After a brief but bloody advance to Lhasa, the Empire forced a disadvantageous peace onto the Tibetans and left the unhospitable country.