Thematic Time Trivia

1. What is the setting of Martin Cruz Smith's 2003 novel "December 6"?

From Quiz Month of the Year: December

Answer: Tokyo, Japan

Martin Cruz Smith is a remarkably productive writer of novels who has used nine pen names. Especially familiar titles include "Nightwing" (1977), "Gorky Park" (1981), "Polar Star" (1989), "Red Square" (1992), "Stalin's Ghost" (2007), "The Girl from Venice" (2016), and "The Siberian Dilemma" (2019). "December 6" (2003) describes the attempted flight of expatriate bar owner Harry Niles from Tokyo on the eve of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. His establishment, the "Happy Paris," will be closed down by the Japanese police and he may well end up in jail. It is exceptionally difficult to escape Japan when all of the normal exits are closed by the military. Adventures ensue. [Harry Niles has no connection to and ought not be confused with the Harry Nile in "The Adventures of Harry Nile, Private Detective" produced by Jim French (1928-2017) and Imagination Theater for radio broadcast.]

From Quiz Month of the Year: November

Answer: the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, 1975

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was an American ore freighter that sank in Lake Superior during a storm on 10 November 1975. The ship and crew were lost. Robert J. Hemming wrote "The Gales of November: The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald" (1981) to describe the event. Popular singer Gordon Lightfoot wrote and recorded the song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" in 1976. It includes the lines "That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed / when the gales of November came early" and "The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead / when the skies of November turn gloomy."

From Quiz Month of the Year: October

Answer: nuclear submarines

Tom Clancy's first novel, "The Hunt for Red October, was a great success, in part because President Reagan said how much he enjoyed reading it. It is the story of a Soviet submarine captain who defects and brings an advanced nuclear submarine with him. The motion picture with Sean Connery was a great success, as well.

From Quiz Month of the Year: September

Answer: September Song

Walter Huston sang "September Song" in the 1938 Broadway musical "Knickerbocker Holiday." The music was by Kurt Weill and the lyrics by Maxwell Anderson. The song was sung in the motion picture "September Affair" (1950) and was covered by Bing Crosby in 1943 and 1977 and by Frank Sinatra in 1946 and 1962. There are also recordings by Ella Fitzgerald, Burl Ives, Stan Kenton, Sarah Vaughan, Jimmy Durante, and Willie Nelson. The song and its title were used in the BBC television series "May to December" (1989-1994). The refrain says "For it's a long, long time, / From May to December, / And the winds grow cold, / When they reach September."

From Quiz Month of the Year: August

Answer: World War I

Barbara W. Tuchman wrote a popular history of the beginning of World War I from an academic perspective. Her effort resulted in her receipt of the Pulitzer for General Non-Fiction. While the scope of the book reaches both before and after, it centers on the events of August of 1914. The book is of especial interest to those who wish to understand the decisions and errors which pitched the world into a long and costly war. In 1964, Nathan Kroll produced and directed a documentary based on "The Guns of August." Fritz Weaver narrated.

From Quiz Month of the Year: July

Answer: the Vietnam War

Tom Cruise plays Sergeant Ron Kovic, the author of the autobiography on which this movie was based, who was paralyzed in action in Vietnam. The film follows Kovic's life from childhood to the military to his career as an anti-war activist. Oliver Stone (who is also a Vietnam vet) directed this film as the second in a three-part series about the War in Vietnam: "Platoon" (1986) and "Heaven & Earth" (1993).

From Quiz Month of the Year: June

Answer: Carousel

In "Carousel," Nettie notes that coming of springtime in Maine and sings "June is bustin' out all over! / All over the meadow and the hill, / Buds're bustin' outa bushes, / And the rompin' river pushes / Ev'ry little wheel that wheels beside a mill." This play also included such hits as "If I Loved You" and "You'll Never Walk Alone."

From Quiz Month of the Year: May

Answer: an attempted military coup in the US

Bailey and Knebel's novel imagines a military attempt to seize political power in the United States. It led the New York Times bestseller list in 1962. Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, and Ava Gardner starred in the 1964 screenplay written by Rod Serling. Military officers regarded the president's agreement to a disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union as treason and acted to seize the national government.

From Quiz Month of the Year: April

Answer: Doris Day

The Assistant Secretary to the Assistant to the Undersecretary of State, and was formerly Assistant Assistant Secretary to the Assistant to the Undersecretary of State sends an invitation to a chorus girl rather than a famous actress (Ethel Barrymore) to represent American theatre in France. Ethel "Dynamite" Jackson, played by Doris Day, gladly accepts. Great confusion, romance and a happy ending follow.

From Quiz Month of the Year: March

Answer: the fifteenth of March

The "ides" of any month in the Ancient Roman calendar was important for both religious and commercial reasons. It was the date by which monthly financial obligations (such as rent) were due. The ides was NOT the fifteenth of every month. It was the 15th day of March, May, July, or October, and the 13th day of every other month. The Ides of March ("Idus Martiae"), 15 March 44 BC, was the date on which Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. Sixty senators were involved; Caesar died of 23 knife wounds.

From Quiz Month of the Year: February

Answer: Black History Month

Beginning with Negro History Week in 1926, the second week in February, there has been an emphasis on Black History in February for almost 100 years. That week was selected because of the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (12th) and Frederick Douglas (14th). Black History Month was first observed at Kent State University in 1970. Republican President Gerald Ford first recognized it nationally in 1976. The US and Canada keep this month in February; the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands in October.

From Quiz Month of the Year: January

Answer: they were in love

Ralph Rainger wrote the tune and Leo Robin wrote "June in January" in 1934. Bing Crosby sang it in the motion picture "Here Is My Heart" in 1934. Little Jack Little's 1934 recording was rated the seventh best-selling single in the US. Guy Lombardo did an orchestral version, as did Roy Fox. The Hi-Lo's did a group version. Ferrante & Teicher did a piano version. The song laments the dreary weather in January but proclaims "It's June in January / Because I'm in love / It always is spring in my heart / With you in my arms."

From Quiz Day of the Week - Sunday

Answer: she is a prostitute

Jules Dassin wrote, directed and starred in "Never on a Sunday." He played the part of Homer Thrace, a classical scholar from America visiting the port of Piraeus in Greece as a tourist. He encounters Ilya, a prostitute, and finds her to be a delightful young woman. He attempts to lead her toward rectitude while she attempts to loosen up his rigid morality. The movie's theme song was written by Manos Hatzidakis who won the Oscar for Best Original Song. In it, Ilya explains that you may kiss her on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, if you wish, or on Thursday, Friday or Saturday, if you prefer, or "on a cool day, a hot day, a wet day" or "a gray day, a May day, a pay day" or "a bleak day, a freak day, a week day" "[b]ut never, never on a Sunday, cause that's my day of rest."

From Quiz Day of the Week - Saturday

Answer: The Bee Gees

Six of the seventeen tracks on the soundtrack album are by the Bee Gees. Others are contributed by Walter Murphy, David Shire (who scored the film), Kool & the Gang, KC and the Sunshine Band, and The Trammps. The motion picture was based on a non-fiction magazine article by Nik Cohn in "New York Magazine" titled "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night". Screen writer Norman Wexler built a script on the British author's observations of the American disco-dance phenomenon. The title of the movie was suggested by the title of the Bee Gees' track "Night Fever."

From Quiz Day of the Week - Friday

Answer: he accompanies Crusoe to Europe

According to the original novel, Crusoe encounters cannibals who capture and eat their victims. He helps one such prisoner to escape and names the fellow Friday after the day on which he liberated him. Crusoe then teaches him to speak English and baptizes him into the Christian faith. Crusoe and Friday go to Europe on an English ship. Friday remains his companion throughout.

From Quiz Day of the Week - Thursday

Answer: John Steinbeck

The Depression-Era story of the peculiar residents of Cannery Row in Monterey, California, continues in "Sweet Thursday." John Steinbeck's sequel is set just after the conclusion of World War II. Doc returns from the war to a much-changed community. As regards the choice of the title, according to the author, "Sweet Thursday is the day between Lousy Wednesday and Waiting Friday." In 1955, Rodgers and Hammerstein adapted the novel into the Broadway musical "Pipe Dreams."

From Quiz Day of the Week - Wednesday

Answer: The Addams Family

Wednesday Addams is the daughter of Gomez and Morticia Addams and the sister of Pugsley Addams. The character appears in the Charles Addams' "The New Yorker" cartoons and then in television, motion pictures, comic books, on Broadway and more. The dour, morose, Goth character has been played by Lisa Loring, Christina Ricci, Nicole Fugere, Krysta Rodriguez, and Jenna Ortega.

From Quiz Day of the Week - Tuesday

Answer: visits to a friend dying of ALS

"Tuesdays with Morrie" is a "non-fiction novel" written by journalist Mitch Albom about his relationship with his former college professor Morrie Schwartz (1916-1995). Dr. Schwartz taught sociology at Brandeis University. Albom wrote the book to raise funds for Schwartz' care as the professor slowly declined from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) -- Lou Gehrig's disease. The book, which was a New York Times Non-Fiction Best-Seller, was made into a television motion picture starring Hank Azaria and Jack Lemmon.

From Quiz Day of the Week - Monday

Answer: Monday Night Football

Cosell's tenure on "Monday Night Football" began with the programme's inception in 1970 and ended in 1983. The chemistry between the three announcers in their canary yellow blazers was sometimes more entertaining than the football games they broadcast.

From Quiz What Day Is It? - World Calendars

Answer: Calendar transition occurred during Washington's lifetime

When Washington was born on February 11th, England and its colonies still observed the Julian calendar. During his lifetime, they adopted the Gregorian calendar and skipped eleven days in doing so. This obviously required adjustments to schedules and business transactions. Less obviously, it offered people the option of when to celebrate their birthday. Washington chose to use the date (February 22nd) based on the new calendar, which was the day he would have been born on if the Gregorian calendar had been in use at that time in the US.

From Quiz Wacky Wednesday

Answer: Odin

In English, the days of the week are named after mythological characters. Wednesday is from "Woden's day," where Woden was the Anglo-Saxon name for the Norse god Odin. "American Gods," by Neil Gaiman, blends elements of several different mythologies into a fantasy story set in modern times. In it, Mr. Wednesday travels across America attempting to recruit various gods from traditional mythologies into a war against a new race of gods who represent manifestations of modern technology.

From Quiz At Long Last

Answer: Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs are one of the oldest teams in Major League Baseball. They debuted in 1876 as the Chicago White Stockings and changed their name to the Chicago Cubs in 1903. They were given the nickname "the Lovable Losers" as the team went 108 years without winning the World Series title. The Cubs' championship drought finally came to an end in 2016, when the Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians, who had also been on a long championship drought. Prior to 2016, the Cubs' last World Series victory came against the Detroit Tigers in 1908.

From Quiz Instigator Penalty

Answer: American Football

A two-minute warning is given when two minutes of playing time remain on the game clock in each half of a National Football League (NFL) match. A sniper has been spotted, by the camera on the Goodyear Blimp, positioned inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during a Championship football match akin to the Super Bowl. Police Captain Peter Holly (Heston) is brought in and he endeavours to set up a plan to capture or take out the assassin with the SWAT team Sergeant played by John Cassavetes. As the two minute warning in the game approaches the sniper sees that he's trapped and opens fire, shooting at random targets in the stadium. Panic erupts and many spectators are killed or injured in the stampede that ensues. Sadly the all star ensemble, which also included Martin Balsam, Beau Bridges, David Janssen, Jack Klugman, Gena Rowlands and Walter Pidgeon could not lift the film above the average. The film would be heavily criticised for its focus on violence.

From Quiz It's Three AM

Answer: Hillary Clinton

The ad was considered to have been effective as a "scare tactic". Hillary Clinton also lost the 2016 presidential election and a Maine East High School senior class one, after which one of her male rivals told her she was "really stupid" if she thought girls could be presidents. Is stupidity, perhaps, less of an obstacle for an aspiring candidate?

From Quiz It's Christmas Time

Answer: Robin redbreast

Robin redbreast is an older name for the bird often simply called a robin in these modern times. Once thought to be a type of thrush, it's now classed as an Old World flycatcher along with other birds such as chats and thrushes. Despite its name, the breast and face of a robin aren't red - they are orange. Until the 16th century, there was no distinct word in English for orange when the fruit known as an orange was first seen in the UK. Oranges were considered a shade of red. A small bird usually no longer than 14 cm (5.5 in), the robin is diurnal and insectivorous. Found throughout the UK, Europe and northern Africa, they are quite settled in their home territories and will defend it fiercely. The only robins who migrate south for the winter are the robins in the far northern reaches of Europe and Siberia who need to escape the bitter cold of an Arctic winter. Whilst the robin has been mentioned in children's book and Norse mythology, it's the UK and northwestern France which has the biggest tradition of robin folklore. From the mid-19th century, robins have appeared on British Christmas cards and the association of robins with Christmas has grown over time. Birds in other continents such as North America and Australia have been given the name of robin due to their colouration resembling the European robin, but they are in different Avian families. The blue tit, greenshank and yellowhammer are also British birds. Question crafted by Tizzabelle, one of our editors in the Animals category.

From Quiz Do You Have The Time?

Answer: about eight minutes

Light, in the form of photons, takes time to travel through the vacuum of space, which it does at about 186,000 miles a second. As the earth is approximately 93 million miles from the sun, the math says the journey takes slightly over eight minutes. Theoretically, then, if the sun were to suddenly go dark, you wouldn't know it until eight minutes later.

From Quiz Once Upon a Night

Answer: Night Shift

"Night Shift" was Stephen King's first collection of short stories, and it was published in 1978. The collection contained twenty stories, some of which were first runs while the others were previously printed in various magazines. From those stories came six films such as "Children of the Corn" and "The Graveyard Shift", and a few made-for-television adaptations as well.

From Quiz Insomnia Obscures the Night

Answer: nightmare

Alice Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare" was released in 1975, and was his first solo album. The album peaked at number five on the Billboard Pop Album charts. There were three singles released from this album; the highest charting at number 12 was "Only Women Bleed".

From Quiz A Night to Remember

Answer: Bobby Vee

Bobby Vee's birth name was Robert Thomas Velline, and he had ten songs in the Top Twenty. Bobby and his friends had just recently formed a band when Buddy Holly died tragically in a plane crash on his way to play the next night at Fargo, North Dakota. Bobby and his friends played in place of the late Buddy and the rest is history.

From Quiz Analyzing April

Answer: airplanes

The Luftwaffe was the branch of the German military that controlled all planes and inflatables. At the end of World War II, the Luftwaffe was officially disbanded in 1946.

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