January February March Trivia

1. 1468 - Alessandro Farnese, who reigned as Pope Paul III, was born on 29 February. He was a patron of the arts, and, as Pope, oversaw the completion of which of the Sistine Chapel's frescos?

From Quiz Every Four Years - 29 February

Answer: The Last Judgement

"The Last Judgement" is a fresco by Michelangelo covering the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel depicting the Second Coming and the final judgement of humanity. The work was originally commissioned by Pope Clement VII, but he died two years before work began, with the four years it took to complete being under the supervision of Paul III. The work was controversial at the time, with the Pope often coming under pressure to alter, if not completely remove the fresco following its completion. Upon an inspection alongside the pontiff, Biagio da Cesena, the Papal Master of Ceremonies, is reported to have said "it was most disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully, and that it was no work for a papal chapel but rather for the public baths and taverns", which led to Michelangelo incorporating his face into the fresco itself as Minos descending to Hell. In response to Cesena's complaint, Paul III joked that his jurisdiction did not extend to Hell, and so the portrait would have to remain.

From Quiz Sharing My Birthday, January 25th

Answer: Bobby Vinton

Bobby Vinton sat at the Number One position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on January 25, 1964 with "There! I've Said It Again". His version of the song was at Number One for three weeks from January 4-25 before he passed the Number One spot to The Beatles on February 1st for "I Want to Hold Your Hand".

From Quiz In With The News: The Headlines for January 1st

Answer: Scotland

Charles II became king of England, Scotland and Ireland in May 1660 and the coronation took place in Scotland on January 1 1661 and in England on April 23 1661. Later that year a Scottish army led by Charles invaded England, but was defeated by Cromwell's forces at the Battle of Worcester on September 3. Charles went into hiding in England and eventfully fled to France.

From Quiz More Marching Orders

Answer: New Zealand

The Flagstaff War was also known as Hone Heke's Rebellion, the Northern War or the First Mâori War. It was fought between the British (plus some of their Mâori allies) and the Mâori people led by Hone Heke and Te Ruki Kawiti. Under the terms of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi (of which Hone Heke was a signatory), the British had annexed New Zealand - the Flagstaff War developed from Mâori grievances over its implications. The flagstaff in question had been a gift to the first British settler in the country from Hone Heke. As tensions rose it was chopped down several times, but the fourth incident in 1845 escalated into a full scale battle that resulted in the destruction of the town of Kororareka (now named Russell), with the colonists being forced to flee on British and US naval vessels. After several more battles the war was ended by peace treaty with neither side really able to claim a clear victory. Symbolically, a new flagstaff was raised in 1848. The incorrect options are all countries that were British colonies in 1845.

From Quiz Marching Orders

Answer: Nebraska

The Nebraska Territory was created by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 and covered a much wider area than modern day Nebraska. The territory was gradually whittled down until the remaining section became the US state of Nebraska following a vote of Congress in 1867. The area was originally home to various indigenous peoples including the Omaha and the Sioux and didn't gain a large settler population until after the passing of the Homestead Act of 1862 - which granted free land to settlers who wanted to farm the area. As well as a change of name, the order to turn Nebraska Territory into the state of Nebraska also produced a change of capital city. The capital was moved from the largest city, Omaha, to the (then) village of Lancaster, which was swiftly renamed Lincoln in honour of Abraham Lincoln. Iowa, Kansas and South Dakota are three states of the American mid-west that border Nebraska. Iowa joined in December 1846, Kansas in January 1861 and South Dakota in November 1889; this makes them the 29th, 34th and 40th states respectively.

From Quiz January Hodgepodge

Answer: Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by a fellow Hindu.

Gandhi was assassinated by a radical Hindu named Nathuram Godse, who felt that Gandhi was too partial to Muslims. Godse's subsequent execution by hanging was independent India's first execution. Dien Bien Phu took place between March and May of 1954 and resulted in Vietnam's freedom from France. Israel was created on May 14 of 1948, and the new nation was immediately attacked by its Arab neighbors in the first Arab-Israeli War, from which the new state emerged victorious. The Dalai Lama fled into India at the end of March in 1959, as China annexed Tibet.

From Quiz My Bloody Birthday

Answer: Charles I

Charles I was a believer in the divine right of kings, which led to many conflicts with the parliaments of his three kingdoms, not to mention some difficulties with the Church. His actions directly led to the Bishops' Wars of 1639 and 1640, as well as the English Civil War (1642-1651). The latter was actually three separate wars, the first two between Charles I and the Long Parliament under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, Thomas Fairfax and Devereux, Earl of Essex. The third conflict took place after Charles I's defeat and execution, and was between supporters of Charles II and the Rump Parliament. With the parliamentarian victory, Charles I's execution, and Charles II's exile, the Commonwealth of England was established (1649-1653), followed by Oliver Cromwell's protectorate (1653-1659). Cromwell's death in 1658 eventually led to the restoration of the monarchy (legally backdated to 1649). After Charles II took the throne in 1660, he had Cromwell exhumed and then ritually executed on the anniversary of Charles I's execution - January 30th (1661).

From Quiz March 13th

Answer: Clergyman

John was a clergyman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony before he succumbed to tuberculosis just a little over a year after arriving in the colony. Since he was childless, he left a large endowment to the colony's newly founded Cambridge College along with his 320 volume personal library. The gifts were so significant that the school was renamed in his honor.

From Quiz Anniversaries and Dates of Interest - March

Answer: Bikini Atoll

Bikini Atoll is a group of small islands in the Pacific Ocean. Between 1946 and 1953, the United States carried out 23 nuclear bomb test explosions. These were the first nuclear explosions since the World War Two attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

From Quiz The First March

Answer: witchcraft

In most of colonial North America, especially in Puritan New England, misfortune was blamed on the supernatural, and Salem Village was no exception. Whether it was crop failure, sickness, death or disaster, Satan and his minions - such as witches - could be blamed. The outbreak of the witchcraft accusations of 1692 was not the first instance of such a scare. In 1688 Boston, Ann Glover (a washerwoman) was executed for the practice of witchcraft which resulted in the illness of four or five children. The hysteria spread, and by January of 1692, illnesses were being blamed on the practice of witchcraft. Before the end of the scare in May 1693, 140 men and women had been arrested, nineteen people were hanged, one person was pressed to death, and up to thirteen people may have died in jail. Sarah Good was executed, Sarah Osborne died in jail, and Tituba confessed, but was not executed.

From Quiz First of All, February First!

Answer: Texas

Following the secession of six other states (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana) Texas held a state convention to consider secession. On February 1st, a vote was held, and at 166-8, the Convention approved an Ordinance of Secession from the United States. The matter was voted upon later by the populace, and Texans voted 3-1 to secede. Following Texas' joining the Confederate States of America, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina also seceded and joined the Confederacy. In 1869, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. White that secession was illegal, and that the Confederacy had never legally existed. Texas was readmitted into the Union in 1870.

From Quiz It's Not All About Love

Answer: Torville and Dean

Jayne Torville and Christopher Dean won Olympic gold in Sarajevo skating to their now famous "Bolero" routine. In the 1983/84 season they were invincible, winning British, European, World and Olympic championships. It was their fourth consecutive World Championship win and their third European title. The Olympics saw them score a string of perfect 6s. Their routines were entertaining, technically brilliant, and always very different. They were the first to utilise a single long piece of music and skate to a theme rather than having several changes of tempo and music to demonstrate various skills.

From Quiz 9th March

Answer: 1997

Born as Christopher George Letore Wallace, this rapper was shot in the age of 24, possibly as a result of a conflict between East Coast and West Coast hip-hop - 'Death Row Records' versus 'Bad Boy Records'.

From Quiz Happy Birthday -- March 26

Answer: Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Simon Nimoy, best known as Mr Spock in 'ST:TOS' and as Paris in 'Mission: Impossible', is the youngest of the four. He celebrated his 80th birthday on March 26 2011, just four days after his 'Star Trek' co-star William Shatner had done the same. Shatner, though, is of course Canadian, born in Montreal. Nimoy's other two 'Star Trek' colleagues were significantly older. Kelley (Doctor McCoy), just the oldest of the four, was born in Toccoa, GA in January 1920 and died aged 79 in 1999. James Doohan (Mr Scott), another Canadian (despite the Scottish accent), was born in Vancouver BC in March 1920 and died aged 85 in 2005.

From Quiz 11th January

Answer: Theodora

Theodora was co-empress alongside her sister Zoe from 1042. When her brother-in-law died in 1055, Theodora was seventy years old, but would not relinquish the throne. She died the following year.

From Quiz 10th January

Answer: Crossed the Rubicon River

Plutarch reported that when Caesar crossed the Rubicon he said, "the die is thrown". After chasing Pompey around Spain and Greece, Caesar eventually defeated him and was declared dictator. He resigned this dictatorship after only eleven days and enjoyed a second consulship instead.

From Quiz 9th January

Answer: Victor Emmanuel II

Victor Emmanuel supposedly said, "They tell me that French dancers don't wear underwear. If it is really like that, for me it would be heaven on Earth," to the French Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III. Emmanuel died exactly five years to the day after Napoleon III.

From Quiz 8th January

Answer: New York City

At the time, New York City was the provisional capital of the U.S. The speech was originally known as "the President's Annual Message to Congress", until 1935 when President Franklin Roosevelt referred to it as the "State of the Union Address".

From Quiz 7th January

Answer: England

When Queen Mary I of England heard the news, she is quoted as having said, "When I am dead and opened, you shall find 'Philip' and 'Calais' lying in my heart". The town did not stay in French possession for long as it was captured by the Spanish in 1596.

From Quiz 6th January

Answer: Philip IV

The English King Edward I was also the Duke of Aquitaine. As such he was a vassal of Philip IV. After a naval incident occured between the Normans and the English, Philip ordered Edward to the French court, but Edward refused. Philip used this as a pretext to strip Edward of all of his possessions in France.

From Quiz 5th January

Answer: Duke of Burgundy

Charles was the last Valois Duke of Burgundy. He had three wives, Catherine of France, Isabella of Bourbon and Margaret of York. He only had one child, Mary, who succeeded him as Duchess of Burgundy on his death. Charles held a total of fifteen titles. Following his death in 1477 Burgundy began to disintegrate.

From Quiz 4th January

Answer: Hortense de Beauharnais

It was unhappy marriage from the start. Hortense was the daughter of Napoleon's wife Josephine and her first husband who had been guillotined during the Revolution when Hortense was only 11 years old. She was the mother of Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, wjo later became Napoleon III.

From Quiz 3rd January

Answer: Friedrich Nietzsche

While walking through the Piazza Carlo Alberto in Turin, Nietzsche saw a horse being whipped. He ran across the square, threw his arms around the horse's neck to shield it and collapsed to the ground. From then on, he spoke incoherently, screamed repeatedly and was often delirious, unaware of where he was. He finally died in 1900, under the care of his sister, Elizabeth.

From Quiz 2nd of January

Answer: Henry Morgan

The ship Morgan had received as a gift from England and meant to protect Port Royal, the HMS Oxford, which was carrying the loot from two recently sacked French ships, was blown up during a party by sparks from a fire roasting pork while landing in the ammunitions depot. Morgan and his officers survived the blaze, but his treasure was lost to the sea off of Ile a Vache.

From Quiz New Year's Day

Answer: Rome

The word "gladiator" has it's origins in Latin, meaning "swordsman" taken from the Latin word "gladius" meaning "sword". Gladiators were slaves, criminals and professional fighters who fought against other gladiators, wild animals and condemned criminals for the entertainment of Roman crowds. The best known former venue for gladiatorial competitions is the Colosseum in Rome.

From Quiz March 19th

Answer: Robert Cavelier de La Salle

On March 19th, in 1687, Robert Cavelier de La Salle was murdered by his men while trying to find the mouth of the Mississippi for the second time. He had claimed the mouth of the Mississippi River for France in 1682 but when they went back to colonize the area, his ship miscalculated its coordinates and was shipwrecked in Texas. Although, most of the people who were shipwrecked with him returned to France, Robert Cavelier de La Salle stayed behind with some of his men in hopes of finding the river again. It is during this time that his men mutinied and murdered him.

From Quiz Saint David's Day -- March 1

Answer: On the Buses

Doris Hare was awarded an MBE in 1941 for her stage and television work, but it was not until late in her career that she came to the attention of the wider British public. 'On the Buses' starred Reg Varney as a Luxton and District Traction Company bus driver, Stan Butler, who lived at home with his overbearing mother, Mabel. Stan's mother was played by Dame Cicely Courtneidge in the first series, but Doris Hare took over the remaining six series and she also appeared in the three spin-off films. The alternatives were also 1970s British sitcoms: '...And Mother Makes Three' starred Wendy Craig, 'Bless this House' featured Sid James and Diana Coupland, while Nerys Hughes and Polly James were the main protagonists in 'The Liver Birds'.

From Quiz March 26

Answer: Leonard Nimoy

The son of a Jewish barber of Russian descent, Leonard Simon Nimoy was born on March 26 1931 in Boston. He speaks fluent Yiddish and is active in the Jewish community. It was Nimoy who invented both the Vulcan nerve pinch and the Vulcan salute and it's familiar intonation to 'live long and prosper'. He wrote two books about his 3-year stint as television's green-blooded alien, 'I am Not Spock', published in 1977, and 'I am Spock' in 1995. During the years between the two, Nimoy came to realize the significance of those three years on the rest of his life. Of the alternatives, Nimoy and Shatner are almost exactly the same age -- William Alan Shatner was born just four days before Nimoy, but he is a Canadian from Montreal. Grace Nichols is the youngest of the four, born in 1932 in Robbins IL. The late Jackson DeForest Kelley was significantly older, born in Toccoa GA in 1920.

From Quiz Happy New Year

Answer: Ellis Island

The natural island of little more than 5 acres was originally called Little Oyster Island, but it was renamed after Sam Ellis, a colonial New Yorker, and expanded to more than 30 acres by artificial landfill. It opened as the main entry port for immigrants coming to the US in 1892. At least 12 million (and perhaps as many as 20m) applicants were processed there by the time it closed in November 1954. Most arrivals spent only a few hours there, but more than 3,000 prospective immigrants died in the island's hospital. About 98% of those who arrived were granted entry to the U.S., but reasons such as criminal backgrounds, insanity and contagious diseases were common reasons for refusal.

From Quiz On This Day in February

Answer: Mounties

On February 1st 1920, the North West Mounted Police (NWMP) and the Dominion Police were merged together and renamed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It is the largest police force in Canada, with its headquarters in Ottawa. In 1974 women were finally accepted as uniformed officers. The RCMP motto is "Mantiens le droit" (maintain the right).

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