A Little Bit of Everything 1 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Police Speed Traps

Amazingly, the first speeding ticket was issued in 1896 - for driving 8 mph in a 2 mph zone. All the other jobs of the AA came later. I find it particularly astonishing, that they were solely responsible for signposting roads until the early 1930s.

Answer: SS Great Britain

Isambard Kingdom Brunel built three of these ships. All three were breakthroughs in shipbuilding. The Great Western was the first steamship to offer a regular service across the Atlantic. The Great Britain combined an iron hull and a propeller (which was first introduced on the riverboat Archimedes) and basically set the pattern that most ships are still built today.

The Great Eastern was driven by a combination of paddlewheels and propellers. And it was gargantuan: Before, the longest ship measured 114m and 3,300 tons, the Great Eastern reached 211m and 19,000 tons.

Answer: Croquet

The All England Croquet Club was founded in 1869. But things didn't go too well and in 1875 Lawn Tennis was offered to draw more members. In 1877 it was seen fit to change the name to All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, which it has been ever since.

The first championship at Wimbledon was also played that year - with 22 players and 200 spectators. Nothing is known about the price of strawberries in that year.

Answer: Michael Collins

Most of us have probably seen the movie about this near disastrous mission. Not quite as many will remember the names of the crew. But then even the third man of the first lunar mission (Apollo 11) is often forgotten. Incidentally, his name is Michael Collins.

Answer: Explorer 1

It is well known that America was shocked when Russia sent its first satellite, Sputnik 1, into orbit. How fast and with what America responded doesn't feature quite as prominently. Explorer 1 was launched almost exactly 4 months after Sputnik and sent back valuable data that led to the discovery of the Van Allen Belt. Vanguard 1 followed suit and remains the oldest satellite still in orbit.

Answer: 1907

The Chinese were using toy helicopters - that were made by attaching feathers to a stick which was then spun rapidly - as early as 400 BC. In 1483 Leonardo Da Vinci sketched an idea for a Helical Air Screw, which was meant to be capable of carrying a pilot. Back then the technology was simply not available to put it into practice though. So it was left until 1907 for Paul Cornu to take off vertically in a twin-rotor helicopter.

It took another 32 years for the first practical single-rotor helicopter to fly.

Answer: 56

The first of these intricate masterpieces of the jeweller's art was commissioned by Czar Alexander III for his wife Maria Feodorovna for Easter 1894. She was so delighted, that the Czar placed a standing commission for one egg every Easter. The agreement stated that each had to be egg-shaped and was to contain a surprise suitable for the Czarina.

When he died in 1894 his son carried on the tradition. But apart from the egg for his own wife, he kept the commission for his mother going as well - until it all ended in 1917. Today only the whereabouts of 44 of the eggs are still known.

Answer: 1924

In 1921, the International Olympic Committee decided to hold an 'International Sports Week' in Chamonix in 1924. The event was a great success and when the Committee met again in 1926 they decided to proclaim these the first Olympic Winter Games. There were sixteen events and Norway was the most successful nation. Among the Norwegian competitors was figure skating legend Sonja Henie - who was just 11 at the time.

Answer: 210 BC

When Shi Huangdi (a name that means 'first emperor' and which he assumed later in his life) ascended to the throne of the Qin clan (pronounced Chin - from which we take the name China) aged only 13, he immediately started the construction of his mausoleum. Still it wasn't finished until a year after his death, after 36 years of construction.

In those years he conquered all of China and brought the warring clans under his central rule. And while his dynasty survived only marginally longer than he did, his legacy lives on in the country he united as well as unified systems of writing, measurements and money.

Answer: 3

They are the Incus, Malleus, and Stapes - collectively known as the Ossicles. They are the smallest bones in the human body. They work as a system of levers, amplifying the sound that reaches the eardrum and passing it on to the Cochlea. I have found vast variations mentioned in relation to the factor by which they amplify (anywhere from 3x to 22x).

But more astoundingly this factor can be lowered by muscle tension to protect the ear from loud noises.