Assorted General Trivia I Trivia Quiz

Answer: Maginot

The five D-Day beaches and the Allied force who invaded there were: Omaha (American), Utah (American), Juno (Canadian), Sword (British) and Gold (British). The defensive bunkers and fortifications between France and Germany were built between 1929 and 1940 and were called the "Maginot Line" in honor of France's World War I hero André Maginot.

Answer: Aladdin

They were married on May 2, 1967. The Aladdin was imploded in April 1998 to make room for a new Aladdin. The Sands is where the Rat Pack performed.

Answer: Norma Jeane Mortenson

Marilyn's name at birth was Norma Jeane Mortenson (Mortenson was a misspelling of her mother's separated name at the time), but she later used the name Norma Jeane Baker (Baker was her mother's earlier married name). She chose her stage name after her mother's maiden name of Monroe and Marilyn Miller, a popular Broadway musical star of the 1920s. Marilyn was married three times: to James Dougherty on June 19, 1942, to baseball star Joe DiMaggio on January 14, 1954 (elopement), and to playwright Arthur Miller in a civil ceremony on June 29, 1956.

Answer: Reading

Monopoly was invented during the Great Depression era (1930) by an out-of-work Charles Darrow of Germantown, PA (outside Philadelphia), with the property names based on street names of one of his family's former favorite vacation towns (Atlantic City, NJ). The royalties from this game's sales made him a millionaire.

There is some credible evidence that the game Monopoly actually evolved from an earlier board game called The Landlord's Game. This game was created by Lizzie Magie and was patented by her in 1904 (US748626). Her objective was demonstrating how rents enrich property owners and impoverish tenants. Parker Brothers (now part of Hasbro), distributors of Monopoly, eventually bought this patent in 1935 for $500 to avoid any patent fight over the game Monopoly.

Answer: Ceylon

The former British crown colony Ceylon became independent in 1948 and changed its name to Sri Lanka in 1972. This island country is strategically located just off the southern tip of India.

Answer: Napoleon

Orwell's two most famous books were "Animal Farm" published in 1945 and "Nineteen Eighty-four" (also written "1984") published in 1949. His theme in "Animal Farm" was the betrayal of the Russian Revolution of 1917. Stalin forbade the book to circulate in the Soviet Union.

Answer: France

The main French designer, Ferdinand de Lesseps, had previously built the Suez Canal in Egypt. After scandal, corruption, disease and the jungle took their toll, the French company went bankrupt.

Answer: England

Hadrian's Wall was ordered built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian around the time of his visit to England in 122 A.D. The stonewall built by Roman soldiers stretches approximately 74 miles over the hills and valleys of northern England. Although it had some towers and troop barracks, most historians think it was more a permanent demarcation and less a defensive barrier.

The northernmost country the Romans occupied was Scotland, where they built the approximately 39-mile Antoine Wall.

Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt

Sculptor Gutzom Borglum began the project (blasting the granite mountain with well-placed charges of dynamite) in 1927. When Borglum died in March 1941, his son Lincoln continued. It finally opened to the public in 1941.

Answer: John Wayne

Bono (of Sonny and Cher) was a U.S. Congressman from California from 1995 until his untimely death in 1998 in a skiing accident. Fred Grandy (Love Boat) was a U.S. Congressman from Iowa from 1987 to 1995. Eastwood (Dirty Harry and many other movie roles) was mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA from 1986 to 1988.

Although Wayne had strong political views (he was a conservative Republican), he was never in elective politics. He did play a former Congressman (Davy Crockett) in the movie 'The Alamo'. Although Crockett is probably best known as a frontiersman, he was also a U.S. Congressman from Tennessee, during 1827-31 and 1833-35.