Completely Random Useless Trivia Quiz

Answer: Erik Weisz

Harry Houdini (1874-1926) was born Erik Weisz in Budapest, Hungary, and emigrated to the US in 1878 with his family and settled in Appleton, Wisconsin. They later moved to Milwaukee and then New York.

Houdini earned an international reputation for his audacious feats of escaping from shackles, handcuffs, ropes and various containers in his acts that were watched by large audiences sometimes numbering in the thousands.

He died of peritonitis on Halloween in 1926, nine days after being repeatedly punched in the stomach by a student who was testing his stomach muscles.

Answer: It stands for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation"

The word "Laser" is an acronym for "Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation" and was first mentioned in a paper presented by Colombia student Gordon Gould in 1959 and who wrote a patent application.

The first operating Laser was developed by Theodore Maiman in Malibu, California, using red laser light and based on the work of Schawlow and Townes in Bell Laboratories in 1958.

Answer: Venus

Venus, the second planet from the Sun, has the longest day of any of the planets- 243 Earth days. It has an atmosphere containing carbon dioxide and nitrogen with thick sulfuric acid clouds.

Most other planets rotate clockwise, except for Uranus which also rotates anticlockwise but also on its side!

Answer: 24-48 hours

The mayfly (or shadfly) only lives for 1-2 days. However, their nymph stage can vary from 2 weeks to 2 years! It doesn't eat as an adult and can't fly (even though it has wings). You can find them in many cold, clean ponds and streams as they are very sensitive to pollution.

Answer: Platypus

The platypus (or duck-billed platypus) is an egg-laying amphibious mammal found in Eastern Australia and Tasmania.

A baby platypus, known as a puggle, has tiny eyes, a flat head and silky-smooth looking short hair and cannot swim when they are born. They have a beaver-like tail that they use to steer them, and webbed feet for speedy swimming which they achieve by the age of a few months.

An echidna, another egg-laying mammal (monotreme) also has a baby known as a puggle.

Answer: John Tyler

The tenth President of the United States was given the nickname by his political adversaries in reference to the way he assumed the office.

Tyler had been sworn in as William Henry Harrison's vice president barely a month before Harrison succumbed to pneumonia.

Rutherford B Hayes was known as "His Fraudulency" after the disputed results of the 1876 election.

Grover Cleveland was known as "His Obstinacy" due to him vetoing bills and John Quincy Adams was known as "The Abolitionist" for bringing up slavery against constitutional rules.

Answer: California

California has nine national parks in total: Channel Islands, Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Kings Canyon, Lassen Volcanic, Pinnacles, Redwood, Sequoia and Yosemite. Alaska has eight, Utah has five and Colorado has four.

They are managed by the National Park Service and contain an amazing range of environments such as beaches, deserts, canyons and forests.

Answer: Amman

Amman has been the capital of Jordan since the 13th century BCE. It was called Philadelphia when it was a Greco-Roman trading city and named after Ptolemy II Philadelphus. Before that, when it was under the rule of the Ammonites it was known as Rabbath-Ammon.

Answer: Suzy and the Red Stripes

Suzy and the Red Stripes was a pseudonym used by the group for the release of the Linda McCartney and Wings single "Seaside Woman" in 1977. It was written and sung by Linda McCartney. The B side of the record was "B-Side to Seaside". It was the only release by Wings under that name.

They also had the alias of "The Country Hams".

Answer: Great Britain

The tug of war event was first held at the 1900 games in Paris, followed by 1904 in St. Louis, 1908 London, 1912 Stockholm and finally 1920 in Antwerp.

Only three countries competed in the first three games, followed by two and finally five.

At the 1920 games, Great Britain won gold with the Netherlands taking silver and Belgium bronze. There are no plans to introduce the event again!