It's My Twentieth Quiz / Test | Mixed 20 Questions

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The category is: ANIMALS. In 1877, the United States passed a law dealing with the humane transportation of animals. What is this statute commonly called?

Answer: The Twenty-Eight Hour Law

Basically, the law stated that animals being transported could not be confined for more than 28 hours without being unloaded for a minimum of five hours for food, water, and rest. For some reason, if the 28 hours ended at night, sheep could be confined for an additional eight hours. BAH!

2. The category is: BRAIN TEASERS If twenty monkeys with twenty tin cups and twenty bananas had twenty computers each, how many monkeys would there be?

Answer: 20

Writing brain teasers is obviously not my strong point. If you got this one right away, enjoy the easy ten points. If you didn't, at least I share your pain.

3. The category is: CELEBRITIES Walter Plunkett came to Hollywood in the 1920s to be an actor, but his ten Academy Award nominations (and one win) were all in this field.

Answer: Costume Design

By the end of the 1920s, Mr. Plunkett was head of costume design at a major studio. He is best remembered as the designer for "Gone With the Wind", although he was not nominated for an Academy Award for that picture. (Why not, I wonder?) His Oscar win was for "An American in Paris".

By the way, did you know that the Academy used to give out separate Oscars for "Best Color Costume Design" and "Best Black and White Costume Design"? I didn't, but now I do!

4. The category is: ENTERTAINMENT The first Miss Universe pageant was held in 1952. Despite the contest's name, every winner thus far has hailed from planet Earth. How many of the first twenty Miss Universes were from Asian countries?

Answer: Four (Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, and Lebanon)

Miss Georgina Rizk of Lebanon became the twentieth Miss Universe in 1971. Of the first four Asian countries to win the title, only Thailand and the Philippines went on to repeat, but other Asian countries have produced winners since 1971...Israel in 1976, and India, twice. (info from www.pageant.net)
(This, my friends, is TRIVIA.)

5. The category is: FOR CHILDREN In the popular game of "Monopoly", how many properties are there on the board, not counting railroads and utilities?

Answer: 22

If we begin just past "GO" with Mediterranean Avenue and count all around the board to Boardwalk, there are 22 properties on the Monopoly board. They are not evenly distributed, however, as two of the four sides have six properties each and the other two sides have five each. Four railroads and two utilities would bring the total to 28. (The number of properties is the same, regardless of the city/country/area used on the board.)

6. The category is: GENERAL The tradional 20th wedding anniversary gift is china, but the modern alternative is this precious metal.

Answer: Platinum

Of course, modern traditionalists can cover both bases by choosing china trimmed with platinum.

7. The category is: GEOGRAPHY According to worldatlas.com, this country whose capital is Thimphu is twentieth alphabetically. Its official language is Dzongkha.

Answer: Bhutan

Look to the Himalayas for the Kingdom of Bhutan, with its 1.9 million people, of whom 70% are Buddhist but only 44% are literate. Another interesting fact from my atlas is that only 6% of Bhutan's people live in cities, whereas 85% of Australia's do.

8. The category is: HISTORY Which of these things did Victoria of England NOT do at the age of twenty?

Answer: Assume the throne of Great Britain

When her uncle William IV died in 1837, Victoria became Queen at the age of 18. She would reign until her death in 1901 and bestow her name upon an era.

9. The category is: HOBBIES Author Gwen Marston has written at least six books on this subject, all beginning with the words "Twenty Little". What is Ms. Marston's area of expertise?

Answer: Quilting

Titles in the series include "Twenty Little Amish Quilts" and "Twenty Little Pinwheel Quilts". However, if you picked "Spelunking" (the hobby of cave exploring) as an answer, I DO think "Twenty Little Caverns" would be an excellent read.

10. The category is: HUMANITIES In 1902, this Irish author wrote "In The Seven Woods". In 1923, this American lawyer and insurance salesman published his first book of poetry. One of his masterworks is "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird". Who are these two poets?

Answer: W.B. Yeats and Wallace Stevens

It's astounding how few of my favorite poets have composed works with "twenty" in their titles.

11. The category is: LITERATURE Who wrote "Twenty Years Before the Mast"?

Answer: Charles Erskine

The book's subtitle is "With the More Thrilling Scenes and Incidents while Circumnavigating the Globe under the Command of the Late Admiral Charles Wilkes, 1838-1842"

Erskine was an illiterate common sailor who learned to read and write during his years of exploration at sea. His book is difficult to find in print, but his story is retold in noted maritime author Nathaniel Philbrick's "Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery, The U.S. Exploring Expedition".

12. The Category is: MOVIES Which of the following is NOT an actual movie title?

Answer: Twenty Horses for Senor Valdez

"Twenty-Four Seven" is from 1998, "Twenty Bucks" from 1993, and "20,000 Leagues" was a silent film in 1916 in addition to the Disney version from 1954.
There have also been movies entitled "21 Grams" and "28 Days".
If anyone would like to appropriate the Senor Valdez title, feel free. I won't be using it after this quiz.

13. The category is: MUSIC This "definitive Southern rock band" had a 1997 album called (and I think you might have guessed) "Twenty".

Answer: Lynyrd Skynyrd

Lynyrd Skynyrd was an enduringly popular band with a more than 30-year career and wonderful songs like "Freebird" and "Sweet Home Alabama".

14. The category is: PEOPLE Name the statesman who, as Australia's twentieth Prime Minister, held that post through the entire decade of the 1950s. (Hint: The same man was also Australia's sixteenth PM, at the beginning of WWII.)

Answer: Robert Gordon Menzies

Barton was Australia's first Prime Minister. The others all served more than one non-consecutive term...Menzies two, and Deakin and Fisher three each. For some reason, I find this fascinating.

15. The category is: RELIGION John Wesley's "The Twenty-five Articles of Religion" became the basis of this Protestant faith.

Answer: Methodist

Wesley was originally an Anglican cleric but became dissatisfied with some of that religion's tenets. His "Articles" were derived in some measure from "The 39 Articles of Religion of the Church of England".
(Info from www.godonthe.net, surely one of the most cleverly named websites ever.)

16. The category is: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Although its atomic number is 20, this element is second to none when it comes to blood clotting, bone building, and heart beating! What's the chemical shorthand for this useful #20?

Answer: Ca

Carbon (C, atomic number 6), Chromium (Cr, #24) and Cadmium (Cd, #48) are all wonderful elements in their own right, but none of them can take the place of Calcium.

17. The category is: SPORTS Legal website findlaw.com publishes a yearly list of colleges whose athletes are guilty of more than poor sportsmanship, yet are still permitted to play. By what name is this list known?

Answer: The Tarnished Twenty

According to Findlaw, the Tarnished Twenty rankings "are based on the number and severity of ongoing or recently concluded criminal, civil, NCAA and other administrative proceedings and investigations involving players, coaches, boosters or other persons or entities associated with a program."
Because some of you taking this quiz may be ardent fans of Tarnished Twenty schools, I have omitted their names.

18. The category is: TELEVISION Which of the following is NOT found on Salon.com's list "Twenty Ways the '90s Changed Television"?

Answer: "60 Minutes" (And Don't Tell Us Andy Rooney Is Just Filler)

60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, so most of its changing of American TV was more or less accomplished by the 90s.
The quite interesting Salon.com article, which includes "The Simpsons" and "Seinfeld" among its honorees, can be read at
http://www.salon.com/ent/col/mill/1999/12/22/tvdecade/index.html

19. The category is: VIDEO GAMES There is a video game based on "Twenty Questions".

Answer: True

Of course there is. There seem to be video games about everything, probably even including scatological functions. (No, I do not want to know.) You can play "20 Questions" online at http://www.20q.net/. Apparently it is an artificial intelligence game, which sounds interesting. And yes, I know there is a difference between video games and computer games. Go easy on me here please, and I'll promise not to write any more video game questions.

20. The category is: WORLD Is the United States among the top twenty countries when ranked by life expectancy?

Answer: No

Although charts from various sources disagree slightly with one another, the USA was not among the top twenty on any of them, and indeed barely made it into the top fifty on some. The clear winner is Andorra, with a life expectancy at birth of 83.49 years. On www.nationmaster.com's list, Australia is in sixth place with 80.13 years. Canada, New Zealand, and the UK were 11th, 32nd, and 35th respectively. Thank you for sharing my twentieth with me...see you again at fifty!

Source: Author LilahDeDah

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ArleneRimmer before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

It's My Twentieth Trivia Quiz

No, not my 20th birthday! In honor of my 20th quiz for FunTrivia, I present 20 questions of no particular relevance whatsoever, except that there are 20 of them.

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