It's Official! Trivia Quiz

Answer: In God We Trust

"In God we trust" was adopted as the official motto by Congress in 1956. The other answers are all unofficial mottos and all appear on The Great Seal. In God we Trust made its first appearance in 1864 on the two cent coin, and following the passing of the 1956 law, President Eisenhower declared the phrase must appear on all American currency.

The 1957 one dollar silver certificate was the first time it appeared on paper money.

Answer: The Secret Intelligence Service

The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) was formed prior to WWI in 1909 as a subsection of The Secret Service Bureau. MI6 is shorthand for Military Intelligence, Section 6 and the agency works exclusively in the gathering of foreign intelligence unlike its sister agency MI5 which deals with domestic intelligence and security. MI6 was so secret, its existence was never officially acknowledged until 1994 with the introduction of the Intelligence Services Act.

Answer: Brooklyn Dodgers were moving to Los Angeles

The deal to move had been agreed by team owner Walter O'Malley as far back as May 3 and the Brooklyn Dodgers played their final game at Ebbets Field on September 24. On April 18 1958, the Los Angeles Dodgers played their first home game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. All of the other events in the answers occurred in 1957 too, but not on October 8.

Answer: English

In 2017, OPEC, now numbering 14 countries, accounted for almost three-quarters of the world's oil reserves. The 14 members are spread across three continents: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates from Asia; Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Gabon and Nigeria from Africa; and Ecuador and Venezuela from South America.

Answer: Prime Minister of Canada

Completed in 1868, as a private house and expropriated by the government in 1943, 24 Sussex Drive, Ottawa has been the official residence of the Canadian PM since 1951 when Louis St. Laurent became the first post holder to live there. The Governor of California has an official residence at Governor's Mansion State Historic Park while the Prime Minister of New Zealand resides at 260 Tinakori Road in Wellington. Citadel of Minas Tirith is where Tolkien's Kings of Gondor resided.

Answer: Twenty game suspension

Wideman claimed to be suffering from concussion when he cross-checked official Don Henderson from behind, and was handed the minimum punishment by NHL. His twenty game suspension without pay cost Wideman an almost CAD$600,000 in salary and effectively ended his career as he became a free agent at the end of the 2016-17 season and no team signed him up.

The official, Henderson, announced in 2017 his intention to sue Wideman and the Flames for CAD$10.25 million as a result of injuries sustained from the hit.

Answer: Mx.

Mx. has been around since the 1980s but the first major company to start using it was The Post Office in 2009. It is now used by government departments such as Department for Work and Pensions and Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency, banks including HSBC and Barclays as well as other large companies such as Boots Chemists, Network Rail and Scottish Power. The title is commonly used for those identifying themselves as neither male nor female.

Answer: France

Although the other countries, to one degree or another, speak French, it was France itself that had this law, which was created by Napoleon Bonaparte. It was changed slightly in 1966 to allow a limited number of regional or foreign names and alternative spellings to established names on the official list but it wasn't until 1993 that French parents were given freedom to choose without any constraint.

A name can still be rejected by the birth registrar though if it is felt that the name would cause the child problems or to be the subject of mockery.

Answer: Spycatcher

Upon publication, the book was banned in UK, but, bizarrely, as the ban was obtained in an English court, the book was still available legally in Scotland. The UK ban wasn't lifted until 1988 when the Law Lords decided that due to it being published abroad and available in Scotland, it didn't contain any secrets any more, although Wright, who died a millionaire from sales, was banned from receiving royalties from UK sales.

Answer: It doesn't have one

Though there have been many songs written about the U.N., including the Hildebrabdt and Casais/Auden compositions noted in the answers, it does not have an official song. Interestingly "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" was then Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's personal choice for The World's Happiest Playlist in 2015.