Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. In 1940, during the fall of France, Adolf Hitler made a "peace offer" to Great Britain. In a great moment of defiance, Sefton Delmer rejected the offer with a statement saying in part: "Let me tell you what we here in Britain think of this appeal of yours to what you are pleased to call our reason and common sense. Herr Führer and Reichskanzler, we hurl it right back at you, right in your evil smelling teeth ..." Who the heck was Sefton Delmer?
2. Before Delmer had his great moment, Winston Churchill gave a speech in which he listed several of the places Britain would fight, ending the with the rallying cry "We shall never surrender". Which of these was NOT a place that Churchill said the British would fight?
3. In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote an open letter to some clergymen who had objected to the use of civil disobedience. The clergymen, all of whom were white and resided in the Deep South, argued that demonstrations were improper and that the courts or direct negotiation were the proper course. King's response, which includes the statement "Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks to so dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored," has justifiably become famous. Where was Dr. King when he wrote the letter?
4. In 1944, the Germans launched a counter-offensive that became known as the Battle of the Bulge. A key event in the battle was the Germans' failure to take the town of Bastogne. The defenders of Bastogne, consisting of most of the 101st Airborne and combat teams made up of bits and pieces of smashed units, were commanded by Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, whose one-word response to the Germans' demand for surrender earned him a place on this quiz. What was it?
5. Established religions sometimes have trouble with scientists who want to rock the boat. In 1632, Galileo Galilei was put on trial for having the audacity to argue that the Earth went around the Sun, not the other way around. Galileo was forced to recant (the alternative was being put to death as a heretic, something everyone should want to avoid). According to popular legend, he whispered "Eppur si muove" under his breath after his public recantation. What does "Eppur si muove" mean?
6. In 1692, Giles Corey was accused of being a witch during the Salem Witch Trials. He refused to enter a plea. (His options were "guilty" or "not guilty.") Under common law at the time, a person refusing to enter a plea could be subjected to the horrible process of "Peine forte et dure." In Peine forte et dure, progressively heavier weights were placed on a person until they either entered a plea or died. According to the story, Corey lasted three days and made only one two-word statement, although he repeated it several times. What was it?
7. The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929, settled a long-running dispute between Bugs Moran and Al Capone over who would run the rackets in Chicago. When the police arrived, they found six corpses and one mortally wounded man. The dying man, Frank Guesenberg, gave what unlikely answer to the police who asked him who had inflicted the fourteen (or twenty-two, depending on which Wikipedia entry you believe) bullet wounds?
8. The most feared enemy of the Romans managed to defeat several Roman armies and run rampant in Italy for quite a few years, only being defeated on his home turf after fifteen years of war. The Romans were so concerned about him that they forced him into exile and became obsessed with capturing him. Before they could, he took poison, saying "Let us relieve the Romans from the anxiety they have so long experienced, since they think it tries their patience too much to wait for an old man's death." Who was the general who gave generations of Romans nightmares?
9. Sometimes, what gets written down is better, or at least less obscene, than what actually gets said. For example, at the Battle of Waterloo, the Old Guard of Napoleon's army was given a chance to surrender, but refused. General Cambronne claimed to have refused the offer with an obscenity. What actually got written down?
10. In the War of 1812, the Americans were serious underdogs to the British. Nowhere was this more true than in terms of naval power; the Royal Navy was immeasurably superior to the Continental Navy. In one engagement, the USS Chesapeake was defeated by HMS Shannon, but not before her mortally wounded captain gave an order that has become part of US Navy history. What was that order?
11. Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi was one of the most committed leaders ever to lead any movement. Gandhi lived simply, spun thread for his own clothes, and often went on hunger strikes to achieve his goals. In 1930, Gandhi led a 240-mile march from his residence to defy the British Government's monopoly on the production of a necessary staple. What was it?
12. Thanks to the movie "300", one of the classic last stands in history has become part of pop culture. In case you don't know, it has to do with the last stand of the Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae. Herodotus, the "Father of History", reports that when the Persians bragged that they had so many archers that their arrows would block out the sun, one Spartan replied that he was happy to hear it. Why?
13. Also in World War II, the Allies launched a huge airborne attack on a set of bridges over the Meuse River and two branches of the Rhine. Part of the plan went well, but the British 1st Airborne's attack on the bridges in Arnhem went badly. They ended up in a small pocket pinned against the river. As things got desperate, the Germans offered them a chance to surrender. The British gave a defiant response. What was it?
14. In 1963, a man named Robert Kearns invented a device that became a feature on nearly every car. He'd offered his invention to the car manufacturers, but had been rebuffed, as the car makers preferred to use devices they claimed their own designers had invented. In a fairly predictable plot twist, Kearns disassembled one of the car maker's "original" devices and discovered that instead of inventing their own device, the car makers had simply copied his. He defied the odds (car manufacturers can hire battalions of excellent attorneys) and filed suit. After decades of litigation and millions in legal fees, he won two patent infringement lawsuits, and would have won more had he not developed Alzheimer's disease and died. What did he invent?
15. During the Second World War, the Royal Air Force equipped some fighter squadrons with a two-person fighter named the Boulton Paul Defiant. The Defiant turned out to be a really bad idea (although it had some success as a night-fighter and could score victories when expertly handled). What was wrong with it?
Source: Author
Correspondguy
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