Hard Friday the Thirteenth Quiz / Test | History

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. 1906, April 13th. This Good Friday is the birthdate of an Irish author who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969. What is his name? His most important book was "En attendant Godot" ("Waiting for Godot").

Answer: Samuel Beckett

All these Irish authors won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Yeats (June 13th, 1865 - January 28th, 1939) was rewarded in 1923. Shaw (July 26th, 1856 - November 2nd, 1950) won the Nobel Prize in 1925. Heaney was born April 13th, 1939 and won the Nobel Prize in 1995.

2. June 13th, 1924. The first protestant President of France succeeds Alexandre Millerand. Who became the new President of France?

Answer: Gaston Doumergue

Briand, Clem�nceau and Daladier were French Prime Ministers, but never became President of France. Cl�menceau (September 28th, 1841 - November 24th, 1929), nicknamed "The Tiger", was Prime Minister in 1907-10 and in 1917-18. Briand (March 28th, 1862 - March 7th, 1932) was Prime Minister in 1921-22, 1925-26 and 1929.
Daladier (June 18th, 1884 - October 10th, 1970) was Prime Minister in 1938-40 and negotiated with Hitler at the Munich Conference.

3. April 13th, 1928. The first transatlantic flight departing from Europe is successfully completed. The pilots were the Irish captain James Fitzmaurice, the German baron Ehrenfried G�nther von H�nefeld and another German. Who was this third pilot?

Answer: Hermann K�hl

Junkers, Messerschmitt and Heinkel were famous German airplane constructors. Junkers developed the plane in which this first transatlantic flight in East-West direction was completed. Messerschmitt became famous for his fighter planes. Heinkel developed mostly bomber planes.

4. May 13th, 1938. Plinio Salgado, leader of the Brazilian fascist movement, fails to overthrow president Getulio Vargas. Salgado was the leader of the Integralistas, who dressed in a green shirt with a Greek capital letter on it. Which letter?

Answer: Sigma

The Integralistas believed in absolute power of their leader. That's why the Greek letter they chose, symbolises the name of their leader. Sigma represents the letter S, as Delta stands for D, Gamma for G and Omega for O.

5. December 13th, 1940: Hitler commands an invasion plan that was given the code name "Marita". The plan was carried out in April 1941. Which country was invaded according to the plan "Marita"?

Answer: Greece

The invasion of Great-Britain was given the code name "Seel�we" (sea-lion) and was never carried out.
The invasion of the Soviet Union started June 22nd, 1941. This operation was called "Barbarossa", after the nickname of the medieval Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I.
Norway had already been invaded, starting on April 9th, 1940. The invasion of Denmark and Norway was called "Weser�bung Nord" ("Exercise North of the Weser").

6. February 13th, 1959. Indonesia completes the nationalisation of the Dutch companies. Who was at that time President of Indonesia?

Answer: Ahmed Sukarno

All these men were once President of Indonesia: Sukarno from 1950 till 1965, Suharto from 1966 till 1998, Habibie from 1998 till 1999 and Wahid from 1999 till 2001.
Indonesia is a former Dutch colony. Independence was declared on August 17th, 1945 and recognised by the Netherlands on December 28th, 1949.

7. February 13th, 1968. The Organisation of African Unity starts a conference with as main issue the Biafra crisis in Nigeria. The OAU conference doesn't solve the crisis. In which African city was this conference held?

Answer: Algiers

All these cities have organised a conference of the OAU.
The OAU was founded in Addis Ababa on May 25th, 1963.
It organised a conference on the persisting violence in South Africa on September 8th, 1990. On this occasion, Nelson Mandela held a famous speech.
In Durban, South Africa, the OAU was disbanded and replaced by African Union on July 9th, 2002.
The Biafra crisis (1967-1970) opposed the Ibo tribe to the Yoruba and Hausa tribes. Eventually, the Yoruba and Hausa tribes defeated the Ibo.

8. November 13th, 1970. After a coup d'etat, a Syrian general declared himself the new President of Syria, in succession of Noureddine al-Atassi. Who was the new President of Syria?

Answer: Hafez al-Assad

Nasser was President of Egypt and died September 28th, 1970 - a few weeks before the coup d'etat in Syria.
Qadhafi is the leader of Libya. He was born in June 1942. There are many different orthographies of his name.
Saddam Hussein is probably the best known of these four Presidents. He was the President of Iraq until 2003.

9. December 13th, 1996. Bill Clinton had chosen this Friday to present his new government. The US Secretary of State Warren Christopher was replaced. Who succeeded Warren Christopher and becomes the new Secretary of State?

Answer: Madeleine Albright

Madeleine Albright became the first woman Secretary of State ever in the USA.
Henry Kissinger was Secretary of State from 1973 till 1977, Alexander Haig from 1981 till 1982 and James Baker from 1989 till 1992.

10. August 13th, 1999. At a press conference, one of the most talented WTA tennis players declared she was quitting tennis. She has been number one on the WTA ranking for many weeks. Her greatest triumph was the Golden Grand Slam in 1988: that year, she won all four Grand Slam Tournaments, plus the Olympic title. She won all Grand Slam tournaments at least four times. What is her name?

Answer: Steffi Graf

All these tennis players won several Grand Slam tournaments and were once the number one in the WTA ranking.
Monica Seles won the Australian Open four times, Roland Garros three times and the US Open twice. She never won Wimbledon.
Martina Hingis won the Australian Open three times, Wimbledon just once and the US Open once. She never won Roland Garros.
Steffi Graf won the Australian Open four times, Roland Garros six times, Wimbledon seven times and the US Open five times.
Martina Navratilova won the Australian Open three times, Roland Garros twice, Wimbledon nine times (an absolute record) and the US Open four times.

Source: Author JanIQ

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

Friday the Thirteenth Trivia Quiz

Al these events took place on a Friday the thirteenth. Take care: this is NOT an easy quiz. If you are superstitious, I advise you not to play on a Friday the thirteenth :-)

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