Halloween Happenings Trivia Quiz

Answer: London

The 1908 Olympic games were held in the city of London in the UK, the first time the city hosted the games. The games were originally meant to be in Rome but the city had to give up the games following the 1906 eruption of Mount Vesuvius which caused significant damage to the city of Naples.

The repair of Naples saw funds designated for the Olympics diverted and so London was selected to host instead.

Answer: Italy

Benito Mussolini was born in 1883 in the small town of Predappio. He was leader and founder of the Italian National Fascist Party. Mussolini became Prime Minister of Italy after being invited to form a government by King Victor Emmanuel III after fascist blackshirts gathered in Rome to protest against the liberal Prime Minister Luigi Facta who resigned after the King refused to enact martial law. Mussolini remained Prime Minister of Italy until the country surrendered to the Allies in 1943 during World War II. Mussolini then spent two years as head of the Italian Social Republic, a puppet state under the control of Nazi Germany, before being captured and executed in 1945.

Answer: Cambodia

Norodom Sihanouk was born in Phnom Penh in Cambodia which was called French Indochina at the time. He first became king in 1941 when the country was still part of the French empire. Sihanouk helped gain independence for Cambodia from France in 1953 before abdicating in 1955 to play a more direct role in politics.

He became Prime Minister of Cambodia and ruled the country as head of a one party state until he was ousted by a coup in 1970. Sihanouk became king for a second time in 1993 after the 1991 Paris Peace Accords ended the war between Cambodia and Vietnam.

In 2004 he abdicated again and his son Sihamoni was chosen as successor.

Answer: Apollo 11

Michael Collins was born in Rome when his father was the US military attache to the city. Collins joined the US Air Force and was accepted into the Experimental Flight Test Pilot School in 1960 before being selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1963. Collins was selected to be the command module pilot for the Apollo 11 mission which saw Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first people on the moon.

While Armstrong and Aldrin went to the moon's surface Collins remained orbiting the moon in the command module.

Answer: Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore National Monument features a sculpture consisting of 60 foot large heads of US presidents George Wasington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. The heads are carved into the face of Mount Rushmore located in the Black Hills in the US state of South Dakota. Work started on the sculpture in 1927 and was lead by sculptor Gutzon Borglum.

The sculpture was originally intended to show the head and torso of each president but the death of Gutzon Borglum and lack of funds led to construction ceasing on October 31st 1941 with only the heads of the presidents finished.

Answer: Washington Capitols

Earl Lloyd was selected by the Washington Capitols as the 100th overall pick in the 1950 NBA draft. Lloyd made history by becoming the first black player to play in the NBA when he scored six points for the Capitols in their opening game of the 1950 season. During his basketball career Lloyd also played for the Syracuse Nationals and the Detroit Pistons.

Answer: Suez Crisis

The Suez Crisis was a conflict between Egyptian forces and Israeli, British and French forces. The conflict arose when Egyptian president Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal which had been owned by France and Britain. Operation Revise was part of the British and French campaign and called for a campaign by the countries' air forces to gain air supremacy over Egypt and to damage the Egyptian economy and infrastructure before air and sea landings would commence.

Answer: Canada

Marguerite Bourgeoys was born born in 1620 in Troyes, France. She was educated by the nuns of the Congregation Notre-Dame in Troyes and in 1652 was asked by the Governor of the French settlement of Montreal to start a school in what was to become the city of Montreal. Bourgeoys established the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal which was one of the first religious communities in the Catholic Church to be uncloistered. Along with establishing the religious commuinity Bourgeoys also worked to educate many including the poor, girls and First Nations children. Marguerite Bourgeoys was made a saint when she was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1982.

Answer: Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi was the third Prime Minister of India and the first female Indian Prime Minister. Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. Indira Gandhi was killed by her Sikh bodyguards following her authorising a military operation against Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. She was succeeded as Prime Minister of India by her son Rajiv Gandhi.

Answer: 14

Venus Williams was born in Lynwood, California in 1980. She had great success as a tennis player winning Wimbledon five times and the US Open twice as well as winning four Olympic gold medals. She made her professional tennis debut in 1994 at the age of fourteen when she played in the Bank of the West Classic in Oakland. Williams became involved in the fight for female tennis players to earn the same prize money at tournaments as their male counterparts writing an essay in The Times newspaper in the UK which led to political support from the UK government. Following further pressure the organisers of Wimbledon said that from the 2007 tournament the prize money for men and women would be equal with other major tournaments following suit soon after.