History Around the World 3 Trivia Quiz

Answer: General

Oberstgruppenführer was the second-highest rank in the Gestapo, subordinate only to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler himself. It is considered the equivalent of a British or American General.
Only four men attained the rank of Oberstgruppenführer: Kurt Daluege and Franz Schwarz in 1942, Sepp Dietrich and Paul Hausser in 1944. Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring was apparently offered the rank of Oberstgruppenführer in 1945, but declined because of his hatred for Himmler.

Answer: Opel

The Opel company was founded in 1863 as a manufacturer of sewing machines. They added bicycles and other household goods to their production line in 1886 and eventually became Europe's largest producer of bicycles. The company made their first cars in 1899 as part of the Opel-Darracq partnership, and began producing their own brands in 1906. By the start of WWI, they had become Germany's largest car manufacturer.
By 1931, Opel was a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Motors. It is now part of 'GM Europe' and GM's largest European producer.
Of the alternatives, both Porsche and Mercedes-Benz have their headquarters in Stuttgart. They were founded in 1931 and 1871 respectively. BMW dates back to 1913 and is based in Munich.

Answer: Princess Victoria of Edinburgh

Princess Anne was divorced from Mark Phillips in April 1992 and remarried in December that same year to Timothy Laurence. Anne thus became the first major member of the royal family to divorce and then remarry since Henry VIII married Catherine Parr in 1543. Prince Charles, followed relatively quickly in his sister's footsteps when he married Camilla Shand in 2005. Edward VIII was not a divorcée himself, but abdicated his throne in order to marry divorcée Wallis Simpson.
The first member of the royal family to do such a thing was, in fact, Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, born Princess Victoria of Edinburgh as the grand-daughter of Queen Victoria. She was also known as Grand Duchess Viktoria Feodorovna of Russia -- her father was Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, Victoria's second-eldest son, and her mother was Princess Maria Alexandrovna, daughter of Alexander II of Russia. After her divorce in 1901, she remarried in 1905.

Answer: Gerald R. Ford

Leslie Lynch King jr was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1913. His parents divorced just a few months after his birth and his mother remarried Gerald Ford three years later. They renamed their son Gerald Rudolff Ford jr., although it was not until he was 22 years old that he legally changed his name, dropping the second 'f' from Rudolff in the process.
Ford was first elected to Congress representing Michigan when just 35. He took over from Spiro Agnew as Richard Nixon's Vice-President in December 1973 and eight months later, on August 9, 1974, he became President following Nixon's resignation. He thus became the fifth President not elected to that position, but the first who had never won any form of national election.
Ford also established 'longevity' records by the time of his death at the age of 93... On November 12, 2006 he surpassed Ronald Reagan's mark as the oldest former President, and he eventually stretched the standard by a further 45 days. He was the second former President to die on December 26 -- Harry Truman had done so in 1972. He was also the last surviving member of 'The Warren Commission'. He lived for 29 years and 11 months after leaving office -- only Herbert Hoover (31 years 7 months) lived longer as a former President.

Answer: March 8

Although 'Womens Day' is celebrated at other times of year in some countries, women have used March 8 for protests dating back to the 1850s. On May 8 in 1908, thousands of women marched through the streets of New York City in protest at poor working conditions. On May 8 in 1913, women staged peace rallies across Europe. It became a public holiday in Russia in 1965 and the practice has since spread to many countries, particularly in Eastern Europe but also as far afield as Brazil, Vietnam and Zambia. The U.N. officially designated March 8 as International Women's Day in 1975.
The United Nations has also designated the first Saturday in November as International Men's Day, although this is celebrated at other times in various parts of the world.
Of the alternatives, May 9 in designated by the EU as 'Europe Day' to celebrate peace and unity in the continent, although in the spirit of unity the Council of Europe celebrates on May 5!
May 4 is International Firefighters' Day, which is the day of Saint Florian who is patron saint of firefighters.
April 3 is one that everyone should have in their diaries -- World Party Day. This applies unless you live in Southend or Clapton, where every Friday and Saturday is Party-time.
Who thinks these things up?

Answer: 1797

Banknotes were first issued by the Bank of England in 1694, although for the first 50 years they were written for specific amounts rather than multiples of £1. The first £20 notes were issued in the 1740s and a decade later £10 notes became available. The first £5 notes were produced in 1793, and just before the turn of the century, in 1797, the first £1 and £2 were released.
It was more than half a century before banknotes became widely available, though... Machine-printing of notes payable to 'bearer on demand' were not produced until 1855. It was another 73 years, in 1928, that the first notes printed on both sides appeared. These were also the first coloured banknotes.
Bank of England £1 notes were withdrawn from circulation in 1988, although they are still printed by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Answer: San Marino

San Marino is located in the Apennine Mountains and has a border only with Italy. It boasts the world's oldest written constitution still in effect (written in 1600). As well as being the world's oldest republic, it also had the distinction of being the smallest for more than 13 centuries, but it lost that record when Nauru gained independence from New Zealand in 1968.
Although San Marino sided with Italy in WWI, it learned from the mistake and declared itself neutral when Italy declared war of Great Britain in 1940.
San Marino's sporting record is mainly one of failure -- they finally won their first international soccer match (against Liechtenstein) in 2004, after 14 years of trying. They also hold the record for the fastest goal in a World Cup match -- after 8.3 seconds, against England. The bad news, though, is that the goal turned out to be a consolation in a 7-1 defeat.
The country also nominally stages an annual Grand Prix in the Formula One season, although in reality the San Marino Grand Prix is held at the Imola track which is about 65 miles outside San Marino's borders.

Answer: Melbourne

Many of Australia's largest cities began life as slave colonies in the late 1700s, but Melbourne was founded almost 50 years later, in 1835, by free settlers. The state of Victoria was founded 15 years later, with Melbourne as its capital. Shortly thereafter the discovery of gold swelled the population and Melbourne quickly became Australia's largest city.
When Australia became an independent nation in 1901, there were already plans to build a capital city in Canberra, and Melbourne was designated as the temporary seat of government.
Melbourne is widely acknowledged as the sporting capital of Australia. It was the first Australian city to host the Olympics (in 1956) and the first cricket test match was played here. It also hosts Australia's three most significant annual sporting events -- the Melbourne Cup (horse racing), the Australian Grand Prix (Formula One) and the Australian Open (tennis).
Many famous Australians were born in Melbourne including Rupert Murdoch, Cate Blanchett, Barry Humphries, Germaine Greer, Dame Nellie Melba, Pat Cash and the Minogues.

Answer: Lighting the fires

Fendersmiths used to be commonplace in medieval castles and on country estates, but few remain today. Their primary function is to maintain and clean the fenders around fireplaces, but they are also responsible for lighting the fires and keeping them stoked.

Answer: Stuttgart

Stuttgart was the traditional capital of Württemberg and is now capital of the southern Germany state of Baden-Württemberg. Germany's sixth largest city, it has a population of a little over half a million. The Stuttgart metropolitan area is home to close to three million, though, which is less only than the Berlin and Ruhr regions.
Stuttgart's annual 'Volkfest' began as an agricultural fair but is now the world's second-largest beer festival, after Munich's Oktoberfest. On the business front, Stuttgart is known as the 'cradle of the automobile' and still houses the headquarters of Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and Daimler.
Each of the alternatives was capital of one of the four kingdoms of the German Empire. Dresden was the capital of Saxony, Munich was the capital of Bavaria, and Berlin was the capital of Prussia.