History Grab Bag - Part Two Trivia Quiz

Answer: Veterinary surgeon

John Boyd Dunlop was born in Ayrshire, Scotland in 1840. After qualifying as a veterinary surgeon, he moved to Belfast in 1867. His invention of the inner tube for cycle tyres, came about by pure chance. In 1888 a doctor recommended that his young son take up cycling, so Dunlop hit on the idea of making the cycle more comfortable, by fitting it with tubes made of canvas and bonded together with liquid rubber.

He then filled the tubes with air, and coined the expression "pneumatic tyres".

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

Mary (Lucy) Shipley, and James Hanks, were grandparents of Abraham Lincoln - the US president who was instrumental in abolishing slavery. Their daughter Nancy Hanks, married Thomas Lincoln, and on February 12 1809, gave birth to one of America's best known historical figures.

Answer: Mole

William III died in 1702, after suffering complications resulting from a fall whilst riding his horse at Hampton Court - his horse tripped over a mole-hill!

Answer: Escalator (Moving staircase)

On March 15 1892, Jesse Reno patented his "inclined elevator", then in 1895, he created a new novelty ride at Coney Island, - a moving stairway that elevated passengers on a conveyor belt at a 25 degree angle.
The escalator as it is now known, was re-designed in 1897 by Charles Seeberger, who created the name "escalator" from the word "scala", which is Latin for steps.

Answer: Improved prison conditions

After visiting London's notorious Newgate prison in 1813, Elisabeth Fry, the daughter of a banker, became not just the UK's most important woman penal reformer, but Europe's chief campaigner for inmates' rights.

At a time when prisons were more like overcrowded dungeons than redemptive institutions, Elisabeth fry stated "Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal".

Answer: The Model T Ford

The fifteen millionth Model T Ford rolled off the assembly line at the Ford factory in Highland Park, Michigan, on May 26 1927 - and yet Henry Ford invented neither the automobile nor the assembly line! He died on April 7 1947, at the age of eighty-three, having outlived the Model T by nearly twenty years.

Answer: Duke of Marlborough

John Churchill the first Duke of Marlborough, was born in 1650 near Axminster in Somerset. On the 13th August 1704, the Duke and his army ambushed a French army camp, just outside a small village called Blenheim, in Bavaria, Germany. He was victorious in this battle, which later became known as the Battle of Blenheim.

The French losses were immense and France was no longer able to maintain its hold over Europe, allowing the Duke to go on and win several other battles, and eventually win the war against Louis XIV of France.

Answer: Herbalism

Working amongst the poor in the east end of London, Nicholas Culpeper soon realised that treatment had to be inexpensive and readily available, contributing to his belief in "English herbs for English bodies".
His success as a herbalist made him very critical of the Royal College of Physicians, prompting him to make this statement about them:

"They are bloodsuckers, true vampires, have learned little since Hippocrates; use blood-letting for ailments above the midriff and purging for those below. They evacuate and revulse their patients until they faint. Black Hellebor, this poisonous stuff, is a favourite laxative. It is surprising that they are so popular and that some patients recover. My own poor patients would not endure this taxing and costly treatment. The victims of physicians only survive since they are from the rich and robust stock, the plethoric, red-skinned residents of Cheapside, Westminster and St James".

Answer: First atomic explosion

Construction of Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, and then Alamogordo Army Air Field, began on February 6 1942. On July 16 1945, The first man-made atomic explosion was set off near the base, at White Sands Missile Range.

Answer: Shropshire, UK

The world's first cast-iron construction, was a bridge built across the River Severn in Shropshire, UK in 1779. The bridge still stands to this day, and was the first of many cast-iron bridges built in that area.
It was at Ironbridge, Shropshire, that the Ironmaster Abraham Darby perfected the secret of smelting iron with cheap and plentiful coke, instead of expensive and less efficient charcoal, thus heralding the birth of the industrial revolution.