Hi-Q Trivia Challenge Vol 1
Robert Lipka


INTRODUCTION

Most human beings of a civilized nature spend their adult lives in search of romance. When I was a young single man, I had an eye for beautiful young women and that was natural and emotionally satisfying. But as smitten as I was and still am with the female form, I have always been smitten with a much longer romance with the written word and the need to accumulate a host of facts and trivia.

Robert MacNeil, the long-time co-anchor and editor of the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, titled his wonderfully written autobiography, Wordstruck, to indicate his love for words and for reading. I share his love of words and his long romance with reading. But, having a collector's mentality, I have for many years collected little news items of interest, curious facts, and trivia. If Robert MacNeil is wordstruck, then I am triviastruck.

Trivia is stuff that makes for good small talk at any party, social event or get-together. We cannot watch a television news event or sport contest without some trivia laden "color" commentator spouting a long stream of anecdotes and trivia about events similar to the one you are watching. People have been collecting trivia for thousands of years. It is everywhere that you find the written word. It is even written in glyph form on the stones of the ancient Maya culture or the caves of the earliest man.

I hope that you enjoy the challenge of this book and if some of the facts are new to you, I hope you enjoy the learning experience. I wrote this book to entertain YOU. Enjoy the romance of trivia.



CHAPTER 1: FIRSTS

1. Marilyn Monroe made her screen debut opposite which of these stars?
a) Clark Gable
b) Groucho Marx
c) W. C. Fields
d) Tom Ewell

2. The first Miss America in 1921 was Margaret Gorman. What was her title before that?
a) Miss Boardwalk
b) Miss Washington, D. C.
c) Miss Pennsylvania
d) Miss World Beauty

3. What year was the world's first cable car put into service in San Francisco?
a) 1849
b) 1864
c) 1873
d) 1900

4. The first woman to win the Nobel Prize was:
a) Cori Getty
b) Marie Curie
c) Mina Edison
d) Clara Barton

5. What "first" did Frenchman Louis Lumiere accomplish in 1895?
a) lit up the Eiffel Tower
b) made the first moving picture
c) climbed the Matterhorn in the Alps
d) flew across the English Channel

6. On March 19, 1831, an Englishman named Edward Smith did something that had never been done before in the U.S. What was it?
a) robbed a bank
b) turned on an electric motor
c) flew a motorless hang glider
d) sailed a submarine into New York Harbor

7. To make America's first coins, the U. S. Mint used Martha Washington's donated silverware to melt down and strike half dismes, later called half dimes. What year was the first U. S. coin struck?
a) 1774
b) 1776
c) 1781
d) 1792

8. What continent was the original home of the first known camels?
a) North America
b) Australia
c) Asia
d) Europe

9. The first income tax in the U. S. was enacted in 1864 to finance the Civil War debt. The first $800 of income was tax exempt. What percentage was paid on the rest of an individual's income?
a) 1%
b) 3%
c) 7.5%
d) 10%

10. Who was the first person to completely circle the globe in a space vehicle?
a) Alan Shepard
b) Yuri Gargarin
c) John Glenn
d) Neil Armstrong

11. The First Family has a zip code all its own. Which of these will get your mail directly to the President, First Lady, their children and even their pets?
a) 20500
b) 16000
c) 20000
d) 20160

12. Who was the first female astronaut to walk in space?
a) Sally Ride
b) Christa McAuliffe
c) Valentina Tereskova
d) Kathryn Sullivan

13. Who was the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida and from Mexico to Cuba?
a) Susie Maroney
b) Gertrude Ederle
c) Esther Williams
d) Johnny Weismuller

14. In what city was the first Delmonico steak served?
a) Houston
b) St. Louis
c) New Orleans
d) New York