Miscellaneous Trivia

Fun miscellaneous trivia questions and answers.

By law, how long must information collected in a U.S. census remain confidential?
A: For 72 years-which is considered a normal lifetime.

What was the average yearly salary of an American public school teacher at the turn of the century?
A: $325.

What is the unusual state gem of Washington?
A: Petrified wood.

What popular actor, while a student at Oxford, sought but did not get the role of Tarzan in the 1984 movie Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes?
A: Hugh Grant.

In England, a citizen of Birmingham is called a Brummagem, and a student at Cambridge is called a Cantabrigian. What is a resident of Manchester called?
A: A Mancunian.

Who provided the voice of the ghost of Hamlet's father when Richard Burton appeared on ?Broadway in the title role of Hamlet in 1964?
A: Sir John Gielgud, who directed the highly acclaimed production.

What color was Elvis Presley's first Cadillac before he bought it and had it painted pink in 1955?
A: Blue.

Who coined the word hello and introduced it as the proper way to answer a telephone call?
A: Thomas Edison. Alexander Graham Bell favored ahoy but lost out to Edison, whose hello was derived from halloo, the traditional call to rouse hounds to the chase.

What line did a survey find had been spoken in 81 percent of the Hollywood films produced between 1938 and 1985?
A: "Let's get outta here."

What would have been Charles Lindbergh's name if his paternal grandfather hadn't changed it when he fled to the United States to escape being jailed in Sweden for his political beliefs?
A: Charles Mannson.

Who is the only playwright to have won four Pulitzer Prizes?
A: Eugene O'Neill. He won the drama prize for Beyond the Horizon in 1920, for Anna Christie in 1922, for Strange Interlude in 1928 and for Long Day's Journey Into Night in 1957.

In what country did India ink originate?
A: In China.

In what year was the first mutual fund introduced in the United States?
A: In 1924--it was the Massachusetts Investors Trust and had no set minimum investment.

How soon after gold was discovered at Sutter's mill in 1848 did the United States acquire California?
A: Nine days. California was part of the territory Mexico ceded to the U.S. in the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

When did the world's first daily newspaper begin publishing?
A: In 59 B.C.--it was a government-controlled daily bulletin called Acta Diurna (Action Journal) that Julius Caesar had posted throughout Rome.

How did Bono, the lead singer and lyricist of the Irish rock band U2, get his name?
A: From a hearing aid store in Dublin called Bono Voz--an adaptation of a Latin phrase meaning "good voice," although Bono, who was named Paul Hewson at birth, says he didn't know what it meant.

What was the name of the movie Marilyn Monroe was making when she died, and who was her co-star?
A: Something's Got to Give, with Dean Martin. The movie was later remade as Move Over Darling with Doris Day and James Garner.

Why was there a big uproar about the 12-foot-high statue honoring steelworkers that was unveiled at a Pittsurgh arts festival in 1990?
A: It wasn't made of steel. Sculptor Louis Jimenez used fiberglass, claiming that " it holds up better than steel."

What post office--zip code 33843--is the smallest in the country?
A: The converted 8-by-7-foot fertilizer shed that serves the 200 families living in and around Ochopee, in the Florida Everglades.

Fun Miscellaneous Trivia Questions and Answers of all kinds.

Fun miscellaneous trivia questions and answers.