Test your basic knowledge |

Big Trivia Test

Subject : trivia
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Last names instead of first names: Parker and Barrow






2. Whose first album was meant to be titled for the Mexican expression Orale - before a misspelling intervened?






3. In what movie does Vincent Schiavelli play a ghost?






4. What ominous signature first appeared at the bottom of the 'Dear Boss' letter of September 25 - 1888?






5. Despite retiring form NASA in 1977 - what astronaut and physicist was the only person to serve on both the Challenger and Columbia investigation panels?






6. In Apocalypse Now - Robert Duvall says he loves the smell of napalm in the morning' because it smells like what?






7. WC Heinz and Richard Hornberger used the pen name 'Richard Hooker' to write what Korean War Novel?






8. What is unusual about the 'In God We Trust' motto on the US mints recent presidential dollar coins?






9. Who is worshiped by Ganapatya Hindus as the supreme god?






10. Which company merged with JP Morgan Chase?






11. Who was already Gilda Radner's ex-husband when he was hired as bandleader on Saturday Night Live in 1980? (Two initial names)






12. What was the original flavor of the cream in Twinkies?






13. Who 'discovered' The Cape of Good Hope






14. What actress has lived with playwright Sam Shepard for more than 25 years?






15. What Briton was honored by a 1994 50 pence coin depicting a pair of running legs and a stop watch?






16. What kind of animal is the title character of Finding Nemo?






17. What philosophical belief - from the Latin for 'only the self -' holds that the external world doesn't exist at all?






18. What fruit comes in these varieties: Damson and Mirabelle?






19. Who 'discovered' The St. Lawrence River?






20. What owner-bartender of Chicago's Lone Star Saloon was famous for his drug-laced drinks?






21. What city's famous Mozart-platz memorial was donated by Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria - a big fan of the composer?






22. Who has the only speaking part in Mel Brooks's 'Silent Movie'?






23. In what city was Cassius Clay born in 1942?






24. Who both married and directed Emma Thompson?






25. What was the appropriate name of the only horse ever to beat Man o' War?






26. What real-life blind librarian was the basis for Jorge of Burgos - the blind librarian in Umberto Eco's TheName of The Rose?






27. What's the word for the small plastic tag at the end of a shoelace?






28. In Tommy Tutone's song - who lives at 867-5309?






29. What Law & Order: CI regular wrote and starred in the play Talk Radio?






30. What country's highest decoration is the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant?






31. What had Adams - Norris - Patrick - and Smythe divisions prior to 1993?






32. In what state could you visit the Black Rock Desert?






33. What is the Jules Rimet Trophy - which was stolen in England in 1966?






34. A bronze statue of whom stands at the foot of the steps to the Philadelphia Art Museum?






35. What boxer's eye injuries led to his retirement's in 1982 - 1984 - 1987 - and 1991?






36. What thirteen-year-old's 1963 hit 'Fingertips' was the first live recording ever to top the pop charts?






37. What's the only nation that borders both of these countries: Nigeria and Gabon?






38. What celebrated antiapartheid activist died in South African police custody in September 1977?






39. First classic film to be 'colorized'?






40. What novel begins with this first chapter: The Sound of the Shell?






41. What literary pickpocket's real name is Jack Dawkins?






42. For evidentiary reasons - who sued to prevent the demolition of L.A.'s Ambassador Hotel in 2004?






43. What nation's only female leader has been Violeta Chamorro?






44. The Beatle's 'Dear Prudence' is named for the sister of what actress - who didn't enjoy her stay in Rishikesh -India?






45. What playwright inspired her lover Dashiell Hammett's character Nora Charles?






46. What Michigan pathologist invented the Thanatron and the Mercitron?






47. Who 'discovered' Lake Victoria?






48. In Airplane! - Barbara 'June Cleaver' Billingsley proves to be fluent in what language?






49. What French philosopher invented a namesake system of plotting points on two axes labeled x and y?






50. Who 'discovered' The mouth of the Amazon (and the Pacific Ocean)?