Trivia Q&A: May 28

We had 9 teams take part in Trivia on Monday night. The Red Sox-Indians game, which had a nail-biting finish in the ninth inning, didn't end until almost 10:30 PM, so we had to play another four-round session. (I bumped the True or False "Q Train" lightning round to next week.)

It went very well, as we did a special Memorial Day Trivia in honor of those Americans who gave their lives to the service of this country. I guess I made the questions rather tough, as only one team scored higher than 6 points in the round. But the winners turned out to be the ladies who are regulars to Trivia Night called The Fluffers, and they won rather handily, and by 6 points.

Next week's Monday Night Trivia is being moved up in time, because the Red Sox are playing a late night game in Oakland at 10 PM that night. Trivia Night will start next week at 8 PM, and I promise we will have the full compliment of five categories for that night's session.

Current Events
1. This Tony-nominated actor, who was best known for his game show appearances in the '70s and'80s, died on Friday at the age of 76.
2. The agriculture minister of this country hanged himself Monday just before he was to face questions over a political scandal.
3. Heavy rains pounded this Midwestern state yesterday and stranded over 1500 in a popular park there.
4. This man, known as "Dr. Death," is about to be released from prison after eight years after assisting a man's death in Michigan in 1997.
5. Gay activists got into a riot with police and other demostrators in this foreign city as gays were fighting for the right to have a Gay Pride Parade in that city.
6. Carl Bernstein has just written a controversial book about the marriage of this power couple, which will be released on June 5.
7. "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" scored the highest Memorial Day opening weekend gross of all time. Within $10 million, how much did it take in domestically from Friday to Sunday?
8. This Scotsman won the rain-shortened Indianapolis 500 yesterday.
9. This female singer was forced to cancel a June 15th concert in Rome, and it is believed that high ticket prices and consumer complaints caused the cancellation.
10. The father of this media icon announced recently that he's writing a book about his life with his daughter, a subject she almost never talks about.

Answers: 1. Charles Nelson Reilly; 2. Japan; 3. Oklahoma; 4. Jack Kevorkian; 5. Moscow; 6. The Clintons; 7. $126.5 million; 8. Dario Franchitti; 9. Barbra Streisand; 10. Oprah Winfrey.

Memorial Day Trivia
1. Which Chicago stadium opened in 1924 as a tribute to the troops who fought in WWI?
2. What year did the Tet Offensive take place during the Vietnam War?
3. Which famous WWII military leader died of injuries suffered in an automobile accident in 1945?
4. Who was the US president when Grenada was invaded?
5. Memorial Day was founded to honor the military personnel who died in which war?
6. Memorial Day originated with which other name?
7. Which US state is considered to be the official birthplace of Memorial Day?
8. True or false: Many southern states had a seperate "Confederate Memorial Day" to honor those southern soldiers killed in the Civil War.
9. Which president declared Memorial Day a federal holiday on the last Monday in May?
10. How many soldiers are currently entombed in the Tomb of the Unknowns?

Answers: 1. Soldier Field; 2. 1968; 3. George S. Patton; 4. Ronald Reagan; 5. Civil War; 6. Decoration Day; 7. New York; 8. true; 9. Richard Nixon; 10. three.

General Knowledge
1. Koi is a Japanese variety of which animal?
2. What country is most closely associated with appetizers called tapas?
3. In the 1998 movie, "How Stella Got Her Groove Back," which actress played Stella?
4. The Treaty of Ghent officially ended which war?
5. What company once promoted its product with the popular slogan, "Does she or doesn't she?"
6. On the TV series "Everbody Loves Raymond," Ray Barone was what type of writer?
7. What legendary American was eulogized as being, "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen?"
8. The children's book, "Peter Pan," features a menacing crocodile that has swallowed what object?
9. Whose vault did Geraldo Rivera open on live TV in 1986?
10. What is the name of Thomas Harris' sequel to the novel, "The Silence of the Lambs?"

Answers: 1. carp; 2. Spain; 3. Angela Bassett; 4. The War of 1812; 5. Clairol; 6. sports; 7. George Washington; 8. clock; 9. Al Capone; 10. "Hannibal."

IQ Trivia
1. On which outdoor instrument would you find a gnomon? (5 points)
2. Which Apollo astronaut once made a famous "golf shot" on the moon? (5 points)
3. Where in the human body would you find the islets of Langerhans? (6 points)
4. Sancho Panza is the squire of which literary character? (4 points)
5. What is the world's longest river? (5 points)

Answers: 1. sundial; 2. Alan Shepard; 3. pancreas; 4. Don Quixote; 5. Nile.