Page 100 - The 'X' Zone Book of Triviology

o The best-known Christmas carol concert in Britain is the Festival of Nine Lessons. It’s televised around the world on Christmas Eve from King’s College Chapel. o In 1619, a Dutch ship brought slaves to British North America for the first time. o Veteran’s Day (Armistice Day) is a holiday celebrating the end of WWI. o The Romans believed in numerous household gods and spirits. They included Cardea, the goddess of hinges, and Forculus, god of the door leaves. o Broadway Melody won the best picture academy award in the second Oscar awards in 1929. o Hot pants, all the rage in the early 1970s, were worn years earlier by European prostitutes. o Go-go boots, popular in 1965, originated in the collection of Andre Courreges, a Parisian designer. o Cartoon heads for PEZ dispensers were introduced in 1952. o “PEZ” is short for “pfefferminz,” the German word for “peppermint.” o Jackie Kennedy popularized the pillbox hat and wraparound glasses in the early 1960s. o The Slinky Toy was made of an 87-foot piece of wire, 3” in diameter and 2” high. o Harry Belafonte was the first black Grammy winner. o Horse racing originated in Central Asia among nomadic tribesman around 4500 B.B. o Number of words in the Bible: 774,746. o Number of words in the U.S. tax code: 2.8 million. o Smiley buttons were used as logos by George McGovern and Good Humor Ice Cream. o The Wall Street Journal credo: “All the business news you need.” o The wheel was invented about 4000 B.C. in Mesopotamia (now Iraq). o The first Egyptian movie, Leila, was made in 1927. o Mark Twain wrote many of his novels in the billiards room of his Hartford, CT house. o The houses of Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe stand side by side in Hartford, CT. o Thomas Jefferson’s rectilinear grid system of planting can still be seen in American farms. o Baudouin I (Belgium) was Europe’s longest reigning monarch at this death in 1933. o Biggest army: the China’s People’s Liberation Army, with 2.2 million personnel as of May 2000. o The PATH walkway in Toronto, Canada, has 16-plus miles of shopping arcades. o The first Rotary Club was started in Chicago on February 23, 1905. There are now 29,500 Rotary Clubs in 162 countries. o Costliest war: World War II. Its material cost has been estimated at $1.5 trillion which exceeds the cost of all other wars put together. o The Kalashnikov AK-47 (and variants of it) has been used in more than 75 wars. o The first Miss America in 1916 was Margaret Gorman, who was 5’1” tall and measured 30-25-32. o The Cape of Good Hope is not the southernmost point of South Africa, as many think. Cape Agulhas, 100 miles to the southeast, is 29 minutes of longitude further south. o More than 1,000 different languages are spoken on the African continent. o The full name of soprano Maria Callas was Cecilia Sophia Anna Maria Kalogeropoulos. o The sweet potato was once a rare delicacy, believed to be a potent aphrodisiac. o Apple pie at the “first Thanksgiving?” Not likely. There were no apples in 1621 Plymouth. o Apples are not native to North America; they came from Europe and West Asia. th th o Average life expectancy for English people in the 16 and 17 centuries was 39.7 years. o How old are sit-down strikes? They were conducted by graveyard workers in imperial Egypt. o In the 1700s the best-selling book was the multivolume Diderot’s Encyclopedia. o The average American salary during the 1960s was $4,743. o The Caribbean ABC islands: Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao.