History Quiz #1

1. What took place on Griffin's Wharf in America in 1773?
2. What was the name of the ship on which the Pilgrims travelled to North America in 1620?
3. What was the name of the English farmer who invented the seed-planting drill in 1701?
4. In which year was Nelson Mandela released from prison?
5. What was the nationality of the first non-Italian Pope since 1523?
6. What was the name of the world's first man-made satellite launched by the USSR in 1957?
7. Which country gained its independence from Denmark in 1944?
8. In 1803 who started shipping portions of the sculpted frieze from the Parthenon in Greece to England?
9. In which year did French Queen Marie Antoinette go the guillotine?
10. Who became US president after Herbert Hoover?
11. French King Louis XIV (1638-1715) was the longest reigning European monarch - how long did he reign?
12. Marjorie Robb, who died in Boston USA in 1992 aged 103, Barbara Dainton, Millvina Dean and Lillian Asplund, achieved notoriety for being among the last living survivors of what?
13. Who in 1963 murdered Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin (according to official accounts) of US President John F Kennedy?
14. The Kiel Canal in Germany, officially opened in 1895, connects which two seas?
15. Fletcher Christian, who led the mutiny on the Bounty in 1789, subsequently rediscovered and settled on which remote Pacific Island, which had been 'lost' from British maritime records?
16. What were the waitresses called who worked in the English Lyons Cornerhouse tea rooms, popular in first half of the 1900's?
17. In 1624 what was purchased from the local inhabitant Native Americans by the Dutch for a reported sum of $24?
18. Which former Prime Minister of India was assassinated in 1991 as he campaigned for re-election?
19. Which New York hotel was designed by Henry Hardenbergh in 1897?
20. What date is France's Bastille Day?
21. Which mountain was climbed for the first time in 1786?
22. In what year did India and Pakistan become independent nations and free from British rule?
23. Which planet was discovered by William Herschel 1781?
24. In 1926, 19 year-old Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to do what?
25. In what year, generally regarded as marking the end of the Cold War, did the Berlin Wall come down?
26. Which calendar was devised in 1582?
27. Which London Emporium opened in Picadilly 1707?
28. British publisher Ludvik Hoch was better known by which name?
29. Which English King abdicated in 1936?

History Quiz #1 Answers

1. What took place on Griffin's Wharf in America in 1773? The Boston Tea Party (on 16 December - American colonists, protesting against British taxes and lack of self-governance, dumped more than 300 crates of British-owned tea in Boston harbour, after boarding three ships disguised as Mohawk natives - the event is regarded as a precursor to the American revolutionary war of independence)
2. What was the name of the ship on which the Pilgrims travelled to North America in 1620? The Mayflower
3. What was the name of the English farmer who invented the seed-planting drill in 1701? Jethro Tull
4. In which year was Nelson Mandela released from prison? 1990
5. What was the nationality of the first non-Italian Pope since 1523? Polish (Karol Wojtyla, Pope John Paul II, Pope from 1978-2005)
6. What was the name of the world's first man-made satellite launched by the USSR in 1957? Sputnik I
7. Which country gained its independence from Denmark in 1944? Iceland
8. In 1803 who started shipping portions of the sculpted frieze from the Parthenon in Greece to England? Lord Elgin (Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin - the sculpted frieze is more commonly known as the Elgin Marbles.)
9. In which year did French Queen Marie Antoinette go the guillotine? 1793
10. Who became US president after Herbert Hoover? Franklin D Roosevelt (1933)
11. French King Louis XIV (1638-1715) was the longest reigning European monarch - how long did he reign? 72 years (from 1643-1715)
12. Marjorie Robb, who died in Boston USA in 1992 aged 103, Barbara Dainton, Millvina Dean and Lillian Asplund, achieved notoriety for being among the last living survivors of what? The sinking of the Titanic (1912)
13. Who in 1963 murdered Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin (according to official accounts) of US President John F Kennedy? Jack Ruby
14. The Kiel Canal in Germany, officially opened in 1895, connects which two seas? North Sea and Baltic Sea (it is apparently the world's busiest artificial waterway)
15. Fletcher Christian, who led the mutiny on the Bounty in 1789, subsequently rediscovered and settled on which remote Pacific Island, which had been 'lost' from British maritime records? Pitcairn Island (in the Pacific Ocean, North-East of New Zealand)
16. What were the waitresses called who worked in the English Lyons Cornerhouse tea rooms, popular in first half of the 1900's? Nippies
17. In 1624 what was purchased from the local inhabitant Native Americans by the Dutch for a reported sum of $24? Manhattan Island
18. Which former Prime Minister of India was assassinated in 1991 as he campaigned for re-election? Rajiv Gandhi
19. Which New York hotel was designed by Henry Hardenbergh in 1897? Waldorf-Astoria
20. What date is France's Bastille Day? 14th July
21. Which mountain was climbed for the first time in 1786? Mont Blanc (by Jacques Balmant and Michel-Gabriel Paccard - the mountain is on the border of France and Italy, who each claim the summit is in their country)
22. In what year did India and Pakistan become independent nations and free from British rule? 1947 (15 August India, and 14 August Pakistan)
23. Which planet was discovered by William Herschel 1781? Uranus
24. In 1926, 19 year-old Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to do what? Swim the English Channel
25. In what year, generally regarded as marking the end of the Cold War, did the Berlin Wall come down? 1989 (9 November)
26. Which calendar was devised in 1582? Gregorian Calendar (by Aloysius Lilius - it is the calendar that most of the world uses today)
27. Which London Emporium opened in Picadilly 1707? Fortnum and Mason's
28. British publisher Ludvik Hoch was better known by which name? Robert Maxwell
29. Which English King abdicated in 1936? Edward VIII