Everyone remembers the last two, and most people remember the first ten or so, at least in some kind of order. But all of them—and especially those in the middle—that’s the hard part. So, can you list the states of the United States in the order in which they joined the Union/adopted the Constitution?

Okay, that may be too tough, so here’s the easier one, but it’s two: Name the longest span of time between successive state admissions to the union. And name the only two states to be admitted on the same day.

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Friday’s question was: J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings several decades before Peter Jackson turned it into a blockbuster movie trilogy. When he did, he made several changes, deletions, expansions, and so forth. But one thing he didn’t change were the identities of the title characters in the first volume. Can you name the members of The Fellowship of the Ring, and their races? Bonus points if you know what names “J.R.R.” stood for.

The answer:

Frodo Baggins, the Ringbearer (hobbit)
Samwise Gamgee, his gardener (hobbit)
Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck (hobbit)
Peregrin “Pippin” Took (hobbit)
Gandalf, who started the journey as the Gray, and ended as the White (wizard)
Legolas, son of King Thranduil, of the Woodland Realm (elf)
Gimli, son of Gloin (dwarf)
Aragorn, son of Arathorn II, sometimes known as Strider, the uncrowned King of Gondor (man)
Boromir, son of Denethor II, the Steward of Gondor (man)

The author of the series was John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892–1973).

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Ian’s Tough Trivia is a daily feature of this blog (Monday’s category is History; Tuesday is Arts; Wednesday is Science; Thursday is Entertainment; and Friday is Grab Bag). Each day, I post a tough question, as well as the answer to the previous day’s question. Simply comment on this post with your answer. I’ll approve the comments after the next question is posted. Sure, you can probably find the answers by searching the web, but what’s the fun in that?

And if you’ve got a favorite trivia question—or even just a topic for which you’d like to see a question—let me know! Reader participation is warmly encouraged.