Sorry for the posting delay today: we had internet access troubles.
Today’s Tough Trivia question: They’re not twins, but each of these political figures was born the same day as another famous person. I’ll give you the politician and a hint, you give me the other person who shares the birth day. And as another hint, I’ll list them in chronological order (bonus points if you know the actual day in each case).
Abraham Lincoln and which controversial scientist were born the same day?
Jimmy Carter and which Supreme Court justice?
Margaret Thatcher and which controversial comedian?
Lee Harvey Oswald and which famous football coach?
Joe Biden and which “spiritual” singer?
Newt Gingrich and which singer/songwriter?
George W. Bush and which action actor?
Al Gore and which Cheers actress?
Michelle Obama and which Game of Thrones actress?
Angela Merkel and which science fictional television creator?
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Friday’s question was: A friend in my Facebook presidential trivia group said something today, one of those things I knew but never thought about, that made me say “Wow!”: When did the last Democratic president die? Do you know?
That’s not today’s question, it just made me decide that today is a presidential trivia question. Can you rank the political parties in order of the number of presidents they claimed? Here’s a hint: there are more than two.
The answer is:
Republican: 19 (Lincoln’s first term, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Benjamin Harrison, McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Taft, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Trump)
Democrat: 15 (Jackson, Van Buren, Polk, Pierce, Buchanan, Cleveland, Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Carter, Clinton, Obama, Biden)
Democrat-Republican: 4 (Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and John Quincy Adams)
Whig: 4 (William Henry Harrison, Tyler, Taylor, and Fillmore). An interesting fact about the Whigs: they won two elections, both of those presidents died in office, and neither of their successors was elected a presidential term of his own. All four Whig president served within a span of 12 years.
National Union: 2 (Lincoln’s second term and Andrew Johnson)
Federalist/No Party: 2 (Washington and John Adams)
Oh, and the answer to that “Wow” moment? Lyndon Baines Johnson, who was president from 1963 to 1969, died on January 23, 1973. He was the most recent Democratic president to die. Incidentally, the year and a half from his death until Richard Nixon’s resignation marked the last time in history when there was only one living president.
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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.
Yesterday’s question was: The entertainment industry gives a slew of awards. We have the Oscar and the Emmy for movies and television, the Tony for stage plays, the Grammy for music, the Hugo, Edgar, and Pulitzer for literature, and scores more. Do you know who (or what) those seven are named for? And which organizations, specifically, do the awarding? How about when they were first awarded?
Emmy: The Emmy Award is presented by three related organizations: the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. They were first awarded in 1949. The name is a derivation of the word “immy,” itself a nickname for the image orthicon tube, which was a key piece of television cameras from the 1940s until the 1960s.
Tony: More formally known as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, they are presented by the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League, and have been since 1947. The awards were founded by producer and director Brock Pemberton (1885–1950) and named for Mary Antoinette “Tony” Perry (1888–1946), who was an actress, director, and co-founder of the American Theatre Wing.
Grammy: Originally called the Gramophone Award (named for the early record player which the award trophy depicts), they have been presented by the Recording Academy since 1959.
Hugo: Originally and more formally known as the Science Fiction Achievement Awards (in the early 1990s, they dropped the longer title), they are awarded by vote of the members (attendees) of the World Science Fiction Convention. They were first handed out in 1953, and then every year since 1955. Their namesake, Hugo Gernsback (1884–1967), was born as Hugo Gernsbacher in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. He emigrated to the United States in 1904, and founded the first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, in 1926.
Edgar: More formally known as the Edgar Allan Poe Awards, they were named after the American writer (1809–1849), and have been awarded by the members of the Mystery Writers of America since 1946.
Pulitzer: The Pulitzer Prize was established in 1917 under the provisions of Joseph Pulitzer’s will. Pulitzer (1847–1911) was born in Hungary, and immigrated to the US in 1864. He is best remembered as the publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the New York World. He also served two brief terms in the House of Representatives. The Pulitzer Prizes (for journalism, literature, and musical composition) are administered by Columbia University.
I haven’t talked about business in a long time (pandemic and such), but now that I’m fully vaccinated, and see lots of people around me are as well, it’s time to look forward to a world where our first thought every day isn’t the pandemic. Toward that end, I’m getting Fantastic Books back into gear (I’ll be announcing a new book in a few days, as soon as the author and I agree on the cover, with another novel following on its heels, as soon as the author finishes going through the copy-edited manuscript). In addition to those, I’m planning our next Kickstarter campaign. I’m setting my sights a little higher this time: we’re going to try to fund two anthologies with one campaign (and trust me, you’ll know ALL about them in the coming days and weeks).
Lanes, roads, streets, avenues, boulevards, turnpikes, highways: the American road system is one of the iconic representations of the country. But it wasn’t always so; they were a creation of the automobile, which itself is barely more than a century old. Before the coming of our modern interstate highway system (about which there will be a question in the future), the two most famous roadways were the Lincoln Highway and Route 66. The Lincoln Highway was conceived in 1912, and formally dedicated on October 31, 1913. Route 66—also known as the Will Rogers Highway—was one of the original highways in the US Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected in 1927. Which states were crossed by the Lincoln Highway, and which by Route 66? (Bonus points if you know which states hosted both highways.) Further bonus if you know which of the two was longer (and can guess how many miles they covered).
Yesterday’s question was: Trey Parker and Matt Stone are a creative duo known for several long-running comic projects. Two of their best-known award-winners—in widely divergent media—were both subjects of concern due to religious protests. Can you name them?
The Book of Mormon is a musical comedy satirizing its eponymous religion. It debuted on Broadway, in the Eugene O’Neill Theatre, on March 24, 2011. It won nine Tony Awards and one Grammy, spawned several national tours and a London production, and only stopped running when the Covid pandemic shut down all Broadway productions.
Ian Randal Strock 