Facts & the City
Baltic Avenue, Park Place, St. James Place, Atlantic Avenue, and Boardwalk are all street names in this city.
Answer: What is Atlantic City? If you have ever played classic Monopoly, you are familiar with the names of some Atlantic City streets.
Even before she performed the final concert with the Supremes in 1970, she was recording her first solo album.
Answer: Who is Diana Ross? She and Mary Wilson, fellow former Supreme, had a spat on stage at the Motown reunion years after the Supremes had disbanded. It ended with Ross shoving Wilson, and Smokey Robinson took the stage to defuse the scene.
This elongated car is used by wedding parties, in funeral processions, and to and from the office by moguls of industry.
Answer: What is a limousine? Initially, they were used to transport freight. The name comes from the Limousin region in France.
The popular saying “a month of Sundays” is flawed because you can have a maximum of only this number of Sundays in a month.
Answer: What is five? Months have only four or five of each day, depending on what day of the week the first of the month falls.
Born December 1, 1935, this actor-director was once married to Mia Farrow and is often quoted as saying, “Eighty percent of life is showing up.”
Answer: Who is Woody Allen? Two of his romantic partners starred in his most memorable romantic comedies: Diane Keaton in Annie Hall and Mia Farrow in Manhattan.
Juan Valdez’s coffee hails from Colombia, whose capital city is this.
Answer: What is Bogotá? The fictional character Juan Valdez was created in 1959 as the spokesman for the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia. The federation paid $1.5 million for product placement in the film Bruce Almighty, and the Juan Valdez character also made an appearance in the movie, too.
He left his band of five family members in 1979 and struck out on his own with two consecutive hit albums, Off the Wall and Thriller, right out of the gate.
Answer: Who is Michael Jackson? The Jackson 5, as the family band was known, consisted of Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Michael.
One tourist adventure in Venice is to ride one of these through the canals.
Answer: What is gondola? All 280 components of modern Venetian gondolas are still handcrafted.
This bell rings inside the giant grandfather-style clock that is one of the dominating features of the London skyline.
Answer: What is Big Ben? The clock’s proper name is the Great Clock of the Elizabeth Tower.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on December 17, 1936, Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church, known by this name.
Answer: Who is Pope Francis? He lived in a two-room apartment rather than the lavish papal suite. No pope had done this in more than a century
This capital city of a Pacific Rim country has the largest population in the world.
Answer: What is Tokyo? Its population exceeds 37 million. Delhi, India, is in the No. 2 spot, with more than 34 million. There is no North American city in the top 20.
In 1971, this Beatle started a band known as Wings.
Answer: Who is Paul McCartney? His wife Linda played the keyboard. The band disbanded in 1981. Its most popular album is Band on the Run, which features two Top 10 singles, including the title song.
Jules Verne wrote a book about traveling for five weeks in one of these unlikely modes of transportation, customarily used for recreation and sightseeing.
Answer: What is a balloon? The book is Five Weeks in a Balloon, a notable departure from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
This refers to a calendar that businesses or governments use when their calendars do not start on January 1.
Answer: What is a fiscal year? For example, the U.S. government’s calendar year runs from October 1 through September 30 of the following year
Born December 1, 1913, she will always be remembered for her role as Peter Pan, for which she won a Tony Award.
Answer: Who is Mary Martin? She also played the role of Nellie Forbush in South Pacific.
One of the world’s most expensive places to live, this lavish European city is located on the Mediterranean Sea.
Answer: What is Monaco? Fun fact: Monaco is both a city and a state, known as a city-state.
This popular duo, consisting of Paul and Art, who each went on to successful solo careers.
Answer: Who are Simon and Garfunkel? They have since performed reunion tours together. “The Sound of Silence,” released in 1965, is the tune that catapulted their duo career.
Get comfortable—we’re going for a ride on this, the longest highway in the world.
Answer: What is Pan-American Highway? It runs 19,000 miles (30,578 km) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to the tip of Argentina. It traverses 14 countries from the United States south through Central and South America
When someone at a speech or presentation holds up their arm and taps their watch so the speaker can see it, it means this.
Answer: What is your time is up (or similar)? If there is no watch, it still means the same thing. Organizers use two signals—one to indicate time is short, and one to indicate time is up.
Born December 25, 1949, this actress plays the title role in the 1976 film Carrie.
Answer: Who is Sissy Spacek? She also portrays Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner’s Daughter and narrates Stephen King’s blockbuster audiobook Carrie.
This European city is infamous for its red-light district.
Answer: What is Amsterdam? De Wallen, Amsterdam’s oldest neighborhood, is the best-known modern red-light district.
This performer was a member of the New Christy Minstrels and the First Edition before he left to pursue a solo career.
Answer: Who is Kenny Rogers? According to the bio on his website, “Rogers sold over 120 million albums worldwide, making him one of the best-selling male artists of all-time according to the RIAA, with one Diamond album, 20 Platinum albums, and 11 Gold albums.”
Cruise control was designed by an engineer who had this disability.
Answer: What is blindness? Ralph Teeter invented cruise control in 1945. He got the idea when he noticed that his driver’s speed varied depending on whether he was talking
This ultra-precise device is so accurate that it can measure Earth’s rotation slowing down by milliseconds.
Answer: What is an atomic clock? The atomic clock uses the vibrations of cesium or rubidium atoms to measure time.
On Christmas Night 1776, George Washington crossed this river with his bedraggled army to make a surprise attack on the Hessians.
Answer: What is the Delaware River? The attack was successful because the Hessians were not in fighting condition after their Christmas feast, and they didn’t expect an attack from Patriot forces in the early hours of the morning on the day after Christmas.