Literature
Edgar Allan Poe famously married his 13-year-old cousin at the age of 27 (although she did lie on the marriage certificate and say she was 21). 12 years later, her death by ____ inspired Annabel Lee and Ulalume.
She died by tuberculosis.
Which country does Forrest Gump travel to as part of the All-American Ping-Pong Team?
Gump travels to China.
Which swimmer has won the most Olympic gold medals of all time?
Michael Phelps (23 gold medals)
Which artifact, discovered in 1799, contained the same decree written in Ancient Greek, Demotic Script, and Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, allowing scholars to begin to unlock and translate Ancient Egyptian writing for the first time?
The Rosetta Stone
Which Islamic Golden Age scholar is widely regarded as the "Father of Modern Optics" for his revolutionary work on light and vision?
Ibn al-Haytham
Which famous poem remains anonymous to this day and is the oldest surviving piece of poetry written in Old English, telling the tale of the Hero of The Geats?
Beowulf
What score did Elle Woods get on her LSAT in Legally Blonde?
She scored a 179 out of 180!
What is the only country to have played in every single FIFA Men's World Cup?
Brazil
What flooded the streets of Boston in 1919, releasing a 25-foot wave that swept through streets at 35 miles per hour.
Molasses.
The word "Algebra" comes from the title of a math book written in the 9th century by which famous Muslim mathematician?
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
Which three famous sisters/authors wrote shared the pen name "Bell" with each other, under the respective names Currer Bell, Ellis Bell, and Acton Bell?
Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë
What item is in every Fight Club scene?
A Starbucks cup.
How many Stanley Cups* have the Maple Leafs won?
*The hockey equivalent of the World Cup or the Super Bowl for those of you who are uneducated
13, the second-most in NHL history, although their last championship came in 1967 (the longest active Stanley Cup drought in the league).
Throwing political rivals out of windows (defenestration) was a recurring method of political protest in which city?
Prague (notably, in 1618 two imperial regents were thrown from a 70-foot-high window, surviving by landing in a heap of manure and sparking the Thirty Year' War).
Before the direction of prayer (Qibla) was permanently changed to the Kaaba in Mecca, in which direction did early Muslims pray?
They prayed towards Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
What is the name of the main character of Fyodor Dostoevsky's White Nights?
We are never given his name; he is referred to only as 'The Dreamer'.
What Earth is Pavitr Prabhakar (Spiderman Across The Spiderverse) from, and what city does he live in?
Pavitr Prabhakar is from Earth-50101 and he lives in Mumbattan, a fictional mashup of Mumbai and Manhattan.
How many Guinness World Records does ice skater Alexander "Sasha" Trusova currently hold?
She currently holds 4 recognized by the Guinness World Records
1. First female to land a quadruple toe loop
2. First female to land a quadruple Lutz
3. First female to land a quadruple flip
4. Highest score in a women's free skate
Which world leader held the shortest reign?
King Louis XIX held the throne for about 20 minutes before abdicating to his nephew on July 30, 1830.
What is the name of the oldest surviving Islamic monument in the world?
The Dome of the Rock
Out of his 154 sonnets, how many did William Shakespeare write in iambic pentameter?
He wrote 153 in iambic pentameter, with the sole exception being Sonnet 145 ("
Those lips that Love’s own hand did make "), which utilizes iambic tetrameter (eight syllables per line).
In the 1998 romcom You've Got Mail, what is the female lead's (Kathleen Kelly) favourite book, and how many times has she read it?
Kathleen Kelly's favourite book is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and she has read it 200 times.
Who is the only athlete in history to play in a Super Bowl and a World Series?
Deion Sanders
Signed between Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II and Hittite King Hattusili III after the Battle of Kadesh, this is the earliest known international peace treaty preserved today.
The Treaty of Kadesh (c. 1259 BCE)
Which 9th-century Islamic mathematician and astronomer, known in Europe as Albatenius, refined Ptolemy’s solar calculations, accurately calculated the length of the solar year to within two minutes, and was repeatedly cited centuries later by Nicolaus Copernicus?
Al-Battani