Random Facts 3

A

1

Team and retired Jersey number of Wayne Gretzky

Edmonton Oilers, #99

2

It's the "old" nickname of the Central Criminal Court of the city of London

Old Bailey

3

Boston Celtics no. 33 retired Jersey number

Larry Bird

4

A cousin of King Charles, Constantine II was the last king of this country

Greece

5

The Strand is a street in this city, home to the Savoy Hotel

London

6

Most famous Austrian-American chef

Wolfgang Puck

7

Father Michael McGivney founded this fraternal society for Catholic laymen in 1882

Knights of Columbus

8

Neoprene is a synthetic...

Rubber

9

Someone in a religion that relies specifically on alms

Mendicant

10

Director of Anora

Sean Baker

11

Painter of Luncheon on the Grass

Edouard Manet

12

Old timey person who drives a team of animals

Teamster

13

Spacecraft that landed on Mars in 2021 as part of an ongoing exploration mission

Perserverance

14

As a father of electrodynamics, his law of electromagnetism shows that current produces a magnetic field

Ampere

B

1

John Malkovich was Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom, the leader of a group of criminals who hijack a plane in this 1997 thriller

Con Air

2

June 17, 1775 battle

Bunker Hill

3

Earl Gray Tea is flavored with this

Bergamot

4

Nuts that contain the most calcium

Almonds

5

The Knights Templar were established in 1119 to help protect the road to this city

Jerusalem

6

The presiding judge in the O.J. Simpson trial

Lance Ito

7

Painter of the Portrait of Madame X

John Singer Sargent

8

Ventriloquist of Charlie McCarthy

Edgar Bergen

9

Mitre Box

10

Timothee Chalamet played this singer in A Complete Unknown

Bob Dylan

11

A Roman unit of 5,000 soldiers

Legion

12

One who cares for horses

Groom

13

Avatar of Vishnu that delivered the Bhagavad Gita to Prince Arjuna

Krishna

14

Known for his "law of partial pressures"

John Dalton

C

1

Mystic Aquarium is in this state

Connecticut

2

Revolutionary War's Battle of Bennington was in this state

Vermont

3

BPOE stands for this

Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks

4

American chemist and Vitamin C advocate

Linus Pauling

5

Real name: Brian Warner

Marilyn Manson

6

The Greeks and Romans called this island Hibernia

Ireland

7

The name of this familiar Italian vegetable soup means "thick soup"

Minestrone

8

"Comfortably Numb" by this group

Pink Floyd

9

Despotic leader of El Salvador during the 1980s and leader of the junta

Jose Napoleon Duarte

10

Transgender cartel kingpin in a 2024 Best Picture nominee

Emilia Perez

11

This office represented the common people in Ancient Rome

Tribunal

12

Plural of Poltergest

Poltergeister

13

Italian liqueur flavored with anise

Vermouth

14

Kendrick Lamar

D

1

Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey held this title

Governess

2

Bear Bryant sent this school to the finals in the 70s

Alabama

3

Nickname of John C. Fremont

Pathfinder

4

Joints such as the knee that contain fluid

Synovial

5

Lord Chancellor under Henry VIII that lost his head

Thomas More

6

Police song about a nervous teacher

Don't Stand So Close To Me

7

Another word for a cuspidor in the world of tobacco

Spittoon

8

Slang term for friends given political appointments as favors

Cronies

9

"Bluto" Blutarsky is a character from this movie

Animal House

10

2024 Oscar-nominated film about mismatched cousins starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin

A Real Pain

11

1. Roman aristocrat

2. Roman common persion

1. Patrician

2. Plebeian

12

Adroit means...

Skillful

13

Bourbon, sugar, bitters and orange

Old Fashioned

14

Chappell Roan

E

1

Austrian poet of "Sonnets to Orpheus"

Rainer Maria Rilke

2

Son of a painter who directed The Rules of the Game

Jean Renoir

3

Gin, lemon juice, sugar & soda water

Tom Collins

4

British word for a street performer who sings & passes the hat in public

Busker

5

He was traded from the 76ers to the Suns in 1992 as a result of running his mouth

Charles Barkley

6

The Cobb salad was invented at this Hollywood restaurant named for a hat

Brown Derby

7

Musical director and sidekick of David Letterman

Paul Shaffer

8

Foremost of the muses, mother of Orpheus

Calliope

9

HBO's miniseries "John Adams" was based on this author's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography

David McCullough

10

Wives of Henry VIII in order

1. Catherine of Aragon (mother of Queen Mary, annulled and died of natural causes)

2. Anne Boleyn (mother of Queen Elizabeth, beheaded)

3. Jane Seymour (mother of King Edward VI, died in childbirth)

4. Anne of Cleaves (annulled, outlived Henry)

5. Catherine Howard (beheaded)

6. Catherine Parr (widowed and remarried)

11

German philosopher known for the Categorical Imperative

Immanuel Kant

12

Salubrious means...

Healthy or beneficial

13

Sidney Poitier investigates a murder in Sparta, MS in this film

In the Heat of the Night

F

1

In a Beatles song this street runs "beneath the blue suburban skies" of Liverpool

Penny Lane

2

Playwright of "The Matchmaker"

Thornton Wilder

3

"He saw that his conspiracy would soon be brought to light" are lyrics in "The Ballad of" this executed British major

John Andre

4

Since 1992 this "Project" has used DNA evidence to help exonerate more than 250 wrongly convicted people

Innocence Project

5

He wrote "Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die"

Tennyson

6

"he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled" is from this song

Waltzing Matilda

7

"You know I feel all right" from this Beatles song

Hard Day's Night

8

Arm of the Appalachians in NH that includes the Presidential Range

White Mountains

9

Southern English kingdom ruled by Alfred the Great

Wessex

10

Tree on Connecticut's state quarter

Charter Oak

11

Philosopher who wrote Fear and Trembling

Soren Kierkegaard

12

Mendacious means... 

Lying or deceitful

13

The expansion of blood vessels

Vasodilation

G

1

Measurement derived from Arabic 'weight of four grains'

Carat

2

This Korean-American golfer played in her first LPGA event as a 12-year-old

Michelle Wie

3

Playwright of "The Little Foxes" and "The Dark Angel"

Lillian Hellman

4

New Salem girl and possible love interest of Abraham Lincoln who died in 1835

Ann Rutledge

5

Dean Winters

6

Member of the Four Seasons known for his falsetto

Frankie Valli

7

Mother of Dakota Johnson

Melanie Griffith

8

Independent film studio founded by Chaplin and 3 other filmmakers in 1919

United Artists

9

Tamil soup flavored with curry

Mulligatawny

10

Most revered Scotland golf club

St. Andrews

11

1921 conflict between striking coal miners & lawmen in West Virginia

Battle of Blair Mountain

12

From German: Politics based on pragmatism, not idealism 

Realpolitik

13

The Constitution is preserved in this gas

Argon

H

1

Colorado mining town that has hosted a film festival since 1974

Telluride

2

The area between a horse's shoulder blades

Withers

3

He courts Kate in The Taming of the Shrew

Petruchio

4

Hungarian composer of Piano Concerto No. 3

Bela Bartok

5

Originally the forward part of an army, this hyphenated word now refers to any radical innovator

Avant-Garde

6

Lead singer of Led Zeppelin

Robert Plant

7

Director of Wall Street

Oliver Stone

8

High-end men's clothing retailer located on Cherry Street in NYC founded in 1818

Brooks Brothers

9

Private Catholic University in South Orange, New Jersey

Seton Hall

10

Greek island known for its blue domes

Santorini

11

First female candidate for President in US history (1872)

Victoria Woodhull

12

To strengthen wine by adding
a distilled spirit

Fortify

13

Adjective for someone using the bare minimum of words derived from Ancient Sparta

Laconic

I

1

Current King of Spain (since 2014)

Felipe VI

2

Roman mythological priestesses that served the goddess of the hearth

Vestal Virgins

3

Architect of St. Paul's Cathedral in London

Christopher Wren

4

Playwright of Mrs. Warren's Proffesion

George Bernard Shaw

5

"Rural" genre of art depicting shepherds and the countryside

Pastoral

6

Chinese dynasty known as the Mongol Dynasty

Yuan

7

HELOC stands for...

Home equity line of credit

8

Gay lovers convicted of murdering 14-yo Bobby Franks in 1924

Leopold and Loeb

9

Played Cory on Boy Meets World

Ben Savage

10

Massive music festival of Southwestern England

Glastonbury

11

The idea for The Matrix was inspired by the city of Zion in this ancient work

Plato's The Republic

12

Combat scuba diver

Frogman

13

DC university for the deaf

Gallaudet

J

1

British comedy-drama created by Phoebe Waller-Bridge based on her one-woman play of the same name

Fleabag

2

From Good Girls (left) and Mad Men (right)

Christina Hendricks

3

Greg Kinnear

4

Kristen Bell in Veronica Mars

5

Title actresses of Grace and Frankie

Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin

6

Offred in The Handmaid's Tale

Elisabeth Moss

7

Creator of SNL

Lorne Michaels

8

HBO series starring Bill Hader as the title hitman

Barry

9

1971 Best Picture winner starring Gene Hackman as Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle

The French Connection

10

DC Shakespeare library

Folger Library

11

"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction"

Newton's Third Law of Motion

12

Term for writing short-hand

Stenography

13

Chinese dynasties in order from 1600 BC to 1912

Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing

K

1

Type of evidence that exonerates someone from guilt

Exculpatory

2

German physicist that developed quantum theory

Max Planck

3

Lyric poets of south Europe from the 14th century

Troubadours

4

The first African-American woman to win a Grammy

Ella Fitzgerald

5

Julianna Marguiles played Alicia on this show about an attorney whose husband went to jail

The Good Wife

6

Belgian surrealist known for unexpected depictions (1898-1967)

Rene Magritte

7

Upright Japanese game using small metal balls

Pachinko

8

The Pilgrims journey to this city in The Pilgrim's Progress

Celestial City

9

Name of the farm in Animal Farm

Manor Farm

10

The most populous province of South Africa

Guateng

11

1. Measure of heat

2. Measure of chaos

Similar words

1. Enthalpy

2. Entropy

12

"Pram" is short for...

Perambulator

13

1571 battle in which Don John of Austria defeated Ali Pasha (also where Cervantes was wounded)

Battle of Lepanto

L

1

Actor who played the lead role in The Bear

Jeremy Allen White

2

Rapper who won a Grammy for Michael in 2024

Killer Mike

3

Author of Shogun

James Clavell

4

A person who has given up worldly pursuits for religious reasons, often living in seclusion

Ascetic

5

A person who attacks cherished beliefs or institutions, often in a provocative or rebellious way 

Iconoclast

6

Clay earth pigment; a shade of brown/orange "O"

ochre

7

Punctuation mark used to indicate the start of a new paragraph

Pilcrow

8

Guillemets

9

Inverted "V" shape used in heraldry and military uniforms

Chevron

10

Female equivalent of a fishmonger

Fishwife

11

A type of baseball play where the runner on third base breaks for home plate as soon as the pitcher begins their windup 

Suicide Squeeze

12

To sharpen a knife on a stone

Whet

13

Violetta is a character in this Verdi opera

La traviata

M

1

Artist who rose to fame following her 2018 portrait of Michelle Obama

Amy Sherald

2

Name for a group of rats whose tails have been tangled together 

Rat king

3

French fashion company that created the Birkin Bag

Hermes

4

Term for a story or drawing made by several people, where each person adds to it without seeing the work of the others 

Exquisite corpse

5

Only person to have won 3 Best Actor Oscars (first was for My Left Foot)

Daniel Day-Lewis

6

Shortest NBA player to ever win MVP award

Allen Iverson

7

Nigerian power-forward for Milwaukee Bucks

Giannis

8

The most celebrated African-American ballerina in ABT history

Misty Copeland

9

Rent is based loosely on this Puccini opera

La boheme

10

20th century graffiti artist of Haitian descent

Basquiat

11

Unit of cloth once equal to 40 yards

Bolt

12

2024 Grammy winner for Best New Artist known for "Good Luck, Babe!" and "Nonsense"

Chappell Roan

13

Latin phrase: Let the buyer beware

Caveat emptor

N

1

"Status quo" translates to...

"state in which..."

2

Architect who designed Central Park

Frederick Law Olmsted

3

Celtic codex that contained the four gospels

Book of Kells

4

Portcullis

5

Where the Baltimore Orioles play

Camden Yards

6

Chief electrician on a film site (and also his assistant)

Gaffer (Best Boy)

7

French for song, 14th century French vocal style

Chanson

8

Kalimba

9

Balalaika

10

Hawaiian "Friendly" Isle

Molokai

11

Hawaiian "Pineapple" Isle

Lanai

12

Edam

13

Hindu goddess of the earth and wealth; sits atop a lotus 

Lakshmi