History
Which Emperor built the Colosseum?
Vespasian
In what 1995 poem did Maya Angelou declare, "Pretty women wonder where my secret lies / I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size?"
Phenomenal Woman
Which American tennis player is the only male to have won over 50 ATP titles in both singles and doubles? He also has the record for the best single season win rate of the Open Era., having lost only three games out of 85 in 1984.
John McEnroe
On July 5, the Earth will be the farthest from the Sun that it will be for all of 2022—that’s 94,510,886 miles, to be exact. What astronomy term is used to describe this phenomenon?
Aphelion
Who is the only singer to win the Grammy Awards for Album, Record, and Song of the Year twice?
Adele
Who was the first woman to make a million dollars in the United States?
Madam C.J. Walker
J.K. Rowling is rumored (and has since denied) to have written the first part of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” on what uncommon writing surface?
A napkin
In June of what year did the Boston Celtics win their 17th (and most recent) NBA Finals?
2008
What "effect"--by which a rotating object experiences a force perpendicular to the direction of motion--is the reason toilets flush clockwise in the Northern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern hemisphere?
Coriolis Effect
According to an urban legend, what type of animal caused the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 by knocking over a lantern?
Who was the first Black Supreme Court justice in the United States?
Thurgood Marshall
Which are the only 4 South American Countries that where Spanish isn't the primary spoken language?
Brazil (Portuguese), Guyana (English), French Guiana (French), and Suriname (French)
Which French swimmer most recently broke the last world record by Michael Phelps' that was still standing?
Leon Marchand
Which element (number 100 on the periodic table) is the only one named after an Italian?
Fermium
Which cricketer is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of the sport and is the highest run-scorer of all time in international competition?
Sachin Tendulkar
Where was Julius Caesar killed?
The Theatre of Pompeii
The vodka brand Grey Goose has an English name despite coming from what non-English speaking country (where its name would become "oie grise" in the national language)?
France
Buzkashi, which means “goat pulling” in Pashto, is a sport in which players on horseback attempt to place a dead goat in a goal. In which Central Asian country is buzkashi predominantly played?
Afghanistan
Stat 101: what is the term in statistics for the number of standard deviations by which the value of a raw score is above or below the mean value of the measured data? These can be positive or negative and are often used as a step in determining statistical significance.
Z-score/Z-value
The world's smallest capital city, Ngerulmud, has a population of only approximately 400. What country is home to Ngerulmud?
Palau
Who was the first ever female head of state?
Sirimavo Bandaranaike (Sri Lanka)
Greek is the primary language included in which branch of the Indo-European family?
Hellenic
What is the name for a cricket scoop in which a batsman is down on one knee and hits the ball over the wicket keeper's head? The name is taken in part from the name of a Sri Lankan player at the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009.
Dilscoop (after TM Dilshan)
Who is the only woman in history to win an unshared Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine? She received the award in 1983 for the discovery of mobile genetic elements.
Barbara McClintock
With 158 separate stanzas, this nation is often considered to have the longest national anthem in the world. What is this country with a population of approximately 11 million?
Greece