50 Question Challenge #13, History: answers and sources
Spoilers ahead! Play the video first. Here is every answer, the fun fact and the source we checked it against.
Scores: 0-19: Time tourist · 20-29: History buff · 30-39: Professor · 40+: Living legend. Don't forget your Couch Wager. Spotted a mistake? Email hello@ahaville.com with the question number.
Level 1: Easy
- 1
Which famous ship sank on its first voyage in 1912?
Titanic Its wreck was found in 1985, over two miles down.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic · noaa.gov/office-of-general-counsel/gc-international-secti...
- 2
Which language did the ancient Romans speak?
Latin Italian, Spanish and French all grew out of it.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin · wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languages
- 3
Which city was split by a wall from 1961 to 1989?
Berlin The wall opened on November 9, 1989.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall
- 4
Napoleon Bonaparte was emperor of which country?
France He was born on the island of Corsica in 1769.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon
- 5
Which British queen reigned for 70 years?
Elizabeth II The longest reign of any British monarch.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II · wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monarchs_in_Britain_by_length_...
- 6
Who was Britain's prime minister for most of World War II?
Winston Churchill He became the first honorary US citizen.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill · wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorary_citizenship_of_the_United_Sta...
- 7
What did the ancient Egyptians make paper-like sheets from?
Papyrus The word “paper” comes from papyrus.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Papyrus
- 8
What did the Romans build to carry water into their cities?
Aqueducts One still feeds Rome's Trevi Fountain.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_aqueduct · wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevi_Fountain
- 9
In which country did the Renaissance begin?
Italy It began in Florence in the 1300s.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance
- 10
Last easy one: whose expedition was the first to sail around the world?
Ferdinand Magellan He died on the way; 18 men made it home in 1522.
Level 2: American history
- 11
Which document begins with the words “We the People”?
US Constitution It was signed in Philadelphia in 1787.
Source: archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution · wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States
- 12
Which president gave the Gettysburg Address?
Abraham Lincoln The speech took only about two minutes.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address · loc.gov/exhibits/gettysburg-address/
- 13
Whose midnight ride in 1775 warned that British troops were coming?
Paul Revere He probably never shouted “The British are coming!”
Source: paulreverehouse.org/revisit-the-ride-what-did-paul-revere... · wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Revere%27s_Midnight_Ride
- 14
Which president made the Louisiana Purchase?
Thomas Jefferson It roughly doubled the size of the United States.
Source: archives.gov/milestone-documents/louisiana-purchase-treaty · wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase
- 15
What was finished with a golden spike in 1869?
First transcontinental railroad The spike was driven at Promontory Summit, Utah.
Source: nps.gov/gosp/ · wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_spike
- 16
What was New York City called before 1664?
New Amsterdam The English renamed it after the Duke of York.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Amsterdam
- 17
Whose arrest in 1955 started the Montgomery bus boycott?
Rosa Parks The boycott lasted 381 days.
Source: archives.gov/education/lessons/rosa-parks · wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_bus_boycott
- 18
What was Apollo 11's lunar module called?
Eagle Armstrong reported: “The Eagle has landed.”
Source: nasa.gov/mission/apollo-11/ · wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Lunar_Module_Eagle
- 19
Who was the first American woman in space?
Sally Ride She flew on the space shuttle Challenger in 1983.
Source: nasa.gov/image-article/first-american-woman-space/ · wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Ride
- 20
Last one: who wrote the words of “The Star-Spangled Banner”?
Francis Scott Key It became the national anthem in 1931.
Source: amhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/ · wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner
Level 3: Quick: which year?
- 21
In which year was the Declaration of Independence adopted?
1776
- 22
- 23
In which year did Columbus first reach the Americas?
1492
- 24
- 25
- 26
In which year did the California Gold Rush begin?
1848
- 27
- 28
In which year did American women win the right to vote?
1920
- 29
- 30
In which year was Mount Everest first climbed?
1953
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_British_Mount_Everest_expedition
Level 4: Inventions
- 31
What did the Wright brothers build and sell before airplanes?
Bicycles Their bike shop paid for their flying experiments.
Source: nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/hh/34/hh34b.htm · wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Cycle_Company
- 32
Who was nicknamed the Wizard of Menlo Park?
Thomas Edison He received 1,093 US patents.
Source: nps.gov/edis/ · wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Edison_patents
- 33
Who received the first US patent for the telephone?
Alexander Graham Bell His first call: “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.”
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Graham_Bell · wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_the_telephone
- 34
What did Henry Ford introduce in 1913 to build cars faster?
Moving assembly line Build time per car fell from over 12 hours to 93 minutes.
Source: askus.thehenryford.org/K12/faq/433848 · wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_line
- 35
Which of these did Benjamin Franklin invent?
Lightning rod He also invented a musical instrument: the glass armonica.
Source: fi.edu/en/science-and-education/benjamin-franklin/inventi... · wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_harmonica
- 36
Which ride was first built for the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago?
Ferris wheel It was meant to outdo Paris's Eiffel Tower.
- 37
Jonas Salk's vaccine protected people from which disease?
Polio Salk never patented his vaccine.
Source: salk.edu/about/history-of-salk/jonas-salk/ · wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Salk
- 38
What did Willis Carrier invent in 1902?
Air conditioning He built it for a printing plant in Brooklyn.
Source: carrier.com/us/en/history/invention-of-air-conditioning/ · wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Carrier
- 39
Which toy did naval engineer Richard James invent?
Slinky It first went on sale in Philadelphia in 1945.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Slinky · lemelson.mit.edu/resources/richard-james
- 40
Last one: Elisha Otis made which machine safe to ride?
Elevator In 1854, he had his own hoist rope cut to prove it.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisha_Otis · otis.com/en/us/our-company/history
Level 5: Impossible
- 41
Which city was the US capital just before Washington, D.C.?
Philadelphia Congress moved to Washington in 1800.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_capitals_in_the_United_States · history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1800-1850/The-fir...
- 42
Which of these was completed first?
Brooklyn Bridge It opened in 1883, a year before the Washington Monument.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Bridge · nps.gov/wamo/learn/historyculture/monumentconstruction.htm · wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty · wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower
- 43
The word “vaccine” comes from the Latin word for which animal?
Cow The first vaccine used cowpox to fight smallpox.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccine · wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Jenner
- 44
How many people signed the Declaration of Independence?
56 John Hancock signed so big, his name now means “signature.”
Source: archives.gov/founding-docs/signers-factsheet · prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2019/09/12/john-hancock-and-h...
- 45
How long did the Pony Express carry the mail?
About 18 months It ran from April 1860 to October 1861.
Source: nps.gov/poex/ · wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony_Express
- 46
Who was the first US president born after American independence?
Martin Van Buren He grew up speaking Dutch at home.
- 47
What color was the Statue of Liberty when it was new?
Copper brown Air and rain slowly turned its copper skin green.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty · history.com/news/statue-of-liberty-green-color-change
- 48
How long did it take to build the Empire State Building?
Just over a year It took just 410 days to build.
Source: esbnyc.com/about/history · wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building
- 49
Who patented the first gasoline-powered car, in 1886?
Karl Benz In 1888, his wife Bertha made the first long-distance drive.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Benz_Patent-Motorwagen · wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertha_Benz
- 50
The very last one. Which of these companies is the oldest?
Nintendo It was founded in 1889 to make playing cards.
Source: nintendo.co.jp/corporate/en/history/index.html · wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo
The Big Aha stories
- London Bridge is in Arizona: By the 1960s, the old London Bridge was too weak for modern traffic, so London put it up for sale. In 1968, an American businessman, Robert McCulloch, bought it for about $2.5 million. Its outer stones were numbered, shipped through the Panama Canal, and carried overland to the Arizona desert. Since 1971, London Bridge has stood in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Sources: wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Bridge_(Lake_Havasu_City) · golakehavasu.com/london-bridge
- A piece of the first airplane went to the Moon: On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright flew the Wright Flyer near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. That first flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet (37 m): less than the wingspan of a jumbo jet. 66 years later, Neil Armstrong carried a piece of the Flyer's wing fabric and propeller wood on Apollo 11. So a piece of the first successful airplane went all the way to the Moon. Sources: airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/1903-wright-flyer/n... · uc.edu/news/articles/2020/02/n20894306.html · nps.gov/wrbr/ · wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Flyer
Bonus question
How many US presidents have been named James? We reveal the answer in the pinned comment under the video.