A molecular biologist from Madurai, our quizmaster enjoys trivia and music, and is working on a rock ballad called ‘Coffee is a Drink, Kaapi is an Emotion’. @bertyashley
Quiz | Easy like Sunday morning: What has January 15 ever given us?
Felucca rides on this river in Aswan are a major tourist attraction.
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1 / 10 |
On January 15, 1559, the daughter of Henry VII and Anne Boleyn was crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey after the death of her half-sister, ‘Bloody’ Mary Tudor. Her reign is depicted as the golden age of English History history with the flourishing of poetry music and theatre. A very rare era of peace between two periods of civil war, what was the name of this queen after whom the era is named?
2 / 10 |
On January 15, 1797, John Etherington walked through the streets of London wearing something he had made. He ended up before the Lord Mayor on a charge of breach of the peace and incitement to riot, resulted from his wearing ‘a tall structure having a shiny lustre and calculated to frighten timid people’. What had he invented, which eventually became a symbol of formal English wear?
3 / 10 |
On January 15, 1861, a patent was granted to a self-taught mechanic called Elisha Otis. It was for an independently controlled steam engine for a hoist with a safety catch, which meant that if the rope pulling it failed, it would still stop. What contraption, which is now found everywhere, did Otis make safe?
4 / 10 |
On January 15, 1870, a political cartoon by Thomas Nast appeared on Harper’s Weekly. This was the first time a certain animal was used to symbolize symbolise the Democratic Party of the United States. It has since become the default symbol of the party. What animal is this?
5 / 10 |
On January 15, 1889, the Pemberton Medicine Company was incorporated in Atlanta. It sold a syrup which had extracts of damiana and kola nut and was initially sold as a morphine-free painkiller. Then by mistake he added carbonated water, and then sold it as a fountain drink. What drink is this which is now one of the world’s biggest companies?
6 / 10 |
On January 15, 1892, James Naismith, a physical educator and chaplain published a set of rules for a game he had invented. He had invented it to keep his students active indoors during the harsh winter. He wanted minimum body contact so he kept the goal above the player’s heads, parallel to the floor. What sport had he invented?
7 / 10 |
Born on January 15, 1929, this minister and activist was the youngest Nobel Prize laureate at that time. Born ‘Michael’, he was named after a 16th century religious thinker. Influenced by Henry Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi he decided to enact social change and spearheaded the civil rights movement. Who was this leader who had a dream for his people?
8 / 10 |
On January 15, 1962, a parchment was discovered in a tomb in Derveni, Northern Greece. It is a commentary on an Orphic poem and dates to 340 BCE, making it Europe’s oldest surviving manuscript. On what material obtained from the pith of a plant is it written on?
9 / 10 |
On January 15, 1971, the Aswan Dam officially opened, bringing to a close a plan that existed since the 11th century to contain the flooding of a particular river. The annual flooding of this river had made the valley a fertile plain since ancient times. Which river was this that had flowed for thousands of years before being stopped by this massive dam?
10 / 10 |
On January 15, 2001, this website went online. Since then it has 299 language version, more than 32 million editors and an average of 600 articles added per day. Named after the Hawaiian word for ‘quick’ and Greek word for ‘all round education’, it is visited by more than 67 million people every day. Which website is this?
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