This Week's Trivia Questions
- What is the best-selling book of all time?
- The average person uses a vocabulary of approximately 8,000 words. How many did Shakespeare use?
- As far as number of lines is concerned, which is the most demanding of Shakespeare’s roles?
- Which English author, poet, essayist, literary critic, and playwright enjoyed taking off his clothes and climbing mulberry trees?
- All of the proceeds from which book were bequeathed to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London?
Last Week's Answers
Which was the first novel ever to be written on a typewriter?
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was the first novel ever to be written on a typewriter. Mark Twain typed it himself on a Remington in 1875.
Where did the name “Oz” come from in L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz?
According to L. Frank Baum, the name Oz was thought up when he looked at his filing cabinet and noticed one drawer marked A-G, a second tagged H-N, and a third labeled O-Z.
Which famous Greek poet was supposedly killed when a bird flying overhead dropped a tortoise and struck him?
It is believed that the Greek poet Aeschylus was killed when a bird flying overhead dropped a tortoise and struck him. Birds have been known to carry shellfish to great heights and drop them in order crack the shells.
Which celebrated English author and poet was fired as a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner?
Rudyard Kipling was fired as a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner. His dismissal letter was reported to have said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just don't know how to use the English language. This isn't a kindergarten for amateur writers."
Which character from the works of French poet and dramatist, Edmond Rostand, was based on a real person?
There really was a Cyrano de Bergerac. He lived from about 1620 to 1655, had a big nose and dueled. He was also a science fiction writer who was the first person in history to suggest that a rocket could carry someone into space.
**Missed out on past weeks' trivia? View them all here!
11 comments:
The Wonderful Wizard of Ag just doesn't have the same panache.
What is the best-selling book of all time?
THE BIBLE
The average person uses a vocabulary of approximately 8,000 words. How many did Shakespeare use?
a LOT -- BUT HE DID USE SOME OF THE WORDS MORE THAN ONCE.
As far as number of lines is concerned, which is the most demanding of Shakespeare’s roles?
LEAR
Which English author, poet, essayist, literary critic, and playwright enjoyed taking off his clothes and climbing mulberry trees?
I HOPE IT'S OSCAR WILDE
All of the proceeds from which book were bequeathed to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London?
PETER PAN
1. The Bible
2.29,000-- I actually know this one from doing research on the Macbeth powerpoint
3. Hamlet
4. I don't know, but I bet he's related to Matthew McConnaughey.
5. I have no idea, but Peter Pan doesn't sound like a bad guess.
Best Selling Book -- Mao's Little Red Book.
Shakespeare's Vocab -- About 25k, but he made up lots of them.
Shakespeare's biggest talker-- Hamlet just never shuts up, does he?
Naked Mulberry Climber -- George Bernard Shaw -- only a crazy tree climber would claim he was better than Shakespeare.
Charity Book -- Guess: Oliver Twist?
1. Das Bible
2. eleventy billion
3. the cry baby prince of denmark
4. I thought I was the only one that had that dream.....
5. Not a clue.
1 Mao's book was given away or forced on Chinese peasants. The Bible sells more.
2 Shakespeare used only one word, but he spelled it differently more than 29,000 times.
3 Hamlet demands many things with his doublets downgyved
4 Do we know if he or she actually enjoyed this activity? Possibly it was OCD that Shaw had.
5 It wasn't that Great when Peter donated Captain Hook's treasure to it. It was the Almost Mediocre But Approaching Average Ormond Street Hospital
Wasn't Shaw Irish?
1. Bible
3. Lear
The only one I know cold is Peter Pan.
My guess on the #3 is Lear. He is in nearly every scene and talks throughout the entire play.
The Mulberry is a warm weather tree. I don't know if that is significant, but there it is.
An interesting trivia question would have been, "What is the second best-selling book of all time?"
No worries, Jason. I have the answer to the second best-selling book as well in my answer for next week.
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