Tuesday Trivia

1. Where does the “Old King Cole” nursery rhyme come from?
2. Which book did Dr. Suess write on a dare?
3. Ghosts appear in how many of Shakespeare’s plays?
4. What is the shortest complete sentence in the English language?
5. Where does the phrase “often a bridesmaid, never a bride” come from?

Last Week’s Answers


In 1097, Trotula, a midwife of Salerno, wrote The Diseases of Women – a then legitimate text book for medical students. How many years was it used before it was considered outdated?

It was used in medical schools for 600 years.



In the classic fairy tale, what were Cinderella’s slippers originally made of?


Cinderella's slippers were originally made out of fur, but the story was changed in the 1600s by a translator.



Who was the author of the first detective story in 1841?


Edgar Allan Poe introduced mystery fiction's first fictional detective, Auguste C. Dupin, in his 1841 story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue."



Which was the first American novel to sell a million copies?


Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin was published March 20, 1852. It was the first American novel to sell one million copies.



What is the origin of the phrase, "United we stand, divided we fall"?


Aesop's fables. It's from “The Four Oxen and the Lion,” written in the sixth century.