Accuracy Project

Below you will find a variety of trivia questions and answers. Subjects range from geography, to politics, as well as literary, film and television trivia.

Political Question: Which Iraqi leader was convicted and sentenced to hang for crimes against humanity in 2006?

Answer: Saddam Hussein


Political Question: Who was the Maid of Orleans?

Answer: Joan of Arc


Political Question: Which member of Dutch royalty spent World War II in Ottawa, Canada?

Answer: Queen Juliana


Political Question: Which passionate opponent of slavery served as the 18th Vice President of the United States?

Answer: Vice President Henry Wilson


Political Question: Who was the first African-American mayor of Los Angeles, California?

Answer: Tom Bradley became the first African-American mayor of Los Angeles in 1973 when he defeated incumbent mayor Sam Yorty.


Political Question: Who was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after becoming First Lady of the United States?

Answer: Betty Ford


Political Question: Which U.S. politician was responsible for drafting the Treaty of Shimonoseki that brought the Sino-Japanese war of 1894-95 to an end?

Answer: Former Secretary of State John W. Foster


Question: Which U.S. Congressman and Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee was later sent to prison after being charged with witness tampering, mail fraud, wire fraud, and corruption for misuse of public taxpayer funds?

Answer: Dan Rostenkowski


Political Question: After his political career was over, which U.S. Senator founded a toupee manufacturing company?

Answer: Senator Glen H. Taylor


Political Question: Who was Adlai Stevenson's opponent in the 1952 U.S. presidential race?

Answer: Dwight D. Eisenhower


Presidential Question: What was President Dwight D. Eisenhower's nickname?

Answer: Ike


Presidential Question: Who was the 38th President of the United States.

Answer: President Gerald R. Ford


Presidential Question: Which U.S. president famously said, "Read my lips -- No new taxes!"

Answer: President George H. W. Bush


Paul Revere Question: Did Paul Revere really ride through the countryside shouting, "The British are coming! The British are coming!"?

Answer: No. Though popular mythology tells us Paul Revere rode through the countryside shouting, "The British are coming! The British are coming!" to warn of the approaching British troops, the truth of the matter is, his warning was far more likely, "The Regulars are out!" or "The Regulars are coming!" or "The Redcoats are coming!"

Literary Question: Who wrote the classic short story The Gift of the Magi?

Answer: O. Henry (William Sydney Porter)


Literary Question: Who wrote the classic poem A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle?

Answer: Hugh MacDiarmid


Literary Question: Which Pulitzer Prize-winning writer was married to sex symbol Marilyn Monroe?

Answer: Arthur Miller


Literary Question: Who wrote the classic History of the Conquest of Mexico?

Answer: William H. Prescott


Literary Question: Who wrote the classic poem An Old Sweetheart?

Answer: James Whitcomb Riley


Literary Question: Who or what was "The Luck" mentioned in the title of Bret Harte's classic The Luck of Roaring Camp?

Answer: "The Luck" was a child born at Roaring Camp. Tommy Luck was so named because the baby had supposedly brought luck to the Sierra Nevada foothill community of Roaring Camp.


Literary Question: Which Scottish poet, best known for his Fleet Street Eclogues, committed suicide by jumping from a cliff into the English Channel?

Answer: John Davidson


Literary Question: Which 19th century author once wrote, "I do not write for the public; I do write for money, a nobler deity; and most of all for myself, not perhaps any more noble, but both more intelligent and nearer home," in a January 1886 letter to Edmund Gosse?

Answer: Robert Louis Stevenson


Literary Question: Who wrote the best-selling books The Affluent Society and The Great Crash, 1929?

Answer: John Kenneth Galbraith


Music Question: Who was the wife of singer Buddy Holly?

Answer: Maria Santiago


Music Question: Which singer/songwriter was nicknamed the Big Bopper?

Answer: J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson


Broadway Question: Who played Captain Von Trapp in the original 1959 Broadway run of The Sound of Music?

Answer: Theodore Bikel


Film Question: Who played the role of Betty Shabazz in Spike Lee's 1992 film, Malcolm X?

Answer: Betty Shabazz was portrayed by actress Angela Bassett.


Film Question: Who directed the Academy Award-winning 1957 film, The Bridge on the River Kwai?

Answer: David Lean


Film Question: Who directed the 1975 film, Picnic at Hanging Rock?

Answer: Peter Weir


Film Question: Who directed the 1988 holiday film, Scrooged, starring Bill Murray?

Answer: Richard Donner


Entertainment Question: Where is actor Spencer Tracy buried?

Answer: His gravesite is located at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in Glendale, California.


Entertainment Question: Which multi-Academy Award-winning actress once lived at 244 East 49th Street, in New York City?

Answer: Katharine Hepburn


Entertainment Question: Which actor/singer, best known for Swanee, Mammy, and Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Goodbye, was once married to dancer/actress Ruby Keeler?

Answer: Al Jolson


Entertainment Question: What was Ethel Merman's real name?

Answer: Ethel Agnes Zimmermann


Entertainment Question: What was Eddie Albert's real name?

Answer: Edward Albert Heimberger


TV Question: Who portrayed Basil Fawlty on the television series Fawlty Towers?

Answer: John Cleese


TV Question: Who portrayed Starbuck on the original Battlestar Galactica (1978-79)?

Answer: Dirk Benedict


TV Question: Who portrayed Jill Munroe on TV's original Charlie's Angels?

Answer: Farrah Fawcett


TV Question: Who was the accordionist and assistant conductor of the Lawrence Welk Orchestra?

Answer: Myron Floren


TV Question: Who played George Costanza's father Frank on TV's long-running Seinfeld?

Answer: Jerry Stiller


TV Question: Who portrayed Tattoo on TV's Fantasy Island?

Answer: Herve Villechaize


TV Question: Which original Star Trek crew member was later active on the Los Angeles Transit Board?

Answer: George Takei


TV Question: Star Trek veterans, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan, and George Takei all guest starred at various times on which popular science fiction anthology series?

Answer: The Twilight Zone

Geography Question: On which Hawaiian island will you find the city of Honolulu?

Answer: Oahu


Geography Question: Is there really a town named Hell in the United States?

Answer: Yes. The Devilishly-named town of Hell is located in southeastern Michigan.


Geography Question: Which state is home to the unusually named town of Hopeulikit?

Answer: Georgia


Geography Question: Jot 'Em Down is an unusually named town in which state?

Answer: Texas


Geography Question: Which state is home to the unusually named town of Marys Igloo?

Answer: Alaska


Geography Question: In which state will you find the unusually named towns of Nowhere, Cookietown, and Frogville?

Answer: Oklahoma


Geography Question: Two Egg is an unusually named town in which state?

Answer: Florida


Geography Question: Truth or Consequences is an unusually named town in which state?

Answer: New Mexico


Geography Question: What is the capital of Australia?

Answer: Canberra


Geography Question: What is the capital of Saudi Arabia?

Answer: Riyadh


Geography Question: What is the state capital of California?

Answer: Sacramento

Helen Keller Question: To whom did Helen Keller dedicate her autobiography, The Story of My Life?

Answer: Ms. Keller dedicated the book to inventor Alexander Graham Bell.

"To ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL
Who has taught the deaf to speak
and enabled the listening ear to hear speech
from the Atlantic to the Rockies,
I dedicate this Story of My Life."


Question: Who invented the first artificial heart?

Answer: Paul Winchell was the inventor and the original patent holder of the artificial heart, which he later donated to the University of Utah. Contrary to popular public perception, the first artificial heart was not invented by Dr. Robert Jarvik. Visit our page on the invention of the artificial heart for more information.


Question: The energy company at the center of the 2010 oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is named BP. By what other name has BP been commonly known?

Answer: British Petroleum


Question: What is a group of crows called?

Answer: A murder of crows


Question: What is a group of buzzards called?

Answer: A wake of buzzards


Question: .au is the Internet country code domain extension for which country?

Answer: Australia


Question: Who was the first female Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court?

Answer: Rose Bird


Question: Who founded the People's Temple, and later oversaw the cult's assassination of U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan, then led one of the largest mass murder/suicides (more than 900 dead) in human history, known as the Jonestown massacre?

Answer: Reverend Jim Jones


Question: Who presided over one of the most sprawling business frauds in U.S. history as the controversial founder and CEO of Enron?

Answer: Kenneth Lay


Question: What infamous American serial killer and cannibal was sentenced to 16 consecutive life terms for 17 gruesome murders?

Answer: Jeffrey Dahmer


Question: The wife of which famous director was murdered by members of the Manson family?

Answer: Roman Polanski's wife, Sharon Tate, was killed by followers of Charles Manson.


Question: Bonnie and Clyde became famous for doing what?

Answer: Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were criminals. Their numerous holdups and bank robberies caught the attention of the media as well as the depression-weary public. Their lives as outlaws was told in the 1967 motion picture Bonnie and Clyde.


Baseball Question: Whose homerun record did Hank Aaron break on May 8th, 1974?

Answer: Babe Ruth


Question: Was 1976 a leap year?

Answer: Yes


Question: What day of the week was January 1st, 2000?

Answer: Saturday


Roman Numeral Question: What is 1988 in Roman numerals?

Answer: MCMLXXXVIII


Question: How many feet are in a mile?

Answer: 5,280


Statehood Question: When did California attain statehood?

Answer: September 9, 1850


Question: Was Ohio one of the 13 original colonies?

Answer: No. The 13 original colonies consisted of Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island.


Time Zone Question: Cincinnati, Ohio is found in which U.S. time zone?

Answer: Eastern Time Zone


Meteorology Question: When did the new, more accurate wind chill charts go into effect?

Answer: November of 2001


Military Question: Who was the military leader that headed the international coalition that liberated Kuwait from Iraqi invasion forces during the 1991 Persian Gulf War?

Answer: General H. Norman Schwarzkopf


Question: In gang parlance, what does the acronym "LK" stand for?

Answer: Latin Kings -- A large Hispanic gang in the United States.


Question: In the law enforcement industry, what does the acronym AWIK stand for?

Answer: Assault With Intent to Kill


Question: In international law enforcement parlance, what does the acronym RCMP stand for?

Answer: Royal Canadian Mounted Police


Question: In the law enforcement industry, what does the acronym CVC HIDTA stand for?

Answer: Central Valley California - High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area