#7815, aired 2018-07-27 | AMERICAN HISTORY: The last survivor of this battle that started a war died in 1854 & more men marched at his funeral than fought with him the Battle of Lexington |
#7814, aired 2018-07-26 | FAMOUS NAMES: Almost 100 when he died in 2018, this North Carolina man became just the 4th private citizen to lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol Billy Graham |
#7813, aired 2018-07-25 | BRIDGES: In 1990 the Yalu River Bridge was renamed the "Friendship Bridge" between these 2 nations; one is the other's best friend North Korea and China |
#7812, aired 2018-07-24 | FASHION: Debuting in 1946, it was deemed "four triangles of nothing"; some critics even found it sinful a bikini |
#7811, aired 2018-07-23 | FRENCH PHRASES: Paramnesia is another term for this French-named phenomenon--sound familiar? déjà vu |
#7810, aired 2018-07-20 | FUTURISTIC FICTION: Fear of the social reorganization represented by an auto tycoon's innovations inspired this 1932 novel Brave New World |
#7809, aired 2018-07-19 | 1970s MOVIES: Earning its director the first of many Oscar nominations, this 1977 film had the working title "Watch the Skies" Close Encounters of the Third Kind |
#7808, aired 2018-07-18 | 20th CENTURY PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS: The last election in which both major party candidates were former state governors was in this year 1980 |
#7807, aired 2018-07-17 | WORLD CAPITAL SIGHTSEEING: The unfinished Victory over America Palace & the rundown Victory over Iran Palace are in this city Baghdad |
#7806, aired 2018-07-16 | EXPLORERS: In 1513 the son of a local chief told this man, when you cross the mountains, "You shall see another sea" Vasco Núñez de Balboa |
#7805, aired 2018-07-13 | MODERN LANGUAGE: This slang term for an environmentalist is literally true of groups that used passive resistance vs. deforestation, as in India in 1973 a tree hugger |
#7804, aired 2018-07-12 | 1970s BESTSELLERS: The author of this novel thought of calling it "Silence in the Water" Jaws |
#7803, aired 2018-07-11 | FROM BOOKS TO BROADWAY: "Son of a Witch” & “A Lion Among Men” are sequels to the book that inspired this musical Wicked |
#7802, aired 2018-07-10 | AGRICULTURE: Turkey is the world's largest producer of these fruits; its town of Cerasus was famous for them cherries |
#7801, aired 2018-07-09 | PRESIDENTS: Of the presidents who served more than 4 years, but less than 2 full terms, he served the longest:
7 years, 9 months, 8 days Harry Truman |
#7800, aired 2018-07-06 | BUSINESS: Promising "value", which partly gives it its name, this Pennsylvania-based retailer did $7,400 in sales on its opening day in 1986 QVC |
#7799, aired 2018-07-05 | AMERICAN AUTHORS: Her 1896 New York Times obituary called her "the writer of probably the most widely read work of fiction ever penned" Harriet Beecher Stowe |
#7798, aired 2018-07-04 | CLASSIC ROCK: 25 years after these 3 men played a huge festival, they went to play again & ended the set with a tune about the 1st show Crosby, Stills and Nash |
#7797, aired 2018-07-03 | THE EUROPEAN UNION: Like UNESCO, the EU has heritage sites; 2 of the first 4, a WWII internment camp & a Peace Palace, were in this occupied country the Netherlands |
#7796, aired 2018-07-02 | 20th CENTURY NOVELS: In a 1989 novel, Jing-Mei Woo says, "My father has asked me to be the fourth corner" in this title group the Joy Luck Club |
#7795, aired 2018-06-29 | 18th CENTURY NOTABLES: Researchers in London & Vienna now speculate that his 1791 death was due to a strep infection, not poisoning Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |
#7794, aired 2018-06-28 | SHAKESPEARE: The prologue of this tragedy is a sonnet whose rhymes include dignity & mutiny; scene & unclean; & life & strife Romeo and Juliet |
#7793, aired 2018-06-27 | SPORTING EVENTS: This annual event first held in 1934 includes play in areas named Pink Dogwood, Flowering Peach & Azalea the Masters Tournament |
#7792, aired 2018-06-26 | INTERNATIONAL CINEMA: Getting its nickname from a capital, Dhallywood is the name for the film industry in this Asian country Bangladesh |
#7791, aired 2018-06-25 | STATE NAME ORIGINS: Though it doesn't have "island" in its name, it's named after a European island New Jersey |
#7790, aired 2018-06-22 | MEDICINE & THE MOVIES: Vestibular rehabilitation is one treatment for a condition that is also the title of this 1958 suspense film Vertigo |
#7789, aired 2018-06-21 | WORLD GEOGRAPHY: Australia's fourth-largest city, it's at the southern end of the road called Indian Ocean Drive Perth |
#7788, aired 2018-06-20 | CLASSICAL MUSIC: Not in the initial score, the feature giving this symphony its byname was a whim added by the composer close to its 1792 debut the "Surprise" Symphony |
#7787, aired 2018-06-19 | 20th CENTURY AMERICAN HISTORY: On Nov. 3, 1948 he sent a congratulatory telegram, then told reporters, "I was just as surprised as you" Thomas Dewey |
#7786, aired 2018-06-18 | CLASSIC TOYS: This toy was patented in the 1960s as a "liquid filled die agitator" Magic 8-Ball |
#7785, aired 2018-06-15 | ISLAND NAMES: A Portuguese explorer gave this name to an island he sighted off Africa's coast 40 days after Easter Ascension Island |
#7784, aired 2018-06-14 | CONSTELLATIONS: This Zodiac constellation includes 2 lines (or strings) that terminate in a star called Alrescha, the knot Pisces |
#7783, aired 2018-06-13 | 1990s ANIMATED FILMS: Though it draws elements from "Hamlet", Disney says this was their first all-animated feature based on an original story The Lion King |
#7782, aired 2018-06-12 | CHILDREN'S LIT: In 2017 the Maine farm & barn that inspired this classic 1952 novel were put up for sale Charlotte's Web |
#7781, aired 2018-06-11 | BRASS INSTRUMENTS: In playing this instrument whose early version was called a sackbut, it's about 6" from A to B, about 7" from C to D a trombone |
#7780, aired 2018-06-08 | LITERARY SETTINGS: Ashdown Forest in Sussex inspired this fictional setting for a 1926 collection of stories for children the Hundred Acre Wood |
#7779, aired 2018-06-07 | MEDIEVAL SCIENCE: 13th c. Emperor Frederick II's "De Arte Venandi cum Avibus" was the first work written about this -ology ornithology |
#7778, aired 2018-06-06 | GAMES: Names used in other languages for this chess piece include malka, rainha & rouva the queen |
#7777, aired 2018-06-05 | FICTIONAL CHARACTERS: He got a real N.Y. Times obit in 1975; it said he wore "false mustaches to mask signs of age that offended his vanity" Hercule Poirot |
#7776, aired 2018-06-04 | AMERICAN QUOTES: In a 1789 letter, Benjamin Franklin relates the durability of the new Constitution to these 2 things death & taxes |
#7775, aired 2018-06-01 | PRESIDENTS: BORN & DIED: Born the farthest west in the continental U.S. of any president, he would later die farthest from his birthplace Richard Nixon |
#7774, aired 2018-05-31 | CURRENCY: 20-euro notes available in 2015 fittingly feature this mythological mother to some of Zeus' kids Europa |
#7773, aired 2018-05-30 | AMERICAN COMPOSERS: His works are the only ones in the National Recording Registry that are preserved on piano rolls Scott Joplin |
#7772, aired 2018-05-29 | BRITISH COMMONWEALTH COUNTRIES: Of the 16 Commonwealth nations with Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, this one is farthest from the United Kingdom New Zealand |
#7771, aired 2018-05-28 | 19th CENTURY AUTHORS: This author whom Helen Keller could identify by his cigar scent was the first to call Anne Sullivan a "miracle worker" Mark Twain |
#7770, aired 2018-05-25 | OSCAR-NOMINATED ACTORS: He was nominated twice for playing Oscar winners--a real one in a 1992 biopic & a fictional one in a 2008 combat comedy Robert Downey Jr. |
#7769, aired 2018-05-24 | GEOGRAPHIC TERMS: For a link between oceans, the U.S. signed an 1859 treaty with Mexico giving us rights to this 2-syllable strip of land "of Tehuantepec" isthmus |
#7768, aired 2018-05-23 | GREEK MYTHOLOGY: This pair who accompanied their father into battle were called Timor & Formido, "Fear" & "Terror", by the Romans Phobos & Deimos |
#7767, aired 2018-05-22 | FAMOUS RUSSIANS: In November 1836 this writer got a letter naming him to the Most Serene Order of Cuckolds; in February 1837 he was dead Alexander Pushkin |
#7766, aired 2018-05-21 | U.S. GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY: In 1794 George Washington selected this spot, where today 3 states meet, for the site of a new armory Harpers Ferry |
#7765, aired 2018-05-18 | GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY: 230 miles long, it defined a boundary between a colony founded by Quakers & one founded by Catholics the Mason-Dixon line |
#7764, aired 2018-05-17 | SCHOOL SUPPLY WORDS: Adding "P" to a word for a chronic back condition gets you this synonym for graphite or pencil lead plumbago |
#7763, aired 2018-05-16 | MYTHOLOGY: Ulysses & Menelaus were among those who emerged from the "womb" of this, called "tall as a mountain, ribbed with pine" the Trojan Horse |
#7762, aired 2018-05-15 | U.N. LANGUAGES: Of the 6 official U.N. languages, it's the one that is written in a cursive form only Arabic |
#7761, aired 2018-05-14 | CITIES IN LITERATURE: In "Gone With the Wind", Rhett Butler says this city named for a monarch "is the South, only intensified" Charleston |
#7760, aired 2018-05-11 | U.S. POLITICAL HISTORY: President Madison is credited with the 1st of these 2-word actions; he didn't sign an 1812 bill after Congress had adjourned a pocket veto |
#7759, aired 2018-05-10 | WOMEN WRITERS: On her 2012 passing this Oscar nominee was described as "an essayist and humorist in the Dorothy Parker mold" (but funnier) Nora Ephron |
#7758, aired 2018-05-09 | OPERA: A 12-minute piece of music from this opera depicts Alpine dawn, a storm & the calm, & ends in a section called a galop William Tell |
#7757, aired 2018-05-08 | LONDON LANDMARKS: Built in the 1990s, it's the only permanent structure permitted in London with a thatched roof since the Great Fire of 1666 the Globe Theatre |
#7756, aired 2018-05-07 | U.S. CITIES: This city, also the title of a film that won 2 Oscars, was named for a businessman known for 19th c. transportation Fargo |
#7755, aired 2018-05-04 | LITERARY HELPERS: Passepartout, whose name means "go everywhere", is the fittingly named aide in an 1873 tale by this author Jules Verne |
#7754, aired 2018-05-03 | FILM & WAR: The New York premiere of this film was on Thanksgiving, 15 days after the liberation of its title place Casablanca |
#7753, aired 2018-05-02 | 19th CENTURY AMERICANS: On July 10, 1804 he wrote a letter of goodbye, just in case, to "my dearest Theodosia"; he lived until 1836 Aaron Burr |
#7752, aired 2018-05-01 | FASHION BRANDS: Translated from Roman numerals, "55" appears in luggage & watch product names from a company founded by this man Louis Vuitton |
#7751, aired 2018-04-30 | AUTHORS ON AUTHORS: Whitman said this man's poetry has "a propensity toward nocturnal themes, a demoniac undertone behind every page" Edgar Allan Poe |
#7750, aired 2018-04-27 | LEGENDARY PEOPLE: Leodegrance, king of Cameliard, gave the newlyweds a piece of furniture on the marriage of this daughter Guinevere |
#7749, aired 2018-04-26 | SPORTS IN COURT: This athlete lost a 1931 lawsuit against the Curtiss Candy Company Babe Ruth |
#7748, aired 2018-04-25 | GEOGRAPHY: In 1871 the official addition of this as a province gave Canada coasts on both the Atlantic & the Pacific Oceans British Columbia |
#7747, aired 2018-04-24 | AFRICA: Markers for this geog. designation are on Lake Victoria's Lwaji Island & at Mbandaka in the Democratic Republic of the Congo the Equator |
#7746, aired 2018-04-23 | 18th CENTURY AMERICA: Congress met in June 1778 to sign these but found errors in the official copy; it had to reconvene with a new set in July the Articles of Confederation |
#7745, aired 2018-04-20 | CLASSIC LITERARY CHARACTERS: He declares that one of the people he is trying to emulate is a medieval knight known as Amadís of Gaul Don Quixote de la Mancha |
#7744, aired 2018-04-19 | U.S. HISTORIC SITES: Its official seal includes the year 1864 for when it was established, a folded flag & a scroll inscribed "our most sacred shrine" Arlington National Cemetery |
#7743, aired 2018-04-18 | THE LATIN VULGATE BIBLE: In Latin Jesus says, I am "via et veritas et vita"--in English, these 3 words way, truth, life |
#7742, aired 2018-04-17 | RUSSIAN CULTURE: This work was over 50 years old & excerpts had been popularized when it had its first full U.S. performance on Christmas Eve 1944 The Nutcracker |
#7741, aired 2018-04-16 | GREEK MYTHOLOGY: In one version Thetis killed 6 of her children in her attempts to make them immortal; this warrior was her seventh Achilles |
#7740, aired 2018-04-13 | U.S. PLACE NAMES: It's the only state named for a woman & whose capital is also named for a woman Maryland |
#7739, aired 2018-04-12 | LANDMARKS: In 1546 architect Pierre Lescot began rebuilding King Francis I's palace, which is now this museum the Louvre |
#7738, aired 2018-04-11 | EXPLORATION NAME'S THE SAME: The deepest part of the Mariana Trench & a submersible that went there share the name of this space shuttle Challenger |
#7737, aired 2018-04-10 | U.S. CABINET DEPARTMENTS: This Cabinet department traces its roots back to the Manhattan Project & efforts to develop the atomic bomb the Department of Energy |
#7736, aired 2018-04-09 | 20th CENTURY PRESIDENTS: He took the Oath of Office twice 14 months apart Lyndon B. Johnson |
#7735, aired 2018-04-06 | CENTRAL AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY: One active, one dormant, Madera & Concepcion are volcanoes in this body of water that shares its name with a country Lake Nicaragua |
#7734, aired 2018-04-05 | FILMS OF THE 1990s: Tommy Lee Jones won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this movie based on a TV series that premiered in 1963 The Fugitive |
#7733, aired 2018-04-04 | 19th CENTURY CLASSICAL MUSICIANS: The father of this future composer was a French teacher at the Warsaw Lyceum, where the child would later attend Frederic Chopin |
#7732, aired 2018-04-03 | AMERICAN HISTORY: In 1899, a reunion of this alliterative squad took place, with the governor of New York fittingly on horseback the Rough Riders |
#7731, aired 2018-04-02 | U.S. GOVERNMENT: The portrait here hangs in the building of this Cabinet department & depicts a man who once ran it the Department of Justice |
#7730, aired 2018-03-30 | U.S. STATE HISTORY: During Ulysses Grant's 2-term presidency, only one state joined the Union: this one Colorado |
#7729, aired 2018-03-29 | AFRICAN-AMERICAN ACHIEVEMENTS: In 2017 this govt. agency dedicated a new computational facility named in honor of 99-year-old ex-employee Katherine Johnson NASA |
#7728, aired 2018-03-28 | MUSICAL THEATER: This show has songs that weren't in the 1992 film it's based on, like "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" & "How Will I Know" The Bodyguard |
#7727, aired 2018-03-27 | 1960s NO. 1 SONGS: Complaints about heavy workloads inspired the titles of 2 songs by this group, No. 1 hits 7 months apart The Beatles |
#7726, aired 2018-03-26 | MEDIEVAL LITERATURE: The illustration seen here appeared in the second printed edition of this book, published in England in 1483 The Canterbury Tales |
#7725, aired 2018-03-23 | UNREAL ESTATE: Some of the features of this title place of an 1883 novel are Mizzen-Mast Hill & Captain Kidd's Anchorage Treasure Island |
#7724, aired 2018-03-22 | WORLD GEOGRAPHY: The Greek islands of Lesbos & Rhodes are each about 10 miles from the mainland of this other country Turkey |
#7723, aired 2018-03-21 | FILMS OF THE 1960s: Bernard Herrmann scored this 1960 black & white thriller using only the string section of an orchestra Psycho |
#7722, aired 2018-03-20 | ROMAN HISTORY: Of this battle in 31 B.C., Virgil wrote, "Neptune's fields grow red with fresh slaughter" the Battle of Actium |
#7721, aired 2018-03-19 | THE U.S. GOVERNMENT: Before signing the bill creating this, President George W. Bush noted its "nearly 170,000 employees" & "a new kind of war" the Department of Homeland Security |
#7720, aired 2018-03-16 | MYTHOLOGICAL BEASTS: Hesiod said it fawns on all who enter "with actions of... tail & both ears", but when people try to exit it "eats them up" the hound of Hades (or Cerberus) |
#7719, aired 2018-03-15 | EUROPEAN RIVERS: Of the 10 countries the Danube touches, this one is alphabetically last & is the only one that doesn't end in "Y" or "A" Ukraine |
#7718, aired 2018-03-14 | THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE: Each state has as many electors as its total of senators & reps.; D.C. has this many, the minimum for any state 3 |
#7717, aired 2018-03-13 | 1950s FICTION: The New York Times called this 1,000-page novel by a woman "one of the most influential business books ever written" Atlas Shrugged |
#7716, aired 2018-03-12 | FIRST LADY FACTS: In 1982, when Bess Truman died, she had been enrolled in this government program for about 17 years, longer than anyone else Medicare |
#7715, aired 2018-03-09 | BIG BUSINESS: Bill Fernandez, who in 1971 introduced to each other the 2 founders of this California company, became its first full-time employee in 1977 Apple |
#7714, aired 2018-03-08 | BESTSELLING NOVELS: This 1990 novel made into a blockbuster film says the Hammond Foundation "has spent $17 million on amber" Jurassic Park |
#7713, aired 2018-03-07 | COUNTRIES OF THE U.N.: The 3 U.N. member states that begin with the letter "J"; 2 are island nations & one is nearly landlocked Jamaica, Japan, and Jordan |
#7712, aired 2018-03-06 | CLASSIC BRITISH NOVELS: A preface to this novel calls it "a loud hee-haw at all who yearn for utopia...& a pretty good fable in the Aesop tradition" Animal Farm |
#7711, aired 2018-03-05 | OSCAR HISTORY: In the 1940s he became the first person to receive nominations as actor, director & writer for the same film Orson Welles |
#7710, aired 2018-03-02 | SPORTS TEAM MASCOTS: Echoing a rock band with 8 platinum albums, the teams of the Ark. School for the Deaf are named for this animal a leopard |
#7709, aired 2018-03-01 | EUROPEAN ISLANDS: Once known as the Norman Isles, per the British government this group is "not part of the U.K." & has "never been colonies" the Channel Islands |
#7708, aired 2018-02-28 | WOMEN IN MYTHOLOGY: Poet & translator Anne Carson addresses her: "Your name in Greek means something like 'against birth'" Antigone |
#7707, aired 2018-02-27 | AMERICANA: A 1931 story in the New Yorker said this "weighs 600,000,000 pounds (&)... contains 37,000,000 cubic feet" the Empire State Building |
#7706, aired 2018-02-26 | NAME THE NOVEL: "I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet" Frankenstein |
#7705, aired 2018-02-23 | MODERN WORDS: In 1994 Wired magazine described this 4-letter word as an idea leaping "from mind to mind... as viruses leap from body to body" a meme |
#7704, aired 2018-02-22 | ACTRESSES: Already an Emmy winner, in 2017 she won an Oscar for the same role that had won her a Tony Viola Davis |
#7703, aired 2018-02-21 | WORLD WAR I: Site of an arduous WWI campaign, this town on the Dardanelles gets its name from the Greek for "beautiful city" Gallipoli |
#7702, aired 2018-02-20 | THE ANIMAL KINGDOM: In Portuguese this bird is known as beija flor, or "flower kisser" a hummingbird |
#7701, aired 2018-02-19 | THE SUPREME COURT: In the 1966 case of this man, Earl Warren wrote of eliminating "evils in the interrogation process" Ernesto Miranda |
#7700, aired 2018-02-16 | FICTIONAL PLACES: Some residents of the place with this name came from Kensington Gardens, where they had fallen out of their perambulators Never Never Land |
#7699, aired 2018-02-15 | MEDIEVAL ASIA: Though it means "one who serves", in medieval Japan it was a property holder who received rent from serfs samurai |
#7698, aired 2018-02-14 | HIT SONGS OF THE '90s: The title of this dance hit, No. 1 for 14 weeks in the '90s, can refer to a Seville, Spain neighborhood or a woman from there "Macarena" |
#7697, aired 2018-02-13 | CLASSIC TV HOMES: In 2017 the Bel-Air estate used in this '60s TV show was listed for $350 million The Beverly Hillbillies |
#7696, aired 2018-02-12 | AMERICAN BUSINESS: A 2007 headline said after being ridiculed since the 1950s, it "takes its victory lap" & noted the auction of one for $184,000 the Edsel |
#7695, aired 2018-02-09 | 20th CENTURY BOOKS: An "ineffable quality", this 3-word title represents "the ability to go up in a hurtling piece of machinery" day after day The Right Stuff |
#7694, aired 2018-02-08 | UNIVERSITIES: Famed for its health care system & medical school, it also sold 15 acres for $10 in 1947 to build CDC headquarters Emory University |
#7693, aired 2018-02-07 | FLAG COLORS: They're the 3 colors of New York City's flag & of the Knicks & Mets teams; 2 are on the Dutch flag & 1 used to be blue, white, and orange |
#7692, aired 2018-02-06 | PHILOSOPHY: Despite the title, in this Plato work, Socrates says, "I shall never alter my ways, not even if I have to die many times" the Apologia or Apology |
#7691, aired 2018-02-05 | CABLE TV HISTORY: "You need us...for everything you do" was a slogan used by this channel, one of the first to customize content by location The Weather Channel |
#7690, aired 2018-02-02 | OFFICIAL STATE STUFF: Composers of this state's various official songs include Richard Rodgers & Woody Guthrie Oklahoma |
#7689, aired 2018-02-01 | U.S. AUTHORS: In his 1958 essay "Essentials of Spontaneous Prose", he compared a writing technique to a jazz musician's style Jack Kerouac |
#7688, aired 2018-01-31 | FOOD BRANDS: Seen here is the location of the first plant of this company Ore-Ida |
#7687, aired 2018-01-30 | LITERATURE & MYTHOLOGY: The "very name embodies the idea of flight", says one analysis of a 20th century novel in describing this main character Stephen Dedalus |
#7686, aired 2018-01-29 | THE 1960s: It was already a crime to alter one of these; a 1965 law passed 393-1 in the House criminalized burning one too a draft card |
#7685, aired 2018-01-26 | CHILDREN'S LIT: Introduced in 1945, she claimed to have the middle names Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Efraim's Daughter Pippi Longstocking |
#7684, aired 2018-01-25 | 19th CENTURY EUROPEANS: In an 1889 letter to his brother, he wrote, “I wouldn’t exactly have chosen madness if there had been a choice” Vincent van Gogh |
#7683, aired 2018-01-24 | BUSINESS & INDUSTRY: This company's first mailers in 1953 offered 20 different magazine subscriptions--prizes came 14 years later Publishers Clearing House |
#7682, aired 2018-01-23 | LITERARY BROTHERS: This character first appeared in "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter", an 1893 story in London's Strand Magazine Mycroft Holmes |
#7681, aired 2018-01-22 | WORLD CITY NAMES: Novosibirsk, the 3rd-largest city in Russia, translates as this "city": the 1st word for its more recent founding, the 2nd for its location New Siberia |
#7680, aired 2018-01-19 | WORLD CAPITALS: It's the only world capital whose name is derived from an Algonquin word Ottawa |
#7679, aired 2018-01-18 | SNACK FOODS: The name of this cracker that's been around since 1903 suggests that it was baked 3 times Triscuit |
#7678, aired 2018-01-17 | SPECIAL DAYS: A 1954 act amended a 1938 one by striking out this word & replacing it with "Veterans" armistice |
#7677, aired 2018-01-16 | NOVELS OF THE 1960s: The line "Once when you are born & once when you look death in the face" follows this title of a 1964 novel & an action-packed 1967 film You Only Live Twice |
#7676, aired 2018-01-15 | THE THEATER: In 1915 this play opened for the last time on Broadway, ironically at the Booth Theatre Our American Cousin |
#7675, aired 2018-01-12 | AFRICAN COUNTRIES: With more than 90 million people it's Africa's third most populous country, though it's more than 90% desert Egypt |
#7674, aired 2018-01-11 | THE MOVIES: It's the first Oscar nominee for Best Picture to be produced by an internet streaming service Manchester by the Sea |
#7673, aired 2018-01-10 | SENATORS: The last names of these 2 current senators, one from Virginia & one from Massachusetts, are anagrams of each other Elizabeth Warren and Mark Warner |
#7672, aired 2018-01-09 | THE FIRST CENTURY A.D.: Letters written by this Roman recount the events of a natural disaster, like the death of his uncle, a famous scholar Pliny the Younger |
#7671, aired 2018-01-08 | U.S. PRESIDENTS: He became an ex-president while flying over a point 13 miles southwest of Jefferson City, Missouri Richard Nixon |
#7670, aired 2018-01-05 | COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS: In 1946, MLJ Mags. changed its name to this "Comics", incorporating the first name of its popular teenage hero Archie Comics |
#7669, aired 2018-01-04 | CARS: When it was introduced in 1953, this car model's emblem had a checkered flag & a red flag with a fleur-de-lis a Chevrolet Corvette |
#7668, aired 2018-01-03 | OPERA: This character's famed entrance aria actually introduces him as a handyman, repeats his name & adds "la-la-la-la-las" Figaro |
#7667, aired 2018-01-02 | NOVELISTS: A 2015 BBC list of the 25 greatest British novels included 12 by women, 3 of them by this woman who died in 1941 Virginia Woolf |
#7666, aired 2018-01-01 | PLACES IN 1950s NEWS: Pravda reported that Khrushchev, on his way to lunch, announced his decision to give this region to Ukraine Crimea |
#7665, aired 2017-12-29 | BROADWAY: Following a show's success in 2011, this group began advertising, "You've seen the play...now read the book" The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |
#7664, aired 2017-12-28 | TRADITIONS: This list of 12 may have been inspired by a Biblical garment decorated in 4 rows, the top being sardius, topaz & carbuncle birthstones |
#7663, aired 2017-12-27 | PRESIDENTIAL HOMES: Originally called Rural Retreat, this 19th century presidential home has a name that's a synonym for "retreat" Hermitage |
#7662, aired 2017-12-26 | CANADA: As a response to new developments there, this territory was carved out of the Northwest Territories in 1898 the Yukon Territory |
#7661, aired 2017-12-25 | AUTHORS: A prefatory poem he wrote to one of his novels tells of "the dream-child moving through a land of wonders wild and new" Lewis Carroll |
#7660, aired 2017-12-22 | RECORD LABELS: This label, home to U2 & Bob Marley, was created, fittingly, in Jamaica with an investment of 1,000 pounds sterling Island Records |
#7659, aired 2017-12-21 | ADVERTISING CHARACTERS: This brand was looking for a Hemingway type when it hired Jonathan Goldsmith for its commercials Dos Equis |
#7658, aired 2017-12-20 | EUROPEAN COUNTRIES: This country's last 3 queens abdicated in favor of their children the Netherlands |
#7657, aired 2017-12-19 | WORLD WAR II: The book "From the Volcano to the Gorge" tells the story of this World War II battle Iwo Jima |
#7656, aired 2017-12-18 | ART: Perhaps bought from a Sears catalog, a window for an 1880s farmhouse inspired the name of this 1930 painting American Gothic |
#7655, aired 2017-12-15 | MOVIE SETTINGS: The setting for this 1994 Oscar-winning animated film was inspired by Kenya's Hell's Gate National Park The Lion King |
#7654, aired 2017-12-14 | AMERICANA: In 2016 the Wingfoot Two, one of these, was christened near Akron a blimp |
#7653, aired 2017-12-13 | WORLD LITERATURE: In a 1967 novel this Nobel Prize winner wrote, "The secret of a good old age is simply an honorable pact with solitude" Gabriel García Márquez |
#7652, aired 2017-12-12 | FRENCH CITIES: The name of this city in the Département du Nord comes from the Flemish for "church of the dunes" Dunkirk |
#7651, aired 2017-12-11 | ANCIENT SYMBOLS: Taiji, the Great Ultimate, is the source of this pair that's represented by the colors orange & azure respectively yin and yang |
#7650, aired 2017-12-08 | PRIMETIME TV ACTRESSES: On the beat since 1999, she plays the longest-running female character currently on TV in a primetime non-animated series Mariska Hargitay |
#7649, aired 2017-12-07 | TIME MAGAZINE'S PERSON OF THE YEAR: Since "Man of the Year" became "Person of the Year" in 1999, only 1 individual woman has won: this European for 2015 Angela Merkel |
#7648, aired 2017-12-06 | REFERENCE BOOKS: This manual resulted from a military engineer's attendance at an unruly 1860s church meeting Robert's Rules of Order |
#7647, aired 2017-12-05 | 19th CENTURY EUROPE: This 1814-1815 gathering of leaders prompted Beethoven to compose the cantata "The Glorious Moment" the Congress of Vienna |
#7646, aired 2017-12-04 | CHILDREN'S BOOKS: For this series of picture books that started in 1987, each crowd scene takes about 8 weeks to illustrate Where's Waldo? |
#7645, aired 2017-12-01 | HISTORIC WORLD BUILDINGS: Rome's Colosseum may have gotten its name because of a colossal circa 65 A.D. statue of this emperor erected nearby Nero |
#7644, aired 2017-11-30 | WORLD FLAGS & THE BIBLE: The central image on the flag of this nation is a symbol of strength in Psalm 92 & a prized building material in I Kings 5 Lebanon |
#7643, aired 2017-11-29 | FAMILIAR PHRASES: In the 1870s this phrase meant a hairdo, using a British word for bangs; now it's an extreme group on the edge of a cause a lunatic fringe |
#7642, aired 2017-11-28 | VIDEO GAMES: The desire in his childhood to catch every insect inspired Satoshi Tajiri to create this 1996 game Pokémon |
#7641, aired 2017-11-27 | GERMAN GEOGRAPHY: Of Germany's 16 states, these 2 at opposite ends of the country begin with the same letter & are the largest & smallest Bavaria & Bremen |
#7640, aired 2017-11-24 | NOVEL TITLE CHARACTERS: One orphan arriving before him was given the surname Swubble; some arriving later were to be Unwin & Vilkins Oliver Twist |
#7639, aired 2017-11-23 | TURKEY WITH THE TRIMMINGS: Of the 8 countries that border Turkey, these 2 extend the farthest east & west Iran and Greece |
#7638, aired 2017-11-22 | THE CALENDAR: November 2017 is in the year 1439 AH in the calendar that dates from an action of this religious figure Muhammad |
#7637, aired 2017-11-21 | CLASSIC ALBUMS: Hailed as the "greatest album of all time", in 2017 it returned to the top of the charts 50 years after its first release Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band |
#7636, aired 2017-11-20 | FAMOUS NAMES: She declared, "By blood, I am Albanian... as to my calling, I belong to the world" Mother Teresa |
#7635, aired 2017-11-17 | STATE CAPITALS: A state capital since 1805, its name begins with the last 4 letters of the state's name Montpelier |
#7634, aired 2017-11-16 | INVENTIONS: When Time Magazine named it Invention of the Year in 2007, it was described as too slow, too big, pretty & touchy-feely the iPhone |
#7633, aired 2017-11-15 | HISTORIC NAMES: In 2013 the village of Belrain renamed the last street in France that bore the name of this hero who became a traitor Maréchal Philippe Petain |
#7632, aired 2017-11-14 | THEATRE: Despite objections from the playwright's estate, a 1991 French production of this 1952 play had a small all-female cast instead of male Waiting for Godot |
#7631, aired 2017-11-13 | VICE PRESIDENTS: A biography of this 19th century VP traces his family to a German town made famous in a folk tale about children Hannibal Hamlin |
#7630, aired 2017-11-10 | AWARDS & HONORS: The Victoria Cross is for military bravery; this cross first given in 1940 & named for Victoria's great-grandson is for civilian bravery the George Cross |
#7629, aired 2017-11-09 | THE GREAT DEPRESSION: A street-corner occupation that saved many in the Depression was aided by a 1930 tops-in-the-U.S. crop in this state Washington |
#7628, aired 2017-11-08 | 19th CENTURY POETS: In 1824 he was refused burial in Westminster Abbey for "questionable morality"; in 1969 he got a memorial stone there Lord Byron |
#7627, aired 2017-11-07 | LANDLOCKED COUNTRIES: South of the Tropic of Capricorn, this kingdom is the world's southernmost landlocked country Lesotho |
#7626, aired 2017-11-06 | MUSIC & HISTORY: This 1880 piece was written more than 6 decades after the Battle of Borodino, the conflict it commemorates the 1812 Overture |
#7625, aired 2017-11-03 | WORLD CAPITALS: The world's highest international airport, at an elevation of over 13,000', serves this South American capital city La Paz, Bolivia |
#7624, aired 2017-11-02 | U.S. HISTORY: Only 4 men have been both VP & president & served in both houses of Congress; 2 of them shared this last name Johnson |
#7623, aired 2017-11-01 | THE OSCARS: For 1992, this New Yorker was the first man with 2 acting Oscar nominations in the same year for different films Al Pacino |
#7622, aired 2017-10-31 | LETTER PERFECT: George Eastman called it "a strong, incisive sort of letter" K |
#7621, aired 2017-10-30 | 19th CENTURY LITERATURE: This 1870 novel has a ship whose name is from the Greek for "sailor" & a captain whose name is Latin for "no one" Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea |
#7620, aired 2017-10-27 | THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE: The Mopan River flows about 20 miles from the capital of this country Belize |
#7619, aired 2017-10-26 | BOARD GAMES: An early edition of this game that debuted in 1949 says that it's "the great new Sherlock Holmes game" Clue |
#7618, aired 2017-10-25 | AMERICANA: The tiny town of Cayce, Kentucky was the home & supplied the nickname of a man famous in this job an engineer |
#7617, aired 2017-10-24 | ETYMOLOGY: This 8-letter word meaning "cultured" or "intellectual" originated with a phrenology concept highbrow |
#7616, aired 2017-10-23 | ENGLISH LITERATURE: Much of this novel takes place on the island of Despair, off the coast of South America, from 1659 to 1686 Robinson Crusoe |
#7615, aired 2017-10-20 | BRITISH MONARCHS: Her marriage to a European crown prince in the 16th century added Queen of Naples & Queen of Jerusalem to her titles Queen Mary I |
#7614, aired 2017-10-19 | OSCAR WINNERS: He's the only actor to win 3 Best Actor Oscars, the most recent for his portrayal of a U.S. president Daniel Day-Lewis |
#7613, aired 2017-10-18 | HISTORIC CONNECTIONS: A 1796 medical experiment with an English farm girl ultimately led to this breakthrough announced in Geneva May 8, 1980 the eradication of smallpox |
#7612, aired 2017-10-17 | ASIAN GEOGRAPHY: It's the only country that borders both the Caspian Sea & the Persian Gulf Iran |
#7611, aired 2017-10-16 | BIG BUSINESS: In 2000 this company reported revenues of more than $100 billion; in 2001 it was bankrupt Enron |
#7610, aired 2017-10-13 | FLAGS OF THE WORLD: The flag of Laos shows the white circle of the moon over the blue band, representing this river the Mekong River |
#7609, aired 2017-10-12 | MOVIE HISTORY: A 1947 FBI study chided this holiday film's "attempt to discredit bankers ...a common trick used by Communists" It's A Wonderful Life |
#7608, aired 2017-10-11 | VISUAL VOCABULARY: A Latin word for a sea creature, in photography, it's a color that conveys nostalgia sepia |
#7607, aired 2017-10-10 | 20th CENTURY NOVELS: The protagonist of this novel "was fairly sure that his age was 39, and he believed that he had been born in 1944 or 1945" 1984 |
#7606, aired 2017-10-09 | HISTORICAL AREAS: An ancient quote mentions this area & 3 population groups, the Belgae, Aquitani & Celts Gaul |
#7605, aired 2017-10-06 | COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD: They begin with the same 3 letters: the most densely populated country in Europe & the least densely populated in Asia Monaco and Mongolia |
#7604, aired 2017-10-05 | ACTORS & THEIR MOVIE ROLES: He played Shakespearean title characters 4 times, receiving Best Actor Oscar nominations each time Laurence Olivier |
#7603, aired 2017-10-04 | AMERICAN PLAYS: The latitude & longitude given by the narrator of this 1938 play would set it in Massachusetts, not New Hampshire Our Town |
#7602, aired 2017-10-03 | 20th CENTURY WORLD LEADERS: He said, "Never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another" Nelson Mandela |
#7601, aired 2017-10-02 | AMERICAN ARTISTS: This artist from Iowa once said, "All the really good ideas I'd ever had came to me while I was milking a cow" Grant Wood |
#7600, aired 2017-09-29 | 19th CENTURY PEOPLE: On June 28, 1838 an archbishop jammed a ring made for her little finger onto her 4th; she had to soak it in ice water to get it off Queen Victoria |
#7599, aired 2017-09-28 | THE NORTHEASTERN U.S.: Once its own city, it joined with a neighbor in 1898; today on its own it would be the 4th most populous city in the U.S. Brooklyn, New York |
#7598, aired 2017-09-27 | AMERICAN WOMEN: A collection of her writings includes letters to her famous husband & articles like "Eulogy on the Flapper" Zelda Fitzgerald |
#7597, aired 2017-09-26 | FICTIONAL CHARACTERS: At the Women in I.T. Awards in 2017, the head of MI-6 said today the real version of the character known by this letter is female Q |
#7596, aired 2017-09-25 | BRITISH POETS: The statue of a sailor seen here in Watchet, England is based on a famous poem by this man Samuel Taylor Coleridge |
#7595, aired 2017-09-22 | POETS: In an 1855 poem he wrote, "I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven" Walt Whitman |
#7594, aired 2017-09-21 | COMIC BOOKS: Told to create a character called this, Len Wein learned the real animal is short, hairy & will attack an enemy 10 times its size Wolverine |
#7593, aired 2017-09-20 | U.S. POSTAL ABBREVIATIONS: In 1969 the "B" in this state's abbreviation was changed to an "E" to avoid confusion with a Canadian province Nebraska |
#7592, aired 2017-09-19 | POTENT & NONPOTENT POTABLES: Reverse the 2 words in the name of this Canadian whisky brand & you get the name of a cola Crown Royal or Royal Crown |
#7591, aired 2017-09-18 | THE OLD TESTAMENT: Consisting of 21 verses, the book of this minor prophet, whose name means "servant of God", is the shortest Obadiah |
#7590, aired 2017-09-15 | GLOBAL ORGANIZATIONS: "Connecting police for a safer world" is the motto of this 190-member organization Interpol |
#7589, aired 2017-09-14 | BUSINESSMEN: The corporation of this British man got its name from his early inexperience in business Richard Branson |
#7588, aired 2017-09-13 | ANCIENT HISTORY: Battles at Trebbia & Trasimene were among the victories of this man who was born in Africa & died near the Black Sea Hannibal |
#7587, aired 2017-09-12 | 21st CENTURY GRAMMYS: This singer has won Album, Record & Song of the Year twice, the only artist to do so Adele |
#7586, aired 2017-09-11 | ARTISTS & AUTHORS: In 1929 Georgia O'Keeffe painted the tree in New Mexico under which this British-born author used to write D.H. Lawrence |