| #54, aired 2025-06-04 | ISLAND COUNTRIES: The only U.N. member state named for a woman, it's named for a 4th century Sicilian martyr Saint Lucia |
| #53, aired 2025-06-04 | MEDIEVAL TIMES: A vassal-lord bond had 2 parts: in homage the vassal swore to serve, & in this other 6-letter word the vassal also swore, to be loyal fealty |
| #52, aired 2025-05-28 | MEDICAL WORDS: Charles Richet coined this term for a bad response to an antigen; the N-A was a late add to make it better-sounding (& harder to spell) anaphylaxis |
| #51, aired 2025-05-28 | WORLD CAPITALS: With a metro area of more than 9 million, this port city founded in 1576 is the world's most populous Portuguese-speaking capital Luanda (Angola) |
| #50, aired 2025-05-27 | BRITISH HISTORY: When New Amsterdam was taken by the British, he was on the throne of England, but the city was renamed for his brother Charles II |
| #49, aired 2025-05-27 | 20th CENTURY FICTION: The title of this 1959 work refers to a record given to graduating seniors at Ohio State University Goodbye, Columbus (by Philip Roth) |
| #48, aired 2025-05-21 | THE PRESIDENCY: Continuing his tradition of vetoes as a mayor & as a governor, he trails only FDR in total vetoes as president Grover Cleveland |
| #47, aired 2025-05-21 | PORTMANTEAU WORDS: A play on a portmanteau coined in 2012, this 7-letter word is now used to describe a similar U.K. headline from 1973 Brentry |
| #46, aired 2025-05-20 | COLONIAL AMERICA: This group formed in 1770, first to defend land grants in New England; later, it would assert independence for its region the Green Mountain Boys |
| #45, aired 2025-05-20 | BOOK TITLES: The journey in the title of this 1878 novel is from Paris to "the vast tract of unenclosed wild known as Egdon Heath" Return of the Native (by Thomas Hardy) |
| #44, aired 2025-05-14 | AMERICAN COMPOSERS: After he died in 1990 at age 90, his ashes were scattered at Tanglewood, where he taught for 25 years & where his music was performed Aaron Copland |
| #43, aired 2025-05-14 | 18th CENTURY SCIENCE: Naturalist the Count de Buffon mocked N. & S. American animals, like "this elephant of the New World... the size of a very small mule" the tapir |
| #42, aired 2025-05-07 | ART HISTORY: "Hide & Seek" & "The Cradle" by this French artist were among the 200 or so works shown at a gallery on blvd. des Capucines in 1874 Berthe Morisot |
| #41, aired 2025-05-07 | SAINTS: This saint who helped convert Scotland to Christianity shares his name with the Latin word for an animal sent out 3 times by Noah St. Columba |
| #40, aired 2025-04-30 | WORLD LITERATURE: A follow-up to an earlier work, this 1671 effort references eventual triumphs written of in the book of Job & the gospels Paradise Regained |
| #39, aired 2025-04-30 | EUROPE: Words meaning "water's edge" are one suggested etymology of this city, once capital of the province of Aquitania Bordeaux |
| #38, aired 2024-05-22 | AMERICAN WOMEN: The New York Times wrote of this woman who had died in 1951, "Though she was forgotten at the time, part of her remained alive" Henrietta Lacks |
| #37, aired 2024-05-22 | POLITICIANS: This man was the 1st to be governor of one state & then senator from another; 173 years later, Mitt Romney became the second Sam Houston |
| #36, aired 2024-05-20 | 21st CENTURY LITERARY CHARACTERS: The last name adopted by Damon Fields, the title character of this novel, refers to his red hair Demon Copperhead |
| #35, aired 2024-05-20 | METALLIC ELEMENTS: As it's rarely found in pure form, one explanation of its name is that it comes from Greek for "not alone" or "not one" antimony |
| #34, aired 2024-05-17 | ALSO SEEN AT THE CIRCUS: FDR gets credit for implementing this as a concept in the U.S. & the metaphor was used by FDR Jr., running for office in 1966 safety net |
| #33, aired 2024-05-17 | NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE: In 1612 John Smith published a Powhatan word list including these 2 words familiar to us today, one worn in pairs & one wielded moccasins & tomahawk |
| #32, aired 2024-05-15 | SHORT STORIES: "Down--steadily down it crept... downward with its lateral velocity. To the right--to the left" is in this 1842 tale "The Pit and the Pendulum" |
| #31, aired 2024-05-15 | MILITARY PEOPLE: In April 2020 Chief Master Sergeant Roger Towberman became the first enlisted member of this Space Force |
| #30, aired 2024-05-13 | ANAGRAMS: One is a procedure foundational to computer science; the other was made in large part obsolete by computers algorithm & logarithm |
| #29, aired 2024-05-13 | AROUND THE WORLD: Almost twice the size of Texas but with the population of Lubbock, this part of Australia rejected statehood in a 1998 referendum the Northern Territory |
| #28, aired 2024-05-10 | THE AMERICAN THEATER: Director & author, their 1960 rift over a new play set in the South ended "the most important... collaboration" of 20th century U.S. theater Elia Kazan & Tennessee Williams |
| #27, aired 2024-05-10 | THE 20th CENTURY: Hearing about the speech that launched this eponymous process, the head of the CIA wondered if Nikita Khrushchev had been drunk destalinization |
| #26, aired 2024-05-08 | FAMOUS LAST WORDS: In 1530 he made his last confession & wished that "I had served God as diligently as I have done the king" Cardinal Wolsey |
| #25, aired 2024-05-08 | THE THEATER: This show debuted December 30, 1879 in a theater on the Devon coast, with the cast in costumes from a related show The Pirates of Penzance |
| #24, aired 2024-05-06 | 20th CENTURY WRITERS: Becoming a British subject in 1927, he described himself as a classicist in literature, royalist in politics & Anglo-Catholic in religion T.S. Eliot |
| #23, aired 2024-05-06 | 20th CENTURY LEADERS: 1 of the "Big Four" at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference & a former journalist, he'd supported the Impressionists & Alfred Dreyfus Clemenceau |
| #22, aired 2024-05-01 | WORLD HERITAGE SITES: This entire capital is a World Heritage Site "linked to the history of the Military & Charitable Order of St. John of Jerusalem" Valletta |
| #21, aired 2024-05-01 | LATIN SCIENCE TERMS: In 1694 the latest in bio-knowledge was Tournefort's "Elements of Botany" listing 698 of these, like Ambrosia & Chrysanthemum genera |
| #20, aired 2023-05-24 | LATIN IN LITERATURE: A work by this 15th century English writer quotes the phrase "rex quondam rexque futurus" Thomas Malory |
| #19, aired 2023-05-24 | AFRICA: A major seaport & formerly a world capital, this city has a name from Arabic for "house of peace" Dar es Salaam |
| #18, aired 2023-05-23 | OPERA & HISTORY: Appropriately, the last performance at the Vienna State Opera before it was destroyed in 1945 by Allied bombs was this opera from 1876 Götterdämmerung |
| #17, aired 2023-05-23 | REAL PEOPLE IN SHAKESPEARE: In Shakespeare this man is a rival of Prince Hal; in real life he was older than Hal's father Hotspur |
| #16, aired 2023-05-22 | HISTORIC SHIPS: This 16th century ship got its name from the crest of patron Christopher Hatton, which featured a deer the Golden Hind |
| #15, aired 2023-05-22 | LITERATURE: In reviewing this novel, Carl Jung said it took place in one single & senseless day "on which, in all truth, nothing happens" Ulysses |
| #14, aired 2023-05-17 | 20th CENTURY FRENCH AUTHORS: He said a famous book of his was inspired by a visit to the zoo, where he observed the gorillas' humanlike expressions Pierre Boulle (author of Planet of the Apes) |
| #13, aired 2023-05-17 | THE LAKE SHOW: 12 years before meeting Stanley at Lake Tanganyika, David Livingstone reached this national body of water in 1859 Lake Malawi |
| #12, aired 2023-05-16 | LANDMARKS: For more than a millennium, a huge embroidered work known as the Kiswa has been used to adorn & protect this structure the Kaaba |
| #11, aired 2023-05-16 | WORLD CITIES: This capital city founded in 1567 was where the founding statute of OPEC was adopted in 1961 Caracas |
| #10, aired 2023-05-15 | 19th CENTURY FIRST LADIES: After her husband left office, a minister wrote the White House was "purer because" this first lady "has been its mistress" Lucy Hayes ("Lemonade Lucy") |
| #9, aired 2023-05-15 | THE U.S. GOVERNMENT: Not a department head but of Cabinet rank, the person in this post has had an official residence in a 42nd floor Park Avenue penthouse ambassador to the United Nations |
| #8, aired 2023-05-12 | FICTIONAL PLACES: The dominions of this land "extend five thousand blustrugs (about twelve miles in circumference)" Lilliput |
| #7, aired 2023-05-12 | NEW ENGLAND WOMEN: At her funeral in 1936, it was said that "The touch of her hand... literally emancipated a soul" Annie Sullivan |
| #6, aired 2023-05-10 | HISTORIC HOMES: This residence is part of an estate that includes Ballochbuie Forest, a remnant of the ancient Caledonian pine forest Balmoral |
| #5, aired 2023-05-10 | THE FIRST MILLENNIUM: In 303, to celebrate 20 years of his reign, the emperor Diocletian visited this city for the first time Rome |
| #4, aired 2023-05-09 | WESTERN HEMISPHERE HISTORY: In 1915 the assassination of President Sam brought Uncle Sam to this country, beginning a 19-year military occupation Haiti |
| #3, aired 2023-05-09 | 21st CENTURY AUTHORS: Once a journalist himself, he began his first novel with his hero being fined 150,000 kronor for aggravated libel Stieg Larsson |
| #2, aired 2023-05-08 | USA: Opened in 1909 & less famous than an older neighbor, it connects Brooklyn & Chinatown the Manhattan Bridge |
| #1, aired 2023-05-08 | POETRY: A colossal head of Ramses II brought to the British Museum inspired this 1818 poem "Ozymandias" |
