#18, aired 2022-02-22 | THE 19th CENTURY: An 1873 book title gave us this phrase for the period in the late 1800s of growth & prosperity & also greed & corruption the Gilded Age |
#17, aired 2022-02-22 | THE PERIODIC TABLE: By 1890, discoveries of 3 "nationalist elements" filled table gaps: scandium in Sweden, germanium in Germany, this in France gallium |
#16, aired 2022-02-18 | CHARACTERS IN BANNED BOOKS: Introduced in 1928, this character has a disappointing affair with a writer before she begins a more satisfying relationship Lady Chatterley |
#15, aired 2022-02-18 | HISTORIC STRUCTURES: In 1100 the Bishop of Durham became the first prisoner here &, after plying his guards with wine, became the first to escape the Tower of London |
#14, aired 2022-02-17 | WORDS FROM MYTHOLOGY: A 1525 textbook on anatomy says this, being "so different of colours", could also be called "rain bowys" iris |
#13, aired 2022-02-17 | WESTERN HEMISPHERE COUNTRIES: In 1882, when these 2 countries' border was settled, a minister in the southern one quit in protest out of loyalty to Central America Mexico & Guatemala |
#12, aired 2022-02-16 | COMPOUND WORDS: The OED says this 9-letter word is literary & poetic, & it appears 11 times in an 1845 American poem, including as the last word nevermore |
#11, aired 2022-02-16 | HOLIDAYS & OBSERVANCES: The first national observance of Memorial Day was held May 30, 1868 at this site, on land that had belonged to Robert E. Lee's wife Arlington National Cemetery |
#10, aired 2022-02-15 | RECENT BIOGRAPHIES: A 2021 book about his "Misunderstood Reign" argues that he hated slavery & actually suffered from bipolar disorder George III |
#9, aired 2022-02-15 | PHYSICISTS: A 1927 principle by this Nobel Prize winner says that some knowledge is inaccessible Werner Heisenberg |
#8, aired 2022-02-11 | EUROPEAN GEOGRAPHY: This country, the largest in area entirely within Europe, borders the largest country in the world Ukraine |
#7, aired 2022-02-11 | WORD ORIGINS: In 1793 a French clergyman called the destruction of libraries & sculptures this, using the name of a 5th century tribe vandalism |
#6, aired 2022-02-10 | POETRY: It contains the line "whereat In either hand the hastening Angel caught Our lingering parents, & to the eastern gate Led them direct" Paradise Lost |
#5, aired 2022-02-10 | WORLD GEOGRAPHY: About 200 miles of the Tyrrhenian Sea separates the cities of Cagliari & Trapani in these 2 "regioni autonome" of Italy Sardinia & Sicily |
#4, aired 2022-02-09 | 20th CENTURY LEADERS: He's called "a flame of inspiration in freedom's darkest hour" in the proclamation making him an honorary U.S. citizen Winston Churchill |
#3, aired 2022-02-09 | USA: In 2012 these 2 neighboring states celebrated the centennial of their admission to the Union Arizona & New Mexico |
#2, aired 2022-02-08 | BIOLOGICAL ETYMOLOGY: Dionaea, the genus of this plant, is a reference to the Greek goddess Aphrodite, the daughter of Dione the Venus flytrap |
#1, aired 2022-02-08 | AMERICAN HISTORY: One theory says Charles T. Torrey, a worker on this, coined its name, which appeared in The Liberator on October 14, 1842 the Underground Railroad |