Stories that echoed in real life
0Loading crowd target
Questions and sources
Stories That Echoed in Real Life — Daily trivia Tuesday, October 6, 2026: questions and answers
All 10 questions with answers and explanations. Play this daily
Q 01A novella about an 'unsinkable' liner that hits an April iceberg came out 14 years before which disaster?
- ALusitania
- BBritannic
- CTitanic
- DAndrea Doria
Show answer
Titanic
Titanic. The novella's liner was named the Titan, and like the real ship it carried too few lifeboats for everyone aboard.
Q 02A sperm whale rammed and sank a real whaleship just before which novel came out?
- AMoby-Dick
- BTreasure Island
- CRobinson Crusoe
- DThe Old Man and the Sea
Show answer
Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick. Hearing the news, Herman Melville wrote to a friend wondering whether his 'evil art' had raised this monster.
Q 03Which author launched moon travellers from a giant Florida cannon, a century before Apollo?
- ARobert Louis Stevenson
- BMary Shelley
- CEdgar Allan Poe
- DJules Verne
Show answer
Jules Verne
Jules Verne. Flying home, Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong told TV viewers that Verne's travellers also left from Florida and came down in the Pacific.
Q 04Seven years before 9/11, which author's thriller ended with a jetliner crashing into the US Capitol?
- AStephen King
- BTom Clancy
- CJohn Grisham
- DMichael Crichton
Show answer
Tom Clancy
Tom Clancy. In Debt of Honor the crash kills the president and most of Congress, leaving his hero Jack Ryan as president.
Q 05In a story published just before WWI, Arthur Conan Doyle had which weapon starve Britain into surrender?
- ASubmarines
- BZeppelins
- CBattleships
- DPoison gas
Show answer
Submarines
Submarines. Doyle meant it as a warning, yet a German admiral later told a parliamentary inquiry the story described U-boat warfare 'in an absolutely masterly manner'.
Q 06Which police weapon's name is a loose acronym of a boys' adventure novel's title?
- AGlock
- BMace
- CTaser
- DColt
Show answer
Taser
Taser, for 'Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle'. Inventor Jack Cover took it from a favourite childhood book, apparently adding the 'A' himself.
Q 07Which meal-replacement drink took its name from the food in a novel about overpopulation?
- AHuel
- BEnsure
- CSlimFast
- DSoylent
Show answer
Soylent
Soylent. In the novel, soylent steaks were soy and lentils; the film version, Soylent Green, made the food out of people.
Q 08In Mark Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson, which evidence unmasks a killer, years before any US murder trial relied on it?
- ABlood types
- BFootprints
- CHandwriting
- DFingerprints
Show answer
Fingerprints
Fingerprints. The town had branded Wilson a 'pudd'nhead' over a joke about owning half a dog; his fingerprint hobby then won the case.
Q 09A physicist conceived the nuclear chain reaction a year after reading which H.G. Wells novel?
- AThe War of the Worlds
- BThe World Set Free
- CThe Time Machine
- DThe Invisible Man
Show answer
The World Set Free
The World Set Free. Its 'atomic bombs' kept exploding long after they fell, leaving the old battlefields radioactive for years.
Q 10In Gulliver's Travels, which land's astronomers described Mars's two moons about 150 years before telescopes found them?
- ALilliput
- BBrobdingnag
- CLaputa
- DHouyhnhnm Land
Show answer
Laputa
Laputa, Swift's flying island of scholars. Deimos, one of the real moons, now has craters named Swift and Voltaire.
How to play
- One question at a time, four options. Tap an answer to lock it in.
- You see the answer and a short explanation right away.
- Harder questions and faster answers earn more points. Share your score at the end.