119 Fun Facts About Boy Scout

Who founded the Scout movement in 1907?

Robert Baden-Powell, a British Army lieutenant-general, founded Scouting; he tested his ideas with an experimental camp for about 20 boys in August 1907.

Where in Poole Harbour did the first experimental Scout camp take place in August 1907?

Brownsea Island, in Poole Harbour, hosted Baden-Powell's experimental camp of about 20 boys from 1 to 8 August 1907, its isolation keeping the press away.

How was each day at the 1907 experimental camp begun?

A blast on a kudu horn woke the camp each morning; Baden-Powell had taken the horn during the 1896 Matabele campaign in what is now Zimbabwe.

Which of these was NOT one of the four patrols at the 1907 experimental camp?

Otters was not a patrol; the 1907 camp's four patrols were Wolves, Ravens, Curlews and Bulls, each marked by a coloured shoulder knot.

Which Boer War siege made Baden-Powell a national hero in Britain?

Mafeking, besieged for 217 days in 1899-1900, made Baden-Powell famous; a cadet corps of boys aged 12 to 15 carried messages there, an idea he later reused.

Baden-Powell's founding handbook, published in 1908, was titled what?

Scouting for Boys, first issued in early 1908, recast Baden-Powell's military scouting methods as games and outdoor skills for boys and became one of the century's best-sellers.

How was Baden-Powell's 1908 handbook first published?

The parts sold so well that they were bound into a book on 1 May 1908; well over 100 million copies have been printed since.

Where did Baden-Powell spend his final years and die in 1941?

Nyeri, Kenya: Baden-Powell retired there in 1938 and died on 8 January 1941; he is buried in the town's St Peter's churchyard.

What symbol on Baden-Powell's gravestone is the trail sign for "I have gone home"?

The Kenyan government declared the grave a national monument in 2001.

With which family member did Baden-Powell start the Girl Guides Association in 1910?

His sister Agnes Baden-Powell led the Girl Guides from 1910, after girls calling themselves 'Girl Scouts' turned up at the September 1909 Crystal Palace rally.

In BSA legend, an 'Unknown Scout' helped Chicago publisher William Boyce find his way in which city?

London: in 1909 a boy guided Chicago publisher William D. Boyce to his destination in the city and refused a tip, saying Scouts do a good turn daily.

Which detail of the Unknown Scout legend do weather records contradict?

That London was foggy that day: the handbook version has Boyce lost in dense fog, but weather records for his 1909 London visit show no fog.

On what date was the Boy Scouts of America incorporated?

February 8, 1910: Chicago publisher William D. Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America on that date, which Scouts mark each year as the organisation's birthday.

Who became the BSA's first Chief Scout Executive in 1911?

James E. West, a Washington lawyer, took the post in January 1911 and served as Chief Scout Executive until his retirement in 1943, 32 years.

Which naturalist and author, founder of the Woodcraft Indians, was the BSA's first Chief Scout?

Ernest Thompson Seton, who founded the Woodcraft Indians in 1902, was the BSA's Chief Scout from 1910 to 1915 and wrote much of its first handbook.

Which president signed the BSA's federal charter on June 15, 1916?

Woodrow Wilson signed the Boy Scouts of America's federal charter on June 15, 1916, giving the BSA exclusive rights to its name, badges and emblems.

How does the Scout Oath begin?

On my honor, I will do my best: the Scout Oath continues 'to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law'.

How many points does the BSA Scout Law contain?

12: the BSA Scout Law has twelve points; Baden-Powell's 1908 original had nine, and the Americans added brave, clean and reverent.

Which is the FIRST point of the Scout Law?

Trustworthy: the BSA Scout Law opens 'A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent'.

Per the original US handbook, the Scout Law drew on the code of which Japanese warriors?

The Samurai: the 1911 BSA Handbook for Boys said the Scout Law drew on Japan's Bushido code alongside the chivalry of medieval European knights.

What is the Scout motto?

Be Prepared is the Scout motto, chosen by Baden-Powell and sharing his initials; 'Do a Good Turn Daily' is the BSA slogan and 'Do Your Best' the Cub Scout motto.

How many fingers are raised in the Scout sign and salute?

Baden-Powell specified the thumb resting on the nail of the little finger, with the three others pointing up.

Which hand do Scouts around the world use for their handshake?

One popular origin story has Ashanti chiefs offering Baden-Powell their left hands, since a warrior had to lower his shield to do so.

What is the highest rank in Scouts BSA?

Eagle Scout is the top rank in Scouts BSA; the award was introduced in 1911, first earned in 1912, and requires a leadership service project.

Which rank comes immediately BEFORE Eagle in the Scouts BSA progression?

Life is the rank just below Eagle; until 1924 the order was reversed, with Life ranking below Star, and both began as merit-badge milestones rather than ranks.

How many merit badges must a Scout earn, at minimum, to become an Eagle Scout?

21: an Eagle candidate needs at least 21 merit badges, most from the Eagle-required list; the 1972 Improved Scouting Program briefly raised the total to 24.

Who received the first Eagle Scout award, in 1912?

Baden-Powell himself sat on his board of review, having landed in the United States earlier that day.

Before it was renamed in August 1911, the BSA's highest award was going to be called what?

The medal drawn in the handbook showed an eagle in flight, but the design changed again before any were issued.

Which colour Eagle Palm represents ten extra merit badges?

Gold: Eagle Palms, introduced in 1927, run Bronze for five extra merit badges, Gold for ten and Silver for fifteen.

Which of these Moon-walkers earned Eagle Scout as a boy?

Neil Armstrong earned Eagle Scout in Wapakoneta, Ohio, and carried a World Scout badge aboard Apollo 11 in 1969; Charles Duke and Jim Lovell were also Eagle Scouts.

Which US president was an Eagle Scout?

Gerald Ford earned Eagle Scout in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1927, the first Eagle Scout to become US president.

Which of these film directors is an Eagle Scout?

Steven Spielberg earned Eagle Scout as a teenager in Arizona and later helped the BSA create its Cinematography merit badge in 1989.

What do the three points of the fleur-de-lis on the World Scout Emblem represent?

The three parts of the Scout Promise: Baden-Powell said the fleur-de-lis's three points stand for duty to God and country, helping others and obeying the Scout Law.

How can you tell an Eagle-required merit badge patch from an elective one?

It has a silver border: Eagle-required merit badges carry a silver border on the patch, while elective badges have a green one.

The BSA's honor society for experienced campers is called what?

Order of the Arrow, founded in 1915, is the BSA's national honor society; members, known as Arrowmen, are elected by the youth of their own units.

At which camp on the Delaware River was the BSA's honor society founded in 1915?

Its original name, Wimachtendienk Wingolauchsik Witahemui, was based on the Lenape dialect.

In which state is Philmont Scout Ranch?

New Mexico: Philmont Scout Ranch covers about 140,000 acres of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Cimarron, in the north-east of the state.

Which oil baron donated the land that became Philmont Scout Ranch?

Waite Phillips, a Tulsa oilman, gave the BSA 35,857 acres in 1938 and a further 91,538 acres in 1941, creating Philmont Scout Ranch.

What is the name of Philmont's most recognisable landmark, a dacite monolith on an east-west ridge?

Tooth of Time, a dacite monolith on Philmont's east-west ridge, reputedly told Santa Fe Trail travellers they had about a week of travel left to Santa Fe.

Which is NOT one of the BSA's four national high-adventure bases?

Camp Wilderness is not one; the four national high-adventure bases are Philmont, Northern Tier, Florida Sea Base and the Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia.

Where was the first BSA National Jamboree held in 1937?

Washington, D.C.: the first National Jamboree camped around the Washington Monument in 1937, two years after a polio outbreak forced the planned 1935 jamboree's cancellation.

Where was the first World Scout Jamboree held in 1920?

Olympia, London: the 1920 jamboree filled the Olympia exhibition hall in Kensington with about 8,000 Scouts from 34 countries, and Baden-Powell was acclaimed Chief Scout of the World.

The 2023 World Scout Jamboree in South Korea was cut short by what?

A heat wave then a tropical storm: hundreds were treated for heat illness, and the approach of Typhoon Khanun forced the Saemangeum site to be evacuated on 8 August 2023.

Which city was chosen to host the 26th World Scout Jamboree in 2027?

Gdańsk, Poland was selected by the 2021 World Scout Conference to host the 26th World Scout Jamboree in 2027, the first jamboree held in Poland.

In what year was the World Organization of the Scout Movement established?

1922: the World Organization of the Scout Movement dates from the 1922 International Scout Conference in Paris, which adopted its first constitution.

Which Kipling stories supplied the Akela and Baloo roles used in Cub Scouting?

The Jungle Book: Baden-Powell, a friend of Kipling, borrowed Akela the wolf and Baloo the bear from it when he launched the Wolf Cubs in 1916.

Per a 1954 Cub handbook, the name Webelos was originally formed from the initials of which words?

Wolf, Bear, Lion, Scout: the 1954 handbook derived Webelos from the three Cub ranks plus Scout; it was later reinterpreted as 'We'll Be Loyal Scouts'.

Which Cub Scout rank, dropped in 1967, was later revived as a kindergarten programme?

Lion, the old rank for 11-year-old Cubs, was dropped in 1967 and returned in the 2010s as a kindergarten programme in which each Lion has an adult partner.

In what year did the BSA formally recognise Cub Scouting?

1930: after years of unofficial 'Cubbing' experiments, the BSA formally launched Cub Scouting in 1930 for boys aged 9 to 11.

The first Pinewood Derby was held in 1953 in which California city?

Manhattan Beach, California: Cubmaster Don Murphy ran the first Pinewood Derby there for Pack 280C in May 1953, sponsored by North American Aviation's Management Club.

Under standard BSA Pinewood Derby rules, a finished car usually may not exceed what weight?

Five ounces: standard BSA Pinewood Derby rules cap a finished car at 5.0 ounces, and the kit supplies a pine block, four plastic wheels and four nail axles.

Under what name did the BSA begin doing business on February 8, 2025?

The legal name is unchanged, as is the flagship programme's name, Scouts BSA, adopted in 2019 when girls were admitted.

What is the highest award in Cub Scouting?

Arrow of Light is Cub Scouting's highest award, earned in the final year before a Cub moves up to a Scouts BSA troop, and is the one Cub badge worn on the Scout uniform.

Which illustrator drew Boys' Life covers from 1913 and BSA calendars from 1925 to 1976?

Norman Rockwell, Boys' Life art director at 19 in 1913, painted Brown & Bigelow's BSA calendars from 1925 to 1976; the magazine became Scout Life in 2021.

Which songwriter gave the royalties of "God Bless America" to the Boy and Girl Scouts?

Irving Berlin assigned the royalties of 'God Bless America' to the God Bless America Fund, set up in 1940 to benefit Boy Scout and Girl Scout councils.

Where is the Silver Buffalo Award presented to the Unknown Scout in 1926 kept?

A statue of a buffalo with a plaque was presented alongside it.

The Wood Badge beads came from a necklace once owned by which Zulu chief?

Dinizulu: Baden-Powell acquired the Zulu chief's long necklace of wooden beads during the 1888 campaign, and two of its beads became the first Wood Badge awards in 1919.

Who founded the Girl Scouts of the USA in Savannah, Georgia, in 1912?

Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts in Savannah, Georgia, on March 12, 1912, a year after meeting Baden-Powell in England.

What emblem do the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts use instead of a fleur-de-lis?

The World Trefoil design adopted in 1930 is a gold trefoil on a blue background.

Why were neckerchiefs chosen as part of the Scout uniform?

Shirts had thick seams so they could be turned into stretchers with the Scouts' staves.

Which country founded the first national Scout organisation outside the British Empire, in May 1909?

Chile formed its Scout association on 21 May 1909 after Baden-Powell visited Santiago, the first national organisation outside the British Empire.

Which item replaced the high-collar jacket in the BSA uniform in the early 1920s?

A shirt and neckerchief: in the early 1920s the BSA dropped its military-style high-collar coat for an open-collar shirt worn with a neckerchief, as British Scouts did.

In what year did the Boy Scouts of America begin admitting girls to its flagship Scouts BSA program?

2019: the flagship program was renamed Scouts BSA on February 1, 2019, and girls were admitted that day in all-girl troops.

To which Texas city did the BSA move its national headquarters in 1979?

The organisation moved its headquarters from New Jersey to the Dallas suburb of Irving in 1979.

Which US president was the first to serve as the BSA's honorary president, in 1910?

William Howard Taft became the BSA's first honorary president in 1910, beginning the tradition of the sitting US president holding the post.

Which adventurer and TV survivalist became the UK Scout Association's Chief Scout in July 2009?

Grylls succeeded the television presenter Peter Duncan, who had held the role since 2004.

What is the UK Scout Association's section for children aged 4 to 6 called?

Squirrels sit below Beavers (6–8) and Cubs (8–10½) in the British age ladder.

In what year did the BSA file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection?

The filing came on February 18, 2020, amid tens of thousands of abuse claims that later produced a multi-billion-dollar settlement fund.

Baden-Powell's 1899 military manual, whose sales boomed after Mafeking, was titled what?

Boys unexpectedly took to the small army manual, which prompted Baden-Powell to rewrite it for youth as Scouting for Boys.

Which fashion designer created the tan-and-olive Boy Scout uniform introduced in 1980 and worn until 2008?

Oscar de la Renta gave Scouts a tan shirt with shoulder epaulets and buttoned pocket flaps. His design stayed regulation issue for 28 years.

David Hahn, nicknamed the "Radioactive Boy Scout", tried at 17 to build what in a Michigan backyard shed?

A nuclear reactor was his goal after he earned the Atomic Energy merit badge, using lithium stripped from $1,000 worth of batteries. He never got it working, managing only a crude neutron source.

Which campfire treat were Girl Scouts making in the 1920s under a slightly longer name?

S'mores began as "Some Mores", which a 1925 Connecticut newspaper described as chocolate and a toasted marshmallow between graham crackers. The shorter spelling took over by the 1930s.

Which US president, once a member of Troop 2 in Bronxville, New York, was the first to have been a Scout?

John F. Kennedy wore the uniform from 1929 to 1931, then served on the Boston Council's executive board after the war. Earlier presidents were all born too soon to join.

Which country's Gerakan Pramuka, with more than 20 million members, is the world's largest national Scout association?

Indonesia dwarfs every other Scouting nation because a 2010 law requires all its elementary and secondary schools to run a Scout programme. Its 2022 count passed 25 million.

Where did Eagle Scout Paul Siple go after winning a nationwide search in 1928 to join explorer Richard Byrd?

Antarctica became Siple's career: he returned on five more expeditions and coined the term "wind chill" for the cold he measured there.

The Scout Oath ends with a promise to stay physically strong, mentally awake and what else?

Morally straight closes the Oath, right after the pledges to obey the Scout Law and to help other people at all times.

Which film hero appears as a 13-year-old Boy Scout, played by River Phoenix, in a 1989 prologue set in Utah?

Indiana Jones was written as a Scout partly because star Harrison Ford was a former Scout himself. The same prologue shows how the hero got his fedora and the scar on his chin.

Which retail billionaire became the youngest Eagle Scout Missouri had yet seen while an eighth-grader in Shelbina?

Sam Walton earned the rank in eighth grade, and decades later the Walmart founder received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.

What is the ring that fastens a Scout neckerchief called, a device originated by a British Scout in the 1920s?

Woggle, by one account, was Bill Shankley's word for "something without a name". He tied his from a Turk's head knot after hearing of the rings American Scouts plaited.

Which phrase is the official Scout slogan, printed alongside the Oath, Law and motto in the Scouts BSA Handbook?

Do a Good Turn Daily echoes Baden-Powell's rule that a Scout must do a good turn to somebody every day. A knotted rope on the rank badges is there as a reminder.

Which quality is the final point of the Scout Law, recited straight after "thrifty, brave, clean"?

Reverent ends a list that former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg once summed up as "all the American values".

Which Scouts BSA rank, directly below Second Class, has a badge with two stars, an eagle and a shield?

Tenderfoot is the second rank earned, after the joining rank simply called Scout. Its requirements can be worked on alongside the next two ranks, though each must be earned in sequence.

Which merit badge is the only one that has always been on the mandatory list for Eagle Scout?

First Aid has been compulsory for the top rank in every era, and for a few years in the 1980s and 90s it was required for First Class as well.

A Cub Scout pack is split into small groups of six to eight children, each known as a what?

Den groups are sorted by school grade and meet weekly or every other week under an adult leader, often helped by an older Scout serving as den chief.

In the Cub Scout Raingutter Regatta, the water-based cousin of the Pinewood Derby, what do Cubs race?

Sailboats with seven-inch balsa hulls race along a ten-foot rain gutter filled with water, pushed only by the Cub's own breath on the sail.

At which troop ceremony are Scouts BSA ranks and merit badges generally presented to those who earned them?

Court of Honor is purely a celebration: every rank above Scout has already been approved at a board of review, the final requirement a Scout must pass.

What title is held by the one Scout who leads an entire Scouts BSA troop, working under the Scoutmaster?

Senior patrol leader is the job: the SPL shapes troop programmes with adult oversight, while each patrol of about eight Scouts elects a leader of its own.

Scouts BSA members display earned merit badges on which item, worn with the uniform on formal occasions?

A sash holds the circular patches and comes out only for formal occasions. Each badge is meant to let a Scout sample a subject as a possible career.

Besides earning merit badges, an Eagle Scout candidate must plan and lead which undertaking for the community?

A service project is the final test of leadership, and it must help a school, religious body or community group rather than a business, an individual or Scouting itself.

In which state did the BSA build the Summit Bechtel Reserve, the permanent home of its National Scout Jamboree?

West Virginia won the search for a permanent jamboree site partly because the land borders New River Gorge, a magnet for whitewater rafting, mountain biking and rock climbing.

The BSA's Sea Base, with its main site at Islamorada, runs sailing and scuba adventures in which island chain?

Florida Keys waters are the classroom: the main base sits at the end of Lower Matecumbe Key, and its scuba pools were dedicated in 1984.

Summer crews at Northern Tier, the Scout base near Ely, Minnesota, cross the wilderness chiefly by what means?

By canoe, crews paddle a lake country that stretches from Minnesota's Boundary Waters into Ontario's Quetico Provincial Park and on towards Manitoba.

Which BSA programme for young people aged 14 to 20 is organised into crews and sits alongside Sea Scouts and Exploring?

Venturing was founded in 1998 as a coeducational programme built on adventure, leadership and service, and its members go by the name Venturers.

What is a Sea Scout unit of five or more young sailors and their adult leaders officially called?

Ship is the term, and each one is numbered, may adopt a name, and is run by youths elected to posts such as boatswain, yeoman and purser.

Which Sea Scout rank, earned after Apprentice, Ordinary and Able, is treated as the equal of Eagle Scout?

Quartermaster tops the four-step Sea Scout ladder, and those who reach it gain the option of wearing the adult uniform.

Which US president was named the BSA's only Chief Scout Citizen, alongside an honorary vice-presidency?

Theodore Roosevelt was out of the White House before the BSA began naming sitting presidents its honorary head, so he got a title of his own. Nassau County's Scout council later took his name.

Which Mark Twain illustrator founded a boys' club named after a Kentucky frontiersman and later merged it into the BSA?

Daniel Carter Beard, "Uncle Dan" to generations of Scouts, launched the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905. He also drew the pictures for A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

Which religious body, the first partner to sponsor Scouting in the US, stopped sponsoring BSA units after a century?

Latter-day Saints adopted Scouting in 1913 as the church's programme for young men, and their congregations remained its largest single sponsor until the split.

What is depicted in coloured ropes on the embroidered BSA uniform patches that represent Scouting awards?

Square knot patches use rope colours to show which award they represent. Also called the reef knot, it has tied bandages since ancient Greece, where it was the Hercules knot.

Which Eagle Scout astronaut, a Milwaukee teenager who built flying model rockets, later commanded a Moon mission?

Jim Lovell commanded Apollo 13, the 1970 flight that looped around the Moon and came home safely after a critical failure on the way out.

Which future presidential candidate from Texarkana made Eagle Scout in 1942 after just 13 months in the programme?

Ross Perot, the Texas billionaire who ran for the White House in 1992 and 1996, had been earning money since he was eight as a paperboy for the Texarkana Gazette.

Which Supreme Court justice made Eagle Scout, as did his younger brother Charles, later a federal district judge?

Stephen Breyer was also a school debater whose tournament opponents included Jerry Brown, the future governor of California.

Which TV host, an Eagle Scout from the Baltimore suburbs, told a National Jamboree crowd that Scouts need to get dirty?

Mike Rowe, the face of Dirty Jobs, earned the rank in 1979 with Troop 16 and spoke to more than 70,000 people at the 2010 jamboree.

Which 1966 Disney film stars Fred MacMurray as a small-town Scoutmaster with a young Kurt Russell in his troop?

Follow Me, Boys! was the final film released in Walt Disney's lifetime: he died exactly two weeks after its premiere.

The fleur-de-lis at the centre of the World Scout Emblem represents which point on a map or compass?

North is the point it marks, a sign that is intended to keep Scouts pointed on the path to service.

Which former CIA director and Defense Secretary, an Eagle Scout, began a two-year term as BSA president in 2014?

Robert Gates has also led the National Eagle Scout Association, and he took the BSA post after leaving the Obama administration.

Under the US Flag Code, how do Scout troops and veterans' groups ceremonially retire a flag too tattered to fly?

By burning it in a dignified ceremony, the method the Flag Code prefers. The belief that a flag must be destroyed once it touches the ground is an urban myth.

Which broad-brimmed hat, also worn by Canadian Mounties and US park rangers, topped the original Scout uniform?

Campaign hat design reached Scouting through Frederick Russell Burnham, the American scout whose headgear Baden-Powell copied after their service in Africa in the 1890s.

During World War I, American Boy Scouts collected fruit pits to be turned into charcoal for which soldiers' equipment?

Gas masks needed the charcoal, and Scouts also sold over $352 million in war bonds and counted black walnut trees destined to become propellers and gun stocks.

The BSA's first National Jamboree was set for 1935 but postponed two years after an outbreak of which disease?

Polio forced the cancellation of a gathering planned for Scouting's 25th anniversary, so the first jamboree finally opened two years late.

Kim's Game, a memory exercise played by Scouts, takes its name from a 1901 novel whose hero trains as what?

A spy in training, Kipling's Kim studies a copper tray of fifteen jewels and must recall them, the test Scouts copy with a selection of everyday objects.

At the 1929 World Scout Jamboree, Baden-Powell was presented with a caravan and which make of car?

Rolls-Royce built the 20-horsepower car, nicknamed Jam Roll, which with a caravan nicknamed Eccles carried the family on travels around Europe. His widow sold it in 1945.

In Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, the Supreme Court backed BSA membership rules under which part of the Constitution?

First Amendment freedom of association decided the 5–4 ruling, which overturned a New Jersey court's order to readmit an expelled adult leader.

Mount Baden-Powell, dedicated in 1931 to the founder of Scouting, is a peak in which California mountain range?

San Gabriel Mountains hikers knew the summit as East Twin before the US Geological Survey recognised its new name at a dedication ceremony.

Which US state hosted the 1967 World Scout Jamboree at Farragut State Park in the Rocky Mountains?

Idaho welcomed 12,011 Scouts from 105 countries under the theme "For Friendship", only the second time the gathering had been staged in the Americas.

Which venue held the September 1909 Scout rally of 11,000 boys, where girls who came helped inspire the Girl Guides?

Crystal Palace saw a contingent of girls from Peckham Rye speak to Baden-Powell in person. Over six thousand girls had already signed up as Scouts by then.

Which Swiss village's International Scout Centre began in 1923 in a chalet built for railway tunnel workers?

Kandersteg caught the eye of Switzerland's Chief Scout on holiday in 1921, when he found the chalet standing empty after the Lötschberg Tunnel was finished.

Which Wes Anderson film follows a 12-year-old orphan who escapes from a Khaki Scout summer camp called Camp Ivanhoe?

Moonrise Kingdom is set on the fictional New England island of New Penzance, where Scout Master Ward turns the rest of the troop into a search party.

In the Cub Scout Space Derby, what turns the propeller on each miniature balsa wood racer?

A rubber band runs through the centre of the balsa body, hooked to the propeller at one end. In the 1960s the same event was also known as the rocket derby.