60 Fun Facts About Morning

In which language does the single word "morgen" mean both "morning" and "tomorrow"?

English once worked the same way: "morning" and "tomorrow" both grew out of the Middle English morwen.

The word "dawn" comes from the Old English verb dagian, meaning what?

Morning twilight is split into astronomical, nautical and civil phases before the Sun actually clears the horizon.

The "a.m." on a clock stands for the Latin ante meridiem, which translates as what?

Its partner p.m., post meridiem, simply means "after midday".

'Breakfast' entered written English as a word for a morning meal in roughly which century?

Before that the Old English word for the regular morning meal was morgenmete.

In poetry, what is an aubade?

John Donne's "The Sunne Rising" is a famous English example of the form.

The military wake-up bugle call "Reveille" takes its name from which language's word for "wake up"?

At Remembrance services "Last Post" opens the silence and "Reveille" ends it, symbolising sunset and sunrise.

The Japanese names for Japan, Nihon and Nippon, literally mean what?

The name refers to Japan's position east of China and is usually rendered as "Land of the Rising Sun".

Hotels will ring a guest awake at a requested time; what is this service known as in the United Kingdom?

In East Asia the same service is called a morning call.

The word "circadian" comes from Latin words meaning what?

Strictly, a rhythm is only circadian if it is generated inside the organism rather than driven by the environment.

In 1729, de Mairan showed which plant kept opening and closing its leaves daily even in constant darkness?

It was the first experiment designed to separate an internal clock from simple responses to daylight.

The term "circadian" was coined by Franz Halberg in which year?

Halberg's definition covered biological rhythms of about 24 hours, give or take four.

The "cortisol awakening response" peaks about how long after you wake up?

Cortisol can jump by 38 to 75 percent, possibly to prepare the body for the stresses of the coming day.

What is the scientific name for the groggy, disoriented state you feel immediately after waking?

For most people it lasts 15 to 30 minutes, though it can linger for hours.

Light of which colour most strongly suppresses the body's production of melatonin?

Wavelengths around 460 to 480 nanometres do the most damage, which is why screens before bed are discouraged.

Psychologist Michael Breus's 2016 chronotype scheme sorts sleepers into which four animals?

They map onto larks, middle-of-the-road sleepers, night owls and people with irregular sleep.

The temperature at which water vapour condenses into droplets on a cool surface is called what?

Morning droplets form as exposed surfaces radiate away heat overnight and cool below it.

Civil dawn begins when the Sun's centre is how many degrees below the horizon?

Nautical dawn starts at 12 degrees and astronomical dawn at 18.

Which architect proposed replacing "sunrise" and "sunset" with the words "sunsight" and "sunclipse"?

He argued the usual words wrongly imply the Sun moves; the terms never caught on.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station see roughly how many sunrises each day?

The station's windows are covered during sleep periods to fake a proper night.

Which planet alternates between being called the "Evening Star" and the "Morning Star"?

It "overtakes" Earth every 584 days, switching from the after-sunset sky to the pre-dawn one.

When a star first becomes visible in the east just before sunrise, astronomers call it what?

Ancient Egyptians timed their calendar by the heliacal rising of Sirius.

Which is the largest city north of the Arctic Circle, where the Sun does not set for 62 days each summer?

Its midnight sun lasts 62 days, from late spring until late July.

Kiritimati, in the world's furthest-forward time zone (UTC+14), belongs to which country?

Its name is simply "Christmas" spelled in Gilbertese, where "ti" is pronounced "s".

The Morning Glory roll cloud can be reliably predicted over the Gulf of Carpentaria in which country?

Glider pilots gather at Burketown each spring to surf the wave.

International Dawn Chorus Day is held on the first Sunday of which month?

It began as a private event by environmentalist Chris Baines at Moseley Bog in Birmingham in 1987.

A 2007 study in Ecuador found that the birds that sing earliest in the dawn chorus tend to have what?

Birds perching higher in the trees also start earlier, probably because they perceive light sooner.

In Roman mythology, who is the goddess and personification of the dawn?

Her Greek counterpart is Eos and her siblings are Sol, the Sun, and Luna, the Moon.

Eos won immortality but not eternal youth for which mortal lover, who aged forever?

Her passion for mortal men was said to be a curse from Aphrodite after Eos slept with Ares.

Which of the five daily Islamic prayers is performed between the break of dawn and sunrise?

During Ramadan the daily fast begins with this prayer.

The Christian canonical hour of Matins was originally sung at what time?

Monks would rise about two hours after midnight and continue until Lauds at daybreak.

The earliest reports of coffee drinking, in the mid-15th century, come from Sufis in which country?

Until the end of the 17th century most of the world's coffee was still shipped from there.

Chinese legend credits the discovery of tea in 2737 BC to which mythical figure?

The first English record of tea is a 1615 letter asking for "the best sort of chaw".

Corn flakes were created in 1894 for patients at a sanitarium in which Michigan city?

A patent fight between the Kellogg brothers followed, and Will launched his own company in 1906.

Granula, the first cold breakfast cereal (1863), never caught on because it had to be what?

Its heavy bran and graham nuggets were too hard to eat straight from the box.

Muesli was developed around 1900 by physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients in which country?

His original recipe soaked the oats overnight, which is exactly what today's "overnight oats" do.

The croissant descends from the kipferl, a crescent-shaped pastry from which country?

An Austrian officer's Viennese bakery, opened in the 1830s, inspired the local imitations that became the croissant.

The Egg McMuffin, invented in 1972, was designed to resemble which traditional breakfast dish?

Franchisee Herb Peterson showed it to Ray Kroc without telling him in advance what it was.

The pancake race tradition is said to have begun in 1445 in Olney, in which country?

A housewife supposedly ran to church still holding her frying pan when the Shriving bell rang.

Frozen concentrated orange juice was developed during World War II after American soldiers rejected what?

By 1949 processing plants were turning out more than 10 million gallons of concentrate a year.

Bartender Fernand Petiot is said to have invented the Bloody Mary in 1921 while working in which city?

The bar later became Harry's New York Bar, a favourite of Ernest Hemingway.

NBC's Today, the world's first morning television show, premiered in 1952 with which original host?

Its working title in pre-production was The Rise and Shine Revue.

What kind of animal was J. Fred Muggs, the mascot of NBC's Today in its early years?

The show mixed hard news with gimmicks like Muggs to draw a morning audience.

In April 2012, which programme ended Today's 852-week run as the top-rated breakfast show?

Today had held the lead since December 1995.

Before hosting Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough served as a Republican congressman from which state?

The show began as a fill-in in 2007 after Imus in the Morning was cancelled.

Apple TV+'s The Morning Show was inspired by the 2013 book Top of the Morning by which media journalist?

Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon play rival anchors on the fictional network UBA.

Robin Williams's character in Good Morning, Vietnam is loosely based on which real Armed Forces Radio DJ?

Most of Williams's on-air broadcasts in the film were improvised.

In Groundhog Day, Phil Connors wakes every morning to which song on the clock radio?

The Sonny & Cher hit plays at 6:00 every February 2 for the entire loop.

Cat Stevens's 1971 hit "Morning Has Broken" is a hymn whose words were written in 1931 by which English author?

She wrote them to fit a traditional Scottish Gaelic tune called "Bunessan".

Which keyboardist arranged and played the piano on Cat Stevens's recording of "Morning Has Broken"?

The recording reached number six on the US Billboard Hot 100.

George Harrison wrote 'Here Comes the Sun' in April 1969 at the country house of which friend?

The Abbey Road track features a Moog synthesiser Harrison had bought in California.

The first American alarm clock, built by Levi Hutchins in 1787, could only ring at what time?

He made it purely for himself, to get up for work; the first adjustable alarm clock was patented in France in 1847.

GE-Telechron's 1956 "Snooz-Alarm", the first alarm clock with a snooze button, snoozed how long?

The gears could not be made to hit exactly ten, so makers chose just over nine.

Which Greek philosopher is said to have owned a water clock with an alarm, possibly for his dawn lectures?

The engineer Ctesibius later built water clocks that dropped pebbles on a gong or blew trumpets.

The publication often recognised as the world's first newspaper was printed from 1605 in which city?

Johann Carolus's Relation appeared in the Holy Roman Empire; the first English-language paper came out of Amsterdam in 1620.

A sundial and a water clock each dividing day and night into 12 hours were found in which pharaoh's tomb?

They date to about 1500 BC and are ancestors of today's a.m. and p.m. split.

Whose 1861 Book of Household Management helped fix the ingredients of the British full breakfast?

Large cooked breakfasts appeared 'with dramatic suddenness' in Victorian England, and the meal peaked in popularity in the Edwardian era.

One theory says the fry-up nickname 'Full Monty' comes from which general's daily breakfast habit?

He was said to start every day with a full English while on campaign in North Africa during the Second World War.

Which griddle cake made from mashed potato is a staple of the full Scottish breakfast?

Lorne sausage, a square slice made without casing, and Stornoway black pudding from the Western Isles are the other local hallmarks.

At the horizon, atmospheric refraction lifts the Sun's image by about how many arcminutes on average?

That is why the 'false sunrise' appears before the Sun has truly cleared the horizon, and why the day is slightly longer than the night on average.

In temperate latitudes, the earliest sunrise of the year comes shortly before which event?

The latest sunrise comes shortly after the winter solstice; the exact dates shift with latitude because of Earth's tilt and elliptical orbit.