50 Fun Facts About The Star-Spangled Banner

What was the day job of the amateur poet who wrote the words of The Star-Spangled Banner?

A lawyer for four decades, he argued many cases before the Supreme Court and as a young man had nearly become an Episcopal priest instead.

Which Red Sox pitcher threw a shutout in the 1918 World Series opener, when a band struck up The Star-Spangled Banner?

Babe Ruth won Game 1 on the mound, and the band played the song during the seventh-inning stretch because the country was at war.

The flag that inspired The Star-Spangled Banner was so large that its makers spread it out on the floor of what?

A brewery lent its malt house once the day's work was done, and the women often stitched there on the floor until midnight.

Which amateur poet wrote the words of The Star-Spangled Banner after watching a British bombardment from a ship?

Francis Scott Key had sailed out to negotiate a prisoner's release, and the British kept him offshore until the attack was over.

Which singer's rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner at the 1991 Super Bowl, during the Gulf War, became a hit single?

Whitney Houston's version charted twice, climbing into the top ten when it was reissued after the September 11 attacks.

Which guitarist's distorted instrumental take on The Star-Spangled Banner became a defining moment of Woodstock in 1969?

Jimi Hendrix, a U.S. Army veteran, used feedback to mimic falling bombs and told critics he had played it simply because he was American.

The sight of a huge flag still flying over which Baltimore stronghold inspired the words of The Star-Spangled Banner?

Fort McHenry is still where each new design of the U.S. flag flies first, including the first official 49- and 50-star versions.

Which institution has kept the original Star-Spangled Banner flag since the family that owned it gave it away in 1912?

The Smithsonian received it from stockbroker Eben Appleton, grandson of the fort's commander, who had been keeping it in a New York bank vault.

Which NFL quarterback began kneeling during The Star-Spangled Banner in 2016 to protest police brutality?

Colin Kaepernick first sat on the bench, then switched to kneeling after talking with a retired Green Beret, as a more respectful gesture.

Where did Elizabeth II have a Guards band play The Star-Spangled Banner in the days after the September 11 attacks?

Buckingham Palace heard it during the Changing of the Guard, and that same week the Queen sang along at a memorial service in St Paul's Cathedral.

The British attack on Baltimore that inspired The Star-Spangled Banner was part of which war?

The War of 1812 brought British ships that shelled the harbor fort for 25 hours, yet only four men of its garrison were killed.

Which comedian's screeching Star-Spangled Banner at a 1990 San Diego Padres game offended even the U.S. president?

Roseanne Barr capped it by spitting and grabbing her crotch like a ballplayer while the crowd heckled her.

Weeks before the attack that inspired The Star-Spangled Banner, British troops set fire to which American city?

Washington lost both the Capitol and the White House to the flames, the only time since the Revolutionary War that a foreign army has occupied the U.S. capital.

Under U.S. federal law, how should civilians stand while The Star-Spangled Banner is played?

Right hand over the heart is only a recommendation: the code carries no penalty, so ignoring it breaks no law.

Which pop singer apologized after singing the wrong words to The Star-Spangled Banner before Super Bowl XLV in 2011?

Christina Aguilera repeated an earlier line in place of the fourth one, then explained that she had got lost in the moment.

At what time of day did the author of The Star-Spangled Banner finally see the flag still flying over the fort?

Dawn ended a night of guessing, because once the shelling stopped he had no way of knowing which side had won until the sky lightened.

Where were the 1968 Olympics at which two American sprinters raised gloved fists while The Star-Spangled Banner played?

Mexico City's 200-meter medal ceremony also featured Australian silver medalist Peter Norman, who wore a human rights badge in support.

A 2006 Star-Spangled Banner recording featuring Pitbull and Wyclef Jean stirred debate for being sung in which language?

Spanish was the language of Nuestro Himno, whose first verse drew on a translation the U.S. Bureau of Education itself had commissioned in 1919.

Which Hollywood film composer wrote a new arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner for its 200th anniversary in 2014?

John Williams, the composer of the Jaws and Indiana Jones scores, conducted its premiere at the Fourth of July concert on the U.S. Capitol lawn that year.

Which pop star sang The Star-Spangled Banner at the inauguration of President Joe Biden in January 2021?

Lady Gaga wore a custom Schiaparelli gown and brooch, eight years after she had changed the anthem's last word at a New York pride rally.

Which president signed the 1931 law that finally made The Star-Spangled Banner the official U.S. national anthem?

Herbert Hoover's signature ended a long wait: a Baltimore congressman had already watched six earlier anthem bills fail.

On what did the author of The Star-Spangled Banner scribble his first lines aboard ship?

The back of a letter from his pocket held the first draft, and he finished the poem at a Baltimore hotel once the British let him go.

Which Baltimore widow was paid $405.90 to sew the huge flag that inspired The Star-Spangled Banner?

Mary Pickersgill finished the job in about seven weeks, helped by her daughter, two nieces and a 13-year-old indentured servant named Grace Wisher.

The Star-Spangled Banner flag has 15 stars and 15 stripes because which two states had joined the original 13?

Vermont and Kentucky each earned a stripe as well as a star, which made this the only official U.S. flag design without thirteen stripes.

Why is the original Star-Spangled Banner flag about eight feet shorter today than when it flew in 1814?

Pieces went as souvenirs for decades, handed out by the commander's family, and one of the fifteen stars left the same way and has never been traced.

The melody of The Star-Spangled Banner was borrowed from which song of a London gentlemen's music club?

To Anacreon in Heaven honored an ancient Greek poet of love and wine, and the anthem's lyricist had already borrowed its tune for an 1805 song.

Which blind singer-guitarist caused an uproar with a slow, bluesy Star-Spangled Banner at the 1968 World Series?

José Feliciano's recording still climbed to number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100, the first time the anthem had ever reached that chart.

Which soul singer performed a famously relaxed Star-Spangled Banner at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game?

Marvin Gaye sang over a studio backing tape played from the stands, and his performance was the first video VH1 aired when the channel launched.

Which song with words by Katharine Lee Bates was a leading rival to The Star-Spangled Banner for national anthem?

America the Beautiful began as a poem titled Pikes Peak, and a 1920s contest to find it new music ended without a winner, so the borrowed hymn tune stayed.

A line in the rarely sung fourth verse of The Star-Spangled Banner closely matches which official U.S. motto?

In God We Trust became the national motto in 1956, after supporters in Congress pointed to the anthem's closing verse as a precedent.

Which Olympic sprint champion was mocked for an out-of-tune Star-Spangled Banner before a 1993 New Jersey Nets game?

Carl Lewis halted when his voice cracked on a high note, then promised the crowd in mid-song that he would make up for it.

Which branch of the U.S. military first adopted The Star-Spangled Banner officially, for its morning flag raisings?

The Navy gave the order in 1889, more than four decades before Congress got around to naming a national anthem.

Which president ordered in 1916 that The Star-Spangled Banner be played at military and other official occasions?

Woodrow Wilson had a family link to the song: a recording made in 1915 features his daughter Margaret singing it.

Which bandleader, known as the March King, helped settle a standard version of The Star-Spangled Banner in 1917?

John Philip Sousa was one of five musicians who voted on the arrangement measure by measure, and their handwritten tally still survives.

Which cartoonist's 1929 panel said America had no national anthem, before The Star-Spangled Banner was adopted?

Robert Ripley made the claim in his syndicated Believe It or Not feature, and Congress settled the matter less than two years later.

Why did the British keep the author of The Star-Spangled Banner at sea until the shelling ended?

He had learned their plans while dining aboard the British flagship during his negotiations, so he was held under guard for several days.

What flew over the Baltimore fort during the night of bombardment, before the giant Star-Spangled Banner was raised?

A smaller storm flag, 17 by 25 feet, rode out the rain; the 30-by-42-foot garrison flag replaced it only once the shelling was over.

Which Puccini opera, with an American lieutenant named Pinkerton, quotes the opening notes of The Star-Spangled Banner?

Madama Butterfly premiered in 1904, when the tune was a popular patriotic song but still 27 years away from becoming the official anthem.

Which soprano became the first opera singer to perform The Star-Spangled Banner at a Super Bowl, in 2014?

Renée Fleming sang with the Armed Forces Chorus behind her, and nine Army helicopters flew over the stadium on her final note.

Which rarely sung part of The Star-Spangled Banner has drawn protests over a line that mentions slaves?

The third verse is read by many historians as aimed at enslaved people who fled to fight for the British, who had promised them freedom.

Which English composer, born in Gloucester, wrote the melody later used for The Star-Spangled Banner?

John Stafford Smith wrote it in the 1770s while still in his twenties, and his memorial plaque in the cathedral there hangs beneath both the U.S. and British flags.

Which song, now the U.S. vice president's entrance march, was an unofficial anthem before The Star-Spangled Banner?

Hail, Columbia began as The President's March, composed for the first presidential inauguration, and only gained its words in 1798.

Which Chief Justice, the Supreme Court's first Catholic, married the sister of The Star-Spangled Banner's lyricist?

Roger B. Taney married Anne in 1806 and later led the court from 1836 until he died in 1864, still in office at 87.

Which congressman and future Civil War general shot dead the son of The Star-Spangled Banner's lyricist in 1859?

Daniel Sickles had discovered the victim's affair with his wife, and he walked free in the first successful American use of a temporary insanity defense.

Which émigré composer's own arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner led to a run-in with Boston police in 1944?

Igor Stravinsky was told that a Massachusetts law barred tampering with the anthem, and a myth later grew up that he had been arrested.

Which poet added an unofficial fifth verse to The Star-Spangled Banner at the start of the Civil War?

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. wrote it in 1861 looking ahead to emancipation; three decades earlier his poem Old Ironsides had helped save a warship from the scrapyard.

Which group's petition, signed by five million people, pushed Congress to make The Star-Spangled Banner the anthem?

Veterans of Foreign Wars delivered the petition in 1930, and two women sang for the House committee that day to show the tune was not pitched too high.

Which New York concert venue hosted the 1917 premiere of the standardized version of The Star-Spangled Banner?

Carnegie Hall heard it on December 5, 1917, conducted by Walter Damrosch, one of the five musicians who had voted on the arrangement.

Which Maryland holiday on September 12 marks the 1814 battle for Baltimore behind The Star-Spangled Banner?

Defenders Day falls on the anniversary of the land fight at North Point, where the British lost their commanding general a day before the shelling began.

Baltimore thanked the commander of the fort behind The Star-Spangled Banner with a silver punch bowl shaped like what?

A British bombshell was the model for the bowl presented to George Armistead in 1816; he died just two years later, aged 38.