100 Fun Facts About Trivia for Adults

Which country was the first in the world to give all women the right to vote in national elections?

The 1893 Electoral Act followed a campaign led by Kate Sheppard, who now appears on the NZ$10 note.

In which year did the Berlin Wall come down?

The East German announcement on 9 November was so garbled that border guards, overwhelmed by crowds, simply opened the gates that night.

Which English king sealed Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215?

The charter was annulled by the Pope within weeks, and only later reissues turned it into a foundation of English law.

Who made the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic, from New York to Paris, in 1927?

He flew for more than 33 hours in the Spirit of St. Louis, and Coolidge gave him both the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Medal of Honor.

Suleiman the Magnificent was the longest-reigning sultan of which empire?

His 46-year reign from 1520 to 1566 marked the peak of the empire's military and economic power.

In which year did the Titanic sink on her maiden voyage?

The lifeboats that were lowered left with only about 60 percent of their rated capacity filled.

In which year did the Great Fire gut the medieval City of London?

It burned for four days, from a Sunday to a Wednesday, and destroyed most of the city inside the old Roman wall.

In which year was the Soviet Union formally dissolved?

It ceased to exist as a sovereign state on 26 December, the day after Gorbachev resigned as president.

Who is the only US president to have resigned from office?

He stepped down in 1974 during the Watergate scandal, before the House could vote on impeachment.

Which amendment to the US Constitution ended nationwide Prohibition of alcohol?

It is the only amendment ever passed to repeal an earlier one, and the only one ratified by state conventions rather than legislatures.

Who holds the record for the longest reign of any British monarch?

Her 70 years and 214 days on the throne also make her the longest-reigning queen regnant in history.

Which country was the first in the world to legalize same-sex marriage?

The law took effect in April 2001; Belgium followed two years later.

Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?

He and Aldrin spent about two and a half hours outside the lunar module while Michael Collins orbited overhead.

During which years was the sale of alcohol prohibited nationwide in the United States?

The era gave the country speakeasies, bootleggers and the rise of organised crime figures such as Al Capone.

What is the capital city of Australia?

It was purpose-built as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne and sits inside its own federal territory.

Counting overseas territories, which country has the most time zones?

Territories from French Polynesia to Réunion and New Caledonia spread it across 12 zones, one more than Russia.

What is the longest river in Europe?

It flows entirely within Russia and empties into the Caspian Sea, making it the world's longest river that never reaches the ocean.

Which is the smallest sovereign state in the world by both area and population?

It covers 44 hectares and had a population of about 882 people in 2024.

Which city spans two continents, with about two-thirds of its people living in Europe?

The Bosporus strait divides the two halves, and its ports link Europe and Asia.

Which is the most populous country in Africa?

With more than 242 million people it is also the sixth most populous country in the world.

Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, is in which country?

Its summit was renamed Uhuru Peak, Swahili for Freedom Peak, after independence in the 1960s.

Which US state has a longer coastline than all the other states combined?

The Exxon Valdez spill alone fouled about 1,100 miles of it.

Which country has the world's only non-rectangular national flag?

Its two stacked pennants make it the only national flag that is taller than it is wide.

What is the largest hot desert in the world?

Only the cold deserts of Antarctica and the Arctic are larger overall.

Which river carries more water to the sea than any other in the world?

Its discharge is greater than the next seven largest independent rivers combined.

Which building is the tallest structure in the world, at about 828 metres?

Its spire alone is more than 240 metres tall, and the whole thing stands just over half a mile high.

The Swiss franc is legal tender in Switzerland and which other country?

The tiny principality has used the franc since the 1920s and has no currency of its own.

What is the chemical symbol for gold?

It comes from aurum, the Latin word for gold; the element's atomic number is 79.

Which planet is the hottest in the solar system?

Its surface sits at about 464 °C under a crushing atmosphere 92 times the pressure of Earth's, hotter even than Mercury, which is closer to the Sun.

How many bones does a typical adult human skeleton have?

Babies start with around 270; the count drops as bones fuse during growth.

What is the hardest known natural material?

It has more atoms packed into each unit of volume than any other known substance, which is why it is also the least compressible.

Which gas makes up about 78 percent of dry air?

Oxygen is only about 21 percent, and argon, at just under 1 percent, beats carbon dioxide by a wide margin.

Whose theory of gravity, known as general relativity, was published in 1916?

It replaced Newton's picture of gravity as a force with the idea that mass curves space and time.

People with which blood type are often called universal donors for red cell transfusions?

Their red cells carry neither A, B nor RhD antigens, so they are the ones reached for in emergencies before typing is done.

Which element has atomic number 1?

It is the lightest and most abundant element in the universe, with the symbol H.

Which vitamin does the skin produce when exposed to ultraviolet B light from the sun?

It is the only vitamin the body can make itself, which is why it counts as only conditionally essential in the diet.

Which planet rotates on its side, with an axial tilt of more than 80 degrees?

Its sideways spin twists its magnetotail into a long corkscrew trailing millions of kilometres behind it.

In 2006 the International Astronomical Union reclassified which body as a dwarf planet?

It sits in the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune and now carries the minor-planet number 134340.

Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?

She remains the only person to have won Nobel Prizes in two different sciences, physics and chemistry.

What is the longest bone in the human body?

It is the only bone in the upper leg and typically makes up about a quarter of a person's height.

Which 1927 war film won the first Academy Award for Best Picture?

It remains the only fully silent film to win the top prize, and was among the first widely released films to show nudity.

Who directed the 1975 shark thriller Jaws?

It was based on Peter Benchley's novel from the year before and became the first summer blockbuster.

Which 2009 film overtook Titanic to become the highest-grossing film of all time?

Both films were directed by James Cameron, who beat his own record.

Which actor played the Joker in The Dark Knight and won a posthumous Oscar for it?

The film was released nearly six months after his death in January 2008.

The Godfather was adapted from a best-selling 1969 novel by which author?

The book spent 67 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list and sold nine million copies in two years.

Black Panther is the monarch of which fictional African kingdom?

The country first appeared in Marvel comics in 1966, decades before the 2018 film.

How many seasons did Breaking Bad run for on AMC?

The show ran from January 2008 to September 2013 across 62 episodes.

Which country had won the most FIFA World Cups by the end of the 2022 tournament?

Its five titles led Germany and Italy on four; it is also the only nation to have played at every World Cup tournament through 2026.

What do the interlocking rings on the Olympic flag represent?

The Americas count as one continent, so the total comes to five.

In tennis scoring, what does the word 'love' mean?

One theory traces it to the French l'oeuf, the egg, because an egg looks like a nought.

Which city hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896?

American James Connolly won the triple jump there to become the first Olympic champion in more than 1,500 years.

In golf, what is a score of one stroke under par on a hole called?

Two under is an eagle and three under is an albatross; go one over and it is a bogey.

What is the maximum possible score in a game of ten-pin bowling?

It takes twelve strikes in a row, the last two coming as bonus balls in the tenth frame.

Wimbledon is the only tennis Grand Slam still played on which surface?

The tournament has been held since 1877, making it the oldest of the four majors.

The Ashes is a series contested between England and Australia in which sport?

The Test series is played roughly every two years, alternating between the two countries.

How many players does each side field at once in association football?

The number has been standard since the 1870s, when the Football Association fixed the laws of the game.

Which spirit is the base of a classic mojito?

The Cuban cocktail rounds it out with sugar, lime juice, soda water and mint.

Marzipan is made mainly from sugar and which ground nut?

Cheaper versions substitute apricot or peach kernels for the real thing.

Japanese sake is brewed by fermenting which grain?

Despite being called rice wine, it is made by a process closer to brewing beer, where starch is first converted to sugar.

Which cheese gives tiramisu its creamy layer?

It is whipped with egg yolks and sugar over coffee-soaked ladyfingers and dusted with cocoa.

Paella originally comes from which country?

The traditional Valencian version contains rabbit, chicken, duck and snails rather than seafood.

The Scoville scale measures which property of a food?

Ratings are given in Scoville heat units, and pure capsaicin sits at around 16 million.

A margarita is made with lime juice, triple sec and which spirit?

Some recipes add simple syrup, and the glass is often rimmed with salt.

Guinness stout was first brewed in the 18th century in which city?

Arthur Guinness started brewing at St. James's Gate in 1759 on a lease he signed for 9,000 years.

Which country drank the most beer per person in 2023, as it had every year since 1993?

Home of the original pilsner, it has topped Kirin's per-capita table every year since 1993 even as its consumption slowly declines.

Which chocolate treat has long been barred from import into the United States because it contains a toy?

A 1938 food law forbids sweets with a non-nutritive object inside; the toy-free Kinder Joy was created to get around it.

Which band released the album Abbey Road in 1969?

It was their eleventh studio album and the last one they recorded together, though Let It Be came out later.

How many strings does a standard violin have?

They are tuned in perfect fifths, G, D, A and E, and played with a bow drawn across them.

Which singer is known as the Queen of Soul?

Rolling Stone twice named her the greatest singer of all time.

The pop group ABBA came from which country?

The four members formed in Stockholm in 1972; the name is an acronym of their first initials.

The Ode to Joy is the final movement of which composer's Ninth Symphony?

The words come from a 1785 poem by Friedrich Schiller, and the movement was one of the first to add a chorus to a symphony.

Which artist holds the record for the most Grammy Awards won in a lifetime?

Her total stands at 35, and she is also the most-awarded artist at the BET, MTV Video Music and NAACP Image awards.

Queen frontman Freddie Mercury was born on which island?

His family fled the 1964 revolution there and settled in Middlesex, England.

Who wrote the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four?

It gave English the words Big Brother, doublethink and thoughtcrime.

Which novel opens with the line 'Call me Ishmael'?

Herman Melville's whaling epic sold poorly in his lifetime and was only hailed as a classic decades after his death.

Who wrote Pride and Prejudice?

It was published in 1813, and its opening line about a single man in possession of a good fortune is among the most quoted in English.

Which author created the detective Sherlock Holmes?

He grew so tired of the character that he killed him off at the Reichenbach Falls, then brought him back by public demand.

Who wrote One Hundred Years of Solitude, the story of the Buendía family of Macondo?

The Colombian author won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982.

The magician Prospero and his daughter Miranda appear in which Shakespeare play?

Most of the play takes place on a remote island where Prospero rules over the spirit Ariel and the monstrous Caliban.

Who wrote The Great Gatsby?

He drew on his own youthful romance with socialite Ginevra King and the parties he attended on Long Island in 1922.

Where has the Rosetta Stone been on public display since 1802?

It is the museum's most visited object, and Egypt has repeatedly asked for it back.

Who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?

He worked on it from 1508 to 1512, mostly standing on scaffolding with his head tipped back.

The Mona Lisa hangs in which museum?

It has been there since 1797, apart from a two-year absence after it was stolen in 1911.

Which painter cut off part of his own left ear with a razor in 1888?

It followed a row with Gauguin, who had come to live with him in Arles; the friendship never recovered.

What is the largest animal known to have ever existed?

It reaches about 30 metres long and up to 200 tonnes, bigger than any dinosaur.

How many hearts does an octopus have?

One main heart pumps blood around the body while two smaller ones push it through the gills.

What is the fastest land animal?

It can hit 93 to 104 km/h in a sprint, thanks to a flexible spine and long limbs.

Which are the only mammals capable of true, sustained flight?

The others merely glide; bats make up about a fifth of all mammal species.

In which year was the first iPhone released?

Steve Jobs unveiled it at Macworld in January and it went on sale in the US on 29 June.

Who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1975?

The company's first product was a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800 hobbyist computer.

What does HTTP stand for in a web address?

It is the application-layer protocol that browsers and servers use to pass pages back and forth.

What was the title of the first video ever uploaded to YouTube, in April 2005?

It runs 19 seconds and shows co-founder Jawed Karim in front of the elephants at San Diego Zoo.

Which car model is the best-selling nameplate of all time?

It passed the Volkswagen Beetle in 1997 and has held the title ever since.

The properties on the original Monopoly board are named after streets in and around which US resort town?

Boardwalk and Park Place are real places in the New Jersey resort town.

How many squares are there on a chessboard?

They are arranged in an eight-by-eight grid, alternating light and dark.

Which Japanese actor turned down the role of Tiger Tanaka in the Bond film You Only Live Twice?

According to his daughter he also declined George Lucas's offer to play Darth Vader or Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The hansom cab was patented in 1834 by Joseph Hansom, who was by profession what?

His light two-wheeler could be pulled by one horse and steer around London's notorious traffic jams.

Which work by Dante argues that the language of Adam was divine in origin and unchangeable?

He later shifted position in the Divine Comedy, concluding that Hebrew merely derived from Adam's tongue.

The tortoise Tu'i Malila, given to Tonga's royals by James Cook, died in 1965 at what age?

Tu'i Malila was born around 1777 and remained in royal care until dying of natural causes; Jonathan of St Helena has since surpassed that age.

Jamie Lee Curtis earned $1 million for Halloween II. What was her fee for Trading Places?

The studio had objected to casting a 'scream queen'; she took the part to escape horror typecasting and won a BAFTA for it.