50 Fun Facts About Trivia for Men

Which power tool descends from a hand saw a Scottish doctor devised in the 1780s for obstructed childbirths?

The chainsaw's ancestor was a fine serrated chain held between two wooden handles; another Scottish doctor used the same idea to cut away diseased bone.

Which tractor manufacturer branched into sports cars in 1963, setting out to compete with Ferrari?

Lamborghini's founder got rich building tractors from surplus military engines, then grew annoyed that the clutches in his own Ferraris kept needing rebuilds.

Which former US president, shot in the chest in 1912, gave his campaign speech before going to hospital?

Theodore Roosevelt was saved by a steel glasses case and a folded 50-page speech in his jacket; a seasoned hunter, he judged that since he was not coughing blood his lung was unharmed.

Which US president grew his famous beard after an 11-year-old girl wrote urging him to do so?

Abraham Lincoln made no promises in his reply, but he soon let his whiskers grow, and he met the girl, Grace Bedell, on the way to his inauguration.

Which toolbox staple was developed during World War II to seal American ammunition cases against water?

Duct tape began as rubber adhesive on waterproof duck cloth, and the name duck tape is recorded decades before the modern spelling.

Which Chicago gangster was finally convicted in 1931 of tax evasion rather than of any violent crime?

Al Capone was convicted on five counts and given eleven years, and at Alcatraz his good behaviour earned him a spot playing banjo in the prison band.

Which American motor race traditionally ends with the winner drinking a bottle of milk in victory lane?

The Indianapolis 500 ritual dates to 1936, when winner Louis Meyer asked for a glass of buttermilk, which his mother had told him to drink on hot days.

Which New York city gives its name to the spicy chicken wings the Anchor Bar says it first served in 1964?

Buffalo honoured the dish in 1977, when the city proclaimed July 29 Chicken Wing Day in tribute to Anchor Bar co-owner Frank Bellissimo.

Which actor wrote a boxing screenplay in three and a half days, then refused to sell it without a starring role?

Sylvester Stallone rejected a six-figure offer for the rights to Rocky and held out until United Artists agreed to cast him in the lead.

Which Irish stout's founder signed a 9,000-year lease on an unused Dublin brewery in 1759?

Guinness founder Arthur agreed to pay £45 a year for the St. James's Gate site, where he started out brewing ales rather than the dark beer that made his name.

Which heavyweight champion was stripped of his title in 1967 for refusing the draft during the Vietnam War?

Muhammad Ali did not fight for more than three years, and in 1971 the Supreme Court overturned his draft-evasion conviction by a unanimous vote.

Which golf major has given its champion a green jacket since 1949, to be returned to the clubhouse a year later?

The Masters jacket remains the winner's property but is kept in a special cloakroom at Augusta National, and repeat champions keep wearing the one from their first win.

Which slugger did the Boston Red Sox sell to the New York Yankees before enduring an 86-year title drought?

Babe Ruth was known as the Bambino, so Boston's long wait for a World Series win, which finally ended in 2004, became the Curse of the Bambino.

Which sports trophy, donated by a governor general of Canada in 1892, has winners' names engraved on its bands?

The Stanley Cup was first meant for Canada's top amateur club, and every year since 1924 the winning players, coaches and staff have had their names engraved on it.

Which Brooklyn Dodger broke baseball's color line in 1947 and later had his number 42 retired by every team?

Jackie Robinson was the first professional athlete in any sport to have his number retired across a whole league, and every player now wears 42 each April 15.

Which New York Yankees pitcher threw a perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series?

Don Larsen's gem was only the sixth perfect game in major league history, and it earned him the Most Valuable Player award for that Series.

Which Brazilian, a World Cup winner at just 17, became the first player to win the tournament three times?

Pelé won in 1958, 1962 and 1970, and at the first of those he became the youngest scorer the tournament had seen, against Wales in the quarter-finals.

Which horse ended a 25-year wait for a Triple Crown winner in 1973, taking the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths?

Secretariat's Belmont romp is often called the greatest race ever run by a thoroughbred, and it made him only the ninth horse to sweep the three races.

Which NFL team went unbeaten through 1972 and sealed a perfect record by winning Super Bowl VII?

The Miami Dolphins did it largely with a 38-year-old backup, Earl Morrall, after starting quarterback Bob Griese was injured in the fifth game.

Which NASCAR driver nicknamed the Intimidator died in a crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500?

Dale Earnhardt, a seven-time Cup champion also nicknamed Ironhead, hit the retaining wall in the very last turn of the race.

Which American car, launched in April 1964, gave the pony car class its name and sold over 400,000 in a year?

The Mustang went on sale 16 days after the rival Plymouth Barracuda, and Ford sold its millionth within two years of launch.

Which German sports car, introduced in 1964, is famous for mounting its engine at the very back?

The Porsche 911 was first badged the 901, until Peugeot protested that it held French rights to three-digit car names with a zero in the middle.

Which brand name did Nebraska inventor William Petersen give the first locking pliers in 1924?

Vise-Grip became so familiar in the United States that the name is close to generic for the tool, which is also known as a Mole wrench.

Which French town's 24-hour race did Ford win for the first time in 1966, the story told in Ford v Ferrari?

Le Mans ended with a staged finish that year: Ford had its three leading cars cruise to the line together to mark the first win there by an American carmaker.

Which German driver won five straight Formula One titles with Ferrari between 2000 and 2004?

Michael Schumacher joined Ferrari in 1996 when the team was struggling, and his run made him the first driver to reach six and then seven world titles.

Which German engine inventor vanished overnight from a steamship crossing to England in 1913?

Rudolf Diesel's cabin was found empty with the bed unslept in, his nightshirt neatly laid out and his watch left where it could be seen from the bed.

Which screw with a square socket in its head is named after its Canadian inventor and commonplace in Canada?

Robertson screws saved Henry Ford so much time on the Model T that he wanted a license; when the inventor refused, Ford limited them to his Canadian division.

What does the WD stand for in WD-40, the spray first made to protect the skin of Atlas missiles from rust?

Water Displacement, 40th formula, is the full name, which suggests the makers needed 40 attempts to get the product right.

Which Mexican state, home to the town of Tequila, is the heartland of the blue agave spirit?

Jalisco is the only state where the spirit may be made throughout; Mexican law otherwise allows just limited municipalities in four other states.

Which British carmaker's bonnet figurine, the Spirit of Ecstasy, was modelled on the secret lover of a baron?

Rolls-Royce cars at first carried no mascot at all; sculptor Charles Sykes made an early version with a finger to her lips, a nod to the secret affair.

Which actor refused his Oscar for The Godfather and sent Sacheen Littlefeather to decline it for him?

Marlon Brando became the second actor to refuse a Best Actor award, after George C. Scott, and he stayed away from the ceremony altogether.

Which Akira Kurosawa film did A Fistful of Dollars remake so closely that its studio sued?

Yojimbo's makers settled for 15 percent of the Western's revenue, and Kurosawa earned more from that deal than from his own film.

Which former car salesman played James Bond only once, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service?

George Lazenby had no film acting experience when he was cast, having worked as a model and in commercials, and he declined to return for another.

Which TV comedy-drama was Bruce Willis best known for when he was cast as John McClane in Die Hard?

Moonlighting nearly cost him the part: he first declined over his contract, until co-star Cybill Shepherd's pregnancy halted the show for eleven weeks.

Which 1963 war film has Steve McQueen's character race a stolen motorcycle toward the Swiss border fence?

The Great Escape faked its barbed wire with strips of rubber, tied on by the cast and crew in their spare time.

Which Martin Scorsese film had Robert De Niro gain about 60 pounds to play aging fighter Jake LaMotta?

Raging Bull adapts LaMotta's own memoir, a project Scorsese was reluctant to take on at first, before he came to relate to the story.

Which 1990s sitcom starred Tim Allen as Tim Taylor, host of a show-within-a-show called Tool Time?

Home Improvement's Tool Time was sponsored by the fictional Binford company, and its first Tool Time girl, Lisa, was played by Pamela Anderson.

Which rock band of brothers Malcolm and Angus Young gave Back in Black an all-black cover to mourn its singer?

AC/DC had lost Bon Scott only months earlier; the record went on to sell an estimated 50 million copies, yet it never topped the American chart.

Which guitarist thought it was a prank call when asked to play the solo on Michael Jackson's Beat It?

Eddie Van Halen recorded two takes free of charge, replacing a solo first contributed by Jackson's brother Tito.

Which Toronto rock trio's drummer, Neil Peart, also wrote most of the band's lyrics?

Rush had been going for six years when he joined in 1974, after a discouraging stint trying to make it as a musician in England.

Which American spirit did the US Congress recognize in 1964 as a distinctive product of the United States?

Bourbon must be made from at least 51% corn and stored in new charred oak containers; Americans drank around 77 million gallons of it that year.

Which Tennessee town is home to the Jack Daniel's distillery despite sitting in a dry county?

Lynchburg's whiskey is marketed worldwide as the product of a place with only one traffic light, and the distillery is a major tourist attraction.

Which Scottish island is home to the smoky, peaty single malts Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg?

Islay is one of five Scotch whisky regions whose identities are protected by law, and its peat is reputedly the best flavoured for the job.

Which cut of beef, lying beneath the ribs next to the backbone, is sliced into filet mignon steaks?

Tenderloin also gives us Chateaubriand and the heart of a Beef Wellington; in France, though, filet mignon usually means pork or veal.

Which US general, nicknamed Old Blood and Guts, led the Third Army's rapid armored drive across France in 1944?

George S. Patton was also an Olympian: he finished fifth in the modern pentathlon at the 1912 Games in Stockholm.

Which polar explorer's ship Endurance was trapped and sunk by Antarctic pack ice in 1915?

Ernest Shackleton's crew camped on the sea ice, then took to lifeboats for Elephant Island, from where he and five men sailed an open boat to South Georgia for help.

Which Japanese swordsman, said to be undefeated in 62 duels, wrote The Book of Five Rings in his final years?

Miyamoto Musashi was famed for a style that used two blades at once, and he was also an artist and the author of a second work, The Path of Aloneness.

Which country's name lies behind the word cravat, after neck scarves worn by 17th-century light cavalry?

Croatia celebrates Cravat Day each October 18; the word reached English through a French term meaning Croatian, and the scarf became the ancestor of the necktie.

Which US president signed the law that made Father's Day a permanent national holiday?

Richard Nixon signed it in 1972, more than 60 years after the first celebration in Spokane; Congress had resisted in 1916, fearing the day would become commercialized.

Which Old West gunfighter was reportedly holding aces and eights, the dead man's hand, when he was shot in 1876?

Wild Bill Hickok was shot and killed while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood by Jack McCall, an unsuccessful gambler.