100 Fun Facts About Trivia Questions and Answers

Which continent is, on average, the coldest, driest and windiest on Earth?

It is technically a polar desert: some inland spots get only 1 to 3 cm of precipitation a year.

What is the chemical formula of ordinary table salt?

Around 250 million tonnes of it are produced each year, most for the chemical industry and de-icing roads rather than for the table.

How many squares are there on a standard chessboard?

The Libro de los juegos of 1283 already judged 8 by 8 ideal, calling 10 by 10 too tiresome and 6 by 6 too quick.

Which fashion doll did Ruth Handler introduce in March 1959?

Handler got the idea from a German doll called Bild Lilli that she spotted on a trip to Switzerland in 1956.

Which land animal is the fastest, reaching around 93 to 104 km/h?

An often-quoted 114 km/h figure has been discredited because of a faulty measurement method.

What is the capital city of Australia?

It was purpose-built as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne, the country's two largest cities.

Who directed the 1975 shark thriller Jaws?

Because the mechanical sharks kept breaking, the film mostly suggests the shark with John Williams's two-note theme instead of showing it.

Which Swedish group won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with "Waterloo"?

In 2005 the song was voted the best in the contest's history at its 50th anniversary celebration.

What gas makes up about 78 percent of dry air by volume?

Oxygen is a distant second at just under 21 percent, and argon third at less than one percent.

Which mineral is a crystalline form of the element carbon?

Graphite is actually the stable form of carbon at room conditions; diamond only survives because it converts to graphite at a negligible rate.

Which sport awards the Stanley Cup?

The trophy was commissioned in 1892 as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup and first awarded to Canada's amateur champion in 1893.

What is the largest organ of the human body?

It accounts for roughly 16 percent of your total body mass.

In which fictional town do the Simpsons live?

The show is the longest-running American animated series, sitcom and scripted primetime series all at once.

Which superhero first appeared in Action Comics #1 in April 1938?

Creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster met at Glenville High School in Cleveland in 1932.

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

They make up about 20 percent of all mammal species, with at least 1,500 species known.

Which nut-based confection is made mainly from sugar and ground almonds?

In Toledo, Spain, it is shaped into little animals and sometimes filled with sweetened egg yolk.

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

It is the only country on Earth with fewer than 1,000 residents.

Which Tom Hanks film of 1994 was directed by Robert Zemeckis?

Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson and Sally Field filled out the lead cast.

How many keys does a standard modern piano have?

A few makers, notably Bösendorfer and Stuart & Sons, build pianos with extra keys beyond the standard set.

Which sparkling wine may only be produced in one designated wine region under strict AOC rules?

Despite the legend, Dom Perignon did not invent sparkling wine, though he did improve how it was made.

Which strait runs through Istanbul and separates Europe from Asia?

The name was folk-etymologised in Ancient Greek as "cattle crossing".

What is the name of the coffee shop where the six friends hang out in Friends?

The sitcom was developed under the working title Insomnia Cafe before it aired on NBC from 1994 to 2004.

Which Beatles album, released in September 1969, was the last one the band recorded?

Let It Be came out later but had been recorded earlier and was delayed by production problems.

Who won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature for 'new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition'?

He had already received a Pulitzer Prize special citation in 2008.

What did Alexander Fleming discover in 1928 in a mould called Penicillium?

He shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Howard Florey and Ernst Chain for the discovery.

Which mammal may be the longest-lived of all, with some individuals passing 200 years?

A newborn calf is already about 4 metres long and weighs roughly a tonne.

Which national team won the FIFA World Cup in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002?

It is the only side to have played at every World Cup and to have won on four different continents.

Which detective created by Agatha Christie is a retired Belgian police officer?

He appears in 33 novels, two plays and 51 short stories published between 1920 and 1975.

The Divine Comedy is divided into three parts. Inferno and Paradiso are two; what is the third?

Dante travels through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, guided first by the Roman poet Virgil.

Which country leads the world in cocoa bean production, supplying about 38 percent of the crop in 2024?

Cacao trees are actually native to the Amazon rainforest and were first domesticated in South America over 5,000 years ago.

What year did the Berlin Wall fall, when East Germany announced its citizens could freely visit the West?

German reunification formally followed less than a year later, on 3 October 1990.

Which lake is the deepest in the world, at 1,642 metres?

It holds about a fifth of the world's fresh surface water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

Which spice is derived from the dried stigmas of a crocus flower?

Each crimson thread has to be picked by hand, which is why it is so costly.

Which mountain, a dormant volcano, is the highest in Africa?

At 5,895 metres it is also the highest free-standing mountain in the world.

Under what birth name was Muhammad Ali known before he changed it?

He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and began training as an amateur boxer at age 12.

Which Nirvana album, released in September 1991, was the first to feature drummer Dave Grohl?

It was recorded at Sound City in Van Nuys and Smart Studios in Madison in May and June 1991.

Which planet is the smallest in the Solar System?

Despite being closest to the Sun it is only the second-hottest planet, because it has no atmosphere to trap heat.

Which whaling-ship captain hunts the white whale in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick?

The 1851 novel is narrated by the sailor Ishmael, whose opening line is among the most famous in literature.

The original Monopoly board's properties were named after streets in and around which US seaside resort?

The game traces back to Lizzie Magie's 1903 The Landlord's Game, meant to teach the single-tax theory of Henry George.

What is the name of the fictional Indiana town in Stranger Things?

The first season landed on Netflix on July 15, 2016, produced by 21 Laps Entertainment and Monkey Massacre Productions.

Which sea route connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean and separates Spain from Morocco?

An old Arabic name for it, Bab al-maghrib, means "Gate of the West".

What was Lady Gaga's name at birth?

Her early singles Just Dance, Poker Face and Bad Romance made her one of few artists with three Diamond-certified US singles.

Which French breakfast pastry takes its crescent shape from the Austrian kipferl?

French bakers only created the modern version in the early 20th century, swapping brioche dough for yeast-leavened laminated dough.

What is the term for a group of crows?

Crows can recognise and remember individual human faces and warn each other about people they consider threats.

How many players does each rugby union team have on the field at the start of a match?

They split into eight forwards and seven backs, two more forwards than in rugby league.

The Rosetta Stone carries the same text in Greek and in which two Egyptian scripts?

French officer Pierre-Francois Bouchard found it in July 1799 during Napoleon's invasion of Egypt.

Which physicist and chemist was the first person to win two Nobel Prizes?

She remains the only person to win Nobels in two different scientific fields, and in 1906 became the first female professor at the University of Paris.

Which Emily Bronte novel, her only one, was published in 1847 under the pen name Ellis Bell?

The story follows the Earnshaws, the Lintons and the foster son Heathcliff on the West Yorkshire moors.

What colour jersey has the overall leader of cycling's Tour worn since 1919?

Winners of the earliest Tours wore a green armband instead.

Which Japanese scientist identified umami as a distinct taste in 1908?

He linked the taste to glutamic acid, which is why MSG is used to boost savoury flavour.

Which sandbox video game was originally created by Markus "Notch" Persson?

Microsoft bought developer Mojang and the game's rights for US$2.5 billion in November 2014.

Which lighthouse, built under Ptolemy II, was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World?

Egypt has floated plans to turn its submerged ruins into an underwater museum.

What was Google's search project originally called when Page and Brin began it at Stanford in 1996?

The name Google itself is a misspelling of googol, the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.

Which eight-limbed, beaked sea creature has a blue-ringed species deadly to humans?

Every species is venomous, but only the blue-ringed ones are known to be lethal to people.

Which Colombian author wrote One Hundred Years of Solitude, the story of the Buendia family of Macondo?

He thought of the opening while driving to Acapulco on holiday in 1965 and turned the car around to start writing.

The Great Wall of China's best-known sections were built by which dynasty?

The very first walls date to the 7th century BC and were joined together under the Qin.

Which cocktail is a traditional Cuban punch of white rum, sugar, lime, soda water and mint?

The mint and lime are meant to complement the rum rather than mask it, which is why it became a summer favourite.

Which Russian emperor abdicated in 1917, ending the Romanov monarchy?

He had ruled since 1894 and oversaw Russia's participation in the First World War.

Which Chinese variety is usually placed first in lists of languages by native speakers, near a billion?

Most of its varieties are spoken north of the Yangtze, hence the alternative name Northern Chinese.

What is the stage name of Farrokh Bulsara, the lead singer of Queen?

He was born in Zanzibar in 1946 and his family fled the island's revolution for England in 1964.

Which 1937 Walt Disney feature was the first cel-animated feature film ever produced?

It stayed the highest-grossing animated film for 55 years.

Which two African countries share the distinction of never having been fully colonised?

Ethiopia's Adwa Victory Day on 2 March marks Menelik II's defeat of Italy in 1896.

Which racehorse race, run since 1875, is known as "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports"?

The first running on May 17, 1875, drew an estimated 10,000 spectators to Churchill Downs.

How many bones does an adult human skeleton typically have?

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

Which honey bee behaviour tells nestmates the direction and distance to flowers?

The figure-eight routine can also point the colony toward water or a new nest site.

Which so-called nut is actually a legume whose pods grow underground?

Linnaeus named it hypogaea, Greek for "under the earth", because underground fruiting is so unusual among legumes.

Who designed the Statue of Liberty, with Gustave Eiffel building its metal framework?

The Franco-Prussian War delayed the gift; it was finally dedicated on October 28, 1886.

Which Chinua Achebe novel of 1958 follows the Igbo leader Okonkwo?

Achebe wrote it while working at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation; Heinemann published it in London.

What was Jay-Z's debut studio album, released in June 1996 on his own Roc-A-Fella label?

It debuted at only number 23 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for 18 weeks.

Which Vivaldi set of violin concertos, one per time of year, was published in 1725?

They appeared inside a larger set of twelve concertos titled The Contest Between Harmony and Invention.

Which Hogwarts house was Luna Lovegood sorted into?

Her father Xenophilius edits the eccentric magazine The Quibbler.

Which Portuguese footballer broke the men's international goals record in 2021?

He passed Ali Daei's mark of 109 in September 2021 and has kept extending the record; he is also the only player to score 100 goals for four different clubs.

On what date was the Treaty of Versailles signed?

The Allied blockade of Germany stayed in place for eight months after the Armistice, until the treaty was signed.

Which country uses 12 time zones, more than any other, thanks to its overseas territories?

Metropolitan France's use of UTC+1 in winter is effectively year-round daylight saving, since GMT is its natural zone.

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

It remains the only fully silent film to win the top prize.

Which US president served the shortest term, dying 31 days after taking office?

His doctors diagnosed pneumonia in the right lung and treated him with castor oil and emetics.

Which Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty turned toward Buddhism after conquering Kalinga?

He was the grandson of Chandragupta, the empire's founder.

Which candy was banned from import into the United States because it embeds a toy inside chocolate?

A 1938 law prohibits confectionery containing a "non-nutritive object", and the FDA re-issued its import alert in 2012.

Who scored 100 points in a single NBA game on March 2, 1962, a record that still stands?

The game was played on a neutral court in Hershey, Pennsylvania, against the New York Knicks.

Which two men represent the two Ms in M&M's?

Murrie was the son of the president of rival Hershey, and the candy went into production in 1941.

Which Katharine Hepburn film brought her the first of her record four Best Actress Oscars?

It was only her third film; a run of flops followed, including the now-adored Bringing Up Baby.

The 1997 film Titanic tied which earlier film's record of eleven Academy Awards?

It also equalled All About Eve's record for the most nominations.

In which city was Beethoven's Ninth Symphony first performed, on 7 May 1824?

Its choral finale, the Ode to Joy, uses four vocal soloists and a chorus.

Which 1927 story was the last Conan Doyle wrote featuring Holmes and Watson?

In the stories' internal timeline, though, the last case is His Last Bow, set in 1917.

Emperor penguins are the only penguins to breed during which season?

Males go more than two months without eating while guarding an egg, losing around 12 kg.

Who was the first Olympic medallist of the modern era, winning the triple jump on April 6, 1896?

He was the first Olympic medallist in more than 1,500 years.

Absolute zero corresponds to what temperature on the Celsius scale?

In 2018 physicists in Bremen got within 38 trillionths of a degree of it.

Which Brazilian city, the largest on the Amazon, sits where the Rio Negro joins the Solimoes?

The Amazon carries more water than the next seven largest rivers combined.

Which Shakespeare play is set on a remote island ruled by the magician Prospero?

It is thought to be one of the last plays he wrote alone.

Which Neapolitan pizzaiolo supposedly created the pizza Margherita for a queen in 1889?

Similar toppings were already being mixed in Naples between 1796 and 1810, so the legend is at best a tidy origin story.

In which year did the International Astronomical Union redefine "planet", demoting Pluto?

Pluto now carries minor-planet number 134340 and was the first known object in the Kuiper belt.

What was Genghis Khan's birth name?

He was the eldest child of Yesugei, a chieftain of the Borjigin clan.

On what date was the first iPhone released in the United States?

Steve Jobs had envisioned a finger-driven touchscreen device as early as 2000, and development began in secret in 2005.

Which Californian tree species includes the tallest living trees on Earth, at over 116 metres?

Many of the largest individual specimens have their own official names.

Where was Elvis Presley born in January 1935?

His family moved to Memphis when he was 13, and he died at his Graceland estate there in 1977, aged 42.

How many moons of Saturn were officially named as of the latest count, out of at least 293 known?

The hundreds of moonlets embedded in the rings are not counted at all.

Which animal is the northernmost marsupial in the world?

Its ancestors evolved in South America and moved north during the Great American Interchange.

What is the atomic number of gold?

China was the world's largest gold producer in 2023, followed by Russia and Australia.

Which marine mammal is the largest animal known to have ever existed?

Confirmed specimens reach about 30 metres and 190 to 200 tonnes.

Where was Magna Carta sealed by King John on 15 June 1215?

His son Henry III's regency reissued it in 1216 with some of the more radical clauses removed.