Q 01/05

Why do purists say the 21st century began in 2001 rather than 2000?

A) A year was dropped in 1582

B) The calendar has no year zero

C) Year 1000 was counted twice

D) Leap years pushed the count back

Answer · why

B) The calendar has no year zero

The calendar has no year zero. It runs straight from 1 BC to AD 1, so the first century only ended with the year 100, and every century since has ende...

Q 02/05

Roughly how many people were killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks?

A) Nearly 1,500

B) Nearly 3,000

C) Nearly 6,000

D) Nearly 12,000

Answer · why

B) Nearly 3,000

Nearly 3,000. Of the 2,977 victims, 40 were aboard Flight 93, whose passengers fought the hijackers; the plane came down in a Pennsylvania field, abou...

Q 03/05

In 2001 Dennis Tito became the first space tourist, paying a reported $20 million to visit which destination?

A) The Mir space station

B) The Skylab space station

C) The International Space Station

D) The Tiangong space station

Answer · why

C) The International Space Station

The International Space Station. His first deal was for a trip to Russia's Mir, which fell through when the ageing station was scrapped, and NASA then...

Q 04/05

Wikipedia, launched in January 2001, takes the 'wiki' in its name from which language's word for 'quick'?

A) Hawaiian

B) Japanese

C) Swahili

D) Maori

Answer · why

A) Hawaiian

Hawaiian. Programmer Ward Cunningham, who built the first wiki in 1995, learned the word when a Honolulu airport agent sent him to the 'wiki wiki' bus...

Q 05/05

Which large EU economy kept its own currency when euro cash arrived in 2002?

A) Germany

B) Italy

C) Spain

D) Britain

Answer · why

D) Britain

Britain. It had secured an opt-out when the single currency was agreed at Maastricht in 1992, so the pound stayed while the mark, the lira and the pes...