Q 01/05

In which Washington State city was Bing Crosby born in 1903?

A) Tacoma

B) Seattle

C) Spokane

D) Olympia

Answer · why

A) Tacoma

Bing Crosby was born in Tacoma on 3 May 1903, at 1112 North J Street; the family moved east to Spokane in 1906, where he grew up.

Q 02/05

What was Bing Crosby's real first name?

A) Harry

B) William

C) Bernard

D) Lawrence

Answer · why

A) Harry

He was Harry Lillis Crosby Jr., born in 1903 to bookkeeper Harry Lowe Crosby and his Irish-American wife Catherine Harrigan.

Q 03/05

Where did the nickname 'Bing' come from?

A) His habit of shouting 'bing' when playing cops and robbers

B) A newspaper comic feature called The Bingville Bugle

C) A brand of cherry he sold as a boy

D) A mispronunciation of his middle name

Answer · why

B) A newspaper comic feature called The Bingville Bugle

A neighbour, Valentine Hobart, dubbed the boy 'Bingo from Bingville' around 1910.

Q 04/05

Which Spokane college did Crosby attend for three years without graduating?

A) Whitworth

B) Washington State

C) Eastern Washington

D) Gonzaga

Answer · why

D) Gonzaga

Gonzaga University in Spokane enrolled Crosby from 1920; he left after three years without a degree, and the campus now keeps his boyhood home as a mu...

Q 05/05

Which instrument did Crosby play in the Musicaladers, his first band in Spokane?

A) Trumpet

B) Piano

C) Drums

D) Banjo

Answer · why

C) Drums

Crosby played drums, bought by mail order, in the Musicaladers, the Spokane band he formed with Al Rinker around 1923; the two left for California in ...