Q 01/05

Which astronaut's nickname began as a sister's attempt to say 'brother' and became his legal name?

A) Buzz Aldrin

B) Pete Conrad

C) Gene Cernan

D) Deke Slayton

Answer · why

A) Buzz Aldrin

Buzz Aldrin got the name when his sister Fay pronounced 'brother' as 'buzzer', which the family shortened. The second person to walk on the Moon made ...

Q 02/05

Which US city was dubbed the Big Apple in a 1920s sportswriter's horse-racing columns?

A) Louisville

B) New York

C) Baltimore

D) Boston

Answer · why

B) New York

New York got the name from John J. Fitz Gerald of the Morning Telegraph, who reportedly heard stable hands call its racetracks 'the big apple'.

Q 03/05

Which politician was first dubbed the Iron Lady by a Soviet army newspaper after a 1976 speech?

A) Golda Meir

B) Angela Merkel

C) Margaret Thatcher

D) Sirimavo Bandaranaike

Answer · why

C) Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher embraced the insult within a week. The Red Star paper meant it as a jab at her hard line on Moscow, and she repeated it proudly to h...

Q 04/05

Which Western star got the nickname Duke as a boy from his Airedale terrier of the same name?

A) Gary Cooper

B) Clint Eastwood

C) James Stewart

D) John Wayne

Answer · why

D) John Wayne

John Wayne walked to school with his dog Duke, so a local fireman began calling the boy 'Little Duke'. He preferred the nickname to his given first na...

Q 05/05

Big Ben is strictly the nickname of which part of the clock tower at London's Palace of Westminster?

A) The great bell

B) The clock face

C) The hour hand

D) The pendulum

Answer · why

A) The great bell

The great bell is the real Big Ben, a 13.5-ton giant named either for Sir Benjamin Hall, who oversaw its installation, or for the boxer Ben Caunt. The...