Q 01/05

October takes its name from the Latin word for which number?

A) Six

B) Eight

C) Ten

D) Twelve

Answer · why

B) Eight

Eight. The early Roman year began in March, which made October its eighth month, and the name stuck even after January and February were added.

Q 02/05

In Tom Clancy's thriller The Hunt for Red October, what is the Red October?

A) A Soviet spy satellite

B) A stolen nuclear warhead

C) A Soviet submarine

D) A plot against the Kremlin

Answer · why

C) A Soviet submarine

A Soviet submarine. Its captain, Marko Ramius, sets out to defect to the United States with the near-silent missile boat, and Sean Connery played him ...

Q 03/05

Which two gemstones are the birthstones for October?

A) Sapphire and peridot

B) Garnet and amethyst

C) Topaz and citrine

D) Opal and tourmaline

Answer · why

D) Opal and tourmaline

Opal and tourmaline. Opal's name as an unlucky stone is no ancient belief: it traces to Sir Walter Scott's 1829 novel Anne of Geierstein.

Q 04/05

Whose War of the Worlds radio play on 30 October 1938 was reported to have panicked listeners with a Martian invasion?

A) Alfred Hitchcock

B) Orson Welles

C) Cecil B. DeMille

D) Walt Disney

Answer · why

B) Orson Welles

Orson Welles. He told the story as news bulletins breaking into dance music; newspapers reported a mass panic, though historians now say few listeners...

Q 05/05

October's birth flower, the calendula, is better known by what common name?

A) Chrysanthemum

B) Aster

C) Marigold

D) Dahlia

Answer · why

C) Marigold

Marigold. The name is a contraction of 'Mary's gold', probably in honour of the Virgin Mary; in Old English the flower was simply called 'golde'.