Q 01/05

Australian soldiers armed with machine guns fought a 1932 'war' against which wheat-raiding birds?

A) Galahs

B) Magpies

C) Emus

D) Ibises

Answer · why

C) Emus

Emus won the 'war': the field force withdrew after about a month, leaving most of the flock untouched.

Q 02/05

On April Fools' Day 1957, the BBC's Panorama showed a Swiss family happily harvesting what from trees?

A) Spaghetti

B) Chocolate

C) Sausages

D) Cheese

Answer · why

A) Spaghetti

Spaghetti was still exotic in 1950s Britain, so hundreds of viewers phoned the BBC, some asking how to grow a tree of their own.

Q 03/05

In 1919, a burst storage tank sent a deadly wave of what through the streets of Boston's North End?

A) Crude oil

B) Cider

C) Vinegar

D) Molasses

Answer · why

D) Molasses

Molasses surged through the streets at about 35 miles per hour, killing 21 people and injuring 150.

Q 04/05

After 'Boaty McBoatface' won a 2016 public vote, Britain's polar ship was named after which broadcaster?

A) Michael Palin

B) David Attenborough

C) Brian Cox

D) Chris Packham

Answer · why

B) David Attenborough

David Attenborough got the ship, although the joke name had won with more than 124,000 votes. Boaty McBoatface went to one of its robot submarines ins...

Q 05/05

Oregon highway officials made headlines in 1970 by using dynamite to remove what from a beach?

A) A dead whale

B) A wrecked ship

C) A giant boulder

D) A driftwood jam

Answer · why

A) A dead whale

A dead whale, a 45-foot sperm whale, was blown up at Florence, and large chunks of blubber rained down on parking lots and damaged a car.