Winter Trivia

A singer whose range lies between soprano and alto is often described by placing this Italian word before “soprano.”

In 1850, he pitched his publisher a romance based on legends from southern whale fisheries.

Who wrote the epic space opera series 'Dune'?

Which famous poet was NOT born in Worcester?

In 2018 this country unveiled the largest statue in the world.

A novel set in Oceania which also introduced the words “doublethink” and “unperson.”

Which of the following Roman Emperors came first?

Who won the Ballon d'or in 1997?

In what year did child labor laws start in the United States?

How many sonnets are in Shakespeare's sonnet sequence?

Who was the last Tsar of Russia?

Name this novel by Miguel de Cervantes about a man who fancies himself a knight.

During which decade was slavery abolished in the United States?

Who was the longest serving non-royal world leader who rose to power after 1900?

Who is the American architect known for designing buildings such as Fallingwater and the Guggenheim Museum?

In which Texan city was JFK assassinated?

This Gothic classic was penned as part of a ghost story writing competition held in a mansion on Lake Geneva in 1816.

Who is often referred to as the “father of modern sculpture” and created works like “The Kiss” and “The Thinker”?

Famous for her novels like Middlemarch, describing life in 19th C England, , Maryann Evans adopted a masculine pen name.

As a young cadet, this writer was expelled from West Point for reporting to a march wearing only white gloves.

What kind of artwork is ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’ by Hokusai?

How many countries does China share a border with?

Who was the king's wife in 1001 Arabian Nights?

Which of the following was not invented in China?

Which novel explores the adventures of a young girl named Liesel Meminger in Nazi Germany?

What was the first state to legalize same-sex marriage?

Samuel Langhorne Clemens took on this pen name in 1863 that reminded him of his riverboat days as a steamboat captain.

Which two city-states fought in the Peloponnesian War?

Which of these is NOT a part of Sigmund Freud's analysis of the human psychology

Who wrote the best-selling classic Of Mice and Men?

What was the name of Calypso's island in Homer's Odyssey?

Chrysus was a minor god of this substance.

What is the largest waterfall by volume?

Who wrote the poem 'The Daffodils' (also known as 'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud')?

In which US state did the Scopes Monkey Trial take place?

Who is the only person to have served as both US Vice President and President without being elected to either office?

Robert Langdon, who solves The Da Vinci Code, teaches religious symbology at this university.

The Enlightenment, a cultural and intellectual movement, had its roots in which century?

What was the first country to abolish slavery?

This country controls the Isthmus of Kra, a narrow region that extends southward into the Malay Peninsula.

What Bernstein musical set in urban America was based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet? 

Which nation (all currently part of a larger sovereign state) has never been an independent sovereign state?

In classical music, what term is used to describe a composition for a solo instrument accompanied by an orchestra?

Which author was sentenced to death, married a model, and was stabbed multiple times?

Dreams From My Father was the first book by which US politician?

This writer had 706 copies of one of his unsold books returned to him by a book dealer.

In which mountain range would you find the second-highest peak in the world, K2?

This French Baron's treatise The Spirit of the Laws influenced the structure of the U.S. Constitution.

Welcome to Dead House from 1992 was the first of the books in a series by this author.

In which play by Shakespeare do the characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern appear?

The United States bought Alaska from what country?

What is the largest lake in Africa?