History Trivia Quiz Questions and Answers For Seniors
How many swings of the ax did Sir Walter Raleigh's executioner
require?
A: Three.
What Soviet made the cover of Time 14 times between
1985 and
1991?
A: Mikhail Gorbachev.
What outfit has troops known as Blue Helmets?
A: The United Nations.
What Reign of Terror innovation was hyped: "My victim will feel
nothing but a slight sense of refreshing coolness in the neck"?
A: The guillotine.
What European leader caused a row in
1967 when he veiled before a
French Canadian crowd: "Vive le Quebec libre"?
A: Charles de Gaulle.
What U.S. president advised: "If you can't stand the heat, get
out of the kitchen"?
A: Harry S. Truman.
What U.S. president did African-American editor Monroe Trotter
claim to be a direct descendent of?
A: Thomas Jefferson.
What Bruce Springsteen song was quoted by both
Ronald Reagan and
Walter Mondale in the 1984 presidential campaign?
A: Born in the USA.
Who became leader of the opposition after the
1990 Nicaraguan
elections?
A: Daniel Ortega.
Who was the first democratically -elected president of
Russia?
A: Boris Yeltsin.
What explorer introduced
Italians to
spaghetti in the 14th
century?
A: Marco Polo.
What president had to read a news ticker to discover that his
daughter Luci was engaged?
A: Lyndon B. Johnson.
What did JFK refer to in noting: "This is a new
ocean, and I
believe the U.S. should sail it"?
A: Space.
What British royal was dubbed "Fish Face" by his wife?
A: Prince Charles.
Who, after anchoring off Hawaii in 1779, was mistaken for the god Lono?
A: Captain James Cook.
What physicist's last words were not understood because his nurse
did not speak German?
A: Albert Einstein's.
What nation was miffed when Hubert Humphrey declined its secret
offer to help finance his 1968 presidential campaign?
A: The Soviet Union.
What Irish political movement is named after a phrase meaning "we
ourselves"?
A: Sinn Fein.
What organization elects the 15 judges of the
World Court?
A: The United Nations.
What was the first war in which one jet plane shot down another?
A: The Korean War.
What song was the Navy band playing at Pearl Harbor when the
Japanese attacked?
A: The Star-Spangled Banner.
What two continents have never been the site of a major
military
conflict?
A: Antarctica and
Australia.
What country maintained an official state of emergency from
1933
to 1945?
A: Germany.
What group of Pacific islands did Japan attack the day after
Pearl Harbor?
A: The Philippines.
What English king introduced death by boiling and legalized the
killing of gypsies?
A: Henry VIII.
What was the B-17 long-range bomber nicknamed in World War II?
A: The Flying Fortress.
