The 10 quiz questions
Question 1 : In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery. What was the direct consequence of this act of resistance?
Possible answers:
- She was expelled from the city by local authorities
- She was appointed as a member of the US Congress
- The start of the Montgomery bus boycott movement
- The immediate abolition of segregation laws in Alabama
Explanation: The Montgomery bus boycott lasted 381 days. Led by Martin Luther King Jr., then a young 26-year-old pastor, it resulted in a Supreme Court ruling declaring segregation on public transport unconstitutional. Rosa Parks was arrested and fined $14.
Question 2 : On December 1st, 1640, John, Duke of Braganza, became king of Portugal under the name John IV. What major historical event does this mark?
Possible answers:
- The end of the War of the Spanish Succession
- The end of the Iberian Union and the recovery of Portuguese independence
- The creation of the Portuguese colonial empire in America
- The merger of Portugal with the Kingdom of Castile
Explanation: The Iberian Union, which had united the crowns of Spain and Portugal since 1580 under Philip II of Spain, came to an end that day. This 60-year period had notably allowed Spain to take control of Portuguese colonies, considerably weakening the Portuguese colonial empire.
Question 3 : The first issue of Playboy magazine, published on December 1, 1953, featured which celebrity on its cover?
Possible answers:
- Audrey Hepburn
- Brigitte Bardot
- Elizabeth Taylor
- Marilyn Monroe
Explanation: Hugh Hefner founded Playboy with just 8,000 dollars, including 1,000 borrowed from his mother. The first issue had no date on it, because Hefner wasn't sure there would be a second one. It sold more than 50,000 copies, securing the magazine's future.
Question 4 : On December 1st, 1948, Costa Rica became the first country in the Americas to accomplish what founding act?
Possible answers:
- Granting women the right to vote by referendum
- Abolishing its armed forces
- Establishing a universal income for all its citizens
- Declaring the permanent neutrality of its territory
Explanation: President José Figueres Ferrer abolished the Costa Rican army after the civil war of 1948. This decision was enshrined in the constitution of 1949. Since then, Costa Rica has dedicated the money saved from the military budget to education and healthcare, earning it one of the best human development indexes in Latin America.
Question 5 : The Musée d'Orsay, inaugurated on December 1st, 1986, is housed in what type of converted building?
Possible answers:
- A former Second Empire royal palace
- A XIXe century port warehouse
- A former Parisian railway station
- A national porcelain manufactory
Explanation: The Gare d'Orsay was built for the 1900 World's Fair by architect Victor Laloux. Decommissioned in 1939 for mainline services, it served notably as a repatriation center after the Second World War. Its conversion into a museum was decided by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and inaugurated by François Mitterrand.
Question 6 : On December 1st, 1990, the service tunnels of the Channel Tunnel were connected. Which two countries does this tunnel link?
Possible answers:
- France and Belgium
- Great Britain and the Netherlands
- France and England
- Ireland and Scotland
Explanation: The full boring of the Channel Tunnel took about three years. Stretching 50.5 km, with 38 km running under the sea, it is the second longest undersea tunnel section in the world. The official opening to traffic only took place in May 1994, after several more years of additional work and installation of the rail systems.
Question 7 : On December 1st, 1913, Buenos Aires inaugurated what iconic transport system, a first for the southern hemisphere?
Possible answers:
- Its first international airport
- Its first intercity electric tramway
- Its metro system, the first in the southern hemisphere
- Its first high-speed railway line
Explanation: Line A of the Buenos Aires metro, inaugurated that day, used British carriages that were kept in service until 2013, exactly one century. These varnished wooden cars had become a tourist attraction in their own right before being replaced by modern rolling stock.
Question 8 : The Antarctic Treaty, signed on December 1st, 1959, what is its main objective?
Possible answers:
- Organizing the sharing of Antarctic mineral resources among major powers
- Reserving the continent for peaceful and scientific purposes
- Creating an independent state administered by the UN
- Banning all human exploration of the white continent
Explanation: The Antarctic Treaty was signed in Washington by 12 nations including the United States, the USSR, the United Kingdom and France. It freezes territorial claims and bans all military activity on the continent. Today, 54 countries have joined it. Antarctica remains the only continent with no government or permanent indigenous population.
Question 9 : In 1988, the French law on the Minimum Integration Income (RMI) came into effect. Which government put it in place?
Possible answers:
- The government of Jacques Chirac
- The government of Laurent Fabius
- The government of Michel Rocard
- The government of Édith Cresson
Explanation: The RMI was a flagship measure of Michel Rocard's government under the presidency of François Mitterrand. It guaranteed a minimum income to people without resources in exchange for a commitment to integrate socially and professionally. It was replaced in 2009 by the Active Solidarity Income (RSA), created under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy.
Question 10 : On December 1st, 1919, Nancy Astor became the first woman to take a seat in the British Parliament. What was her nationality of origin?
Possible answers:
- Canadian
- Australian
- Irish
- American
Explanation: Nancy Astor, born in Virginia in the United States, had married a British lord and ran for the Plymouth Sutton seat in the House of Commons. While she was the first to actually take her seat, Constance Markievicz had been the first woman elected to the British Parliament in 1918, but she refused to take her seat out of Irish republican ideals.
