The 10 quiz questions
Question 1 : What major event took place on July 31, 1914 in Paris?
Possible answers:
- General mobilization was decreed in France
- Socialist Jean Jaurès was assassinated
- France declared war on Germany
- The Sarajevo assassination was claimed
Explanation: Jean Jaurès was assassinated at the Café du Croissant, on rue Montmartre. His murder, on the eve of World War I, deprived France of its leading advocate of pacifism. The shooter, Raoul Villain, was acquitted in 1919, which sparked outrage across the French left.
Question 2 : In 1919, Germany adopted the Weimar Constitution. In which city was it drafted and adopted?
Possible answers:
- Berlin
- Munich
- Weimar
- Frankfurt
Explanation: Although the Weimar Republic takes its name from the city of Weimar, in Thuringia, it was there that the constituent National Assembly met to draft and adopt this republican constitution, as Berlin was then shaken by revolutionary unrest. It remained in force until the rise of the Nazi regime in 1933.
Question 3 : Which American space mission saw its astronauts carry out a six-and-a-half-hour excursion on the Moon aboard a lunar rover on July 31, 1971?
Possible answers:
- Apollo 11
- Apollo 13
- Apollo 17
- Apollo 15
Explanation: Apollo 15 was the 4th mission to successfully land on the Moon and the first to use the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), which allowed astronauts David Scott and James Irwin to travel several kilometers across the lunar surface. Alfred Worden, meanwhile, orbited the Moon in the command module.
Question 4 : On July 31, 1959, which Basque separatist armed group was founded under Franco's regime?
Possible answers:
- GRAPO
- ETA
- The Basque CNT
- PSOE
Explanation: ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, "Basque Country and Liberty") was founded in 1959 by Basque nationalist students opposed to the Francoist dictatorship. It carried out armed attacks for decades, including the assassination of Admiral Carrero Blanco in 1973. The organization announced its final dissolution in May 2018.
Question 5 : What important discovery did the Phoenix space probe confirm on July 31, 2008?
Possible answers:
- The presence of oxygen in the Martian atmosphere
- The existence of active volcanoes on Mars
- The presence of water on Mars
- Traces of methane of organic origin on Mars
Explanation: The Phoenix probe, which landed in the Arctic polar region of Mars in May 2008, collected and analyzed soil samples. The confirmation of the presence of water in the form of ice in the Martian soil was a major breakthrough in the search for conditions potentially favorable to life on Mars.
Question 6 : In 1991, the START treaty was signed in Moscow between the United States and the USSR. What reduction in strategic nuclear weapons did it call for?
Possible answers:
- A 50% reduction
- A 30% reduction
- A 20% reduction
- A 40% reduction
Explanation: The START I treaty (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was signed on July 31, 1991 by George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev. It called for a 30% reduction in strategic nuclear arsenals and was the first nuclear disarmament treaty to impose real reductions, unlike the SALT agreements which only capped armaments.
Question 7 : J.K. Rowling, born on July 31, 1965, is the author of the Harry Potter saga. What fun coincidence exists between her birth date and her character?
Possible answers:
- Harry Potter is supposed to have died on July 31
- Harry Potter is also said to have been born on July 31
- The first volume came out on July 31
- Hogwarts was founded on July 31 according to the saga
Explanation: Harry Potter is also said to have been born on July 31, in 1980 according to the timeline of the novels. This coincidence is not accidental: J.K. Rowling deliberately chose this date for her character. She also shares her birthday with Neville Longbottom, another key character in the saga.
Question 8 : Which great American economist, born on July 31, 1912, received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1976 for his work on monetary theory?
Possible answers:
- John Kenneth Galbraith
- Paul Samuelson
- Milton Friedman
- Friedrich Hayek
Explanation: Milton Friedman was the leading figure of the Chicago monetarist school. He championed economic liberalism, reducing the role of the state, and control of the money supply as the main lever of economic regulation. His theories deeply influenced the policies of Ronald Reagan in the United States and Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom in the 1980s.
Question 9 : Louis de Funès, born on July 31, 1914, is famous for his comedic roles in French cinema. In which iconic saga did he play the character of gendarme Cruchot?
Possible answers:
- The Adventures of Rabbi Jacob series
- The Gendarme of Saint-Tropez series
- The La Grande Vadrouille series
- The Tontons Flingueurs series
Explanation: Louis de Funès played the staff sergeant Ludovic Cruchot in 6 films of the Gendarme of Saint-Tropez saga, between 1964 and 1982. Before finding fame, he was a jazz musician and spent many years as an extra before his first major success at the age of forty with La Traversée de Paris in 1956.
Question 10 : In 1985, the French government authorized the creation of private television channels. What was the name of the Prime Minister in office at that time?
Possible answers:
- Michel Rocard
- Pierre Mauroy
- Jacques Chirac
- Laurent Fabius
Explanation: In 1985, Laurent Fabius was Prime Minister under the presidency of François Mitterrand. The creation of private channels marked a revolution in the French audiovisual landscape: La Cinq and TV6 were launched in 1986, followed by TF1 privatized the same year under the Chirac government. This put an end to the monopoly of French public television.
