The 10 quiz questions
Question 1 : In 1928, a first screening marked the official birth of Mickey Mouse. What was the title of that short film?
Possible answers:
- Plane Crazy
- Steamboat Willie
- The Gallopin' Gaucho
- Mickey's Follies
Explanation: Steamboat Willie is the 3rd cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse, but the first to be publicly released. It is also the first cartoon synchronized with a soundtrack, which made it revolutionary for its time.
Question 2 : On November 18, 1918, a Baltic country proclaimed its independence. Which one?
Possible answers:
- Estonia
- Lithuania
- Finland
- Latvia
Explanation: Latvia's declaration of independence in 1918 came amid the chaos of the end of World War I. The country then endured Soviet occupation from 1940 to 1991, before definitively regaining its independence with the dissolution of the USSR.
Question 3 : On November 18, 1852, the first department store in Paris opened its doors on rue de Sèvres. What was its name?
Possible answers:
- Galeries Lafayette
- Le Bon Marché
- Le Printemps
- La Samaritaine
Explanation: Le Bon Marché, founded by Aristide Boucicaut, is considered the first modern department store in the world. Its innovative business model, with fixed displayed prices and the freedom to browse without any obligation to buy, inspired Émile Zola for his novel Au Bonheur des Dames (1883).
Question 4 : On November 18, 1985, a famous comic strip appeared for the first time. Its creator, Bill Watterson, always refused to do what?
Possible answers:
- Publish his strips in a hardcover album
- Produce animated adaptations and merchandise
- Sell the rights to his comic strip to an American newspaper
- Reveal Hobbes' real first name
Explanation: Calvin and Hobbes, featuring an imaginative boy and his stuffed tiger, is one of the best-selling comics in the world with more than 45 million books sold. Watterson fiercely resisted merchandising offers, preserving the artistic integrity of his work until the strip ended in 1995.
Question 5 : In 1803, the Battle of Vertières, a crucial event in Caribbean history, is linked to which independent country born a few months later?
Possible answers:
- Cuba
- Jamaica
- Haiti
- The Dominican Republic
Explanation: The Battle of Vertières, on November 18, 1803, was the last major battle of the Haitian Revolution. It pitted the troops of Jean-Jacques Dessalines against the French forces commanded by General Rochambeau. On January 1st, 1804, Haiti proclaimed its independence, becoming the first Black republic in the world.
Question 6 : On November 18, 1990, Florence Arthaud won a famous transatlantic sailing race. What is this race called?
Possible answers:
- La Solitaire du Figaro
- La Route du Rhum
- La Transat Jacques-Vabre
- Le Vendée Globe
Explanation: Florence Arthaud, nicknamed the "little fiancée of the Atlantic", completed the Route du Rhum in 14 days, 10 hours and 8 minutes on her trimaran Pierre 1er. She is the first and, to this day, the only woman to have won this legendary solo race linking Saint-Malo to Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe.
Question 7 : On November 18, 1978, a tragic event in Guyana caused the deaths of 914 people. What was the cause?
Possible answers:
- A terrorist attack on a religious village
- A mass suicide organized by a cult
- An industrial disaster caused by a chemical explosion
- A massacre carried out by a local guerrilla group
Explanation: The mass suicide at Jonestown, organized by Reverend Jim Jones, leader of the People's Temple cult, remains one of the greatest intentional civilian losses in American history outside of a natural disaster. Most victims drank a cyanide-laced drink; the expression "drinking the Kool-Aid" has since entered common usage to describe blind adherence to an ideology.
Question 8 : On November 18, 1915, Albert Einstein presented a major manuscript to the Prussian Academy. What astronomical problem did he solve in it?
Possible answers:
- The bending of light around the Sun
- The anomaly in the advance of Mercury's perihelion
- The rotation speed of binary stars
- The redshift of sunlight
Explanation: The precession of Mercury's perihelion was an unexplained shift in Mercury's orbit that Newtonian mechanics could not account for. By applying his general relativity, Einstein calculated this shift of exactly 43 arc seconds per century, providing one of the first experimental proofs of his theory.
Question 9 : Kirk Hammett, born on November 18, 1962, is known as the lead guitarist of which American heavy metal band?
Possible answers:
- Slayer
- Megadeth
- Metallica
- Pantera
Explanation: Kirk Hammett joined Metallica in 1983, replacing Dave Mustaine who would later found Megadeth. Hammett is famous for his guitar solos on tracks like Enter Sandman, One, and Master of Puppets. He studied guitar under the legendary Joe Satriani.
Question 10 : Pope Urban VIII consecrates St. Peter's Basilica in Rome on November 18, 1626. Which architect had designed the bulk of this iconic monument?
Possible answers:
- Bernini
- Bramante
- Michelangelo
- Raphael
Explanation: St. Peter's Basilica in Rome was built over more than a century, between 1506 and 1626. Michelangelo took over its direction in 1546 and designed the famous dome, among other things, which was completed after his death by Giacomo della Porta. Bernini later created the baldachin and the colonnade of the square, which became symbols of Baroque art.
