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Structure
Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 30 general entries.
Special Topics
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Famous Dates
| My favorite sport is hockey. It's a good thing I wasn't around yet to see Bill Masterson get fatally injured during a hockey game on January 13, 1968. For what NHL team was he playing at the time? | Bullymom's Birthday Quiz
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Minnesota North Stars. Masterson, the North Stars' center, was checked into the boards during a game against the Oakland Seals and died 48 hrs later. Like most hockey players, he did not wear a helmet. It was not until the 1979-80 season that helmets were made mandatory. The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, under the trusteeship of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, is given each year to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to the game of hockey. By the way, two NHL goalies, Nikolai Khabibulin and Kelly Hrudy, were also born on January 13.
| I was celebrating my eighth birthday on January 13, 1978, opening my gifts of Colorforms and Nancy Drew books, when the nation learned that Hubert Humphrey had died in Minnesota. Mr. Humphrey was best known for being whose Vice President? | Bullymom's Birthday Quiz
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Lyndon Johnson's. Hubert Horatio Humphrey, born in South Dakota in 1911, held such titles as campaign manager for Franklin D. Roosevelt and mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota, before he served as Lyndon Johnson's Vice President from 1965 to 1969. After his term as VP ended, he ran for President in 1968 but lost to Richard Nixon. He died of cancer at age 67.
| On January 13, 1994, while I was celebrating my twenty-fourth birthday, most of America was watching the TV news to learn that Shawn Eric Eckardt and Derrick Brian Smith had been arrested and charged with conspiring to assault what female figure skater? | Bullymom's Birthday Quiz
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Nancy Kerrigan . Who could forget the infamous incident in which figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was whacked on the knee at practice for the Olympics trials in Detroit on January 6, 1994? The 24-year-old skater, favored to win gold at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehamer, Norway, was leaving the Cobo Arena when an "unknown assailant" rushed up and smacked her on the right knee with a "blunt object". The investigation came to a head on January 13, after an incriminating tape recording was found on which Jeff Gillooly, Tonya Harding's husband, and her bodyguard Shawn Eric Eckardt allegedly discussed a plot to injure Kerrigan. While Harding at first professed her ignorance of these plots, she later admitted otherwise and was placed on three years' probation and fined $160,000. The other three conspirators were not so lucky; Gillooly was sentenced to two years in prison, while Shawn Eckardt, Shane Stant, and Derrick Smith each received 18 months.
| On January 13, 1919, Satyendra Prassano Sinha made history by becoming the first Indian to do what? | Bullymom's Birthday Quiz
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Become a member of British House of Lords. Lord Satyendra Prassano Sinha (1863-1928) was a very influential figure in Indian politics. He was the first Indian to become the Advocate-General of Bengal in 1905, and also the first Indian to enter the Governor-General's Executive Council, in 1909. In 1915 he became president of Bombay, and in 1919 entered the British peerage as Baron Sinha of Raipur. He retired for health reasons in 1921.
| January 13 was Tiugunde Day in Old England. On this day traditionally, wassailing was performed; wassailing means paying homage to ___? | Bullymom's Birthday Quiz
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Apple trees. Also called "Midwinter's Offering" or the "Ides of January". There's an old Christmas carol called "Here We Go A-Wassailing", which was probably sung by people when they wassailed.
| A cool person to share one's birthday with is Charles Perrault, who was born on January 13, 1628. Monsieur Perrault is credited with being what famous figure? | Bullymom's Birthday Quiz
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Mother Goose. Yes, Mother Goose was a man! Charles Perrault was a wealthy French gentleman who became a lawyer and then turned to writing. His breakthrough work, "Stories or Tales from Times Past, with Morals: Tales of Mother Goose" (1697), is credited with popularizing the literary genre of the fairy tale. Among his most famous versions of fairy tales are "Blue Beard", "Sleeping Beauty on the Woods", "Little Red Riding Hood", "The Master Cat or Puss in Boots", "Cinderella", "Little Thumb", and "Donkey Skin".
September 2, 1945. The Japanese surrendered on the battleship U.S.S. Missouri while General Douglas MacArthur and General Jonathan Wainright, a POW, looked on. Later, Gen MacArthur became the military governor of Japan.
January 10, 1946. The UN's first meeting was in London, England. After deciding to establish its permanent headquarters in the United States, the UN received a gift of $8.5 million from John D. Rockefeller. Also the UN received the land as a gift from NYC. The American government loaned the UN $65 million. The UN occupied its curent building in 1952.
October 1, 1949. Chiang and about two million Nationalist soldiers with their families were forced to flee to the tiny Chinese island of Taiwan. China is the world's most populous nation.
April 11, 1951. MacArthur was replaced because he opened a second front with the help of Chinese Nationalists soldiers. President Truman wanted a war of "containment." MacArthur had other ideas. MacArthur was replaced by General Matthew B. Ridgeway.
October 28, 1962. In October, President Kennedy announced a U.S. air and naval "quarantine" of Cuba because the Soviet Union had installed offensive missiles and bomber bases on the island which could be directed against the United States. As Soviet ships carried additional weapons to Cuba, the world anxiously stood on the brink of War, but on October 28, President Kennedy and Soviet leader Krushchev agreed to end the "Cuban Missile Crisis."
April 30, 1975. Between April 23 and April 29, the U.S. military evacuated the last remaining U.S. civilians and embassy personnel, as well as 130,000 South Vietnamese refugees. The next day, April 30, 1975, Saigon fell to North Vietnamese. The Communist flag soon flew over all of Vietnam, and Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.
November 9, 1989. The Berlin Wall was opened on November 9, 1989. Millions of Berliners took to the streets to celebrate, and hundreds of thousands crossed between East and West Berlin to visit relatives long isolated on either side. Young Germans broke down sections of the wall with sledge hammers, and on October 3, 1990, East and West Germany were reunited.
January 16, 1991. On January 16, 1991, UN forces the took the offensive and began round the clock bombing of Iraqi troop positions and headquarters. New technology, including highly accurate "smart bombs" and cruise missiles, enabled the air force to select and destroy military targets with minimum damage to Iraq's civilian population centers. These "high-tech" weapons, developed during the Reagan administration, soon overwhelmed the Iraqi military.
February 26, 1993. This bomb killed 6 and injured more than 1,000.
July 1, 1997. Under the British, Hong Kong emerged as a showcase for free trade and the success of capitalism with minimum government regulation. In the transfer agreement with the British, the Communist Chinese agreed to maintain Hong Kong's capitalist system and allow the residents to govern themseves for a 50-year period.
1066. As he died without leaving a child and heir to the throne, Edward the Confessor's death (on 4 or 5 January 1066) triggered a series of events that led to the Battle of Hastings. There were three rival contenders for the throne. (These were Harold Godwinson, Harald Hardrada and William Duke of Normandy. His nephew was the closest relation, but was too young and not experienced enough).
1901. This was the end of a Victorian Era, during which many, many important things were invented. The Victorian Era is (in my opinion) one of the most important eras in British history.
1199. He was crowned King when his brother, Richard the Lionheart, died. He married a 12 year old French girl (Isabella) the year after, in 1200.
1069. This was not that long after the Battle of Hastings. The Harrying of the North was a series of campaigns led by William the Conqueror in order to subdue the North of England. They burnt crops and houses, and murdered the local villagers! William did this to prove to people that he would not show any resistance.
1086. The Domesday Book was a survey on how much land, money, animals etc. everyone owned, used by William the Conqueror so that he could tax people depending on how much they owned.
1170. Thomas Becket was murdered viciously by four knights in Canterbury Cathedral because of a misunderstanding. Henry II then ordered himself to be whipped by monks because he felt responsible for Becket's death.
October 14th 1066. The Battle of Hastings was a battle between William Duke of Normandy and Harold Godwinson, fighting over England. Eventually, William won, and later came to be known as William the Conqueror.
1215. King John accepted the Magna Carta, a rule book made by the barons to help him rule the country better, but he later broke some of the rules, which caused the Barons to rebel (in 1216). The Magna Carta was revised a number of times.
1167. King John was born in this year and was sent to go and rule over Ireland at the age of only 18.
1348. It is also known as the bubonic plague. The disease could kill you within a week! It killed about 1.5 million people in England alone.
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