All About Shining Trivia Quiz

Answer: America the Beautiful

The song "America the Beautiful" was written by Katharine Lee Bates and set to music composed the organist-choirmaster at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey, Samuel A. Ward. The phrase "from sea to shining sea" appears in the charters of several of the English colonies which became the United States.

It derives from the Latin phrase "A Mari Usque Ad Mare" which is the official motto of Canada. A particularly moving soul arrangement of it was recorded by 1976 by Ray Charles. Because the meters of the words are the same, it can be sung to tune of "Auld Lang Syne" -- try it!

Answer: Stephen King

Stephen King's "The Shining" was his third novel and his first bestseller. The story is set in the fictitious Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rockies. The locale was based on King's visit to the Stanley Hotel in 1974. The lead character Jack Torrance draws on King's own experience recovering from alcoholism. King was not partial to Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of the novel for film but it was a major financial success.

Answer: NYC nightclub dancer moves to Wisconsin farm

Based on a 1934 play of the same name by Keith Winter, "The Shining Hour" is the story of a big-city nightclub dancer who leaves that life behind to marry a wealthy farmer in Wisconsin. In addition to Crawford's lead, Margaret Sullivan, Robert Young and Melvyn Douglas co-star. The film lost money and was hardly noticed by the critics.

Answer: Peru

The Communist Party of Peru (El Partido Comunista del Perú) is popularly known there as the Shining Path (El Sendero Luminoso). Since 1980, the party has stood for communist purity as opposed to those communist nations which it considers revisionist and therefor impure.

It takes its name from a statement of José Carlos Mariátegui who said "El Marxismo-Leninismo abrirá el sendero luminoso hacia la revolución" (Marxism-Leninism will open the shining path to revolution). The government of Peru, the United States and the European Economic Union all describe Shining Path as a terrorist organization.

Answer: George and Ira Gershwin

Fred Astaire, Joan Fontaine, George Burns, and Gracie Allen starred in "Damsel in Distress" -- a Hollywood picture that was based on a P.G. Wodehouse novel of the same name. George and Ira Gershwin wrote the music for the film. Astaire sings "A foggy day in London town.

It had me low, and it had me down. And suddenly, I saw you standing right there, and in foggy London town the sun was shining, shining, shining everywhere." The song was subsequently recorded by Frank Sinatra, Charles Mingus, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, George Benson, Sarah Vaughan, Wynton Marsalis, Tony Bennett and Michael Bublé.

Answer: track

John Willard Baker (1944-1970) ran track at the University of New Mexico in 1967. He won several championships, was graduated with a degree in physical education and became a PE teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He contracted cancer and died at the age of 26 shortly after being diagnosed. Author William J. "Bill" Buchanan wrote a biography called "A Shining Season" in 1978 which was adapted as a made-for-television movie, by the same name, in 1979.

The students at the Aspen Elementary School where Baker taught asked the school board to change the school's name to John Baker Elementary, which they did.

Answer: Mama Cass

"Dream a Little Dream of Me" begins "Stars shining bright above you. Night breezes seem to whisper, 'I love you.' Birds singin' in the sycamore tree. Dream a little dream of me." This song was written in 1931 with music by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt and lyrics by Gus Kahn. Among the earliest recordings was one by Ozzie Nelson and his band.

It was part of Kate Smith's standard repertoire. The 1968 version by Mama Cass Elliot was a surprise success; it reached #12 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart.

Answer: Ringo Starr and George Carlin

In a curious fusion of British, Canadian and American television, "Shining Time Station" was produced in New York City and Toronto and each programme included an episode of "Thomas and Friends" which was produced in Great Britain. The programme first aired in PBS (1989-1998) and then on Fox Family (1998-1999) and then on Nick Jr. (2000).

The original host-character Mister Conductor was played by Ringo Starr (1989) and then by George Carlin (1991-1993), who had previously done voice overs for the show. Mister Conductor was a miniature man who lived in a signal house depicted in a mural in the Shining Time Station, a fictional train station of the fictional Indian Valley Railroad.

Answer: Feast of the Transfiguration

The Feast of the Transfiguration is an ancient Christian observance in Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican and some Protestant Churches. It is commonly kept on August 6 (the date set by Pope Callixtus III in the 15th century) but may also be observed on the last Sunday after the Feast of the Epiphany, the Sunday next before Ash Wednesday. Hanukkah is a Jewish feast. Fête des lumières is a feast of the Blessed Virgin. Dies Natalis Solis Invicti is an ancient Roman pagan festival.

Answer: "Blue Moon of Kentucky"

Bill Monroe wrote and recorded "Blue Moon of Kentucky" in 1947. His band, the Bluegrass Boys, included Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs who would go on to form their own band, The Foggy Mountain Boys. The waltz begins "Blue moon of Kentucky, keep on shining. Shine on the one that's gone and proved untrue; Blue moon of Kentucky, keep on shining. Shine on the one that's gone and left me blue." It has since been recorded by George Jones, Paul McCartney, Patsy Cline and Elvis Presley.